Don't ya just hate it when you get locked out of your house and have to figure out how to get back in? Well, now experience it as a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Movie!  Help me (Alexp) get back in to my house!

Warning: this is our team's first movie. And I'm doing the acting.

Update 20 Years Later -- This storygame was created in May, 2005! The videos have finally been converted and this storygame is now playable on Modern Browsers!

It's time once again to help me (Alex P) get back in my house. Don't worry, this time it'll be very easy. And short.

I actually have my key this time ...

Update (Almost) 20 Years Later -- This storygame was created in July, 2005! The videos have finally been converted and this storygame is now playable on Modern Browsers!

Help me, Alex P, find my way back in my house. Again.

Note that this is an Interactive Movie experience, so you'll probably wan't to use broadband. Or be very patient on dial up.

Update (Almost) 20 Years Later -- This storygame was created in July, 2005! The videos have finally been converted and this storygame is now playable on Modern Browsers!

You play as my girlfriend (Katrina T) and find out what it's like to be proposed to by your boyfriend of five years. This is actually a true story and really happened. Don't worry, there's no way to lose and all paths lead to the same place. But it's a fun story no less.

Er, hey Dan Videc, you're in my game!

A series of tests for advanced storygames

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This is a sample storygame to demostrate how the scenario presented in The Item Shop article works in an actual storygame.

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Thanks guys!! You inspired me to update the other ones too...

• Locked Out (The Movie) Episode Two
• Locked Out (The Movie) Episode Three

I scripted the update, so I'm not sure if they work -- but i'll try them out myself soon! I remember Episode 3 being "kinda meh", but I've got fond memories of #2. We'll see how it holds up...

march5th00 and I took a trip down memory lane and decided to convert the videos and updatet the HTML on two these two classics:

• Locked Out (The Movie)
• House of Horrors (A CYOA Movie)

It's a bit tedious to edit all the pages and update the HTML tags... if anyone wants to volunteer to help on Locked Out 2 / Locked Out 3 I'd be very happy!

Hi all,

Thanks so much for all the feedback; it was a lot more thoughtful and insightful to me than I expected. I learned quite a lot, and want to just articulate/memorialize some of my conclusions.

This is largely a memo for me.

• CYS doesn't need to be a business; the community does a great job at running it already, and it's unlikely that will change in the foreseeable future.
• A business wouldn't be unwelcome, so long as it doesn't harm the community. What this means specifically should be better articulated, but I think I get the gist. I like the articulation, "optional, non-intrusive, and driven by authors and users" as a guiding principle.
• A business model might be possible; the only likely income source would be selling mobile content (storygames) in one form or another: Publisher, App Store, Unlimited etc. There are similar companies doing the same. Market research would help fur this out.
• The business plan should be developed transparently, with input from the community; the variety of insights will be helpful, and getting support on the business will improve odds of success and reduce risks of harm to the community
• The business plan should run in parallel, as to not "take the community down with it" if it fails. But it should also be community driven, and not be separate. I like how Mystic put it, "another updated version of CYS is created, and the aforementioned benefits apply except that this occurs on a different platform (e.g. an app or otherwise)."
• There are pitfalls with storygame monetization that we would need to avoid (these should be articulated), but in any case, curation seems to address many of these.
• Ford has expressed interested in joining the business, and if that were to happen, would be a key technical resource in executing a business plan
• Someone with digital marketing skills/experience would is also required, and finding someone already in the industry would be ideal, but not required - there is a clearly community full of "industry experts" willing to help
• I'm interested in exploring this business, and would participate as the primary (sole?) investor and temporary CEO/leader

From here, the next step from here is market research. I know very little about "mobile content" market, and I can't possibly invest here - let alone create a business plan - until I know more. 

I have some contacts who can help me learn, but if anyone has any experience or interest in helping me understand this market, let me know.  I'd also be willing to commission a market research report, if anyone has experience or knows anyone with such experience. Best if we coordinate over email on this.

Otherwise, I don't have a timeline, and it'll take weeks/months to passively learn the market. Until then, I'll step away from for a bit, since this was a quick holiday diversion/exploration for me. But you know how to reach me. Nice to meet you all!

Cheers,

Alex

Oh wow, I didn't realize you had a technical background; you're right... I don't really know anyone except mizal, Killa, and Ogre, who've I've chatted w/ over email over the past few years. Sorry if that came across the wrong way 😅

Also... that's what the "CYS Extension" is! Cool. I must have heard about it in passing, and forgot about it.

But to be clear, I'm in no rush. I'm just exploring interesting and fulfilling opportunities, like investing/building businesses that align to a more traditional value-creation model (i.e. customer/user focus) instead of a start-up/scaling model (i.e. investor/exit-driven).

Anyway... interested in a new job w/ CYS someday? 😉

Someone w/ your level of "passion for the product", institutional/domain knowledge, and technical skill is exactly who I had in mind for a team.

A major feature like a new editor would require a lot of skills/experience, and even then would take a lot of dedication. In the 100's of hours. I can help on the design/architecture, but I'd really want to make sure the requisite engineering skills/experience are there first.

That said -- anyone is welcome to help on the code base in general -- if you're interested in contributing to the codebase, mizal can get you started/setup. I'd suggest to try fixing a few bugs and making some minor enhancements to get a feel for the system.

These are all important questions we would have to answer in coming up with a business model/plan.

But we're both thinking about the same thing -- nearly all revenue from mobile users who primarily just want content, but have no interest/need to participate in the site. I don't know how much the site would need to change, but certainly improved author tools would be important so that higher-quality content could be created and maintained.

I don't remember how it works here -- but I do know we had the same concern about anyone making crap storygames, so we added a "publish" feature with some kind of automated checks or something. And then low rated storygames don't show, or something. But you can still privately share unpublished content? You guys would know better than me how/if that works, etc.

>> if I needed more money I wouldn't do something as inefficient a try to sell my writing

I think this is a great way to look at it. On my other writing site (tech/IT), we do have a monthly budget and pay writers from that, and it ends up being enough to take the family out for dinner or have a small extra luxury -- which feels like a reward for contributing.

Maybe that's the revenue share model to have here.

>> But the "write for money" field is HEAVILY dominated by stay at home moms with elaborate sex fantasies

🤮

Definitely something I would want to avoid. Another argument towards curation (i.e. people/management deciding revenue share) instead of using metrics like shares/likes/views/etc.

I was quite surprised to see the quality/quantity of responses to my post; definitely a testament to the community. Also, having modern forum software (I really like NodeBB) would probably increase the quantity of interaction.