July's Writers' Support Thread

[Alice-chan]

I got over 4,000 words down today, a new record.

I’m now keeping track of my daily writing:
8th: 3000
9th: 1700
10th: none
11th: 500
12th: 2000
13th: 2000
14th: 4200

That means in 7 days (or 1 week) I have written 13 400 words, hooray

[HarrisPS]

Today I’ve been working in a couple of different files so I have little idea of words (and here I used to track everything judiciously ) but I’ve drafted nearly two scenes and am therefore nearly halfway through the chapter! Tomorrow I’ll have a better idea of how much longer the chapter will take, fingers crossed it doesn’t expand out of the realms of sense…

[Novachrome]

Novachrome’s journal:Finally started writing…
2500+ words
Horror genre
Wish Me luck​:woman_technologist:‍♂

[Alice-chan]

@Novachrome

Novachrome’s journal:Finally started writing…

Thats half the battle

[AChubbyBlackCat]

A funny if sometimes on the nose quote for all you writers! Congrats on your progress so far!

[jigglypuff]

Gosh, you guys write so fast. I’m currently working on chapter 1 of a WIP I reaalllly hope to upload before the end of the month. Mostly fleshing out the drafts and rewriting things now, but it’s slow going. I have all the motivation but none of the discipline…

[Alice-chan]

I just released a huge sigh of pent up air because I have reached 350 000 words! That was a struggle but I’m there, woop.

[Eiwynn]

July Update Three: “Make a Vertical Slice Demo Month Three.”

First draft of the demo is now complete. Scripting did not take as long as I thought it would.

• Stats-screen seems to be up and running; it is basic and utilitarian, but it covers everything I need it to for the core game.

• The entire demo passes quicktesting and randomtesting.

• copy-edit work in progress; all variables seem to be in place and active now, a couple of continuity issues corrected.

I’d like to introduce my most common bug to everyone: MCName

MCName is of the genus PLACEHOLDER and takes the place of the various name variables that are supposed to be in its place. Ideally, MCName should give way to the proper variables on scripting.

Unfortunately MCName posses a survival mechanism named: mind-blindness which MCName uses quite devastatingly. My blinded eyes ignores the existence of MCName and it rudely rears its ugly head all over my demo.

Sometimes it pops up like a gopher, and while I try to bash it, it usually takes the help of Find a ferret that digs every last trace of MCName from my demo.

Begone MCName you served your purpose in my writing, but in my scripting you are worse than useless …

I hope everyone is progressing well at this, the halfway point of the month.

[moonfungus]

@Eiwynn

Begone MCName you served your purpose in my writing, but in my scripting you are worse than useless …

You seem to be in a poetic mood…

[Kotosinica]

I’m trying to rework my main character’s personality variables. Emphasis on trying. Previous personality options vere lacking and barely integrated into the game.

[Anathema]

@Eiwynn

Vertical Slice Demo

I’m curious to what this means, exactly? I tried Wikipedia, but they applied it to much more complex systems than choicescript. What does making a vertical slice demo entail to you?

I kinda wanna try my hand at different methods of writing IF

[Eiwynn]

@Anathema

@Eiwynn

Vertical Slice Demo

I’m curious to what this means, exactly? I tried Wikipedia, but they applied it to much more complex systems than choicescript. What does making a vertical slice demo entail to you?

I kinda wanna try my hand at different methods of writing IF

This is from the first post in this thread:

@Eiwynn

Project – “Make a Vertical Slice Demo”

This past month (May) I began working on a demo to showcase a game I am attempting to design, develop and write.

The specific goal of this demo is to introduce the story, systems and mechanics of the game (showing a vertical slice of the game) to an alpha-group of testers. So it’s much more restricted than the real thing will be.

The next goal is to release a more comprehensive test demo that will be explicitly for bug-hunting and similar activities seen in a WiP thread.

I also have a list of features I plan to implement - fighting feature creep will be a major point-of-emphasis once I hit this phase.

Here is how I introduce the demo in the demo itself:

This vertical slice demo is a small, self-contained chunk of the game that allows someone to play through it and see the major systems of the game working together. As a result, this demo is more restricted than the real thing will be. This is mostly felt in the “Origins” section of the demo, where the player agency leading to gameplay is restricted.

Unfortunately, the demo is not particularly optimized, and you may encounter some bugs. It should run fine, but please forgive my basic scripting skills — something that will be improved on for the final release version of the game.

Once I receive any feedback given by those participating in this phase of the project, my plan is to spend the rest of this year on writing, scripting and finalizing a more comprehensive beta test demo that will be explicitly for showcasing the game to the CoG/HG/HC Forum Community.

…

Think of this as a sneak peek, or t.v. pilot you are watching in advance. The pathing is restricted, but there’s a fair bit of dialog to experience within. Hopefully this will give you an idea of the atmosphere seen in the real game.

[Alice-chan]

Daily update for the 16th: 2700 words added near about

[poison_mara]

In this month I roughly write 8k for a contest and I am really disappointed with my terrible writing. At least I am writing, I suppose.

[Alice-chan]

Daily update: 355 000 words as of today. I had some inspiration to work on a combat scene in the new chapter that I had been putting off. Its really coming together now, feels action packed and tense imo, its pirate ship combat but disguised as sci-fi

[Novachrome]

Novachrome’s journal:didn’t write today
Reviewed certain issues in plot,
Writing horror isn’t easy ‍♂
Especially when you’re new to writing in the first place.

The bugs:
We’ll let his game run first then pop up when he’s reviewed the codes🤖

[poison_mara]

I write 2k words today, so It was an okay day.

[HarrisPS]

I haven’t written today, but I did a lot over the last few days! @FayI kindly playtested the first half of chapter 2 for me and uncovered some bugs and a few sections fitting together wonkily. So I edited those bits, added some extra breathing space, and moved some crucial character information from a branch into a core scene that everyone would see. And I’m getting there on the chapter. All of the romanceable characters have been introduced now! (One only with one line so far but that still counts!)

[rinari]

I have the last 27 pages of my book manuscript to edit, and then I’m done! Unfortunately, this is the part that needs heavy rewriting—I was just sick to death of the whole thing in the first draft, and it shows—but I’m hoping to finish that this week. Then after that I need to write enough content to update my Shepherds of Haven alpha build and complete a short story (usually about 8,000) words for Patreon, all before the 31st.

It’s looking very close, but if I work really hard, I should make it by the end of the month. Then I’m going to take a week off and just rest… :’)

[Alice-chan]

A simple 800 words today. My current chapter that I am working on has finally crossed the 100 000 word barrier and become completely unwieldly. I knew this was going to happen so I have split it into two parts. THe first part is almost complete while the second is a mess of *labels.

Think I’m going to take a short break from it to work on some later stuff and maybe some plotting. Such plans envelop me, I am truly feverish with the writing bug.