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What I was wondering though is if there is a guide to posting a story on this site or whatever. I have the skins and bones of something that I still have to flesh out but I'd really like to try and make it happen. Thing with CoG was the coding but seemed straight forward, not sure how this site works though.

The Help & Info section has different articles regarding the storygame writing functions of the site, as well as how to use variables and scripting in your game.

To be fair a lot of the articles are being overhauled or are in line to be axed right now because they're very old and not always super relevant anymore.

Although the ones on variables and scripting and the like are still pretty solid, that's not really changed over the years.

Theoretically you can put together a game with tons of branching and no scripting at all, I know Endmaster and a couple of other prominent authors never mess with the more advanced stuff.

Can you tell me more about what you're trying to do exactly? It's easier for me to just give an example, although honestly once you get the basics of variables that will cover 80% of situations you can think of.

I don't know much about the how the CoG editor works, I do know that one issue may be that here it's a lot more complicated letting the player enter a name though. But readers are generally fine with playing a set character just like in a novel, and sometimes prefer it that way any how.

Well if it's at all similar to the CoG shot then I should be alright. I had about 30k words in that at one point and had it saved on a flash drive and notes in a book but lost both and they kept updating the coding software faster than I could modernize it so I just said fuck it. TBh, I think I'm not gonna do my passion project for the first one, I'll just write something vanilla to get a feel for it. Maybe something set in the Roman Empire. And I didn't see the basics and rules links on the my stories page before post, so like I said, if it's simple enough to use I'll probably be able to do something at least just to get a feel for it. It sounds like you were saying you can add variables and such though. I'm CoG you had to make a separate page to track variables and all that. Is that the same with this? Ie do pushups plus 1 strength kinda deal?

Variables just hold a number.

You can create them under the 'variables' tab with the 'Create New Variable' button. You can also create variables by declaring them when using scripting. They exist separate to the pages, and you can use them in scripting or (more likely) making link restrictions (i.e. needing STR = 1 to pick a choice).

With that said, scripting doesn't need to be used, as mentioned you can make something where you just use variables and link restrictions (to have delayed consequences or stat based choices).

Also, under 'Storygame Properties' there is 'Editor Features', here you can click '[change editor features]' and crank everything up to the most complicated (that way you have access to everything). Doing this on a new storygame and trying to mess around with stuff might be a good idea. I know messing around in a test storygame helped me figure out some things.

Otherwise, most scripting articles are alright, and if something isn't well explained, you can ask a question in the advanced editor forums and someone should have an answer. I think if you've figured out the CoG system you should be able to figure this one out too.

The Price of Freedom: Innocence Lost is a CoG style game, you'll even see it has a stats page link! (Implementing new buttons is more complicated tho, but again, people can help with that).

You can see how it uses variables so that might help give you some idea of what you can do.

Dungeon Stompage! also shows some of what the editor can do, but making something at this level shouldn't be the goal for every story (but if your story requires it, it is possible!).

Koi Koi! is a more recent example that makes heavy use of the editor to create the game of Koi Koi, which is insane.

Suffice to say, you can have a choice 'do 1 push up' and have that increase the %STREGNTH variable by 1.

Damn dude 30k is brutal, I'd have had a throwing and breaking things fit.

There's a separate variable tab, or you can create them on the fly by just referencing them with scripts.

%STR := 2 in a link script just means "if they click this link, set the strength variable to 2'

Or it's more likely you'd use %STR := %STR + 2 if you're going to be adjusting it a lot.

%%STR%% can go directly in the text box to make it display the variable number.

Or if you want to see something really ugly but useful:

%%STR%=%<%3%You try to lift the rock but your weak noodle arms fail you!%%
%%STR%=%>%2% With a mighty grunt you lift the rock high overhead and lob it straight at the wasp nest. Who needs brains when you have brawn?%%

That's good for when you just need to alter a line or two of dialogue. (Or pronouns I guess, if it's that kind of game.)

$DEST is a system variable that can be really useful even if you're not including any obvious scripting elements in your game.

Say your relationship with an NPC determines whether they show up to warn you of an ambush or not, you could have something in the link script like

IF %NATALIE > 5 THEN
$DEST := @P47

Or whatever the page number is that you want to send them too. This will make the game ignore wherever you have the link set to go and redirect them to that page instead, if they pass the variable check.

There's also a whole thing with link restrictions, where a link is greyed out or doesn't show up at all unless variable checks are met, but that's all done just by clicking and typing in boxes. (You'll have to have the variable specific created on the variable page in order for it to show up on the list here though.

Anyway, I think that's the main stuff? Zake might've already mentioned some of this but I didn't read his post. (Take that, Zake.) Quickest way to learn is just by fiddling around with the editor itself -- just make sure to go to editor options in the storygame settings and set everything to advanced first though.

A game with a Roman setting sounds like it would do well, Price of Freedom is really popular obviously and the new Historical category could use some fleshing out. And just remember there's no expectation that a game has to offer six genders and fifteen sexualities here, if that makes things any easier. The writing quality itself and the amount of branching is the main thing, characters are usually sweet by the author and developed like in a regular novel.

Oh yeah and games support full customization with html through global and page scripts and whatnot as you can see with Zake's link to Koi Koi. Plus there's hacky way to incorporate javascript, but at that point it's all too fancy for me to help much.

There's also an inventory system, but most of the cool people will bitch if you use it outside of the Puzzle quarantine zone category.

Don't worry about reading my post, it is much less useful than your one (but I pointed at some storygames, that's something!).

Using javascript might not be as horrible as it seems, since it being popular means there are plenty of learning resources out there. It def is more effort tho.

I did read it, it was very svelte compared to your usual.

Javascript is hard and only lunatics think so many random punctuation marks can have meaning.

My attempts at explaining variables/scripting haven't been the best, so I wanted to keep it simple.

It's good though, means I can save the words for actual projects. Now, if only ambitious projects weren't so damn alluring...

I think you have the right idea to try something off the cuff first, to get a feel for things, then move to your big project.

My older games were pretty clunky scripting-wise (like Crab Arena), but got better and more complex over time (Cows vs. Aliens).

Good Luck!

@TSmitty97

I'm going to be around a computer a bit more the next couple days, so feel free to message me if you have more questions or need examples.

What did you have in mind for the one with the Roman setting?