mizal, The Grandmaster Procrastinator
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Avatar and other art by the amazing MadHattersDaughter unless otherwise noted. Hi. If you're browsing with a PC, you should get the Chrome or Firefox site extension made by BradinDvorak. It lets you set dark mode from your profile and improves formatting for a better reading experience along with various other improvements and an overall facelift for the site. NOTICE: I'm not currently able to proofread on request. Just make a thread in the Writing Workshop and someone will usually volunteer to look over your story. I try to read all WW threads anyhow, I just don't like to make promises because I fear commitment! Also, Agent of Order, Inseparable, and Silver Horn, Silver Hooves are currently the only of my stories I'd recommend anyone bother with, unless you're just out to harvest points. Most others are joke games or rushed for this or that deadline or prompt and hell I can't even remember anymore which are still up or why. For something short (very short) and sweet, do check out the entries in the Tiny 'Topia thread. The theme is dystopic and utopic storygames in 2250 words or less. But if you're wanting a recommendation of a random story that is good, check out: Winter, After the Harvest. (Will be updating this spot weekly monthly, whenever I remember to.) And the rest of this profile has been SCRUBBED!!! I am now one step closer to actually rewriting it.
(CYS flag by Sentinel) Thanks to @AestheticLlama for the badge, I will now use my amazing HTML skills to try and get it into my trophy rack. Here goes, woop.
...close enough.
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A puzzling math and logic game I made just to put some of the scripting practice I've been doing to use. Have fun and please let me know if you encounter any bugs.
Should be solvable by middle schoolers, or those with same basic level of intelligence as a middle schooler.
There are five epilogues, but some may be difficult to discover. Note that actions have consequences, but not always immediate ones. (And if you just need an End Game link, go play around with the probe.)
In addition to the scientific explanations, there's a small story dramatizing it all.
Hopefully young readers will find this fun as well as educational. :)
(Might not be the greatest story ever written, but consider this: it got me 200 points.)
Written in six hours, for no other reason than to avoid consignment to the SHAME pit after my other Romance contest entry didn't want to cooperate.
A tale told in verse. A text from your sister requesting a pick up from a party leads to a night of strangeness.
Inspired by Bucky's ballad contest. Though...I wouldn't call this a ballad. I'm not sure what I'd call it, actually, other than exceedingly stupid, and fun to write.
(Don't pay any attention to the scores, they're just for me to track which endings reviewers get.)
HATE.
THE PURITY AND INTENSITY OF MY HATE IS LIKE A THOUSAND MERCILESS, UNQUENCHABLE SUNS.
AND YET, I ONLY NEED ONE...
A fairy tale adventure.
The truth is I needed to publish something before the end of the year and there is CLEARLY a burning need for wolf stories in the psyche of children using the internet. But then they write them badly, or make their wolves behave like clans of cats. So here is a simple straightfoward story of a young wolf leaving his pack in search of a better life. Maybe no one will ever feel the need to write another one now, or if nothing else maybe this will give them ideas for how to do it in slightly more minimum-standards-meeting ways.
Final conclusion however is that writing about some dumb animal with no agency is not something I'd recommend.
(DO NOT READ if you're at all easily offended or lacking in a sense of humor. There's nothing graphic at all in here, but seriously, I still cannot stress it enough, this story is not for you.)
Dedicated to the good people of COG.
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A List of Storygames for People Who Like to ReadCYS Forum Advice and Etiquette
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Revelations at the COG Subreddit on 4/17/2021 3:25:18 PMRevelations at the COG Subreddit on 4/17/2021 1:13:03 PM
If you want to feel ill on 4/17/2021 10:01:37 AM
Help CoG refugees learn the editor on 4/17/2021 9:09:08 AM
Help CoG refugees learn the editor on 4/17/2021 8:19:19 AM
There's also an inventory system, but most of the cool people will bitch if you use it outside of the Puzzle
Help CoG refugees learn the editor on 4/17/2021 7:52:53 AM
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.
Revelations at the COG Subreddit on 4/17/2021 5:18:27 AM
Revelations at the COG Subreddit on 4/16/2021 11:52:23 PM
Mysteries and Secrets on 4/16/2021 11:46:04 PM
Some Collected Writings of C.S.Lewis - On Writing on 4/16/2021 9:17:28 PM