Startup line 42: Invalid indent? Expected an #option here, not *finish

Game Development ChoiceScript Help
1

Hello all,

I’m new to ChoiceScript and really looking forward to creating games with it, but right now I would need some really basic help…

I’m getting the error “startup line 42: Invalid indent? Expected an #option here, not *finish”, but I can’t find anything wrong with the line in question.

My code looks like this:

What will be the name of your nation?

What will be the name of your nation?

*input_text countryName

Behold the glorious nation of ${countryName}!

Now, every realm requires its ruler. Who will lead the people of ${countryName} to their destiny?

*input_text countryLeader

All hail the supreme leader, ${countryLeader}!

Not so fast, though - is ${countryLeader} really calling all the shots, or is there some kind of government in place?

*choice
  #There is a council of elders in place - wise, bearded men who are the representatives of their tribes. They will check the power of ${countryLeader}, to make sure that he doesn't evolve into a tyrant.
    *finish
  #I thought we were done with tribalism? ${countryLeader} must rule alone, to protect the land against the petty, vested interests of tribal chiefs!
    *finish
  #Neither ${countryLeader} nor the tribal patriarchs can be fully trusted. Give the power to the people - let all free men participate equally in decision-making!
    *finish
  #What about women? Why should only men be given a say in politics? What is this, the dark ages?
    Well, yeah, kind of... look, you are way ahead of your time there. You are going to have to choose between one of the other three options for now.
    *choice
      #There is a council of elders in place - wise, bearded men who are the representatives of their tribes. They will check the power of ${countryLeader}, to make sure that he doesn't evolve into a tyrant.
      *finish
      #I thought we were done with tribalism? ${countryLeader} must rule alone, to protect the land against the petty, vested interests of tribal chiefs!
      *finish
      #Neither ${countryLeader} nor the tribal patriarchs can be fully trusted. Give the power to the people - let all free men participate equally in decision-making!
      *finish

Line 42 should be the first *finish after the *choice is repeated.

Most grateful for your help!

Kim

1 Like
2

Please format your code so we can see the indents. Use the
< / > button just above where you are typing.

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3

Have you tried doing what the error message tells you? Try to indent the *finish
After a choice every Commander should be one layer more indented. Otherwise the program thinks that with this line the next choice starts

4 
What will be the name of your nation?

*input_text countryName

Behold the glorious nation of ${countryName}!

Now, every realm requires its ruler. Who will lead the people of ${countryName} to their destiny?

*input_text countryLeader

All hail the supreme leader, ${countryLeader}!

Not so fast, though - is ${countryLeader} really calling all the shots, or is there some kind of government in place?

*choice
        #There is a council of elders in place - wise, bearded men who are the representatives of their tribes. They will check the power of {countryLeader}, to make sure that he doesn't evolve into a tyrant. 
                *finish 
        #I thought we were done with tribalism? {countryLeader} must rule alone, to protect the land against the petty, vested interests of tribal chiefs!
                *finish
        #Neither {countryLeader} nor the tribal patriarchs can be fully trusted. Give the power to the people - let all free men participate equally in decision-making! 
                *finish
        #What about women? Why should only men be given a say in politics? What is this, the dark ages? 
                Well, yeah, kind of... look, you are way ahead of your time there. You are going to have to choose between one of the other three options for now. 
                *choice 
                        #There is a council of elders in place - wise, bearded men who are the representatives of their tribes. They will check the power of {countryLeader}, to make sure that he doesn’t evolve into a tyrant.
                                *finish
                        #I thought we were done with tribalism? {countryLeader} must rule alone, to protect the land against the petty, vested interests of tribal chiefs! 
                                *finish 
                        #Neither {countryLeader} nor the tribal patriarchs can be fully trusted. Give the power to the people - let all free men participate equally in decision-making!
                                *finish

Based on what you’ve provided, this is what your code should look like barring the size of the indentations. I use tabs equal to 8 spaces, so that’s how I formatted this.

Three tips: 1.) That’s a lot of *finishes. Does the scene actually end after the last choice? 2.) You can just use *disable_reuse or *hide_reuse on the fourth option and loop back to the original choice with *goto instead of adding a repeated *choice branch. 3.) The whole “women can’t rule” thing mayyyyy not sit well with CoG’s feminist audience unless it’s properly contextualized. But I don’t know your game so I won’t comment more than that (especially since this is a touch subject for nearly everyone on this forum).

1 Like
5

Alright, didn’t realize it did not get indented when I pasted the code last time. Changed that now - and the solution is clear, I should have indented the last *finishes more than the preceding #choices. Changed it and it works - thanks guys!

As for the forum being “feminist”, that is fine by me as long as I can write my own stories. I’m sure that real human history is not too controversial for the audience, but in any case I am not looking for any particular audience. :slight_smile:

1 Like