The Darkness I - A New Era in Choice Of Games!

Game Development
1

Hey guys! I’m working on a game called The Darkness I, it’s a story about you being sent to a dungeon, but no ordinary dungeon, you see, you are a master (insert mastery here, i.e. swordsman) and with your magical abilities, the guards are somewhat worried you’ll escape, so they tell you this, if you can complete the dungeon, you will be granted freedom.
Of course, the dungeon isn’t easy, and neither is choicescript apparently, you see, i’ve run in to a problem, and until I can get it fixed, this game probably won’t come out.
You see, i’m using images, I know it needs a lot of testing out like how the image looks on a different viewer (i.e. Wii, Computer, iPhone, Android, etc. etc. etc.) but I want to make sort of a dungeon map, sort of like Land of the Three Classes, but I keep getting the same error: Invalid Arangment, expected left, right, center, or none.
Now, I put it right, and it says if you don’t put anything for it, it should automaticly be the center, but I tried everything, and the error never changes, even if I DO put something like left or right, so what am I doing wrong? I’ll show you the part the error is coming from, maybe you can tell me what i’m doing wrong?

```*image Dungeon 1.jpg right
````You enter the dungeon, the walls seem to be made of stone, there's only one way out, as far as you can tell.
````\*choice
etc. etc. etc.
now, why is the image broken, tell me please, and I promise you an epic game! -Seph
2

Okay guys, I fixed it (I think because theres a space in the name “Dungeon 1” it was glitching, so I reduced it to “Dungeon”)

3

cant wait sounds like a good game

4

Yea, no spaces allowed in coding unless specifically required. (so ‘*label Dungeon 1A’ should be ‘*label Dungeon_1A’ and ‘*image Dungeon 1.jpg right’ should be ‘*image Dungeon_1.jpg right’)

5

Okay, I have a quick demo, but…err…how do I get it up on a Weebly site? Is it even possible? I really have no idea…I would use Webs, but it’s sort of trolling me right now, so my only option left is Weebly, if you have any information on how to post a Choice of Game on Weebly, please tell me! -Seph

6

I don’t know about Weebly, but, as @CJW pointed out, Dropbox is another way to host it. (A pretty awesome way too.)

(http://www.choiceofgames.com/forum/discussion/comment/8346/#Comment_8346)

7

If I use Dropbox, wouldn’t I have to upload every file on there for the Index to work? I’m really confused here…

8

Err…yeah guys, came across ANOTHER problem, you see, i’m trying to add a “*text name” to the stats screen, but the stat screen will get an error if you open if and you have no name, i’m trying to script it so if you have no name entered yet you get the name “Unnamed” or “No Name”, but it isn’t working, I know it’s possible because on things like Choice Of Broadsides, if you have not named you character it says “Unnamed”, is it possible to do this?

9

When you declare the variable in mygame.js you must set the default/intial value between quotation marks, just set that to “unnamed” or “no name”.

Yes you have to upload the entire ‘web’ folder structure to dropbox but you would to weebly or webs as well. I’m not sure how weebly uploads work though, I’m afraid.

If for dropbox you’re concerned about uploading of individual files one by one taking too long, download the application and you can literally drag and drop your game folder into your dropbox folder and the application will automatically upload it all for you in the background. :slight_smile:

Just make sure it’s inside your account’s “public” folder!

10

Um, I’d rather use Webs, but whenever I try to upload it, when you view my website, you get that loading icon from the game, then you get taken to a “Cannot Find Website” page…

11

Nvm, Dropbox is working just fine for me, here’s the link to the game: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/80993229/web/index.html

12

Website: http://www.thedarknesschoiceofgames.weebly.com

13

I just played it through. It’s too short to really comment, but I like the style. It looks promising!

Minor error - you misspelt sheath in the first choice after typing your name (and on all subsequent choices too, by the look of it).

14

A few useful tips:

  1. You may want to alter the picture so the background color matches the page color. Here (http://www.iconico.com/colorpic/) is a useful tool (you can also screen cap and use paint if you’re so inclined).

  2. You may want to change the support email to a personal email (it’s in index.html).
    (It’s also the email that error reports get dumped to if people decide to sent one I think).

  3. A menu page without any info is kinda jarring. It’s a reminder that you’re playing a game. The ‘Prepare yourself…’ and movement pages (the page between when you click on ‘go north’ and when you actually enter the second room) is also a small annoyance. Extra/unimportant pages encourage players to stop paying attention, and when they come to something important, they care less.

15

Prey in that sense should be pray I believe.
Otherwise I felt as if the pages were a bit short, but engaging enough, just try and make it more… Meaty?

16

A promising start! I like that you’re using the Choicescript format to attempt something more in the vein of a traditional RPG. I do have a couple suggestions, though.

Some elements seem to be obviously lifted from other sources. The entire stat system seems to be taken directly from Choice of the Dragon, which is particularly jarring since it doesn’t immediately make sense how stats like ‘Disdain’ and ‘Vigilance’ will have an impact in a dungeon setting. Also, the title logo seems to be lifted directly from ‘The Darkness’ comics or video game. Putting it on your own game might not qualify as ‘fair use’.

It’s fine if you want to use things similar to these sources, it’s very common to take inspiration from works you enjoy. But directly lifting this much makes the game feel a little unoriginal. Try renaming/redescribing the stats for a start, I think that’d go a long way towards giving the game a fresh feeling.

17

It’s ok so far, but…you are going to change the stats, right? They’re from Choice of the Dragon right now.

18

@Luxtizer - He’ll probably get away with the name since it’s rather generic, as long as the story isn’t about a darkness in the same context (or keyword “scope”) as the video game.

19

@CJW I think the name is fine. But I think it’s a problem that the intro logo image seems to be taken directly from either the comic or the game. I’m fairly certain the logo is copyrighted.

20

@Luxtizer,
It’s From the Game.