This post is part of the 2018 "If You Write It, They Will Come" AIF Writing Salon.
Games are an interactive medium. The final experience is a combination
of player choices and your writing. Unless you're experienced enough to
be able to anticipate how players will react to your game, you need to
playtest your game to find out if players are experiencing the game in
the way you intended.
For the first couple of playtests, your game will just a skeleton. It
will be playable but incomplete. You should use these playtests to find
missing parts of your game and fill them in. You should think of
alternate choices that players can make at different points in the game
and write the text for them.
Just post any changes you want in the comments in the form of more transcripts or using more detailed instructions if necessary.
BlindAIF has made some good progress on coding up SeattleMan's transcript. It's possible to try it out here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/obih8725e6ycxxg/trip.zip?dl=1
Sheesh seeing it laid out in text like that makes me realize that this is too wordy by half!
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect I wish I had gone with something much more focused. After this I think as a challenge to myself I'll write something much more limited in scope.
Looks good so far though! Unfortunately I haven't had as much time to finish it up as I'd like, but I've made some progress, just not enough. My personal schedule should open up much more in the next couple weeks so hopefully I can finish it up soon.
Take your time with the writing. If you find that you're too busy, just let me know, and we can try that tag-team thing you suggested previously where I'll take over from where you left off and try to write my own ending for the game.
DeleteMaybe! I'll have a lot of time this coming week to work on it, hoping to have it done. If not though I may take you up on that! Or we can work on some extra content for it or something if you want
DeleteHad a chance to give it a whirl and it seems like a fun little game to play through. Most of us can relate to being around someone like that - we know them a bit, but not really.Eager to see where all the options lead and what will happen. Keep up the good work everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks for trying the game Spike. I've been meaning to continue working on the game as of late, but I've been experiencing internet difficulties and haven't had the chance to read comments and grab the latest version of SeattleMan's transcript. (Not sure whether he's had time to update it, or not.) Nonetheless, I'm glad you enjoyed what we have so far. I hope to have the game completed by the end of July.
DeleteIt looks like Seattle Man's transcript hasn't been updated yet. In other news, my internet is fixed.
ReplyDeleteYeah, sorry, still plugging away!
DeleteYeah, take your time with it. I'm just trying to make sure the game is done in time for the mini-fest. And what ever happened to hoLet--didn't he have some sort of game in the works for the mini-fest?
DeleteOk, I've finished up some more and all that's left is the final sex scene at the end. I hope to finish that this week, or at least get enough down so that the game is playable from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteI've made a new google doc with the updated text, rather than just add to the original. Which is, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZeG8Y-jcZBTAll63nETIaxegw5UjlC8Ig6B4_Hh9az8/edit?usp=sharing
Also, for those not doing the programming (or even if you are!) what do you think? Tips? Critiques?
Excellent. Will update my local version of the transcript. Good work as usual.
DeleteBlindAIF became a bit busy a couple of weeks ago, so I took on the coding for the Road Trip game. Unfortunately, I also became busy, and I only caught up now. The truths and dares are now coded, but I'm a little unclear as to when the truths or dares should happen. Should the player be able to choose whether they want a truth or dare? Should the player be able to choose which truth or dare to ask? Is it all random, or should there be a progression or preferred order?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/bbjxumdnv3nois7/2018%20writing%20salon%20trip%20SeattleMan%20BlindAIF.zip?dl=0
Ok looks good so far! As for the dares, I think there should be a progression, it'd seem odd if the first dare has the player whipping his dick out without any buildup. I'll go through them as I finish up the writing (hopefully this weekend) and rank them somehow.
DeleteWould it work programming wise to have like, three tiers of dares/truths, from the least intimate to the most, and then randomly show one from that tier? And then at some point it moves on to the next tier, and so on.
I can do whatever you want. I can see it going in two directions:
Delete1. You can make it so that the player actually chooses the dares and truths.
2. You can design a progressions system. It might be easier to just give me a predefined route through the truths and dares to start instead of the tiers then.
Hi lost trout and all. Real life has got in the way again, and I haven't had time to reply to any comments (let alone visit the AIF central website to see that you replied), but I suggest doing whatever fits the story better. I'm not exactly sure which would work better, but I digress. Hope the development is going well.
DeleteI'm a little busy this weekend, but I'll try to set aside some time next week to make an ending for the game.
DeleteStill stuck on how to write the transition to the beach house. The truth and dare game in the car builds excitement, and the transition can throw cold water on everything.
DeleteHmm, I have no ideas on how to transition to the beach house seamlessly.
DeleteIt makes more sense for them to pull over and have sex in the car, but I don't want to stray too far from the author's original intent too much, so I'll throw in a beach house. I've been busy and have a bit of a writer's block, but this thing has been weighing me down for a while, so I'll have another go at finishing it off soon.
DeleteI finally slapped an ending onto the game.
Delete