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RandomPersonHere

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

Hello everyone.  I hope your day is well.  I really like what your community is doing  with choose your own adventure games, and so far, I’ve played some pretty good ones here.   However, as a writer, I have never written this kind of game before,  and I’m curious about how all you experienced writers out there keep track of your multiple storylines and branching choices.   I’ve only written ordinary stories, poetry,  and music before and the occasional essay, so this is a completely new thing for me to delve into, though I have played these  kinds of games before. I’m also curious about the limitations of your editor that you used to create the game if there are any.  Thanks for your time. I’ll get out of your hair now. 

Mizal

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
Those who aren't used to writing CYOAs always struggle with this kind of thing once the branching gets out of control, which is why at least some level of planning and smaller scale stories to start with are recommened. But first, let's get some of the real questions out of the way: 1.) What the hell did you do to your post? 2.) And why?
RandomPersonHere

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

Crap,  this is why I don’t post on forums like this.  I use a braille display to write everything  and use the virtual keyboard and dictation to correct my mistakes , but that obviously failed me.  Anyway, there goes my  anonymity.   Now you know I’m not just a random person  but you know I’m a random person who is blind.  Also, the fact that I could post on this forum was a miracle,  I  got the error message that  The webpage wouldn’t load and I would have to reload it  several times as I was trying to edit my last post before it went up.   The same thing has already happened three times while trying to reply.   I’ll see about taking a screenshot  if the error message shows up again, but I can’t make any guarantees about that one.   

EndMaster

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

You wouldn’t be the first blind person to show up here. 

We have one blind member by the name of Mayana who has an ongoing presence here and is usually telling other blind folks about this place. She’s sort of on vacation right now though. 

Mizal

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
Lol, okay well I've edited out all the underlining in the first post and then all the empty space with the thousands of line breaks in both of them. I'm not sure if if would make any difference but you might try going into your profile settings and unchecking the box for the Rich Text Editor, that adds some extra formatting stuff that might be confusing your keyboard. (I know for a fact it causes weird glitches on tablet keyboards anyhow.) I don't really know much about braille displays but the site is like 20 years old and definitely not designed for that; people don't seem to have any issue with just using JAWS or some other reader though. Did you get an invite from that blind people Discord Mayana is on or just wander in on your own?
RandomPersonHere

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

Lol!  Anyway, don’t worry about any misunderstandings that I may have caused with my post. I am just thankful that you  gave me some tips  

 I actually don’t use discord much.  I use a site called audiogames.net,  and I was able to find this little community.   I’m surprise I didn’t find it  before now,   But then what is the term discovery for?  Also, this is the results of using the text box without the rich text editor.   In the time that it took to write me this post,  my web browser crashed twice.    Still, I was able to successfully post this thing, so at least it worked out. 

 

Mizal

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
Oh, Mayana's on that one too, she's mentioned it and posted links there a few times. Of course it's right when she leaves for ten days that one of her attempts to shill for the site actually succeeds.
RandomPersonHere

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

 Well then, she can find out when she gets back from vacation.   thanks again for helping out.   

 

Lobo420

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

not a writer myself but focusing on all your storylines at once will get confusing to you so i suggest sticking with 1 storyline at a time, you might even get some new ideas for the others as you are writing the one you're working on.

just make sure to keep notes for your ideas

RandomPersonHere

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago

Thanks Lobo420, I’ll keep this in mind.  Hopefully, I will soon have a worthwhile story ready. 

Mizal

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
Anyway to answer the original question, I mostly do a lot of planning ahead of time and then use Scrivener, and just write out one full storyline at a time with notes where the choices will be, then go back in and work on the next one, and the next and fill in the shorter dead end paths as I go. I haven't been too successful actually finishing too many serious attempts unfortunately, I always burn out on bigger projects or set them aside to start on new ideas, but Endmaster uses a similar method and it's obviously worked for him. Everybody has their own method that works for them of course, it's best just to start with smaller stories and experiment. The editor has options to organize story sections into chapters and track and use variables, all pretty straighforward IF THEN ELSE stuff but that has a lot of flexibility. None of the fancier options are necessary to just write a story though.
Bill_Ingersoll

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
In a branching storygame, the structure of the story matters a great deal. When you are going into a new story, it helps to know ahead of time not just the basic plot points, but the amount of branching you want to occur: a lot? a little? are you basically just writing a linear story with a lot of ways to die quickly along the way if the reader doesn't choose the way you want them to? (I highly discourage that last option, by the way.)

And of course, you can't just have one primary story path, but multiple--like three or four, at least, each of which may develop their own sub-branches. It helps you as the writer to make the decisions meaningful ones, because the stories that follow will have a clearer direction. This also makes the story more interesting to the reader.

To keep track of the branching, I drafted two of my stories using Excel, which had its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, I could graphically depict the way the story branches by typing a string of text, and then literally diverging into two different directions when I reached a choice. On the other hand, Excel is not a great program for creating text, as the formatting capabilities are limited.

For my next story, I may experiment with One Note, which is something I use at work a lot. It won't let me graph out the branching structure, but I will be able to draft a story and organize the multitude of pages. I do need to have a visual representation of the branching structure to help keep track of the overall story, but I've found that I can sketch that out by hand.
Mayana

Hello: Just a Few Questions, then I'm Out

4 years ago
Hey wait, come back! :(
I'm sorry to hear that you've had so much trouble with the site. It's an old things, and drops every once in a while, but I haven't had the problems you're describing. Unfortunately, I use it with a laptop with NVDA. I don't have a braille display that I could write with, so I can't experiment with that. I guess writing your post in a document and then copying it is always an option. Sorry I can't help you.
What browser are you using? Hopefully not ie. If so, please switch to Firefox.
I hope you decide to stick around anyway, and hopefully write something in the future. If not, just enjoy reading. If you need help with anything, tag me and I'll do what I can.