Hello! Im a new user, Forgive me if this is not the forum to be posting this (Im not much of a computer person) but im interested in creating interactive stories that others will enjoy playing. I am intent on doing this but, like any other new user I need help understanding the steps needed to “start” my story. I followed the tutorial to the best of my capabilities and understand the gist of it.
My only problem being, What do I do, Or what do I click to actually start making my story? I have access to the file that was required to download but now what? Do I make a new Notepad file inside the ChoiceScript file? Even then, how would I get it into the gaming format?
To put it easier, what steps do I take to start my story? I might have many other questions later on but my main focus is on actually starting up my story. Any professional answer would be greatly appreciated, I dont want guesses and try this stuff, I just want to know how to start my story.
That’s the thing, I don’t know what i’m using because I don’t know what to click on. I can access the file that was downloaded but then that’s pretty much it, All I can do is fiddle with the other files and see what happens. Whether its to download an easier app/file to start, I don’t know. Even if my only option is Notepad, I would greatly use it, but I don’t know “How to use it” as in I don’t know if I should just open notepad app and just start typing my story or if I should do something before hand.
Okay, well here’s CSIDE (Choicescript IDE), which I would highly recommend working in. They have a really robust tutorial built in, and whenever you start a new project should automatically make at least a startup file (which you’ll need before you start writing the actual chapters). https://choicescriptide.github.io/about/
Welcome! @RoAnnaSylver has the right of it, I would recommend downloading CSIDE for a streamlined writing program. I also recommend checking out some of the tutorials that are on the website under the tab for making your own games.
Make sure to scroll to the bottom to see the other pages.
Perhaps most important is what you are already doing: use the forums, Luke. People here almost always have quick answers for any question both big and small, and there’s no reason to be embarrassed because odds are that no matter how silly your question might be, it’s likely already been asked many times before.
Its getting easier, I still don’t fully understand its way of making indention’s and the lot but i’m getting there, Right now i’m down to copy and pasting already made choices, etc and rewriting as to my story, Its working out better now but I still need to figure out how to make the names, races, etc. Spent a few hours looking at the tutorials and I only grasp small portions of what its talking about.
Good! I’m really glad you’re figuring it out. It took me a long time too - hell, I’m still learning. And yes, seconding that using the forums and asking questions is GOOD and the most helpful thing.
Another thing I sometimes suggest for people who seem uncomfortable with programming in general is to check out a thread I made when I came here. I understood literally nothing about any of this (my first post is me just trying to figure out how to advance to the next line, in the super-brief time where I used Notepad before I switched to CSIDE and never looked back), so a lot of the stuff you may get hung up on might have been mentioned early on in there.
Though I am still copying and pasting, I see why others tend to use and promote ChoiceScript IDE, It is very useful indeed, Though i am not quite there yet, I can now start making my story, but it wont be as detailed until I figure out the rest of the works. It is indeed helpful but, Even in the tutorial, there is so much wording and going back and forth, I have no idea still how to make characters, names, etc. Suppose I should just dive deeper.
You always create your variables at the beginning of the startup file if you put it any where else you will get an error. The set up should be like this:
When you get this step over with you should be able to start using the variables like this:
"What a beautiful-
*choice
#baby girl
*set Gender1 "she"
*set Gender2 "her"
*set Gender3 "Ms."
*set Gender4 "girl"
*set Gender "Female"
*goto baby1
#baby boy
*set Gender1 "he"
*set Gender2 "him"
*set Gender3 "Mr."
*set Gender4 "boy"
*set Gender5 "Master"
*set Gender "Male"
*goto baby1
#Child
*set Gender1 "Xie"
*set Gender2 "Xem"
*set Gender3 "Mx."
*set Gender4 ""
*set Gender "Non-Bin"
*goto baby1
*label baby1
What will you name ${Gender2}?
Your mother looks at your dad with a smile "Actually we were thinking about-"
*label name
The first name being-
*input_text Name
*goto name2
*line_break
*label name2
And the last name being-
*input_text Surname
*goto baby2
*label baby2
" and came up with $!{Name} $!{Surname}"
Using this example the player should be able to choose their gender and name. Hope this helps you.
