Of course, there’s also our very own Halloween Jam!
(The older ones’ entries may have disappeared when Dashingdon shut down, but it’s possible some have been moved. I haven’t checked.)
(Ah, some of the 2024 ones do have CoGDemos links, but not all of them. I really should upload my old shorties, if I just could find the files…)
Welcome to @TheMonarch @Ne_Ne and @Acetronomer! 
We’re rooting for you and your writing!
Re: @Lan’s villain questions. My opinions have already been stated by others in a very smart manner, but please know I’m having like, flashbacks to the Ikemen visual novel apps where Every. Single. Love Interest. was a villain with a tragic past that made everything they ever did 100% justifiable and okay 
Pretty anime boy would re-tell their tragic backstory and people would start throwing their underwear 
As for my own update - I’ve surprised myself and managed to find a bit of time that I didn’t think I would, but I’m now having an argument with myself over skills and whatnot. When I made my first attempt at a game in… whatever year that was, I wanted a kind of standard skill system - stealth and charisma and fighting and all that nonsense with their own skill bars. It felt kind of awkward to be constantly thinking about actual numbers for skill checks and was part of the reason I ended up not going back to that story.
This time round I’ve planned for what I’ve called the MC’s “specialisation” - they’re a highly trained individual so they can kind of do everything, but they’re really good at either Combat, Interrogation, or Analysis. Which is basically the big 3 of fighting, talking, and thinking. Having a particular specialisation gives you different options in places, or makes it easier to find certain information when you’re investigating.
I kind of like how this feels in my planning so far, but the concern that’s floating at the back of my mind is that there’s no real progression with it. I’m trying to work out whether I should just try and go with a more standard system of skills, or whether I stick with this system. Or whether I stick with this system AND come up with some additional character traits that would serve as progression without being as overwhelming as a full skill system.
The problem I have with skill progression is that I don’t always see how it’s supposed to make sense in the story, especially in cases where you’re already a professional at the start and the skill checks constantly rise; it tends to lead to situations where you’re most efficient at the start, and then it goes downhill from there if you fail to read the author’s mind and think that maybe you could learn new stuff since you’re already a pro in what you do, and then you suddenly can’t do anything right and the game doesn’t even acknowledge that it’s because your opponents are so much tougher than what you’re used to (which hopefully has an explanation but can also just be happening for no reason).
…sorry about the rant, I have Thoughts about this subject. 
Thoughts are great, they’re exactly what I need 
If I look back on skill heavy games that I’ve played, I do often find myself hitting an obvious skill choice section and opening up my character sheet to go “Well, I’ve got 73% in Throat Punching, so even though Being Nice feels like the right choice thematically I guess I’m gonna go with the option that tests my Throat Punching skill”.
And it’s very difficult to know how strict a skill gate is until you’ve played through the game too, is 60% high for this game or is it terrible? Is failure going to kill me or not?
I think given that I’m already committed to not having strict game over style failure, a bunch of skills don’t really make sense - especially since I can’t think of a narrative reason why skills would significantly improve in the timescale of the story.
Maybe once I’ve got further along with the writing, the narrative progression alone will be enough. I dunno, I just feel like sometimes “number go up " really gels with people.
Hold off until you’ve at least finished your current chapter, otherwise almost all the feedback will be “I want more of this” which is nice to hear but not all that useful for you! Gotta hand out at least a few bites of the sandwich.
I hadn’t thought of it, but now I definitely will be.
Gamification! A well-loved strategy by neurodivergents (and people in general with whimsy in their heart).
Adding to everyone’s lovely jam recommendations—if you’re looking for anything very short, I offer the Neo-Twiny Jam!
I’m hoping I’ve made what are reasonable weekly tasks for my beta-reading goals, the same way my part-time remote work has been functioning so far. How well it’ll work remains to be seen. My brain decided to nerf itself again but hopefully I’ll get stuff done.
I’ll need some eyes on this—
“I need to talk to them,” Agent Something-or-other said, eyes locked to his notepad.
“Should be easy to find, the homeless camp is just by the road to the lake.” Anderson gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Good luck getting anything useful out of them, though. They don’t like to talk with us.”
It was more that they didn’t like to talk with Anderson. I couldn’t blame them. I didn’t like talking with him, either. And it was usually Keogh who dealt with the issues in the camp for a reason.
The agent nodded and kept writing in his notepad, not looking up. “Is there a big homeless problem here?”
“Yes,” Anderson said; at the same time, Keogh said “no”.
The agent looked at them. “You’ll have to explain that one.”
Keogh glared at Anderson for a good measure, and then answered gruffly. “We have homeless, yes. Sometimes drifters come in and don’t leave again—”
The agent looked dubious, but the facts remained. The hows and whys of it were one of those things that make your head hurt the more you think about it, so I mostly didn’t, but the facts remained.
Whatever the reason, people kept flocking in, even after the lumber industry died out and the traffic dried off, and Lindwurm welcomed them all. Some were lost and dazed, like they didn’t know who or where they were. Others came with hollow voices and thousand-yard stares, or with the haunted eyes of prey who’s tired of running. Some wanted a place where they could belong, or just be themselves, others a place to hide.
Some became sheriff’s deputies.
“—but,” Keogh continued, voice like liquid nitrogen, “it’s not a problem. The county provides housing for everyone who needs it. We take care of our own here, Agent. Lindwurm takes care of her own.”
“But,” the agent gestured to Keogh with his pen, “why is there a camp, then?”
Keogh sighed. “Some people like to stay in the woods when the weather permits. It’s more roomy there, and more space for the kids to run.”
What he didn’t say was that most of those people were werewolves. Werewolves who just preferred the woods, period.
“Wait, hold on.” The agent was just gesturing wildly with his pen, now. “There are children living in the woods?”
“It’s not like that,” I interjected. “It used to be a campground, back when there was tourism. There’s electricity and running water and phone lines and supervision. They’re fine. It’s like a late summer camp.”
Can’t argue with that, I’d just prefer it to happen in a way that doesn’t ruin the story for me!
(One of the reasons why I’m scratching my head so much with my skill system.)
Now I’m hungry.
I’m picturing working part-time as a videogame NPC now.
Thanks again for dropping some feedback on Talon Saga! I really appreciate it!
Hell yeah, there were times in my life when “number go up” was the only good thing happening in my day.
Sounds like some small town detectives are hiding a werewolf problem… sorry, not a ‘problem’.
I thought it had a cool and detached vibe, methodically sifting through lines of enquiry, like in a gritty crime-drama. The main thing which I found a bit weird, was when the narrator interjects, as they hadn’t really seemed like they were actually there until that point, and I was expecting it to be Keogh, but this could just be because the snippet is out of context. Otherwise, when is part 2 out? 
I mean, the werewolves are actually pretty chill. The problem, as it is, is that someone is murdering them.
Yeah, there’s a huge chunk missing from the start (and the narrator decided they should give Keogh a breather before he flies off the handle and punches the agent).
“It’s not like that,” I interjected. “It used to be a campground, back when there was still tourism. There’s electricity and running water and phone lines and supervision. They’re fine. It’s like a late summer camp. You know, the kind where poor families who didn’t have relatives on countryside used to send their kids so they could get some sun in the old country.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” the agent said. “But I still need to talk to them.”
“Not the kid,” Keogh said. “She’s ten. And she only found the body we were all looking for. She doesn’t know anything.”
“The parents,” the agent said.
“No can do. They’re dead.”
The agent inhaled deeply, held his breath a moment and then exhaled just as deeply. “Legal guardians?”
“That was the brother,” Keogh said.
“Great. Fantastic.” The agent pinched the bridge of his nose. “Witnesses?”
“Sure,” Keogh said amiably, unapologetically. “Those we have.”
I’m aiming for the Snippet Day, there’s a lot for me to untangle in this scene.
I’ve tentatively started writing my first interactive fiction! I’ve always loved them and been wanting to try my hand at it for so long, and now I’m finally getting around to it. Been mainly drafting an outline for the overarching story idea, and figuring out scenes as well as the cast of characters involved. So far coming up with all the names for characters has been one of the hardest parts and there’s some silly placeholder names for now
Also been playing around with the coding to figure out how it all works and it was a lot less intimidating than I thought! Probably having some prior experience with coding has helped me pick up choicescript quickly, which I’m grateful for as I was nervous about that
I’ve got parts of the prologue and chapter 1 written, mainly the scenes in my head that served as immediate inspiration for my ideas. I’m trying to create a skeleton of code and where scenes should be and such before I get into the meat of the writing
I feel this. My early-state planning project documents usually just have a one-word description of the character in allcaps or brackets, so I know where to go back and replace them eventually. So things like MERCENARY or [Mentor] or whatnot.
Names are difficult.
But good luck with the new story! This thread is usually pretty good about advice if you turn out to need it, and I’m sure the prior code experience will make CS much easier than it is for a lot of newcomers. (I remember lots of flailing, personally.)
Ah! This March will be my 12th year celebrating it.
No, there’s no standard. Just be aware when you publish, it’s by total word count. Readers will be frustrated if they pay a lot for duplicated content.
If I end up repeating two long sentences or a paragraph (or more), I use a *gosub. If you need an exact amount, I don’t use a *gosub for anything under 15-20 words.
Ask questions and read other work’s code to help you. I come from a cybersecurity background, but CS still took me three months to master (four if we count multi replace).
I find my most common struggle is re-writing drafts. The first draft is never good for me. But, when do we decide to stop the drafts?
I’m also curious about how you all handle RO introductions!
I’m trying to set the scene well and introduce the RO’s appearance and personality slowly, to build tension and help the player determine how they feel first.
But, as I was replaying my favorite WIPs here, a lot tend to explain the RO in a few paragraphs then you make a choice to flirt or not!
I wonder if my slower method won’t be as popular?
I mean, I see no point in delaying introducing a character’s appearance (if the MC logically would see it), but I do hate when a game wants me to form an opinion on a character without giving me time to form that opinion, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.
Different people have different preferences, though.
Having thought this over a bit, I’ve only delayed describing the RO’s appearance because I want drill in the emotional impact and relevancy of the character’s appearance compared to the player’s chosen background and the world around them.
I also tend to forget character appearances pretty quickly, so I hope the slower focus helps with memory!
For example, you can note that, for a traveling warrior, the RO’s hair is very well-maintained. Is it vanity? Is it something else?
Maybe I should use the scene for Snippet Day? Or post it earlier? 
I meant in the sense that in chapter one it is described that the character is tall, and in chapter two that they have red hair (again, assuming they would have seen it immediately, if the character was wearing a hair-covering helmet in chapter one the MC obviously wouldn’t see the hair), not that the MC couldn’t go off on a tangent in a single scene (or that the meaning of certain details couldn’t become apparent later).
Just off the cuff, I would suggest less italics. They lose their power if overused, and you’ve made such an interesting situation. It deserves to be powerful.
Welcome and happy playing with ChoiceScript! When I first started, I spent awhile testing things out and seeing what I could too. Good times, good times.
I’m not a super good judge of aesthetics, but they look in-line with heroes I’ve seen on Hosted Games and Choice of Games’ cover art.
