Text Adventures

These days I've really into Text Adventures. Mostly because my device of choice is a Chromebook, which stops me from playing most games. I really want to write my own, but I have no idea where to start. Especially because the adventures I've read/experimented with on this site have such good writing and seem to keep track of so many things at the same time.

Could anyone share tips on how to write (and share) my own?

[aka]

I would *strongly* recommend looking at Twine: https://twinery.org/. It has a VERY simple and straightforward interface, it comes with a very nice visual view of your game that lets you see all the paths you've created so far, and it creates HTML games, which makes them stupid easy to share (just throw the html file up on a file sharing side like mediafire) and is very compatible across platforms.


The best part is that for a standard, multi-path CYOA there is almost no learning curve. Once you learn the (simple) syntax for choices, you can immediately start writing.


You can also check out Inform: http://inform7.com/ if you want something closer to a Zork-style game where you type things like "Go North", "inspect desk" and so on. These games are much more complex than the CYOA-style that Twine excels at, and the system is naturally much more complex. Still, it's pretty easy to learn considering the complexity of the kind of games you create with it.



As far as keeping track of a bunch of things, my favorite approach is to use informative keywords (i.e. "attractedToMidnight" or "EP6D2SpankedAnklyana") that help jog my memory of what I am keeping track of. Generally, I also keep the consequences of most choices pretty short lived, so that I don't *have* to keep track of a lot. Any given choice might lead to a short path that converges with the "main" storyline, and then is forgotten. It's not quite as satisfying as if the choice has big, long lasting consequences, but it also keeps things manageable.


I would also encourage you to keep your early game(s) fairly small and straightforward. You're generally better off starting simple and gradually adding sophistication than you are starting big and ambitious and then being forced to trim back, or watching everything collapse until the weight of its own complexity.


Finally don't be afraid to write a bunch of small, simple games as opposed to one mammoth multi-year thing. And if you *do* want to do a mammoth multi-year thing, don't be afraid to make it a bunch of small, simple games strung together. That's basically what Scarlet Moon is, a sequence of small games with some continuity between them.

Thank you for your advice. I think "Zork" is closer in line with what I'm imagining, where the player is able to investigate things, and they can unlock things depending on the actions they take. But I don't know if my chromebook can run it, so I'll have to look into that. For the moment I'll try some small projects like on Twine. I guess one problem I have is figuring out how to make it different from a regular short story. Like what choices are worth diverging the story? Maybe I need to find a writing course that specializes in CYOA...if that exists.

Thank you Aka. I think I've been wanting to play your game, but my chromebook can't use it. The pains of my underpowered device.

Originally Posted by aka

I would *strongly* recommend looking at Twine: https://twinery.org/. It has a VERY simple and straightforward interface, it comes with a very nice visual view of your game that lets you see all the paths you've created so far, and it creates HTML games, which makes them stupid easy to share (just throw the html file up on a file sharing side like mediafire) and is very compatible across platforms.


The best part is that for a standard, multi-path CYOA there is almost no learning curve. Once you learn the (simple) syntax for choices, you can immediately start writing.


You can also check out Inform: http://inform7.com/ if you want something closer to a Zork-style game where you type things like "Go North", "inspect desk" and so on. These games are much more complex than the CYOA-style that Twine excels at, and the system is naturally much more complex. Still, it's pretty easy to learn considering the complexity of the kind of games you create with it.



As far as keeping track of a bunch of things, my favorite approach is to use informative keywords (i.e. "attractedToMidnight" or "EP6D2SpankedAnklyana") that help jog my memory of what I am keeping track of. Generally, I also keep the consequences of most choices pretty short lived, so that I don't *have* to keep track of a lot. Any given choice might lead to a short path that converges with the "main" storyline, and then is forgotten. It's not quite as satisfying as if the choice has big, long lasting consequences, but it also keeps things manageable.


I would also encourage you to keep your early game(s) fairly small and straightforward. You're generally better off starting simple and gradually adding sophistication than you are starting big and ambitious and then being forced to trim back, or watching everything collapse until the weight of its own complexity.


Finally don't be afraid to write a bunch of small, simple games as opposed to one mammoth multi-year thing. And if you *do* want to do a mammoth multi-year thing, don't be afraid to make it a bunch of small, simple games strung together. That's basically what Scarlet Moon is, a sequence of small games with some continuity between them.

[aka]

Originally Posted by DMG

Like what choices are worth diverging the story? Maybe I need to find a writing course that specializes in CYOA...if that exists.

This is a bit of an art, but you could try pulling out a notebook and a pencil and sketching out a few paths you could imagine your game taking. And of course, a very natural way of diverging paths is "this path leads to a spanking, this path doesn't!"



So if your PC is snooping in the principal's room, and the door bangs open, standing there is a very large, imposing woman with a very large, imposing paddle.



Choices:


1. Throw flour in her eyes and run past her! (Leads to a spanking)
2. Dive out the window! (Escape! Muahahah!)

Thank you Aka. I think I've been wanting to play your game, but my chromebook can't use it. The pains of my underpowered device.

I'm sorry to hear you can't play my game. I'm assuming the Linux Loveless version didn't work? I'm pretty sure that Chrome OS is fundamentally a Linux OS, so if any versions work, it'll be that one.

Game-Design: Yeah, that's a good example. It's really hard when I'm thinking about it. Because when writing I'm used to writing very linear. Do you have any insight to share on that other type of game? Like your game and Puttsdale and Girl's Dorm. Where's it CYOA but you make lots of micro-choices? I really like the games that have stats and clothes to change and stuff. Long-term, that's the kind of game I'd like to make as a text adventure.

Game: My device doesn't support Linux, so I'm not sure what you mean. I pretty much only play Browser games on this device. Like Puttsdale, Girl's Dorm, etc. Although I haven't played much of Puttsdale because I use incognito a lot, so my save files don't stick around.

Originally Posted by aka

This is a bit of an art, but you could try pulling out a notebook and a pencil and sketching out a few paths you could imagine your game taking. And of course, a very natural way of diverging paths is "this path leads to a spanking, this path doesn't!"



So if your PC is snooping in the principal's room, and the door bangs open, standing there is a very large, imposing woman with a very large, imposing paddle.



Choices:


1. Throw flour in her eyes and run past her! (Leads to a spanking)
2. Dive out the window! (Escape! Muahahah!)






I'm sorry to hear you can't play my game. I'm assuming the Linux Loveless version didn't work? I'm pretty sure that Chrome OS is fundamentally a Linux OS, so if any versions work, it'll be that one.

[aka]

Originally Posted by DMG

Game-Design: Yeah, that's a good example. It's really hard when I'm thinking about it. Because when writing I'm used to writing very linear. Do you have any insight to share on that other type of game? Like your game and Puttsdale and Girl's Dorm. Where's it CYOA but you make lots of micro-choices? I really like the games that have stats and clothes to change and stuff. Long-term, that's the kind of game I'd like to make as a text adventure.

Well, when it comes to the micro-choices in my game (which are mostly just roleplaying), I generally follow a pattern for each choice. You have a Spider-Man (i.e. snarky), Superman (i.e. heroic), and stoic (i.e. Batman) choice. For example:


"Scarlet Moon!" snarled Buzzsaw.


Choices:
1. "Scarlet Moon? Where? Where? Ohh, I've always wanted to meet someone famous!"

2. "Today you will pay for your nefarious deeds!"
3. "Give it up Buzzsaw!"






So basically, one thing you can try is start writing, and when it feels appropriate for the PC to say something, you can offer three choices, each following a particular personality. You could have a bratty choice, a stick-in-the-mud choice and maybe a quiet choice. Most of the time, these choices don't need to mean anything, but if something interesting occurs to you, voila you have a couple of different paths available.



Something like letting the player wear clothing is definitely supported (there are lots of twine games over at https://tfgames.site/ that use Twine and let the player change their outfit), though that is definitely something I wouldn't look into until after I'd gotten comfortable with the basic flow of writing a CYOA in Twine.


You can also look at the Fate roleplaying game for some inspiration. Its rules are all about helping people come up with fun and engaging narrative. I have a blog post where I talk about adapting it to a spanking game: https://www.spankingrpgs.com/october-update-2/. And I have the start of a game where I was playing around with Fate (this game is just a webpage, so you should have no problem reading it): https://www.spankingrpgs.com/wp-cont...tha_stone.html


I really like using Aspects, because they help me come up with interesting choices. When I was working on this, I was constantly keeping an eye out for opportunities to offer compels on various aspects, and stat checks that exercise the various checks. The rules served as a sort of catalyst for me.

Alright, thank you.

It's all overwhelming rn since it's something I'll be trying for the first time. I tried in the past, but that was just with RPGmaker, which was far too complex for me at the time.

Does Twine or that other program you mentioned require coding? I am going to be a CS student soon and expect to learn some basics over the course of the program. Is any of that applicable, or do I only need to know how to write?

Thank you for all your help, too.

Originally Posted by aka

Well, when it comes to the micro-choices in my game (which are mostly just roleplaying), I generally follow a pattern for each choice. You have a Spider-Man (i.e. snarky), Superman (i.e. heroic), and stoic (i.e. Batman) choice. For example:


"Scarlet Moon!" snarled Buzzsaw.


Choices:
1. "Scarlet Moon? Where? Where? Ohh, I've always wanted to meet someone famous!"

2. "Today you will pay for your nefarious deeds!"
3. "Give it up Buzzsaw!"






So basically, one thing you can try is start writing, and when it feels appropriate for the PC to say something, you can offer three choices, each following a particular personality. You could have a bratty choice, a stick-in-the-mud choice and maybe a quiet choice. Most of the time, these choices don't need to mean anything, but if something interesting occurs to you, voila you have a couple of different paths available.



Something like letting the player wear clothing is definitely supported (there are lots of twine games over at https://tfgames.site/ that use Twine and let the player change their outfit), though that is definitely something I wouldn't look into until after I'd gotten comfortable with the basic flow of writing a CYOA in Twine.


You can also look at the Fate roleplaying game for some inspiration. Its rules are all about helping people come up with fun and engaging narrative. I have a blog post where I talk about adapting it to a spanking game: https://www.spankingrpgs.com/october-update-2/. And I have the start of a game where I was playing around with Fate (this game is just a webpage, so you should have no problem reading it): https://www.spankingrpgs.com/wp-cont...tha_stone.html


I really like using Aspects, because they help me come up with interesting choices. When I was working on this, I was constantly keeping an eye out for opportunities to offer compels on various aspects, and stat checks that exercise the various checks. The rules served as a sort of catalyst for me.

[aka]

Twine doesn't require any coding. You just need to be able to write, and slap some brackets around some text every now and then.



Inform does require coding, in the sense that Inform is a full blown programming language. Its syntax is very English-like, but it is still very rigid and literal like any other programming language.



In both cases, writing a very basic game is as simple as it can get. Twine is going to be simpler, but the types of games you create with it are also simpler. I would suggest playing around with both of them, write a few basic passages in Twine, and try playing your sample game. Create a few rooms with a few items in Inform and try running it, and see which one you like more.

Alright. So Twine, like you said before, is the best starting place. It needs very little to get started.

And Inform is its own language, huh? I was secretly hoping it'd be javascript or python, since those two are on my curriculum. Does Inform have its own courses? Actually never mind, I'll google this later. No need to waste your time explaining that part. XD

Do you think it'd be worth sharing even the very simple games I make on this site? Or do you think a beginner's project isn't really worth sharing?

Rn, the way I'm thinking of approaching Twine is writing a short story. Then afterwards going back through it and spotting places where it could have gone differently. Is this what you do? I'm curious about your process since you have a lot of experience.

Thank you for your guidance, Aka-sensei.

Originally Posted by aka

Twine doesn't require any coding. You just need to be able to write, and slap some brackets around some text every now and then.



Inform does require coding, in the sense that Inform is a full blown programming language. Its syntax is very English-like, but it is still very rigid and literal like any other programming language.



In both cases, writing a very basic game is as simple as it can get. Twine is going to be simpler, but the types of games you create with it are also simpler. I would suggest playing around with both of them, write a few basic passages in Twine, and try playing your sample game. Create a few rooms with a few items in Inform and try running it, and see which one you like more.