October 2023's Writer Support Thread

[Niki_Christopherson]

@ViIsBae

But I did put a warning about this at the very start, so hopefully I don’t get too many messages about it. This has been… an experience.

Holy SHIT, bro, that is an AMAZING alteration to the medium itself! You should absolutely write up a full mark-up of how you did this, with pictures, and post it to the forum for posterity! I’m sure that the devs will be SUPER interested in seeing how this functionality works, and if it can be applied to other types of stories!

@ViIsBae

Probably not to this extent unless someone smarter than me finds a way to streamline what I’m deeming the “Dual Scene Scenario”.

This lends to my “Please write this up and post it so others can see it” because I bet if we can get this workshopped with lots of minds, it’ll be really good!

@MoonlightBomber

Welp, Falrika the Alchemist has to go through one more revision, this time for excising offensive content (though the villains of the story are the main source of that offensive content).

Offensive content? Just out of curiousity, what sort of offensive content are you excising? And why?

@izzily

Still feeling out my process though, so eh, trying not to overthink it.

This is absolutely fair. I’m trying to avoid too much editing of Narrative while I’m still putting together the first draft of the game, but Phoenix Rising is a BEAST, and it’s taken me nearly 4 months to NOT EVEN FINISH the first chapter. TAT

@sana

Goal for October is a sexy 50k words, which I’m only 15k away from!!

BRAVO, Man! You just did NaNoWriMo in October! Good job!

@Dash

Current mood:

Hey man, you’re doing great! Do you wanna expound on what the current mood is about? Maybe we can offer support?

@DrewWolf2

That baby is the you, the MC. You do not know this… yet.

WE’RE THE BABY?! oh man, that is so awesome.

@DrewWolf2

But, without looking the word up, you can still get the impression that this is a carefully done thing. At least I hope.

Yeah, you definitely gave the impression that this was intentional. And honestly, I love learning new words, so this was fun for me!

On a side note, while writing up this post, my cat climbed up onto a stepstool, pawed open the bottom cubboard and climbed inside, all while I was staring at her. So… good to know she has no fear, I guess?

…I’mma shut the cupboard and lock her in for a few minutes. Because I’m an evil cat mom. (she can open it from the inside, she’s fine!)

[RockmanX]

@Niki_Christopherson

@RockmanX

@Eiwynn

I will have a working magic and armor system ready to go in Choicescript. (If I ever get to those stories that need them.)

Congratulations and good luck! Dear me, the armor upgrades, power-up items and special weapons are in the database, but have yet to be implemented. Probably down the line.

Oh man… Those are super amazing systems! What are they for? Like, is the magic a magic-crafting system? Or is it just that the MP grows as the player levels, and certain spells can be used? And how does the Armor system work??

@RockmanX

A Beauty Cold and Austere

This is an amazing goddamn title. I love it.

Firstly, special weapons are gained upon defeating Mavericks.

There are things that help increase your maximum Life and Weapon and Romance Energy. You’ll have to find them in the stages.

There are plenty of power-up items. Some are found lying around in the stages, while others need to be purchased with Screws.

The armor parts, well, this is an exercise left to the reader. One can be found in every stage.

@Dash

Here we go…

I’m ready!

[ViIsBae]

@Niki_Christopherson

Holy SHIT, bro, that is an AMAZING alteration to the medium itself! You should absolutely write up a full mark-up of how you did this, with pictures, and post it to the forum for posterity! I’m sure that the devs will be SUPER interested in seeing how this functionality works, and if it can be applied to other types of stories!

How I coded the "Dual Scene Scenario"

I’m making this thread because someone had asked about it over on the Writer’s Support Thread. That, and I am genuinely interested to see if people can workshop it into something more palatable. If you would like to see how the Dual Scene Scenario is played out, you can play my game jam entry here: HALLOWEEN JAM Entries **Beta thread Links** - #17 by poison_mara Introduction Let me preface this by asking you a simple rhetorical question: What is a ChoiceScript stats screen to you? Is it a plac…

I have done the thing. I hope it makes sense.

[MoonlightBomber]

@Niki_Christopherson

Offensive content? Just out of curiousity, what sort of offensive content are you excising? And why?

There are some passages that violate content rules for CoG/HG/HC, mostly concerning content that offends marginalized groups. I’ve designed most of the villains to be irredeemable, but it seems I’ve went too far, in terms of them antagonizing marginalized groups that are definitely the good guys / gals / non-binary pals, main characters or not.

[Niki_Christopherson]

@MoonlightBomber

I’ve designed most of the villains to be irredeemable, but it seems I’ve went too far, in terms of them antagonizing marginalized groups that are definitely the good guys / gals / non-binary pals, main characters or not.

Oh wow. That makes sense. I hadn’t even considered that as a thing that would need to be corrected/edited… Oh man.

[Dash]

I don’t know if writers usually go over their experience post-release, but I’m going to as it’s been huge ups and downs.

First off: the truth is that I look at reviews. I am terrible at that. So of course I wanted to know how Vampire’s Kiss did the moment it landed. And I might be refreshing the page way too often: I’m not going to pretend I don’t care about something I put two years (give or take, from when it was first commissioned) of my life into! And it’s been a strange two years, which has seen me move from place to place and experience all kinds of adventures and life twists, illnesses and good moments.

The ups: people have been lovely on the forum. And a review appeared on Steam, and it was good! People getting what you’re trying to do with your work is just a joy. It’s always nerve-wracking to put something of yourself into the wild, and if it resonates with someone, it’s truly special.

The downs: the greatest down so far has been (again, stupid) doing a search… and finding out that your game has been cracked within 12 hours on a site where people delight in playing the game for free. It’s heart-breaking - you spent two years working on something, and in less than a day someone decides to take all your hard work (and, let’s be honest, money, because I need the royalties) and just… steal it. It’s depressing, and deflating, and makes me wonder why I bothered.

It’s also weird not knowing how things are going. It’s in the wild, and all you can do is wait. And waiting has never been something I’ve been great at.

[HarrisPS]

It’s a huge thing to have done and I totally relate to everything in the post. Sadly the piracy element is a constant - a tough one to navigate - and I don’t really have advice about it other than just to commiserate and agree that it’s hard.

That first month after launch is really nervewracking; I’ve done it five times now and it doesn’t really go away. I ended up doing three launches in a year (one of which wasn’t fully mine, but still!) and my wife ended up volunteering to check review pages for me and summarise them in ways that would be useful. It may help to get someone you trust to do that so you’re not having to wade through things that are unhelpfully stressful or refreshing over and over (I have a big tendency towards the latter).

I find it hard to do this so this is advice of the “do as I say not as I do” ilk, but if you can, I do recommend setting aside some space not to think about it, or to think about other potential future creative projects. When Royal Affairs came out I was very jittery indeed and doing unrelated writing helped (though if I’m honest, doing something that wasn’t any kind of commercial writing would have been better - I have trouble with not racing onto the next thing!)

I hope any of that is helpful, and if it isn’t, apologies for the swathe of advice - either way, wishing you all the best as release week continues!

[Dash]

@HarrisPS it sounds like you have a lovely wife.

[AletheiaKnights]

They certainly do!

[poison_mara]

They are awesome. When they release a game always said that buy a coffee or a pie together with my purchase royalties. So I say the same to you buy something you like and congratulations for finishing.

And about piracy it enrages me to no end. People don’t understand what requires make a game and edition. And how much part steam etc gets.

Writers deserve being paid and piracy destroys the industry to a important degree. Without the piracy games would probably even get translations and further dlcs etc as games would have more productive more time so writers could add further on.

[Eiwynn]

@Dash

The downs: the greatest down so far has been (again, stupid) doing a search… and finding out that your game has been cracked within 12 hours on a site where people delight in playing the game for free.

I’m sorry that you experienced piracy.

My first experience with piracy happened during testing the alpha copy of a highly anticipated game at the time. The publisher was not satisfied at the speed of the testing, so they hired an Eastern European company to add people to the testing.

One day after doing so, the game was stolen and “released” by the pirates onto the dark web. Even though the game was an alpha with placeholders and missing assets and things that would never make it into the retail release copy.

I learned that day to expect people to steal, even from a situation like a Heart’s Choice game, where the price asked is more than reasonable.

The best take-away that I can offer you is that you have a ton of fans who are willing to, and do support you. I know several people who have purchased several copies of your game to give to their loved ones and their friends.

Also, know that there are people, like myself, who are very proud of you. You have accomplished something that many have tried over the years and have not (yet) succeeded.

As I said in your release thread, I am grateful you joined the Writer Support thread and have both been sharing your experiences as you go along, and supporting others.

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@Dash

It’s also weird not knowing how things are going. It’s in the wild, and all you can do is wait. And waiting has never been something I’ve been great at.

This is why I always have a project waiting for me. Whether it is to play a game I bought a year ago to learn and experience it, or if it is a different writing project, having something there helps me to not focus on the waiting.

.

[ViIsBae]

First off, congratulations on the release. I’ve heard good things about it as well, and am planning to pick it up myself to support the game! Secondly, and this may be a small consolation to what you’re feeling about it - it really is only a small minority that go to the lengths pirates do with these games to play them without paying, or so I’ve noticed. The price tag of these games is usually very appealing to people. Right now the game is 4 dollars on Steam, and I speak for myself and a lot of other people when I say, at that price point, I usually just click the “Add to Cart” button without thinking. That’s not to say that money can’t add up in the long run, but a one time purchase of less than a twitch subscription is very doable for lots of people.

I used to do youtube for a living, and obviously videos are free to view, but for some reason people would feel the need to try and steal those to reupload them somewhere else too. It’s very, very strange, the mindset of some. But, I guess my point is, they are a small, stinky minority. Just know the majority of people playing your game will be paying customers!

[Niki_Christopherson]

@Dash

the greatest down so far has been (again, stupid) doing a search… and finding out that your game has been cracked within 12 hours on a site where people delight in playing the game for free. It’s heart-breaking - you spent two years working on something, and in less than a day someone decides to take all your hard work (and, let’s be honest, money, because I need the royalties) and just… steal it.

So… After seeing everyone else’s responses to this sentiment, I wasn’t really sure if I should chime in here, because… I dunno, I guess because my opinion on this is completely different from every other opinion on here?

I don’t mind. In fact, I find it flattering. As someone who could not possibly afford all of the games I want to play, many of whom will never get a lets play on youtube because of a lack of audience, I’m honestly grateful to pirates.

So I go into this, and any game-design process I go through, fully knowing and aware that piracy is going to happen, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it. To me, the ones that are actually causing the harm ya’ll are describing is the megacorps who don’t pay writers and coders and artists their dues. If these corporations paid properly and didn’t GOUGE the artists like they are, then the negligable piracy that we experience wouldn’t bother us near as much.

I mean. As a writer, do you not dream about the day when you’ll be able to donate your book to your local library? Do you not thrill at the idea of your book being available generations down the road, when no one knows your name any more, and civilisation is dead? I think of it that way.

I don’t know if anyone else agrees with me, and I’m sure I’m gonna get boo’d off the stage here, but… that’s how I feel about it.

[AletheiaKnights]

Have you actually published a game and had it pirated? If you’re still grateful to pirates when they’re taking money out of your pocket, maybe we’ll listen.

[Eiwynn]

@Niki_Christopherson

I go through, fully knowing and aware that piracy is going to happen, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it

While I acknowledge this reality…

@Niki_Christopherson

I’m honestly grateful to pirates.

I will never be grateful to people that steal … especially those that steal for something apart from survival.

Developers and publishers often don’t choose what I consider optimal or even morally just choices, but I do not see how you can conflate piracy and business behavior.

Indie game development is hard. @HarrisPS has linked an article talking about this fact before (not able to find it currently, to relink). Many never finish their first game. It is much easier now than in times past, with funding vehicles like Kickstarter and platforms like Steam and Epic, but the reality is that it is still very difficult.

@Niki_Christopherson

If these corporations paid properly and didn’t GOUGE the artists like they are, then the negligable piracy that we experience wouldn’t bother us near as much.

This isn’t true, not for me. Pirates have stolen from my friends, every time a game they are involved with is pirated. Whether they be writers, scripters, programmers, artists, testers or any other back end person that rarely gets recognition, stolen games affects them all.

@Niki_Christopherson

I mean. As a writer, do you not dream about the day when you’ll be able to donate your book to your local library? Do you not thrill at the idea of your book being available generations down the road, when no one knows your name anymore, and civilisation is dead? I think of it that way.

I don’t understand what this has to do with piracy.

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The following is directed at everyone, and this applies to all posts submitted in the future.

This forum, and this Writer Support thread is not the place to have a discussion on piracy, except to how it impacts you as a writer/developer of games.

Going forward, I and the other mods reserve the right to edit or delete any post that crosses the terms of use within this thread.

Piracy of Choicescript IF games happens at all levels of the production process. There isn’t much that can be realistically done to counter it. The best we can do, at this time, is to support each other to the best of our ability.

Dash, and every single creative person involved in making something, deserves support and commiseration, so let’s focus on how we can best support each other.

[poison_mara]

The mere idea that someone could consider a Illegal activity cool and flattering…

I know people that has lost their jobs because piracy.

Some cousins of mine had a video lending small shop with some vending machines and lending videogames.

They go out of Business when people stop even pay few coins to lend a movie or a playstation game legally when they can stolen blind everyone in the chain.

The number of people they screw over is undoubtedly and patent.

[HarrisPS]

By the way, I sent off my Royal Affairs epilogue draft today. It’s truly been an eye-opening exercise in a) understanding on a smaller scale how a direct sequel works if you want to take earlier events into account which is to say “ah, THAT’S why so many sequels are huge”, and, related, b) how much I underestimated how large branched-eight-way scenes would be - I don’t know why it was such a stark reminder when I’ve done this so many times before, but here we are!

[Dash]

@HannahPS But yay, done! That’s awesome.

Thanks to all the people who offered support. But, honestly, I’m beyond depressed right now.

I am not flattered or grateful that someone thinks two years of my life - my creativity, and my passion, and just the amount of effort it takes to make something - is literally worthless. Worse than worthless. Of so little value it can be stolen, copied and handed out for free. It’s telling me they think I’m worse than worthless. And I don’t think anyone enjoys knowing that.

Going to take the weekend offline. Solidarity with anyone who does creative things. <3

[AletheiaKnights]

I am so sorry this is happening to you. You’re not worthless. Your passion and your hard work aren’t worthless. What those people did is a crime, precisely because your work has value, not only to you and your readers, but in the eyes of the law.

Please do whatever you need to do to take care of yourself. I hope you can recover your joy in what you’ve accomplished. I don’t want them to get away with stealing that too.

[Eiwynn]

@Dash

Thanks to all the people who offered support. But, honestly, I’m beyond depressed right now.

I understand. My DM box is always open if needed. As Aletheia says, this does not reflect on you, nor your worth. It reflects on others, those who steal.

Take your time off, and we’ll be here when you decide to come back once more.