I find it easier to write the actual story somewhere that isn’t my computer, so that’s why I don’t code and write at the same time. 
(It also means my initial code structure is more diagrams than actual code.)
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I am trying to write but I think everyone will hate it and that freezes me
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I am writing and the thought that everyone will hate it motivates me.
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I very much agree with this. Writing it down even if it doesn’t make sense makes it easier to edit. Can’t edit a blank document.
This is kind of brilliant advice for keeping you on task. But… I really don’t think I’d be able to follow it. TAT I’m way too ADHD for that. XD
I didn’t know this, and now I definitely want to make sure that this doesn’t happen then. Ugh, why do coding languages have to be so finicky? TAT
Oh, I love it when this happens!
Yeah, this is definitely an issue. XD
o.o as in you have 150 HG/COG/HC games?
…I thought my collection was big, holy crap. I have 32 of them, but this is… wow.
Same! It’s honestly really refreshing to read things from other perspectives. Sometimes a little scary, though. I read Lolita once, got about halfway through and couldn’t pick it back up because of how… how normal the Mc’s thoughts were and how absolutely disgusting his actions were, and the like, MENTAL HOOPS he ahd to jump through to logic his way into thinking these actions were fucking JUSTIFIED and ugh. Just… REALLY WELL written, REALLY SCARY material.
XD There’s actually a character like that in my game, too. XD It’s great.
Goddamn do I love me some puns
Sometimes language is like that. I usually look to germans for names for weird things. They ARE the ones who coined the term “Schadenfruede” after all! They have so many interesting words.
I wish I could put the eyes emoji here, but hi! How hard is it to get a certification for that? Is it super difficult? How much did you have to pay?
Here’s what I do:
I start with an outline in a word document (I actually use Joplin, but word works too). Each chapter has a number, and bullet points. When a choice creates a new branch, I create a new chapter witht he same name, but with a letter after it. (chapter 3A, Chapter 3B, etc). This is also the point where I start figuring out the list of stats I want to track and what they’ll be important for in the story. I’ve usually created the Stats page by the time the outline is done.
Once I’ve done that, and plotted out the big choices that can screw with the story, I take it to the coding-program I use (VSCode) and put in the outline via *comments. An example:
Then, after I’ve got it to this stage, I start working top down to create the coding skeleton for each label, and add in the choices. THEN, I start working on the flavor text.
That’s my process right now. XD
This. Yes.
Lopsided is an adorable word. It reminds me of Lop Eared Bunnies, which are my favorite types of bunnies.
Something I’ve said to my husband. EIYO! XD hahahahaha
Cool pic bro! congrats on the playtest!
There are two types of writers…
Just kidding. Spite really is a very good motivator though! I can’t use it, but that’s what I’m told.
That said, Omeg, your username is one letter off of one of my favorite characters from a novel series, Oreg, and it makes me miss him. I’ve reread that book four times, and now I wanna reread it again. I blame you. It’s not your fault, but I blame you anyway. XD
TODAY I WORK ON MY GAME GODDAMMIT!
ahem. Gotta psych myself up.
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Me Yesterday: “Yay - I have a day off tomorow and no family stuff scheduled. I can finally get some work done on my project.”
My body last night: “You know, how about we just pass on the whole sleep thing, 'kay? Sounds good, right?”
Thus me today: “So tired . . . can’t get the writing and coding done . . .”
Or hardly any, which is frustrating. All well, I guess it will be one of those plot pojnt dreaming sort of days.
On my progress for the month: Got the second part of “Do Not Dally with the Dead”, one of my Sense & Sorcery linear stories, done . . . but it still needs at least a third part, and the more I think on it plot wise, probably a fourth part, which I am going to wait on till probably late fall/early winter. My progress on the update for Dice & Dungeon Masters continues, though it is slow. Definetly one of those games that got a touch to large to fast code wise, but hopefully the update will be enjoyable when I finally reach it . . . though I probably won’t get to making combat, which is what I think most people are looking forward too. But likely not achievable with the coming update unless I push it out a few more months, which I really can’t do for various reasons. I think, unless its simplified, writing interactive combat is right up there with writing adult scenes in terms of difficulty. Diologue usually takes a third spot, as I’d like to include as many options as I can to make it roleplay orientated, but realistically only so many can be included. Being that Dice & Dungeon Masters has a game within the game Jumangi aspect, I feel like it’s at least twice as challenging as it normally would all be.
OhWyrm oh, if I only did . . . there are so many ideas, and sadly, they all take so much time.
Not a bad idea. I’ll usually send myself an email or a note somewhere, but there is something lovely binding about a saved file existing somewhere, even if it is short . . . though I don’t know if I’d have the self control not to work on it further, sadly.
Probably not a bad idea, assuming you have other trigger warnings. I’m paranoid and think I’d like to have as many trigger warnings as possible, because what doesn’t offend and affect me probably will affect many others, so it seems only due dilgence . . . though it is next to impossible to guess all possible triggerable material. I’d recommend for this one a blanket warning of perhaps “Betrayel” so that the surprise won’t be spoiled.
So true. Somewhere private with less interruptions possible.
OMG - yes. This. Totally agree.
I am of the firm opinion that writing is an art and ought to be treated as such. Of course, there are many authors that treat it as a nearly mechanical activity . . . which seems to defeat the point, doesn’t it? The wonder and magic of creating something . . . though perhaps the purpose and process of the creation is independent from the creation itself, it seems to lose the heart of it all in my opinion. Perhaps why AI can not supplant all writing endevours in the end? Let us hope so . . .
Maybe misbuttoned? Askew shirt? Lopsided . . . I’d probably go for some combintion of these and give a short description.
Criticism can definitely be demotivating, but I get around that by kind of writing for the writing itself. People are picky . . . what is beloved one decade will be on the garbage heap a few decades later, and what is once hated and overlooked may well suddenly be well regarded. I think as long as the writing is authentic and has some aesthetic appeal it will win some readers eventually.
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I have on occasion written my code on paper while away from home.
It was actually really nice to do it that way.
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I got mine from the Editorial Freelancer’s Association and their copyediting courses go from beginner to intermediate and then branch out to stuff like developmental editing. The self-study courses cost 190$ usd and I found them super intuitive and fun. Taking them at a reasonable pace of one or two lessons a day I think you’d finish in about a month.
((The university of Chicago where the chicago manual of style was made offers a certification course, but for a lot more.))
You aren’t required or expected to have a certification to do copyediting work, but its a nice bonus to have after you’ve learned.
btw
Unsurprisingly, considering the cert, I love style guides; if you take them for what they are, that being guides. As someone who tends to write more flowery prose and puts a comma every five words, I don’t find them restrictive at all and when I disagree with the guide I can just say no, and standard practice is to agree with the author on that. (Example being, CS style guide suggest the spelling “whoa” over “woah” but I would confidently request the spelling remain woah)
I think easily accessible style guides offer a strong backbone for newer writers who struggle knowing the exact grammar and punctuation to use. It’s also an easy decider if you’re trying to pick between british english or american english spelling trends. (real)Style guides are for the style of your punctuation, spelling, and grammar; never for the actual words you use.
I’m writing a xianxia so probably atp
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XD Thank you for the info, and for this sassy lil emoji too!
are you me?
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I’m mostly writing on tablet (initially), but I really need to get into habit of writing on paper again… I get so much more done. The only downside is I need a light (and don’t get wordcounts). 
(And argh, the fountain pen cartridges I bought don’t fit. Now I have to buy a new fountain pen.)
Aaaannnnd now I got the urge to dig through my old backups for my Lost Manuscript.
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If there’s a patron saint of wrist aches you must clearly have their favor… When I try to write by hand–if I even manage to produce a slightly readable manuscript at all–my wrists ache like I’ve just finished doing a hundred muscle-ups. I wish I could take notes by hand or even write out scenes on paper… I just physically can’t. I’m sure it would do wonders for the whole ADHD ‘let’s just browse wikipedia for a bit we totally won’t get sucked down an inescapable rabbit hole…’ thing.
Apparently I just have to exercise some self discipline, whatever that is…
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is there a definitive list or website you use for finding specific words for things? I don’t mean a thesaurus, really. More like a resource for learning the specific terms for types of objects or things. As an example, there are many different types of doors: french doors, sliding doors, panel doors, colonial, dutch… etc. They’re all doors in the end, but describing the type of door adds more detail and richness than simply declaring it to be a door. I know we can simply google “types of doors” or “different kinds of door types” and that works just fine, but what about when you don’t even know what you’re looking to describe? are there resources out there for writers that provide lists of types of objects and things so that you can learn about them and include them in your own writing? I know very little about architectural terminology and would love to learn more, I just don’t know if there are any specialized thesauri for things like this or lists of useful terms.
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I searched on google and found a page I like but probably is too easy for your level.
I like it because there is a drawing of the thingy so even if I don’t know the term I can see the word.
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I mean, I haven’t been doing it in a few years so my muscle memory is out of practice (which results in weird letters and apparently my handwriting being larger than it used to) and I totally do get wrist pain (that goes away with a break and some stretching), but the key is resting before getting tenosynovitis. And using a pen with minimum friction that’s comfortable in hand.
I use dictionaries and do google searches if I know what I’m looking for, otherwise I ask people.
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Free-to-download text editor programs like Notepad++ have a pretty easy-to-use function that compares two txt files and highlights the differences between them. That’s how I checked through the copyedited version of my game to see all the points where the editor had made changes.
I’m incredibly grateful for my CoG copyedit, which caught lots of errors. There were also some points where the editor’s ideas (stylistic and grammatical) weren’t in line with mine, and where I explained my preferences for a different way of fixing an issue; but that worked out fine in the end. None of it detracted from the massive value the edit provided overall.
And don’t worry, I’m pretty sure a copy editor would never cut a whole paragraph from your work – probably not even a whole sentence. They’re looking at grammar and style, not content; their job is to strengthen your content by fixing any infelicities that might make it harder to read. That can still leave points where you disagree and want to make sure it still sounds like you…but there’s basically zero chance of plot-relevant content ending up on the cutting room floor via a copy edit.
If you’re writing for CoG, your editor might tell you that a paragraph or scene seems superfluous…but that would happen long before the copy edit stage. No one wants scenes that need cutting to go to a copy editor, who’s generally paid by the word! For HG, only your beta readers would give you that feedback…and you’ll have decided what to do with it before the game has a chance of going to a copy editor.
Once the game is published, we authors are the ones who make fixes when bugs get reported. So if you belatedly found something had somehow been left out, you could just send HG/CoG an updated txt file that put it back in.
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I don’t have discipline but I do have LeechBlock. Works almost just as well.
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Hey, everyone!
It’s been… a week, haha. I got COVID-19, severe enough that the doctor wrote me the PAXLOVID pills which have been helping.
PAXLOVID made me feel well enough today that I finished the age generation for cousins, which wrapped up extending dynamic generation to non-immediate family members (Up to 6 aunts, up to 6 uncles, and up to 6 cousins generate per playthrough).
In the process, I identified a crucial bottleneck I didn’t know existed.
When generating pre-school classmates + teachers for the first time, as mentioned previously, I’ve had to implement the WARNING! message indicating the game will lock up for 12-20 seconds to generate. I assumed this was due to language limitations/computing power & speed.
What I’ve identified is this does not occur when generating your family members for the first time and now with the non-immediate family involved, the numbers match if not exceed in most cases the 18 total entities for Pre-School.
In turn, this made me curious and I looked at what was different.
My generation system was in the same file as the family initialization, but the Pre-School initialization was in a different file that then relied on multiple *gosub_scene commands to jump to the file, return back, execute another script via *gosub_scene, and keep that process up nonstop through generation.
This back and forthing was generating a significant delay, and so last night I shifted the pre-school generation into the same file and simply put it further down with proper labeling, shifting the gosub_scene commands to just *gosub.
Prior load time: 12-20 seconds (hardware dependent)
New load time: 1 second (non-hardware dependent)
This is a colossal win and honestly finding that out while having COVID was a nice feeling. 
I hope you’ve had a fantastic week!
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Current todo list is done. Meanwhile, I’m thinking of finishing up Scarlet Sorceress, and figuring out my next steps.
Dragon of Steelthorne 2 is close to done, story-wise. I’m still deciding between just finishing up the storyline and throwing it on the Spring Thing, or creating a shorter Spring Thing version and a longer HG release as with the first game.
If I go with the latter, I’m also accepting @Cecilia_Rosewood 's suggestion to come up with a different name to indicate that it’s a standalone game and not a direct sequel.
If I go with the former, I’m considering starting on my planned project 4, The Forces of House Lionheart, an open adventure game in an early Victorian Era fantasy setting. I was planning for it to be a 500k-1mil word title incorporating everything I’ve learnt from my previous projects, although frankly, I’m also getting nightmares that I’m going to release a WIP thread to a deafening silence. 
I’m sorry to hear that. Take care.
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I started doing the most bizarre secretarial task ever and writing my notes from computer to paper, and it’s getting increasingly obvious that I’m going to need a lot more notebooks.
But at least my muscle memory is getting back.
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Really? One of my issues is that I absolutely hoard notebooks (oh, shiny!, this one is exactly the right size to fit in my purse, look at those colors! etc), so now I have a whole towering stack of them that exceeds the stack of notebooks that I did fill up The A5 sized ones with the hard covers are the best. With spiral notebooks the wire gets stuck in everything and sometimes a leaf gets ripped out by accident.
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See my problem is (and this is probably the ADHD talking) I don’t write FAST ENOUGH. I can’t keep up with what I’m thinking and then I overthink and second guess myself, and then Bam, there I am with writer’s block.
No but there is https://tipofmytongue.io/ which helps sometimes.
Oh shoot, I am so sorry! Hope you’re feeling better soon!
THATS GREAT! Good job!
You have my attention…
I say this with love, but Ya’ll are nuts.
So my plans to work on my game yesterday were co-opted by horrific and violent period cramps. So that was fun. BUT! They have calmed down! so today, I might get some work done! WOO
SO I HAVE FOUND SOMETHING INTERESTING WHILE FILLING UP MY TUMBLR QUEUE FOR THE GAME?!
THIS MAP! it displays the empire that my game’s empire is based off of, AND APPERANTLY A SHIT TON OF PROTECTORATES?! So now I’m all abuzz with ideas of how to use this information. I’d already planned a rebellion against the dynasty if something went wrong, but now I can use the PROTECTORATES for that! EEEEEE this is exciting!
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