@Eiwynn These were invaluable. Thank you once again. I simplified the code throughout as a result, and also simplified my game mechanics.
@Omeg Thanks Jon. That helped me move away from that direction.
@Nikki_Nik I should print that and put it on my wall.
@Havenstone OOh! Thank you.
And thanks all other for weighing in on writing processes for early writers. For now I have decided to simplify my reader flow and make the code more elegant.
I was doing some preparation just now for the end of December when I’ll post a WIP/update/release digest for the whole year. I won’t reveal any numbers right now because it’s more fun that way, but it’s pretty astonishing!
You updated the October’s list with the Halloween jam entries, I see.
I’m on the list. I’m on the list! 
Indeed, Harris has, and so am I. It took me a bit of staring at the list to figure this out myself.
Well played Harris! Well played.
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I’m sorry I didn’t do it before! I intended to put it there when I first posted and then missed it 
Thank you, Harris! This was such a nice surprise to come back to after taking a weekend off!
Gave myself the weekend as a break after Halloween jam, which is a little dangerous as breaks while necessary are not always easy for me to stop.
My initial goal of November is to not procrastinate making one of these lol. Success is within sight.
My ‘main’ goal of the month is that I’d like to figure out how to do choices. I believe it is firmly my weakest area. If anyone has advice, or thoughts on how they go about creating them I would greatly appreciate receiving.
My firmest idea is to try to make a sort of framework or guide for myself that I can reference for things like frequency, branching, and scope? A single branching path is normal enough, but when I double branch I tend to fall short in scope, frequency falls short even when it comes to flavor and (internal) dialogue.
My sub goal is going to be exploring mechanics and building upon the foundation of my current (finished which I’m very proud of and is also confidence boosting) outline to be used within my main project.
So little to no writing for at least a week maybe two which may bite me in the ass; but I also need time to tone-shift as going directly from writing a sarcastic urban-vampire-superhero story to a xianxia is a little daunting
Good luck to everyone in their myriad endeavors this month <3
I hope you don’t mind if I ask you all a writing question. I think it’s worth asking here because you might be as interested in learning about each other’s process as I am, but if this is inappropriate, I’ll happily delete.
There are so many elements that go into a story: the characters, the plot, the worldbuilding (unless you’re writing something set in the real world), the underlying ideas you want to explore. What comes first for you - do you think of a plot and then fill it out with characters, or do the characters come first? Or do you come up with the setting/worldbuilding and then come up with a plot that exists within it? How do all the pieces come together for you? And has that process always worked for you, or was it something you had to learn, and if so how?
I just have random things popping in my head, and then I go from there. Sometimes it’s a character, sometimes it’s a scene. Sometimes it’s a character in a scene. 
I’ll answer with answers that may make no sense because creativity and artistic creation sometimes is messy.
The core of my writing process remains the same, but the details have evolved as I have as a writer. What I am doing for an exploratory project right now, is different than what I did with Patchwerks in the details, so much so, that I can’t go back, even if the core elements of the process are there in both projects.
The very first thing that occurs for me is inspiration. This inspiration may come from multiple sources all converging together to spark that inspiration, but the inspiration is always the first thing.
Everything comes together out of that inspiration, but the details of that “big picture” are filled in with each step of execution I take.
I am a “mixed” writer, one that is not a full planner and one that is not a panstser.
Most of my structure, including the code skeletons form in the initial phases of the project and are easier to link to traditional “milestones” of both writing and game-making.
The majority of my “pantser” creativity and detailing occurs after I begin testing. With each test I go through, I look at the feedback and use that to inspire fixes and changes to help push my story to the next level.
I do revise my structures and outlines after receiving the feedback, but only after my revisions and changes are made.
I hope this helps.
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Usually it’s premises and vibe that comes first for me. Not the plot, characters, or shudders worldbuilding. So, like, a setting and general feel of what I’d like it to be like. Plot is usually tied into that, but it’s also loose enough that I won’t mind deviating from that and heading into an entirely different direction.
Characters and worldbuilding are my weaknesses, so I tend to put them off for as long as possible
Unrelated: I’m in the process of reviewing the Halloween Jam games. Three games in this far. I might manage to get through them all at least once before the end of the voting deadline.
Title and a one-sentence hook. I usually get a strong vibe off something like the setting or a character/interaction first. But I try not to even think of that actual project until I know its name and nature. If I can’t get those out of an idea, then I prefer to leave it simmering on a back burner for a while.
Yes, and through bitter experience. For a long time, I’d keep changing my mind about some key part of the setting or genre half-way through a story; then find myself rebuilding the world and character arcs, basically scrapping everything that wasn’t absolutely essential to the original feeling I got off the idea.
And I won’t say approaching things like that was a waste for me, because I learned a lot and loved (almost) every second. But eventually I just wanted to get something finished. And using the title and the pitch as a measure for how happy I am with the basic premise of a story has helped a lot.
So now I only go forward with something when I am absolutely sure that I know what I want it to be first. And if I suddenly get an urge to write in a different genre or something, then I switch to a separate project instead of recreating my current one from scratch. It’s worked out better so far, I think.
I’m usually a concept-and-setting kind of writer. I’ll either start with a big idea and a tone and then build a setting around that, or fit themes I want to explore to an existing setting. From that, I build a broad narrative arc, and write characters to serve as representatives of the concepts and ideas I want to explore and want to see represented.
this question is so fun! i usually start with an idea of a rough setting/vibe that could be fun, then characters come from there. characters are really fun for me; plot is harder (
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Ditto!
to be honest, i barely put any thought into world building or the themes/greater message of the story. the former is usually a death trap for a beginner author, the latter, while not bad to focus on, is something i personally dont give much thought to. my world building is as generic as it gets (though i do sometimes put effort into smaller details) and the story is a very simple premise but once which i still hope is engaging.
the characters, however, ive already thought up in detail. down to the minor npcs you meet recurringly throughout the story. special emphasis on romance options because the people here love to go googoo gaga on them. ive also decided at the beginning that my main focus would be on character dialogue and development, trying to improve my prose and writing of action scenes and fiddling around with choicescript mechanics.
I tend to come up with a core story idea first and then with a world where it’d make sense, working from a broad strokes setting down to character details.
This has always served me well for linear stories. The main risk I’ve encountered is getting stuck in the world building. You can come up with amazing settings without ever putting a word on paper. I may or may not hoard those.
Then I outline and just write. This is the part of the process where I’m currently having to learn new tricks, so let’s get back to that in a few months ><
I’m so glad you posted this here, it’s really fun to read everybody’s processes. Nobody’s described one that feels like mine yet so I’ll share too. Mine form like dreams. Like you know how you just kind of slip into sleep and you’re somewhere else without it being jarring, it’s like that. I’ll see a tree with interesting roots and then I’m in a cove while the tide’s out staring up and realizing the walls are made of bark not rock and the singing I hear is coming from under the water and there’s someone next to me - oh, they’re the protagonist’s rival because of course they are, and this is where they’re having to come together against danger for the first time and… etc, etc. Like it all kind of fluidly evolves out around me from there.
The part I had to learn was how not to write myself into corners and make it to the end of a story But I’ve always formed stories like this, yeah.
@AletheiaKnights what’s your answer to this question, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m curious 
This was a great question. Really interesting to see everyone’s unique approach. I’d hardly consider myself a writer at this stage, but I attempt to approach the process holistically. I begin with the story/basic plot I wish to tell, and the themes usually sprout from that. I let it gestate for a long time before I begin writing in earnest, jotting down notes and concepts and slowly turning the abstract premise into a whole. The world usually creates itself, and from there it isn’t too challenging to figure out what kind of characters would live in that world and how they’d fit in to the greater narrative. And so on and so forth. Due to my lack of free time the writing process takes longer than I would like, but this has the side benefit of allowing me to ‘live’ with the story longer. I sort of just allow it to grow from there at that point. It doesn’t feel like a conscious process. It does it on its own once the seed is planted.
Edit: While everybody’s here, I have a question. If this isn’t the right place to put it, let me know. In my current story, Wonderland is conceptualized as a sort of dream realm that gives you your greatest desires, your 'what-could’ve-been’s, and even that which could’ve never been. A manifest nostalgia. In Wonderland you can always see the sunrise, no matter how late you sleep in. What would your Wonderland look like? What would be enough to tempt you away from reality? Would it have to try all that hard for you?
I think about broad-strokes vibes that I’m drawn to - whether that’s setting elements, tones, or themes/concepts - and as soon as possible, alongside is ideal, I think about what the player character is doing. What their drives are, what kinds of actions they’re taking, what conflicting pressures they have. For my CoG projects, that helps me form a concept paragraph. This is the one I sent for Creme de la Creme:
As a young socialite, you should have nothing to worry about but riding skills and the correct way to address an earl. But your family’s political disgrace makes for a more complicated set of obligations. Your parents have enrolled you in an exclusive finishing school to polish you into an eligible beau or debutante and regain the family’s good name. College life is as unforgiving as it is glamorous, and rumours of occult secret societies bubble beneath the surface. Will you maintain convention or throw yourself into scandal? Will you delve into the dark secrets of the college, plunge into scholarly pursuits, or navigate the political spheres? Will you set your cap at a crown prince or princess, have a love affair with an unsuitable but passionate townie, or leave a trail of broken hearts in your wake? Build your reputation amidst the murky waters of cults, backstabbing and political diplomacy in this sparkling, brittle world of high society.
These days my concept paragraph have more overarching plot pinned down. But that plot is still drawn primarily from what I’ve figured out about what’s driving the PC.
Sometimes major characters come to mind at the same time as the plot if they’re immediately very connected with it. If not, they pop up based on personalities and roles I think are fun and would interact well with each other and with what the player is doing. They’re usually designed to illuminate or represent something in the setting (eg a faction or perspective), and the ways they can help and/or hinder the PC help fuel the plot and branches as well.
Each time I do it, it’s a little different because ideas come at different paces and at different stages, but that’s the general shape of it. I haven’t always done it this way, and not always so clearly, but these days I have quite a lot of clarity because of having learned from doing it a few times.
This week, for example, I have a broad overall plot and I worked out some of the endings for various locations and characters depending on some big decisions the PC makes. Now I’m working on very broad chapter summaries to work out what the smaller-scale storylines will be, when/how they arise/resolve… and bad endings for NPCs because I like figuring out what they absolutely don’t want to happen and how the PC can make it reality (intentionally or otherwise).