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Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:02 am
by Xenophiliac
If i'm going to create a creature that the player faces if they want to grab an object/progress forward, but won't have any victory/loss/ending/morphing content, should I just tack it on to the end of the main file, or make an entire creature file for it?

--Alright, took a bit of a break on the gryphon and chugged out a bit of a new area off of the museum. I left room for people to make extensions off of it if they want, and i still have some stuff to make (new NPC mostly). I'm gonna try and chug out some more gryphon tonight however.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 1:42 pm
by TigerStripes
Xenophiliac wrote:If i'm going to create a creature that the player faces if they want to grab an object/progress forward, but won't have any victory/loss/ending/morphing content, should I just tack it on to the end of the main file, or make an entire creature file for it?

--Alright, took a bit of a break on the gryphon and chugged out a bit of a new area off of the museum. I left room for people to make extensions off of it if they want, and i still have some stuff to make (new NPC mostly). I'm gonna try and chug out some more gryphon tonight however.

Is this going to be a new creature? Will it be used exclusively for this event/scene?

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 12:11 am
by Blue Bishop
Interesting Setting. Can't say no to some Egyptian Shenanigans.

I'll hit you with a few minor things before getting to the bigger matter. First off, you want to set non-infectious entry to true. Descriptor and Type entry are irrelevant since those are descriptions the player inherits upon body infection. Your attack entry has a period behind each sting. Instead, remove it from all of them and then just put a single period behind the [at random] -- Efficiency!

Whenever adding content to the game, always consider your smut-to-content ratio. Since this is a porn game, players will generally be expecting everything they encounter to entail pornographic content. For this reason, the second a player sees your guards pop into the game, they will immediately -- and without a second thought -- choose to submit to them.

So, when players get bitch slapped straight across the room, you can understand their inevitable frustration. Oh, they understand it's a barrier, but they also understand that every wall is a new adventure if you bring along a dildo with a suction base. For this reason, it's important for me to point out that you're producing content which doesn't necessarily translate into something the player will regard as "Worthwhile", strictly speaking.

I'm not necessarily telling you to add sexual content to the encounter, though. For example, Doran has probably the best smut-to-content ratio of any major NPC, and he won't have sex if you submit or lose to him in combat, but in his case it's to ignite a mystery, "How curious, a monster that wants to fight me but not have sex with me? I wonder what happens when I beat it!"

Of course, the main reason for both of these instances is to ensure that the player is experiencing the world and not making a b-line straight to whatever new content pops up. However, it is something I do suggest you be mindful of, especially in the future.

The issue of people blundering still stands, however. Apply something along these lines to the end of the description:
Code: Select all
[italic type]Oddly enough, from the way it behaves, the construct is clearly not interested in engaging in any sexual activity[roman type]...

That should rectify the issue.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:38 am
by Xenophiliac
Is this going to be a new creature? Will it be used exclusively for this event/scene?

The Jackal Guard is just for that scene; I added him to a new file, but i can throw him into the main file if itll be easier

I'll hit you with a few minor things before getting to the bigger matter. First off, you want to set non-infectious entry to true. Descriptor and Type entry are irrelevant since those are descriptions the player inherits upon body infection. Your attack entry has a period behind each sting. Instead, remove it from all of them and then just put a single period behind the [at random] -- Efficiency!

Forgot about the non-infectious entry and didn't know if those descriptors were for something besides the player. Also efficiency is for nerds (ill clear it up).

Whenever adding content to the game, always consider your smut-to-content ratio. Since this is a porn game, players will generally be expecting everything they encounter to entail pornographic content. For this reason, the second a player sees your guards pop into the game, they will immediately -- and without a second thought -- choose to submit to them.

So, when players get bitch slapped straight across the room, you can understand their inevitable frustration. Oh, they understand it's a barrier, but they also understand that every wall is a new adventure if you bring along a dildo with a suction base. For this reason, it's important for me to point out that you're producing content which doesn't necessarily translate into something the player will regard as "Worthwhile", strictly speaking.

I'm not necessarily telling you to add sexual content to the encounter, though. For example, Doran has probably the best smut-to-content ratio of any major NPC, and he won't have sex if you submit or lose to him in combat, but in his case it's to ignite a mystery, "How curious, a monster that wants to fight me but not have sex with me? I wonder what happens when I beat it!"

Of course, the main reason for both of these instances is to ensure that the player is experiencing the world and not making a b-line straight to whatever new content pops up. However, it is something I do suggest you be mindful of, especially in the future.

The issue of people blundering still stands, however. Apply something along these lines to the end of the description:

Totally didn't think of that; kind of figured that the area/description might've been good enough, but its probably just me being author-biased. Ill go through and set something up to let players know that it ain't for smut.
There are plans for smut later, of course; this specific encounter has none though

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 3:32 am
by TigerStripes
Xenophiliac wrote:
Is this going to be a new creature? Will it be used exclusively for this event/scene?

The Jackal Guard is just for that scene; I added him to a new file, but i can throw him into the main file if itll be easier

Putting it in a new file would be best. If it were in the main file, it would be all the more confusing for anyone looking over the content. Here's a few points on structuring the critter and the scenario:
- Set the non-infectious entry to true.
- Set the area entry to "nowhere".
- Since there is no infection to be obtained, there should be no endings.
- Rather than being completely blank, you may wish to put something in the various transformation and description entries to denote that the tf shouldn't occur. In the event that an error occurs, it'll be easier to track down than if everything is blank. Even if they're all put as "impossible", that would help.
- The magic entry should probably be true. It's not relevant now, but may be relevant someday.
- Inform may run into confusion because your event is called "Egyptian Wing" and one of your rooms is called "Egyptian Wing Foyer".
- I'd recommend avoiding the use of the plain verbs for your special actions, as those are in use elsewhere. Having "examine mural" and "examine murals" should be fine, but "examine" on its own should be avoided as it is a possible phrasing for looking. This is even more plain in the case of taking the sword. "take" is the action for picking stuff up, so overruling "take" could be very bad. As well, using "take the sword" and "take sword" will mean that the player will not be able to use that phrasing to pick up a sword should they have one (like the infected sword). I'm not sure if "push" is used elsewhere, but I'd recommend not using it on its own, just to be safe.
- Not sure about your weapon's stats, but since the player shouldn't be able to obtain it until they're around lvl 15, it should be okay for the moment.
- The Anubis statue you encounter during the Jackalman quest is said to be located in the Egyptian wing as well. This is not a major problem and can be left as is, but I thought I'd mention it.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 4:18 am
by Xenophiliac
Putting it in a new file would be best. If it were in the main file, it would be all the more confusing for anyone looking over the content. Here's a few points on structuring the critter and the scenario:
- Set the non-infectious entry to true.
- Set the area entry to "nowhere".
- Since there is no infection to be obtained, there should be no endings.
- Rather than being completely blank, you may wish to put something in the various transformation and description entries to denote that the tf shouldn't occur. In the event that an error occurs, it'll be easier to track down than if everything is blank. Even if they're all put as "impossible", that would help.
- The magic entry should probably be true. It's not relevant now, but may be relevant someday.
- Inform may run into confusion because your event is called "Egyptian Wing" and one of your rooms is called "Egyptian Wing Foyer".
- I'd recommend avoiding the use of the plain verbs for your special actions, as those are in use elsewhere. Having "examine mural" and "examine murals" should be fine, but "examine" on its own should be avoided as it is a possible phrasing for looking. This is even more plain in the case of taking the sword. "take" is the action for picking stuff up, so overruling "take" could be very bad. As well, using "take the sword" and "take sword" will mean that the player will not be able to use that phrasing to pick up a sword should they have one (like the infected sword). I'm not sure if "push" is used elsewhere, but I'd recommend not using it on its own, just to be safe.
- Not sure about your weapon's stats, but since the player shouldn't be able to obtain it until they're around lvl 15, it should be okay for the moment.
- The Anubis statue you encounter during the Jackalman quest is said to be located in the Egyptian wing as well. This is not a major problem and can be left as is, but I thought I'd mention it.

-I'll set all the boolean variables to what they need and replace the transformation text with something that'll show up error-wise, and replace the names & action triggers with different, more specific wordings for them.
-Yea, I was unsure of the weapon stats. I compared it with the viking spear, which does 9 damage, so I figured that it being at 15 and gated behind a ~15th and beyond encounter should be alright for now at least.
-I could restructure the Anubis event and add another shrine somewhere in the wing. I haven't yet added other events/prowling enemies, and if i do, it won't be for a while, so a random event encounter would be odd, to say the least. I don't know how hard it would be to change that event around, but having the shrine activate the event when the player walks in (if the conditions are satisfied) doesn't seem 'that' difficult. That'll be up to you guys at the end of the day, though.

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Thinking on all the interactions that could happen between the pets and the gryphon, if a lot of them are implemented, theres going to be a bunch of if/otherwise statements. Thinking further on that, is there a way to have an [at random] function draw from pools of other [at random] statements?

I.E. would
Code: Select all
to say Pool1With3:
     say "[one of]Statement one[or]statement 2[or]statement 3[at random]";
to say Pool2With3:
     say "[one of]statement four[or]statement 5[or]statement 6[at random]";

instead of conversing with GenericNPC:
     say "[one of][Pool1With3][or][Pool2With3][at random]";

work (or if the above is inaccurate, would the general idea work)? Being able to have an if/otherwise statement be able to pull from pools of [at random] statements would make the code a lot more concise and clean, but i dunno if I7 is able to handle that.

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Addendum numero dos: Are there any non-infected normal animals wandering around in the dry plains?

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 1:55 pm
by TigerStripes
Thinking on all the interactions that could happen between the pets and the gryphon, if a lot of them are implemented, theres going to be a bunch of if/otherwise statements. Thinking further on that, is there a way to have an [at random] function draw from pools of other [at random] statements?
<example w/two tiers of random selections>

Yes, that's perfectly possible, as is using an if statement to replace one or either of those parts.
Example 1:
Code: Select all
instead of conversing RandomNPC:
   say "[if companion of player is gryphoness][rNPCgryph][otherwise][rNPCnogryph][end if]";

to say rNPCgryph:
   say "[one of]statement1a[or]statement2a[or]statement3a[at random]";

to say rNPCnogrhyph:
   say "[one of]statement1b[or]statement2b[or]statement3b[at random]";


Example 2:
Code: Select all
instead of conversing RandomNPC:
   say "[one of]statement1[or]statement2[or]statement3[or][if companion of player is gryphoness][rNPCgryph][otherwise][rNPCnogryph][end if][at random]";

to say rNPCgryph:
   say "[one of]statement4a[or]statement5a[or]statement6a[or]statement7a[at random]";

to say rNPCgryph:
   say "[one of]statement4b[or]statement5b[or]statement6b[or]statement7b[at random]";


If you look at Wahn's and my examples from these posts *1* and *2*, you can replace any of those random/conditional talk messages with a new call for a say statement which can contain a fresh set of random and/or if clauses. This is the primary way you get around the fact that you cannot directly put a random selection within another random selection or an if clause into another if clause.

If is worth noting that there are other options aside from [at random] for ending a randomized selection clause. [cycling], [in random order] and [as decreasingly likely outcomes] are some you might find helpful given what you're doing. To see a full list and explanation, see page 5.7 of the Writing with Inform guide.

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Addendum numero dos: Are there any non-infected normal animals wandering around in the dry plains?

Non-infected is a bit of a misnomer, as everything, even the air all, contains nanites in it. Generally speaking though, the nanites only change and alter humans, but I forget offhand if there are still proper animals in the bubble or if they were all killed during the outbreak along with everyone else who died of the sudden shock to their systems. Nuku'll have to provide the answer for this one.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 4:16 pm
by Xenophiliac
If you look at Wahn's and my examples from these posts *1* and *2*, you can replace any of those random/conditional talk messages with a new call for a say statement which can contain a fresh set of random and/or if clauses. This is the primary way you get around the fact that you cannot directly put a random selection within another random selection or an if clause into another if clause.

If is worth noting that there are other options aside from [at random] for ending a randomized selection clause. [cycling], [in random order] and [as decreasingly likely outcomes] are some you might find helpful given what you're doing. To see a full list and explanation, see page 5.7 of the Writing with Inform guide.


Alright, that's super awesome. Being able to draw from pools will simplify the random talk scenes a WHOLE lot. Did know about the other endings too, just didn't feel they were proper for the situation; though cycling might be good for the talk scenes, to expose the player to all the content

Non-infected is a bit of a misnomer, as everything, even the air all, contains nanites in it. Generally speaking though, the nanites only change and alter humans, but I forget offhand if there are still proper animals in the bubble or if they were all killed during the outbreak along with everyone else who died of the sudden shock to their systems. Nuku'll have to provide the answer for this one.


Well, 'normal', non-changed animals. Them not currently residing within the city might put a bit of a damper on a few of my plans, but i could change that up easily enough.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2014 5:55 pm
by nukuv
Animals were unaffected, though some became carriers of various strains, which would affect humans interacting with them.

Re: New Writer Submission

PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:55 pm
by Xenophiliac
Animals were unaffected, though some became carriers of various strains, which would affect humans interacting with them.

Slammin'

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alright, added bunch of adolescent gryphon scenes. I have another talk scene i need to actually write out and one more i need to think up, then that'll be it for the talk scenes for this stage. I think im going to introduce smut halfway through this life stage, but im kind of hung up on how to introduce it fluidly, instead of just jarringly introducing sexiness. I was thinking about using a heat/rut scene, but i wasn't planning on having rut/heat being a system with this character, so using one might just be a bit jarring. I gotta think on it some more, but suggestions in the meanwhile would be quite welcome