I bet some of you would love to throw your support behind this!
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Ok, back in the game. (But my mind is pretty overloaded, so I might disappear for another month or so again.)
Nothing to lose if you post on their beta testing thread, but at least introduce yourself first if you do that.
But for a more nuanced answer, Intfiction is a small community, of which only a subset will take interest in choicescript games. Even if you do get interest, it won’t be a lot of people.
The best way to get their attention is to participate in one of their contests, which guarantees at least three or so folks will play your game and offer their thoughts on it. I received reviews for Dragon of Steelthorne largely because I entered it in their Spring Thing contest, but I’m still weighing whether I want to do another.
Otherwise, you could simply post on their beta testing thread, but you may or may not get a reply. With IFcomp coming up soon, some writers may offer feedback exchange agreements, which you can look at. (That said, this is the Internet, so there’s no guarantee people will always keep their end of the bargain.)
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Oh yeah! I introduced myself already but I haven’t requested any beta testing yet. I’m leaning towards not asking for any help until very close to the end of the project. I’m increasingly confident in my approach so the necessity of beta testing is less.
Think I’ll just take it easy for now. What I’m going to find, instead, is Hong Kong people to read it and tell me whether it feels authentic. That’s not important to most readers, but it’s important to me.
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HECK YEAH JUST POSTED THE UPDATE TO WESTBOUND TRAVEL!!!
Getting it in before the end of the month, as planned, despite it running 30,000 words greater than expected.
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It really depends! I have an extremely high WPM from training typing skills since I was a kid, and my neuro-divergent mind runs a thousand miles a minute, which helps with processing my thoughts.
Something that’s been the case with both my reading and writing since I was a kid is that I visualize everything. I can see the scene firmly in my head, hear the voices, see the characters. Every whisp of a gas leak, groan of a pipe, or jolt of electric humming goes through my mind and it’s like I can hear it, too.
It’s helped so much with my creative endeavors, and as a result it allows me to churn out quickly.
That said, do not get me wrong. I get my fair share of burnout. So far, we’re moving apace on The Frontier.
Speaking of. Ahead of the WIP release, I’m showcasing a small descriptive set of snippets that break down the first major location of the game, known as Turnspire Station.
As shown above, locations within The Frontier will be detailed. Every PoI (Point-of-Interest) whether on planets, stations, or otherwise will come complete with its own content. Whether that be missions/contracts, story missions, general exploration, or profession-related content, I am developing from the top-down a universe that feels lived-in.
Turnspire Station is what I’d likely call a middle-of-the-pack kind of station/location. It’s not falling apart everywhere (well, besides the Blue…), but it’s not glamorous. It’s a great starting area for the Scrapling, and I’ve already coded in some fun encounters.
Combat will not be in the original WIP build, as I would like to get this into the hands of others. Update One will include combat. Whether that’s a basic form or not is to be seen.
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!
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Been making light progress again. But I never knew burnout could be literal when the weather is so hot you feel exhausted just typing a few hundred words. If only AC wasnt so expensive. Hope everyone has had a more successful June. Loving reading everyones works here. Even if I don’t directly comment. I think a lot of yalls work is really great.
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Running a quick poll.
I have implemented what’s known as a progression event warning, which occurs when a plot point will move forward and lock out existing options/exploration in an area.
While all progression events will use a copy/paste boilerplate, the first one introduced has an additional note added to kind of emphasize that you shouldn’t panic as that can have consequences.
Are you okay with this?
- I’m absolutely fine with it, given it’s a one off.
- It’s… okay, I guess.
- No. Remove it.
0
voters
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For real. The average daily temperature here is about 40-50*C. I do manage to get a hour or three in daily, but the torrid heat inspires within me a deep desire to defenestrate both myself and my computer.
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How many people here write as a hobby or part-time? How many write full-time? Just out of curiosity. It’s a fun hobby for me, and it helps me with my day job too, so I like it.
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@Zaxwlyde I think it’s OK to give a warning if you want to, to let people know that it’s a point of no return - but it depends what this progression is. It might be that you could demonstrate it through the narrative, eg “you have half an hour left but you’ve got time for one last chat” etc. Maybe there’s a way of the urgency of the action being “explained” that way rather than pulling the player out of the story.
In this case, I think it might be easier to emphasise in-narrative that Mireya’s response will change if you take too long to try to cover all the bases. I don’t fully understand what the not-panicking comment means, especially the “while this kind of pseudo-spoiler” sentence - with this kind of out-of-narrative notification it needs to be really clear.
@dozendietcokesaday I write full time, mostly on CoG and sometimes on other things. I did do full-time studio work plus CoG for three years, but that was… a lot and I didn’t balance my work/life very well.
@TheMorrigan wooo congratulations!
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I write part time, about 3-4 hours a day, or about 1k words a day. I deliver food and petsit so that affords me the flexibility to write a lot
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That’s very, very fair.
I actually scrapped the warning after waking up. I was coming off about 3k words and only 5 hours of sleep yesterday, and my brain wasn’t thinking how convoluted it was.
I’ve simply reworked the option tied to her to just disappear once triggered the first time, as it shouldn’t be a moving-forward event that cuts off critical information.
Thank you so much for the advice on the in-narrative emphasis! Your advice is always really appreciated, Harris.
@dozendietcokesaday It’s definitely a hobby for me, but I write like it’s full-time of sorts. I have my day job, and try to relax where I can, but it’s definitely something that my mind keeps going but there’s this next part I need to get in… Gotta get VSCode running again…
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I attempted to balance professional writing with another job (I used to work in tech), but it quickly became apparent that a full-time job is incompatible with my health. I’m fortunate that my family was able to help me out, of course.
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I know it’s a bit early since the month isn’t over for another day, but I don’t know if I’ll have time to type this up tomorrow haha. This month went as well as it probably could have writing-wise, considering everything I have on my plate. About 19k worth of words, along with some coding and fixing and messing with the dreaded numbers.
How did I stack up against my original goal??
Survival until July 1st: TBA
Otherwise… pretty good!
Definitely a hobbyist here. As a stay at home parent, I severely lack the commodity of time — particularly “me” time. I have a sleep debt deeper than the Mariana Trench since I do all of my writing during nap times and after everyone is asleep at night; or early in the morning before they’re awake and I’ve already tended the gardens and fed the ducks and chickens. As the saying goes, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Or maybe in a couple years when I get smart, I haven’t decided yet.
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I write part time as I’ve got a full time job that takes most of my time. I’ve gone through phases where I write every day and other phases where it is more sporadic.
The heat in England is a pain at the moment. Especially post heart surgery where it can really drain my energy.
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It’s nice to hear about everyone’s different writing styles!
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Another full-timer, have been for a decade, though it hasn’t exactly been lucrative during most of that time.
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So true! Big projects where you get paid an uncertain amount on completion, that’s pretty stressful. I’m happy just producing research reports and blog content for my day job. A steady paycheck has its advantages.
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Another option, if you’re worried about players not necessarily picking up on exactly why or how something happened as it did, is to put (simplified, minimal) explanations of the mechanics unique to your game in something like a ‘how to play’ section in a menu. I like reading about things like this, and knowing what I’m getting into, but others prefer to discover by doing, so by making it optional and tucking it away off the main story pages, you can avoid immersion breaking while still providing the same information?
But otherwise, yes, I think what Harris said about letting the player just encounter the mechanic in the narrative, with Mireya reacting differently if they waste time or hurry too much, would be the way to go, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea to keep it where it is. If it’s relatively low stakes, the player can learn this piece of how the game works and know to apply it later without it being a huge story-changer right off the bat.
Sorry to butt in; I just thought about this for a while yesterday. It’s a really neat idea, especially for stories with high-pressure, time crunch situations. 
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New writer here (for ifs and in general) looking for some opinions and/or tips, what do you all feel makes scenes “long-winded” or generally a slog to get through? Any tips on how to make prose easier and/or more enjoyable to read?
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