What I learned from playing every Choicescript game (patterns in good/bad games)

Chronicon Apocalyptica! Which is actually a game I like and wrote a positive review for on IFDB, but which has sold poorly judging from number of ratings.

9 Likes

Ah, that’s one I haven’t read yet, although, judging by the plot description, it sounds like something that was cooked up in a lab to appeal to me specifically - elven changelings, the Green Children of Woolpit, and a bee with a mysterious past? also, a “Grammarian” stat.

6 Likes

Yeah! I’d definitely try it then

3 Likes

Oh, it’s not a question of “if” but “when.” You’re not the only completionist around here. :wink:

4 Likes

I did the copy editing on Chronicon and I must say it was a delight to read through. I thought the close-to-life Medieval British fantasy setting was lush, refreshing, and clearly well-researched. So if the gameplay starts to bother you, you might enjoy a code dive.

4 Likes

The setting and plot of Chronicon is great, but the comment is spot on about its problem.

3 Likes

Arguably, it’s a consistent problem with a lot of games throughout the years, I’ve seen that complaint come up a lot

1 Like

Right, exactly, that’s what my essay is about.

4 Likes

Oh what I wouldn’t give to have WIP reviewers break things down this thoroughly

2 Likes

This is generally why I try to keep attributes as minimal as possible. At the most, I’ll try to divide those attributes into “sets” of three or four, which means that players should very rarely feel overwhelmed by the number of stat choices and feel more overwhelmed by the particular choices on offer.

17 Likes

Just popping in to say that that book I mentioned has been (self-)published now and is available here:

The ‘learning’ ones are APA format and the ‘chicago’ ones are Chicago format but they are essentially the same. Only one chapter is directly about Choicescript games, most are about IFComp and the XYZZY Awards.

13 Likes

Downloaded. Thanks for sharing!

Too bad you’re not selling print copies, I would happily pay for a signed one. :slight_smile:

@Mifga, I think you’ll be interested in this.

3 Likes

That would be fun! Fortunately I already got paid for this; the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation funded a microgrant for the book, which gave me time to complete it!

https://www.iftechfoundation.org/committees/grants/past-grants/2024/

11 Likes

Oooh, I see Felicity Banks is on the list too - you’re in good company! If you haven’t played her IFComp entry yet, I definitely recommend it.

3 Likes

i’m really looking forward to this! loved the writing you ready completed and shared for this topic!

2 Likes

I spotted this and meant to post about it before life caught up with me - congratulations and I’m so looking forward to taking a proper look at this! Fantastic work!

2 Likes