The AIF Writing Salon is winding down, and the deadline for the AIF Minifest is approaching. I originally set the deadline for the Minifest as August.
Is there anyone who's planning on submitting anything to the Minifest? Does anyone need more time?
Your destination for Adult Interactive Fiction discussion
Monday, 25 July 2016
Sunday, 10 July 2016
Writing Salon Weeks 11+: Fleshing Things Out
This post is for the July 10-31 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Now that you have a playable game, it's time to flesh things out. Add more commands to your game. Add extra rooms. Add puzzles and plot. Add a conclusion. There's three weeks until the minifest, so use your time wisely to enhance your game.
Post the text that you've written for feedback. Ask for programming advice. Put up playable versions of your game that others can try and make suggestions for. Send me your completed works at the start of August at the email address losttrout AT gmail, so I can gather them together and make them available for the minifest. Even if you haven't been involved with the Writing Salon, I will still accept your game for the minifest. Raw game files or .html files are preferred over executable files because they are smaller and are less likely to have viruses. Sometimes gmail automatically discards emails with certain attachments, so if you don't hear from me after a few days saying that I've received your game, please e-mail me asking what's up.
Now that you have a playable game, it's time to flesh things out. Add more commands to your game. Add extra rooms. Add puzzles and plot. Add a conclusion. There's three weeks until the minifest, so use your time wisely to enhance your game.
Post the text that you've written for feedback. Ask for programming advice. Put up playable versions of your game that others can try and make suggestions for. Send me your completed works at the start of August at the email address losttrout AT gmail, so I can gather them together and make them available for the minifest. Even if you haven't been involved with the Writing Salon, I will still accept your game for the minifest. Raw game files or .html files are preferred over executable files because they are smaller and are less likely to have viruses. Sometimes gmail automatically discards emails with certain attachments, so if you don't hear from me after a few days saying that I've received your game, please e-mail me asking what's up.
Sunday, 3 July 2016
Writing Salon Week 10: Program the Transcript
This post is for the July 3-9 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
It's time to get interactive! Add the commands from your sex transcript into your game. You should be able to play through your game now. Post your game up for people to try and give you feedback about how it plays.
When programming, it's important to not fight your story engine. Story engines are designed to be programmed in certain ways. As long as you stay within the expected structure, the programming should be relatively easy. If you do something that runs counter to the design of the story engine, the programming can quickly become very, very hard. If you find yourself doing a lot of complicated programming, you might be trying to make your story engine do something that it was not designed to do. In those cases, it is often easier to adapt your story to fit what the engine wants than the other way around. Experienced AIF authors are adept at finding compromises between the needs of their stories and the design of their story engines. Feel free to ask for advice.
It's time to get interactive! Add the commands from your sex transcript into your game. You should be able to play through your game now. Post your game up for people to try and give you feedback about how it plays.
When programming, it's important to not fight your story engine. Story engines are designed to be programmed in certain ways. As long as you stay within the expected structure, the programming should be relatively easy. If you do something that runs counter to the design of the story engine, the programming can quickly become very, very hard. If you find yourself doing a lot of complicated programming, you might be trying to make your story engine do something that it was not designed to do. In those cases, it is often easier to adapt your story to fit what the engine wants than the other way around. Experienced AIF authors are adept at finding compromises between the needs of their stories and the design of their story engines. Feel free to ask for advice.
Sunday, 26 June 2016
Writing Salon Week 9: Sex Transcript
This post is for the June 26-July 2 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Write a sample playthrough of your sex scene. List the commands that a player will do and write the responses that will happen. Think about alternate commands that the player might try. Here is a sample transcript:
It shows different commands that you can try and the expected responses.
Writing sex scenes can be difficult. Surprisingly, writing sex scenes isn't taught in school, so most people don't have any practice with it. A good sex scene shouldn't just be a mechanical description of sex acts. Describe how it feels and the emotions involved. I am including numerous excerpts of some public domain sex scenes that you can pilfer and adapt for your own writing.
Write a sample playthrough of your sex scene. List the commands that a player will do and write the responses that will happen. Think about alternate commands that the player might try. Here is a sample transcript:
> kiss her
You kiss her.
> Lick breasts
You gently lick her nipple.
> Have sex
You have sex with her. You cuddle with her afterwards and go to sleep.
The End.
It shows different commands that you can try and the expected responses.
Writing sex scenes can be difficult. Surprisingly, writing sex scenes isn't taught in school, so most people don't have any practice with it. A good sex scene shouldn't just be a mechanical description of sex acts. Describe how it feels and the emotions involved. I am including numerous excerpts of some public domain sex scenes that you can pilfer and adapt for your own writing.
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Writing Salon Week 8: Program the Character Descriptions
This post is for the June 19-25 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Add character descriptions to your game so that your characters can be looked at. Many beginner authors have "simulationist tendencies." They feel that they need to simulate the real world. Every body part needs to be examinable. Each piece of clothing can be individually removed. This is very difficult and time-consuming to do. It can also be tedious to write and tedious to read. It can get boring coming up with an interesting description of a woman's breasts and vagina all the time.
Avoid making a clothing system for your game unless you actually have a lot of extra time. Unless there's a narrative reason that individual body parts need to be examinable, make your life easier and don't include it.
Add character descriptions to your game so that your characters can be looked at. Many beginner authors have "simulationist tendencies." They feel that they need to simulate the real world. Every body part needs to be examinable. Each piece of clothing can be individually removed. This is very difficult and time-consuming to do. It can also be tedious to write and tedious to read. It can get boring coming up with an interesting description of a woman's breasts and vagina all the time.
Avoid making a clothing system for your game unless you actually have a lot of extra time. Unless there's a narrative reason that individual body parts need to be examinable, make your life easier and don't include it.
Sunday, 12 June 2016
Writing Salon Week 7: Character Description
This post is for the June 12-18 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Write descriptions for the player and partner. What do they look like? What are they wearing? What do they look like naked? Post your descriptions and try to entice us with your characters.
To help get your mind in the mood for writing, I'm including two public domain excerpts from Fanny Hill. Adapt them to your needs.
Write descriptions for the player and partner. What do they look like? What are they wearing? What do they look like naked? Post your descriptions and try to entice us with your characters.
To help get your mind in the mood for writing, I'm including two public domain excerpts from Fanny Hill. Adapt them to your needs.
Sunday, 5 June 2016
Writing Salon Week 6: Program the Room Description
This post is for the June 5-11 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Add the room description to your game so that players can look around.
If you are using Twine, you can emulate the feel of traditional interactive fiction. Create a different passage for each room. When you click on objects, instead of using the normal Twine links, use the <<popup>> macro by Claretta. You only need the javascript code and not the provided css code. If you want the popups to automatically close when you click on links, create a passage called "PassageReady" with the following contents: <<set UISystem.close()>>
Add the room description to your game so that players can look around.
If you are using Twine, you can emulate the feel of traditional interactive fiction. Create a different passage for each room. When you click on objects, instead of using the normal Twine links, use the <<popup>> macro by Claretta. You only need the javascript code and not the provided css code. If you want the popups to automatically close when you click on links, create a passage called "PassageReady" with the following contents: <<set UISystem.close()>>
Sunday, 29 May 2016
Writing Salon Week 5: Room Descriptions
This post is for the May 29-June 4 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
When your game starts, the player needs to know where he or she is. Establish the setting. Write a paragraph describing where the sex scene takes place. Is it an empty room, or do you want to have interactive objects in the room too? Post your descriptions for everyone to read.
Since traditional interactive fiction is built around moving between different rooms and interacting with objects in them, interactive fiction often has a strong sense of place. By focusing heavily on where you are and by forcing you to examine and interact with things, traditional interactive fiction immerses you in a world. Twine uses a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure model of the world, so Twine stories tend to emphasize plot more.
Although rich room descriptions with many interactive objects can help with immersion, don't feel obligated to spend too much time there. AIF stories are unusual in that they focus mostly on character. The setting isn't too important, so many AIF games provide only brief descriptions of your surroundings. What is important though is that you describe any exits that are available and any characters or objects that can be interacted with. One side-effect of this is that room descriptions sometimes read like dry lists of stuff, which is fine.
To help get you in the right mindset, I have grabbed a random assortment of room descriptions from some public domain novels. These descriptions read like traditional interactive fiction room descriptions, so you try to adapt them to your needs.
When your game starts, the player needs to know where he or she is. Establish the setting. Write a paragraph describing where the sex scene takes place. Is it an empty room, or do you want to have interactive objects in the room too? Post your descriptions for everyone to read.
Since traditional interactive fiction is built around moving between different rooms and interacting with objects in them, interactive fiction often has a strong sense of place. By focusing heavily on where you are and by forcing you to examine and interact with things, traditional interactive fiction immerses you in a world. Twine uses a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure model of the world, so Twine stories tend to emphasize plot more.
Although rich room descriptions with many interactive objects can help with immersion, don't feel obligated to spend too much time there. AIF stories are unusual in that they focus mostly on character. The setting isn't too important, so many AIF games provide only brief descriptions of your surroundings. What is important though is that you describe any exits that are available and any characters or objects that can be interacted with. One side-effect of this is that room descriptions sometimes read like dry lists of stuff, which is fine.
To help get you in the right mindset, I have grabbed a random assortment of room descriptions from some public domain novels. These descriptions read like traditional interactive fiction room descriptions, so you try to adapt them to your needs.
Sunday, 22 May 2016
Writing Salon Week 4: Program that Introduction
This post is for the May 22-28 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon.
Cut & paste that introduction into your game. When you start your game, that introduction should appear, drawing players into the story.
If you want other people to try out what you've programmed so far, upload it somewhere and post the Internet address in the comments. I believe that DropBox and Neocities are okay with people sharing adult content on their sites.
Cut & paste that introduction into your game. When you start your game, that introduction should appear, drawing players into the story.
If you want other people to try out what you've programmed so far, upload it somewhere and post the Internet address in the comments. I believe that DropBox and Neocities are okay with people sharing adult content on their sites.
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Writing Salon Week 3: Introductions
This post is for the May 15-21 writing event of the 2016 AIF Writing Salon. It's not too late to join in. If you've got an idea for a game, feel free to discuss it.
Every AIF game needs a sex scene. In order to keep the scope of the writing manageable, we're going to concentrate on writing a game with only one sex scene first. Later, more chapters can be added on to create a longer work. Choose one sex scene from your game and write an introduction that summarizes everything in your story leading up to that sex scene. Post these teasers to get feedback and to generate excitement about your full game.
Although it is painful to replace the amazing plot points and puzzles that you had in your mind with a simple introductory summary, doing so can often improve your game. Starting in media res, right in the thick of the action, can really improve the pacing of your plot. One of the most common writing tricks used in romance novels is to start with the protagonist and her love interest already be in love. A story about how two people get together is much more difficult to write and can be tedious to read.
Every AIF game needs a sex scene. In order to keep the scope of the writing manageable, we're going to concentrate on writing a game with only one sex scene first. Later, more chapters can be added on to create a longer work. Choose one sex scene from your game and write an introduction that summarizes everything in your story leading up to that sex scene. Post these teasers to get feedback and to generate excitement about your full game.
Although it is painful to replace the amazing plot points and puzzles that you had in your mind with a simple introductory summary, doing so can often improve your game. Starting in media res, right in the thick of the action, can really improve the pacing of your plot. One of the most common writing tricks used in romance novels is to start with the protagonist and her love interest already be in love. A story about how two people get together is much more difficult to write and can be tedious to read.
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