The problem I have with many customizations options is I will do maths with the length of the game. And know except the game is massive all that won’t matter or make game with the deep of a puddle.
That or make a very long introduction that will take me away from story.
Of course, lucid jimD Havenstone have implemented ways to solve that but mostly through massive amounts of code and several parts games.
Question: Do you have the story blocked out, outlined, or story boarded yet?
The reason I ask this, is that most times, mechanics will not be able to be finalized until this is done.
For example: character customization really will not be able to be fleshed out until you know what roll the customization plays … is it just to add flavor, to act as a signpost of the character’s power(s), or perhaps these options change over time as the story progresses.
You want your mechanics to slot into your story, not the other way around.
I read your latest updated link … I really am enjoying your tale, so don’t put pressure on yourself… your next update will be ready when it is ready.
Speaking of your project … I love the update, however, your pronouns in the movie-set portion are all screwed up. I was playing a female MC, and it was referring to me as a guy in that one section alone.
My goal for February is to continue building the foundation of my new WiP world and flesh out the skeletons of the characters I have in mind for the setting.
The concept I ended up creating started making me think of similarities in my favorite TV series, which was completely unintentional. I think because I’m writing for interactive fiction, though, it will have a very different feel. That, and the setting is very different. I guess I can’t be too upset that I thought I was creating a fairly original concept but then realized, “Oh, no, this has been done way better before.”
I’ll keep working on figuring out how I want my world to work and hopefully that will help me find different creative concepts to explore. I don’t want to share specific details until I understand the core of my universe better. Right now, it’s just kind of a hazy cloud with a couple of solid objects in it.
The story is broadly blocked out. I haven’t gone too far in planning it because I wasn’t sure the overall game was going to work and was having fun figuring out what I could do in choice script.
I agree about mechanics slotting into the story, in general. In this case I’m trying something a little different. This idea may not work at all, mainly I wanted to get a WiP out to test out the core idea of this kind of game and see if people like it. If the game flies but the story crashes, I can spend the effort crafting the right story and utilize the same mechanics.
To try and give context. The game is set post apocalypse and you have built a bunker and have survived with a group of friends. You must now continue to survive and try to thrive. Each game day you allocate time, pick projects and decide what kind of activities you will do. Then you play through the day (similar ish to Choice of Rebels).
The ‘story slotting into the mechanics’ is that the game will take your chosen actions and randomly pull from a pool of possible scenes for that action (you explore, do you find the shop, school or bank? Do you encounter this, that or something else along the way). Various other variables will track the flavour of the scenes and your interactions.
The game will track morale, supplies, Health, progress etc. By building these mechanics as standalone pieces, I can add new scenes into the pool and the game just pulls then in and they slot right in.
So there’s a backbone set of actions with a plot that keeps a fixed-ish path. But the player gets a lot more freedom outside that.
Of course, that may be wildly ambitious. I’ll only really know when the mechanics are in place and I can start adding story and seeing just how much variation I need and want and how easy it is to do.
Rember that type of games are based upon player feels something about the Npcs are with him/her/them in the bunker. Doesn’t assume that because they are supposed friends player with automatic care for them and don’t want get rid of them.
What difference between a good writing story from a good writing interactive one is the capacity for form meaningful choices and let player define their own feelings about the group NPcs.
In @JimD ZESH I hate most of the group and that hatred define meaningfully the whole interactions with player and NPCs. And better npc with npc.
I want to second what @poison_mara said about heavy customization.
Are the extra options going to make a difference at the end of the game? Do they add a useful dimension to the story or is it something shiny.
I’ve removed one of my customizations because it was so difficult to implement. That super cool idea that I had two years ago is a big pain in the butt and doesn’t add anything to the game.
Easy to start, harder to finish. Be kind to yourself. You can always add complexity later.
Happy birthday to me! As a present to myself, I completed a working skeleton of Chapter 2 of my game. 6 more chapters to go–and now, it gets complicated. Things will start to get a bit more branchy, which will be so much fun to work out! Gah. I love Choicescript.
I hope I’m able to keep this momentum going!
@Shyranno I find the best way to organize arcs is to use gosubs. I like to keep my main trunk at the top of the chapters and all the arcs at the bottom in a pile of gosubs. That way I can see all the code at the top of the chapter with a relatively easy scan.
Ooh! Hey thanks! You’re right, that would make it much neater and easier to deal with. Thank you! 
I may be making a big deal out of this, but when you think of the thriller genre, what comes to mind?
I’m aware that thriller covers a lot, but as I observed from the forums, the tag’s usually used for psychological thriller or horror. I just don’t want a horror fan to stumble upon my WIP and assume that it’s within that area only to be disappointed that it’s actually not the case. My story’s mostly mystery/action/romance so I’m not sure if I should keep the thriller tag or just replace it with romance.
The thought keeps interrupting my progress today 
I am back to the support forum! 
from what i have done, I’ve finally managed to figure out a scene for chapter 6, thereby finishing it! though I totally missed my set time to finish it which was supposed to be in November ;w;
Now I just need to figure out what will fill out chapter 7. will it be character-driven? plot? stats? romance? or whatever else? no idea but I’m not setting a time goal anymore, i feel like it is being more of a hinderance because i keep focusing on it.
Hmm…I guess I’d associate thriller with something that’s intense, usually violent. Not necessarily horror but in the same ballpark. It could also be like maybe a high stakes spy/agent sort of thing, like the Bourne series or something? But again, I think my main association is with violence or at least high adrenaline life or death sort of situations.
Granted, I’m not super familiar with genre words and definitions so that could be way off from what it’s supposed to mean, but that’s what I would personally assume based on that word.
Thrillers tend to be plot-focused stories with high stakes, lots of twists and a suspenseful quality that pulls the reader in. Worldbuilding, romance and character development are usually in the backseat, plot twists are in the front seat.
One of the defining features of a thriller is the “edge of your seat ride” which hinges on crazy plots and set pieces of action or emotional suspense. They also tend to have shallower character arcs, the protagonist may be disheveled and traumatised at the end but they tend not to be transformed in any other way.
Examples:
Classic Thrillers: Most Hitchcock movies
Military Thriller: Hunt for Red October
Action Thriller: Speed
Horror Thriller: Get Out
I wrote 1,004 words last night. I know my posts can be repetitive, but this was another milestone I’ve been aching to accomplish again. Won’t likely do as well tonight; I can’t always withstand the siren song of old addictions. But it feels good to put one in the win column.
@hustlertwo Well done! A thousand words is a briliant result.
I’ve been fired up all this past week. I’ve not been keeping track of word counts but I’ve been writing lots of stuff and feeling very good about it. I’m happily tapping away on my keyboard and hoping to have a new update soon (but not stressing about it).
That’s awesome, hustler and jose!
In other news, I wrote 925 words yesterday… and realized today that I may end up not using any of it :,)
Hey, at least you did it. Figuring out what you don’t want to use gets you close to figuring out what you do want.
Not only this, but you can always cut the words but put them into a file to keep, in case you find a need later on.
Eiwynn tip: When cutting code and/or prose, I often document what I am thinking with a comment, because often if I go back, I do not remember why i did something…
Example: I switched a *gosub from an *if-*elseif-*else structure to a multireplace structure… my comment is:
Whenever I go over this, I remind myself why I did the edit.
I feel like I only post in the Support Threads once a month voicing out how disappointed I am with my own WIP, but whatever.
I typed up a long ranty post last night because I’ve been keeping it to myself for a long time, and I’m glad I didn’t follow through with it. I guess I’m just coming to terms with the fact that I seem to have a niche audience despite having a wide array of genres in my premise. I just wish I knew why exactly, though I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s either the MC’s young age, or the title (I’m really considering a new one despite it being the perfect one for me).
The TL;DR of the post was that I’m disappointed and discouraged at my project because 90% of the new WIPs are getting more attention despite having less wordcount and being out for a way less amount of time. (And don’t get me wrong, I love some of them). I’ve had this experience before, and I know I shouldn’t look at the numbers, but it’s just hard not to when some need less than a week to overtake you. Like, what am I doing wrong?
I just realized, I don’t care much about being as active or successful as the more popular WIPs, I’m more frustrated by the fact that I’m getting little to no feedback at all even when I’m asking for it (and the relatively low view count isn’t helping me either). It’s hard to have any discussion, and I have lots I want to talk about.
Case in point: I created a survey, and if not for it, I wouldn’t have guessed that almost 70% of the responders were having trouble understanding the non-English parts of my story. I was under the impression that the context clues were enough because no one was mentioning them. Imagine if I completed the story thinking that way.
And now I’m worried that the survey is just going to make people less likely to give actual, concrete feedback.
Skimming through the “Losing Interests in WIPs” thread, surely I’m not the only one feeling this way? (Yes, I realize too that the reason I’m not giving feedback to others besides not having time is because it’s hard to phrase it eloquently.)