So who all is entering the CoG Contest for Interactive Novels?

Part of me wants to enter, but I’ve never made a ChoiceScript game before and I’m still figuring it out, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to get something together for this contest.

3 Likes

You could always have a go, if you don’t finish you can submit later as a HG :slight_smile:

7 Likes

Well my update:

I presented the first chapter of my CoG contest WIP to my “real life” writing group today and received great feedback. Several of them liked it better than CCH. Everyone encouraged me to keep going with it, so I’ll carve out some more time tonight to work on another chapter.

11 Likes

That’s high praise indeed!

6 Likes

For me, it’s sorta like they are saying, “We like your son better than your daughter! He’s just more fun! Sorry! :smile:.”

7 Likes

Here’s a little jolt to this thread too. With Lord Irish’s contest wrapping up, this contest will become many peoples’ focus again. Admittedly, I kept more focus on this contest than the other, due to lack of time.

I’m recycling my Lost Heir thread with minor details, for now: The Lost Heir Trilogy - #4554 by Lucid

I passed the 40k mark and feel that I’m around 1/3 done. Looks like I’m on track so far. :slight_smile:

10 Likes

@Lucid - The jolt was much appreciated! Good to hear you’re rolling along, and it definitely inspired me to sketch out some scenes during lunch. It’s easier to maintain momentum than it is to reestablish it.

I’m aiming for the 120k word range too. I hope you pop in once in a while; I thought this thread would be busier than it’s been.

6 Likes

I know a lot of people are keeping their projects close to their vest - sometimes a beginner can be intimidated by all the great established authors competing with them.

I bet the traffic here will both pick up after the other contest is over and it gets closer to the deadline.

9 Likes

Yes people ARE keeping cards close to their respective vests! It’s quiet. Too quiet.

I won’t say much either, other than I decided to “write what I know, but with a twist” and I managed to tie it to the Speckverse without featuring a single superhero.

10 Likes

I had planned on writing for the contest, but the HG that I’m currently writing, The Magician’s Task, will be around 500k when I’m finished with it. That’s basically impossible to write in the 7 months we have left, so maybe this one will be for the NEXT contest. :stuck_out_tongue:

3 Likes

I was planning to be like “Let’s do it me! You’ve been looking at game code and making games in python for years! ChoiceScript will be a piece of cake.”
Sadly, it seems, my brain’s on a no- cake diet and I’m struggling to get my head around all the stuffs. And too many exams and work for now, so maybe next time. Or the one after that :sweat_smile:

Looking forward to seeing all the entries and shamelessly stealing their ideas for short stories/ something else or to see their code to use for myself help perfect and refine them!

But hey I’m getting the hang of it! Kinda! Not really! But eh it’ll work!

A scene from my (terrible, unplanned) amazing game!

They listen, the hundreds of 'zombies' and their collective 14 rotting ears are persuaded, and give their old master the kiss of Judas. Except they have the problem of all that rotting flesh and 'lack-of-teeth' issue, so after 30 seconds of a serious gumming and slapping/ slow punching you call off your minions.

The necromancer escapes without a trace, leaving behind a trail of tears and a note about where he lives and will most likely plot his revenge. Or his revenge against your self-defence against his random attack at least. Anyway, it’s 52 Northbrook Lane


I guess I’m making a game!

…When I say game I mean that;s pretty much it, aside from like 3 stats and one
choice. But trust me, if, despite exams and all that jazz I become awesome at ChoiceScript I’ll try and enter. I highly doubt anything I can make right now would fare well under tough scrutiny. Or any scrutiny. Or just someone skim- reading it… eek. Maybe next year haha.

8 Likes

I’m still at work…I just don’t feel I’ve had much to say. ‘I’m still writing and I filled up another hundred pages with research,’ isn’t very thrilling in my case without context, I should think.

I’ve no idea what my final word count will be quite yet. I’m behind on outline-to-prose production but ahead in the other aspects. That reassures me, because churning out prose is faster for me than development.

If we’re looking for teasers, it involves ancient civilisations, pneumatics, and way too many hours researching the blasted rise and run of staircases.

10 Likes
When your stairs become books (or your books become stairs)

3 Likes

I like hearing it! That’s exciting to me. Imagine me cheering you on.

4 Likes

I imagined it, but… I don’t think the image in my head turned out quite as expected…

(cheering)

3 Likes

Aww, thank you. My two young daughters have been super excited about your games ever since I told them you have a Wodehouse homage in the works, so when I tell them you said this they’ll be thrilled (as am I, haha).

2 Likes

Tell them I’m up to 377K words as of today! I just finished ch.6 (of 8) this afternoon…

7 Likes

I know I’m a little late to the party, but I’ve got something I’ve been working on. Hopefully I can get it done in time. I’m almost 70,000 words in so far, so I’m pretty sure I can meet the minimum requirement of 100,000 words. Unfortunately, even though I’ve got a decent amount in terms of words, I don’t have much in terms of story progression and the game still feels like it’s only at the beginning of the story.

I’m hoping that if I spend literally all of my free time writing and simplify the outline a little, I might just be able to get the game done in time… I should really put together a WIP. :yum:

9 Likes

I too am one of those fresh fish brought in by finding the contest. I posted my tale in the quote thread, but the short version is I got tired of never finishing any significant creative projects, and when I found this place after discussing the difficulty of finding a good coder for a SRPG game idea I had, it was perfect. The contest provides me the motivation I need to stop all excuses and actually do the work. I found out roughly two months ago, and in that time I have written 55,000 words and roughly coded about 12,500. My goal is to finish all writing no later than Halloween, and the code by mid-December. Then beta test and rush like mad to finish it all by January. It is hard to work on it with a family, a full-time job and a part-time job, but I am all in, and so far so good.

And I like this format of writing, so I already have a couple other ideas after this (a short prequel to my current story, and something really off the wall).

7 Likes

If I get enough done on it, I’ll be entering a game about a sport I’m making up.

3 Likes