New game, offering to wolves, etc.

On Jan 11, 3:06 pm, arie... RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:
> On Jan 6, 4:45 am, leaf... RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi all. So I wrote this game, "My Magic Tire Hoax" (http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/tirehoax.zblorb) for the
> > recent "Text the Halls" competition over at tigsource, and it's still
> > kinda in a testing/beta phase, I guess you'd say. It's my first
> > attempt at an IF, so I'd love to get some feedback on it, and/or info
> > on bugs/spelling/grammar problems. It all just kinda blurs together
> > for me, now, and it's hard for me to see those things.
>
> > It's basically a character sketch. A short game. The player is not the
> > main character, but can, through some mostly non-puzzle-y methods,
> > drastically affect the ending. (Of which there are a few. Or a few
> > combinations of three basic situations, I guess.) Hopefully all the
> > necessary play info is in the "about" text. Anyway... comments,
> > problems (aesthetic or technical), questions can be directed to
> > leaf... RemoveThis @yahoo.com.
>
> > (My secret door code was stolen directly from some kind soul in this
> > group, whom I do not credit, so I figure I should offer it up to you
> > all, either as thank you or a punishment for giving code to strangers.
> > Depending.)
>
> > Anywho. Thanks.
>
> > - nd
>
> Kind of sudden ending. Also, there's a little inappropriate content in
> there. Otherwise, very good, very detailed. I'd say 4 stars.

There're actually a few different endings. And, yeah, they're all
pretty sudden. It is an "adult" game, I guess, but hopefully it's
tasteful. Thanks for the comments.

Here're some "walk-through"y options for the game, if the actual
playing of it is proving too inscrutable for anybody--
(inside Theresa's head)
- you can drop the bomb or the knife in Long Shadow.
- you can drop the turtle or the bomb in the Mauve Palace.
- you can drop the turtle in the Bus Stop.
- you can drop the knife in Sunset.

These are the main ways to influence the ending(s), aside from talking
to Theresa and looking through/not looking through the telescopes. The
game's meant to be more about exploration and random experimentation
than puzzles, but I also realize there's no real _logic_ to how the
game ultimately plays out. (Shrug.) But anyway.

- nd
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

On Jan 12, 8:25 pm, leaf....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com wrote:
> On Jan 11, 3:06 pm, arie....TakeThisOut@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Jan 6, 4:45 am, leaf....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > > Hi all. So I wrote this game, "My Magic Tire Hoax" (http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/games/zcode/tirehoax.zblorb) for the
> > > recent "Text the Halls" competition over at tigsource, and it's still
> > > kinda in a testing/beta phase, I guess you'd say. It's my first
> > > attempt at an IF, so I'd love to get some feedback on it, and/or info
> > > on bugs/spelling/grammar problems. It all just kinda blurs together
> > > for me, now, and it's hard for me to see those things.
>
> > > It's basically a character sketch. A short game. The player is not the
> > > main character, but can, through some mostly non-puzzle-y methods,
> > > drastically affect the ending. (Of which there are a few. Or a few
> > > combinations of three basic situations, I guess.) Hopefully all the
> > > necessary play info is in the "about" text. Anyway... comments,
> > > problems (aesthetic or technical), questions can be directed to
> > > leaf....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com.
>
> > > (My secret door code was stolen directly from some kind soul in this
> > > group, whom I do not credit, so I figure I should offer it up to you
> > > all, either as thank you or a punishment for giving code to strangers.
> > > Depending.)
>
> > > Anywho. Thanks.
>
> > > - nd
>
> > Kind of sudden ending. Also, there's a little inappropriate content in
> > there. Otherwise, very good, very detailed. I'd say 4 stars.
>
> There're actually a few different endings. And, yeah, they're all
> pretty sudden. It is an "adult" game, I guess, but hopefully it's
> tasteful. Thanks for the comments.
>
> Here're some "walk-through"y options for the game, if the actual
> playing of it is proving too inscrutable for anybody--
> (inside Theresa's head)
> - you can drop the bomb or the knife in Long Shadow.
> - you can drop the turtle or the bomb in the Mauve Palace.
> - you can drop the turtle in the Bus Stop.
> - you can drop the knife in Sunset.
>
> These are the main ways to influence the ending(s), aside from talking
> to Theresa and looking through/not looking through the telescopes. The
> game's meant to be more about exploration and random experimentation
> than puzzles, but I also realize there's no real _logic_ to how the
> game ultimately plays out. (Shrug.) But anyway.
>
> - nd

These are the endings?
I just used change.
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

[snip]

> These are the endings?
> I just used change.

Change'll get you to the end, regardless of what you do. The idea is
you can do those things to change the ending. There're some different
ones.

- nd
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

On Jan 14, 12:25 pm, leaf... RemoveThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> [snip]
>
> > These are the endings?
> > I just used change.
>
> Change'll get you to the end, regardless of what you do. The idea is
> you can do those things to change the ending. There're some different
> ones.
>
> - nd

Okay. Clearly, the game, not a big hit with anybody. But omg (as the
kids say) somebody SAY something about it. (I'm trying to make a new
one!) It might not work as a game, but it's at the least a short story
that needs some more words than it's gotten. It's not _that_ badly
written. Or maybe it is? Either way; this is a small community;
somebody say _something_. Or, don't, I guess. I guess I just thought
it was better than all this silence. I know I'm new around here. But,
even so.

- nd
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

On Jan 17, 7:48 am, leaf... DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
> On Jan 14, 12:25 pm, leaf... DeleteThis @yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > [snip]
>
> > > These are the endings?
> > > I just used change.
>
> > Change'll get you to the end, regardless of what you do. The idea is
> > you can do those things to change the ending. There're some different
> > ones.
>
> > - nd
>
> Okay. Clearly, the game, not a big hit with anybody. But omg (as the
> kids say) somebody SAY something about it. (I'm trying to make a new
> one!) It might not work as a game, but it's at the least a short story
> that needs some more words than it's gotten. It's not _that_ badly
> written. Or maybe it is? Either way; this is a small community;
> somebody say _something_. Or, don't, I guess. I guess I just thought
> it was better than all this silence. I know I'm new around here. But,
> even so.
>
> - nd

Well, I gave you 4/5
I think your writing style is nice, but I indeed missed the puzzles.
This seems more like a book to me, to be honest.
(I'm only trying to provide constructive criticism, not to offend you
in any way)
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

If you're interested in the opinions of one of your fellow
competitors, the game was definitely a big hit with me. I was one of
the people who voted for you in the Miss Congeniality thingy. The
writing, setting and characters all floored me. Shortly after I
started playing, I found myself thinking, "Well, that's it, I've lost
the competition."

You have the bare bones of an extremely good game here. You just need
to:

1. Implement all the objects and decoration in Theresa's head. Yes,
it's a pain, but there's quite a bit of potential to flesh things out
and provide some hints about what to do.

2. Seriously test the game. There are quite a few bugs. (Try typing
'in' at the bus stop, or changing the time with the radio switched
on.)

I certainly think that this is a strong indication that your future
games are likely to be really good. You maybe just need to make sure
you come up with some good game mechanics to couple to your strong
storytelling.

-Pacian
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

On Jan 19, 1:23 am, cejpac... DeleteThis @googlemail.com wrote:
> If you're interested in the opinions of one of your fellow
> competitors, the game was definitely a big hit with me. I was one of
> the people who voted for you in the Miss Congeniality thingy. The
> writing, setting and characters all floored me. Shortly after I
> started playing, I found myself thinking, "Well, that's it, I've lost
> the competition."
>
> You have the bare bones of an extremely good game here. You just need
> to:
>
> 1. Implement all the objects and decoration in Theresa's head. Yes,
> it's a pain, but there's quite a bit of potential to flesh things out
> and provide some hints about what to do.
>
> 2. Seriously test the game. There are quite a few bugs. (Try typing
> 'in' at the bus stop, or changing the time with the radio switched
> on.)
>
> I certainly think that this is a strong indication that your future
> games are likely to be really good. You maybe just need to make sure
> you come up with some good game mechanics to couple to your strong
> storytelling.
>
> -Pacian

Hear hear
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

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 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc. 

So, first, sorry for the freak out. And of course, thanks for the
comments I did get. Your comments are appreciated and happily
accepted. .. Life is kind of strange right now, and it makes drinking
cheap beer, and shouting out into the seeming void of the internet
make sense, some nights. That's not meant to be a justification, just,
I guess, an explanation as to my character.

But I've got more substantial and less personal stuff to babble about:
'cuz here's the thing: and it goes to mechanics, but it's also
"theory", I guess, and what I desperately need somebody to tell me
from a player's POV, re: Hoax, and games like it: the player's
interactions, and the results, were deliberately pretty random. (More
scenery ought be implemented inside Theresa's head, I totally agree,
but, as far as basics go, the idea was always that the player would
have no specific idea what s/he was doing, and what results the
unknown/random actions would have to the game.)

I have this possibly insane notion of expanding on this idea, but I'm
not sure how playable it'd be. Or, more to the point, how annoying.
Right now, my idea is: every time the player examines something semi-
obscure, s/he gets something (an item, I mean, in addition to the
obligatory masturbatory prose which to be honest is by first concern);
the items could then be combined into other items which can then be
used to affect the moods and/or behaviors or the characters in the
game. (I haven't worked this out yet, but a sort of cooking/alchemy
thing. Which apparently Aquaria does, and I'm pretty sure that's where
I'm stealing the idea from, but I haven't played it much yet to know
how it's implemented. But! With the same idea as in "Hoax": the
player--at least initially, the first few runs through the game--has
no idea what these created items will actually _do._ I suppose there
would be recipes scattered, with vague hints, and words and whatever,
I haven't worked this out yet at all, but basically, I like the idea
of the player being in the dark, and the ending(s) being sort of
ultimately inevitable. But the player at least being somehow given
something for the effort of looking and exploring.

Now! How annoying is that to play?

Or, something like that. Since I'm sure if I do finish this thing in
my head it won't look like this thing that I'm typing about tonight.

I've been playing Max Payne and Rez lately. (My computer died
recently. This is beside the point, yet not.) Max Payne can be very
satisfying from time to time, but is ultimately incredibly annoying
because it expects the player to do these semi-impossible things. Rez
may ask me to do difficult things, but it's always fun. I guess what
I'm saying is, I don't want to make a Max Payne. But Max Payne is
realistic in the sense that life is frustrating and ends in death and
people will just shoot you in the back and you will die instantly and
is full of these completely stupid mazes that might have a logic but
it's a logic you can't readily see. Still that's no fun to play, at
least for me. (Especially if in said maze there's this dead baby
crying, crying endlessly? Interesting gimmick f'r the first few loops,
but then... Anyway!)

Puzzle/IF games're naturally different than Rez/Payne due to the
possibility of solutions/walkthroughs, but I'd sort of like to avoid
that, too, by letting the NP characters walk around or go to the
bathroom or sleep according to some coded scheduling. Which isn't
terribly tricky but might just make it all feel a little too much like
rolling dice for the results of a choose-your-own-adventure. Which is
also something I'd like to avoid.

I guess what I'm asking is: how annoying or not is it to play a texty
game with no specific or obviously manipulatable goal? Like, a goal
that will come regardless of what you as the player does, but will
change depending on what you do; a world to hang out in and read and
here or there nudge, but with no specific idea of what the nudge will
do? Are there other games that do this? I haven't read about any or
played any. But I'm pretty ignorant, so.

Again, sorry for the freak out. That is something I do. The internet
enables it, and cheap beer makes it more likely, but that's of course
no excuse. Because really all I wanted to talk about was what I just
typed above, because I'm starting this thing, and I'm insecure about
it, and I probably should have just typed that to begin with, in a
separate subject. It's very cold in Iowa right now. I'm in Iowa.
That's not an excuse either, but it might be an explanation. But it's
even colder elsewhere, and I'm aware of that, on some level. So, uh.
Yeah.

- nd
 >> Stay informed about: New game, offering to wolves, etc.