Oh goodness yes. I’ve solved this by pantsing the game-through as a single route first and then expanding to other branches.
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My “outline” only exists in my head, and it’s subject to change at any time. I have a rough idea of where I’m going, but I find out how to get there as I go.
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I haven’t seen anyone mention it but I wanted to let people know that Notepad++ has been compromised by hackers. You can read about it here
If you’ve accepted any updates it in the past 9 or 10 months then your copy has some malicious code. Go to the official notepad++ website and manually install the new update to get rid of it- don’t use the auto-updater since that is what was hacked.
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Thanks for the heads up! I used to use notepad++ and I know at least some writers on here do too.
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I’ve never been a pantser, but I’m actively planning a game with the purpose of pantsing. I’m doing this because my outlines always end up being lacking. Too complicated, too simple, too cookie cutter, or have a very specific flaw I can’t figure out.
So, I’m hoping that making a slice of life drama with no outline will give me some good practice.
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I checked, and it looks like I was still on the legacy 32-bit version.
Which means I’m officially an old man: my tech is too antiquated to compromise.
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This is almost exactly what happened to me, haha - I simply never update notepad++ so the update system being compromised never factored in for me…
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Haha, so we’re both trying something else! I don’t foresee myself sticking to this experiment, I enjoy my process, but it’s good to try something else and get new ideas. I hope it works well for both of us! 
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I need to actually finish Scarlet Sorceress one of these days. I keep starting it over! I am quite fond of it still.
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It’s difficult to find a good balance, huh? I used to be a devoted pantser, and I even got some good results that way, but eventually I was just coming up with far too much meandering muck that I had to spend forever sculpting into something coherent after all was said and done.
Now I practice a plan-as-you-pants method. I think it’s been working out so far. I’ve rewritten my outline for my current story five times as I write, and I’m happier with it each time.
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I originally posted this in my own thread, but I wanted to post this here, assuming it’s okay.
I had a poll which was a landslide (both one in this forums and one out of it) to reintroduce the Demo for A Realm Divided once Update 1 was ready.
In the last few days, I’ve had two people more or less call out griping that I post too much.
Now, I had a previous poll in which people said they loved the posts and information/insight I gave on development. For those who have read the updates either in my thread, or here, do you enjoy/want to see these? Or should I be posting/communicating less?
- Keep up the posting. I approve.
- You need to cut back and post less.
0
voters
I ensured the poll was not public, and I tried to keep a more… neutral ground in the two options while still giving a simple yes or no type of response.
Anyways, thanks all. Just got in my head a bit (not criticism, but wanted to ensure people actually ‘like’ the communication and insights/frequency as I develop).
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I haven’t voted yet since I’m of two minds.
I personally enjoy your posts and like seeing you talk about how you’re stretching ChoiceScript, but I wouldn’t mind if you summarised your progress in weekly or fortnightly digests either (I personally do fortnightly, but Pactbinder is of course an extremely different project to Estheria!).
IMO do whatever you think will keep you most motivated and engaged to get the Update 1 Demo out. If you’re spending a lot of time on daily updates that could be allocated to working on the Demo and could get it out faster, then I think consolidated updates on a regular but slower pace would make more sense. Conversely, if you find the regular posting motivating and good at keeping you productive, then keep going with that.
It’s a bit trite, I know, but I truly believe whichever approach helps you to produce a decent sized demo soonest will get the best audience reaction in the long run, regardless of feedback in the interim.
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I appreciate it.
I have a high WPM, and I type out these updates when my mind needs a ‘break’ from being buried deep in code and design. Usually I can knock out an update that’s 6+ paragraphs within 10-15 minutes tops, so it never has impacted my workflow.
For me, it is a way to refocus my mind, and when someone does comment and give some form of feedback (plus the polls) it helps me to sharpen things.
I have a solid vision for where I want to go and what I plan to achieve, but it doesn’t mean that the vision is ironclad for an RPG of this scale.
The one post, mentioning bringing in other people, it’d be great, sure. Not feasible with limited resources. But I’d rather not compromise the ideal and vision and just tack on more time to get the job done.
So, I post not only to inform the community and to show differing ways I’m toying with ChoiceScript, but also to keep my mind engaged by wordifying my thoughts, and to garner that feedback that may lead to a small pivot on something before I end up hard-coding it and making it a royal pain to refactor later.
Code Snippet on Economy
*temp rand 0
*comment *** Stones Hollow Economic Recalculation ***
*if (major_change_economy_stoneshollow_positive)
*rand rand 12 20
*set stoneshollow_supply_index stoneshollow_supply_index + rand
*set major_change_economy_stoneshollow_positive false
*if (major_change_economy_stoneshollow_negative)
*set rand 0
*rand rand 12 20
*set stoneshollow_supply_index stoneshollow_supply_index - rand
*set major_change_economy_stoneshollow_negative false
*if (minor_change_economy_stoneshollow_positive)
*set rand 0
*rand rand 4 8
*set stoneshollow_supply_index stoneshollow_supply_index + rand
*set minor_change_economy_stoneshollow_positive false
*if (minor_change_economy_stoneshollow_negative)
*set rand 0
*rand rand 4 8
*set stoneshollow_supply_index stoneshollow_supply_index - rand
*set minor_change_economy_stoneshollow_negative false
*comment --- Cutoff Clamp to prevent Price/Stock Spiral ---
*if (stoneshollow_supply_index > 50)
*set stoneshollow_supply_index 50
*if (stoneshollow_supply_index < -50)
*set stoneshollow_supply_index -50
*comment --- Below line is non-conditional and gradually shifts the economy towards the original base values as part of a 'normalization' factor should no more events occur. ---
*set stoneshollow_supply_index round(stoneshollow_supply_index * 0.9)
*comment --- Shop Recalculation Subroutine ---
*gosub hollowneed_refresh
On a fun note, the above code is part of what I’m working on to establish a ‘supply index’ that dictates how hard the economy swings in any one direction. Still untested as I’m building the shoppe applicable pieces, but we’re getting there.
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I find the posts I do read of yours interesting enough (and occasionally inspiring), but I do skip a lot of them. (The same goes for about half of the posts in this thread in general.) I feel pretty neutral about your posting frequency, since I can just scroll past if I’m feeling impatient. I suppose my thinking is that this thread’s purpose is to keep us all motivated, so hopefully your posts are having that effect on yourself and others.
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What do writers do to create good romance that players enjoy? I am coming at this from the outside, as I personally do not enjoy romance in my stories, but I acknowledge that many readers do. Is there a formula or checklist that successful romances usually follow?
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Oh my god. I need to double-check when I installed my new copy after formatting both disks. Uh, after I have my morning tea.
Thank you for bringing this to wider attention! I really had no idea.
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I-doll author here, thanks for including me in this update, my goal is to finish week 1 in the villa, after outlining the chapter I realised that there are 3 whole months of challenges and interactions so hopefully a ratio of 1.5 to 1 in real life to game life will be ideal 
I actually just shared a snippet of this week’s progress on my tumblr (idollif.blog) if anyone wants to check it out 
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Got my brain short-cirquited by “Tycho Brahe”, need a reboot.
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