Firstly - hello! I found CoG a couple of weeks back and have been loving every second of the games that are currently available. (My favorite so far are Choice of the Dragon, Choice of Broadsides and Zombie:Exodus).
Anyway, as much as I love playing the games, I’ve been itching to create some of my own. (Plus I’ve played through all the current games pretty thoroughly). It’s taken me a while to figure out the basics of ChoiceScript and I must confess that I’m still running into glitches and problems at every turn, though I’m getting the hang of all the basic commands now to be sure.
Anyway, this is the thread for my very first game which I have entitled Dungeon Adventure (WIP title, dunno, might change). It’s a pretty simple game with a very simple storyline that revolves around the principles of exploring an ancient underground ruin for treasure and the chance at fame. I’m trying to hold a steady mix of D&D style hack and slash play with some simple story structure. It’s not as fancy as some games, but I think it will provide an addicting fifteen minutes or so of play per major storyline shift once it’s polished. I’m planning on having three to four ways to finish the story, as well as 6+ ways to die. Minimum.
Right now I’ve just got the first stages of one main plotside finished. I’m going to work on this path to completion and then start again on the other side (which will be larger and have two ending paths as well as a romance arc. (I’m planning to keep the romance pretty simple, but knowing me {I’m a die-hard romantic} I’ll probably extend it out a bit. We’ll see how involved I want to get when I get there). I might release the first major storypath as a demo once I finish and polish a little. Right now EVERYTHING needs work. I haven’t been paying any attention to spelling or grammar for the sake of getting the code done quickly, so I need to go back and do some major re-writing to make it readable for serious play.
:Elements the game will include for certain:
~Intellectual abilities (Implemented)
~Physical abilities (Implemented)
~Health (Implemented)
~Treasure (Will implement)
~Choices based on character sex (I have not yet been able to figure out how to make the game set the character’s gender properly, I’ll need to go back over this for certain if I want a romance arc. Right now I just have a *fake_choice set up for choosing the character’s gender).
I don’t know how long it will take me to finish exactly because of RL commitments, but I’m hoping to have it ready to beta within the month. We’ll see how that pans out. -.-’
So yeah. Just thought I’d say hi and tell ya about my little game!
After that, you can have something which might look like this:
What is your gender?
*choice
-#Female
–*set gender = female
-#Male
–*set gender = male
-#Just call me “Darling”
–*set gender = neuter
If you’re setting a variable to something that’s not a number, be sure to put quotes around it. To build on @Geisha’s example (all of these variables would have to be created in mygame.js first):
Then, later in your story you can write stuff like:
The foppish brigand lays his hand on your arm as you press past, appearing casual, but with a grip of steel. “A moment of your time, good {sirmadam}." He smiles a courteous, tobacco-stained grin. "May I inquire as to what a well-dressed young {manwoman} such as yourself is doing in a place like this, all on {hisher} own? Perhaps {heshe} is unaware that certain… unsavory elements frequent this quarter?”
*if (gender = “female”)
–You gasp affectedly, drawing back. “Unsavory, you say?” you ask breathlessly.
–He grins, and bows slightly. “If I might be so bold as to offer my services as a bodyg–”
–Your punch catches him cold on the jaw, and he sprawls senseless on the ale-stained floor.
*if (gender = “male”)
–Your eyes widen theatrically, and you cast them about furtively, then lean in, stroking your stubbly chin. “Unsavory, you say?” etc.
Thanks for the help guys, it’s much appreciated! Looking at your examples the concepts of setting gender make so much more sense now, I shouldn’t have too much trouble implementing it now that I’ve seen how it all fits together. I was working primarily off of the CoD example, (which has outdated code apparently), so It’s no wonder I was getting stuck - I didn’t have any template to work from.
I might consider adding in a bi/homosexual/lesbian to this game, but I’m not sure yet. Not for any dislike of alternate sexual preferences mind you, some of my best friends are gay, but simply for the sake of ease (i.e. I’m lazy! lol).
To be honest this project was never intended to be anything beyond a simple test to learn the language and it has morphed into something quite a bit larger. I might keep it simpler in order to lessen the workload. I’ve already got dozens of ideas for other games though, and those will certainly be larger and more detailed…
Any thoughts on adding randomization into games? When I originally decided to work on an adventure game I was considering having dice rolls decide combat damage and other things… would using lots of random figures in a game cause many problems do you think?
@Hal91 There’s a thread discussing the pros and cons of random elements and different ways they might be employed. It’s a useful read:
FWIW, my opinion is that randomness needn’t be a bad thing, used in moderation. I’d be somewhat wary of hinging a game’s entire combat system on such, however, simply because a consistent run of “bad luck” could easily spoil a player’s enjoyment of your game for all the wrong reasons.
Having gay best friends doesn’t mean you aren’t homophobic. No, this isn’t a personal attack. I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be a defense.
Anyway, my preference when it comes to romances is to characterise the options. So the Cyberpunk Detective will always be a lesbian regardless of your gender and orientation, that sort of thing.
For this game I think it’s simpler for me to keep the options simple and limited, next time we’ll see. Anyway, 'nough of that! I’ll post updates when I have something notable to update.
I’ll post updates when I have something notable to update. 