Lallafa, The Reader

Member Since

5/4/2016

Last Activity

10/4/2022 7:01 PM

EXP Points

75

Post Count

11

Storygame Count

0

Duel Stats

2 wins / 0 losses

Order

Marauder

Commendations

0

"Everything makes sense a bit at a time. But when you try to think of it all at once, it comes out wrong."

Storygames

A.I.
unpublished

Government posting: Please note for our visitors from sectors 32, 47, and 56, artificial intelligences are strictly prohibited except for use in ships and homes. Any person found with an artificial intelligence body kit will be incarcerated and fined according to local law. Any artificial intelligence found in a body kit will be deactivated immediately.


Glicia
unpublished

Travel through a world rife with political strife, civil unrest, unstable magics, fantastic creatures, and fascinating people.


Land of Strife
unpublished

Kings, queens, and pharaohs struggle for dominance while gods snigger from above.


Reap
unpublished

Travel through the ages. Reap souls. Prevent the end of everything.


Server
unpublished

Step into the shoes of an overworked waitress. Deal with your crazy co-workers. Handle your entitled customers. Hustle and make that money.


Recent Posts

EndMaster's Myth and Religion Contest on 9/28/2022 3:15:47 PM

I'll give it a go.


Break! (The Contest) on 7/11/2020 5:40:26 PM

Lock.


Break! (The Contest) on 7/11/2020 5:39:52 PM

What the hell... I'll join. Freeform.


Writing Prompts Week 22 on 12/11/2017 3:15:31 PM

Hey, thanks. I appreciate the feedback. Will keep it in mind for the next prompt. :)


Writing Prompts Week 22 on 12/9/2017 10:13:53 AM

Thanks :)


Writing Prompts Week 22 on 12/7/2017 8:05:19 PM

Alright, here we go. Please add me into the tags and don't judge me too harshly lol.

 

The physical world was a poor mirror for the spiritual. Behind every structure, every event, every person lay thousands - nay, millions, billions, trillions - of the dead. Theirs was a seemingly quiet existence, hidden from the senses of the living. The dead were the forgotten majority, save for the brief funerals, the memorial, perhaps the occasional holiday. The dead held their silence for all with few exceptions.

Those exceptions lived half-lives. Or, perhaps, it was more accurate to say they lived many pieces of lives. A flash of unearned memory, a sensation of conversation, a mind-shattering and endless stream of thoughts pushed forward. It was a life no one chose. The sheer number yearning to speak, to have their will done, to see their dying wish become reality in the physical world, was overwhelming. Many spirit-servants died even before childhood, while their eyes were still blue and their souls were still settling. Fewer made it past childhood, and these few were often twisted creatures, malformed and anxious and violent and otherworldly in the worst way.

The rare spirit-servants that made it to adulthood found themselves at the bottom of society, cast out or labeled insane. Spirit-servants with status were the benefactors of a family that understood their plight, who took time to groom and train their young sèvitè so they could serve as a functional link between living and dead. Part of this training included a strict regimen of meditation, a practice that allowed the doorways between living and dead to be closed on occasion.

Udo Métayer hated meditating. And so, he’d found the best alternative: run to a place where the dead were less dense. Training to be a part of the navy had been difficult, but he’d pressed on. He’d made it, if only barely. Active duty was wonderful. He’d been a part of this ship’s crew for almost a year. Until recently, it’d been a blissful year, quiet, exciting in a regular way that normals wouldn’t understand. Two weeks ago everything had changed.

Here he lay, body strapped to the bunk, just trying to sleep. The ship’s never-darkened lights cast a flickering world against the back of his eyelids. With eyes closed, that faint fluorescent glow gave shape to the world of the spirits, giving them bodies and voices. With eyes open, the vision he was granted was almost equally irritating.

Kimba had been born a spacer and those elongated limbs made him look demonic. His lack of showering since the Event didn’t help his looks. Covered in oil and sweat and blood. He was repulsive. His mouth was opening and closing and words were coming out. Udo could hear him, but couldn’t understand, not while the spirits screamed at him from the other side of the veil.

“Boy,” he finally said as he unstrapped his torso and his legs. Kimba was older, and Udo hoped the word irritated him. He deserved chastisement, playing along with their captain as he had. Kimba had killed seven men during the Event. Kimba was still talking talking talking, didn’t seem to notice as Udo pushed himself through the bunker. Udo floated across the small space until he grabbed hold of a bar near the door. His joints popped as soon as he flipped on the bunker’s gravity. Kimba’s ceaseless speech stopped with a harsh clang as he landed on the ground. Udo grabbed one of the uniform shirts - a useless representation of old rank - wrapped it around his fist, and smashed the damned fluorescent tube. The room was cast in darkness for only a moment before the backup red lights cut on.

With those red lights on, Kimba’s head didn’t seem to bleed at all when Udo smashed his steel-toed boots into the older man’s skull.

He moved outside the bunker, took a moment to reorient himself. Under his feet, metal floors that creaked with every shift in weight, surrounded by old walls inlaid with the occasional port window and light. This aging structure was small, cramped, and newly steeped with its ghost. Before, he’d liked it well enough. He’d liked being able to look out from the windows to see the live stars twirling around him. He’d liked the arbitrary rules. He’d liked the lonely sound of the ship as it passed through the empty expanse of space, never stopping. He’d liked the dull uniformity of the walls. 

All the things he’d liked, gone now. There was an alarm, blaring, blaring blaring. But not blaring loud enough to drown out the sound of the dead.

They came, the newly minted pirates, but the dead granted Udo second sight. Around the corner, with a rifle, they said. Running from the starboard side, port doors closing, watching your progress on the monitors in the mess, we can interfere with those electronics, we can end your suffering, we need your help. They told him everything he never wanted to know and they told him how to find his old, simple happiness again.

Udo didn’t know how much time passed before the mutineers were all dead. Of course, there was no silence. Not until he found the ejection port. He opened it and was sucked into the vacuum of space, where even the dead couldn’t draw a breath to speak.


Trying to use multiple variables with $PAGETEXT on 11/7/2017 10:47:48 PM

Yes! Thank you so much! That's exactly what I was looking for!


Trying to use multiple variables with $PAGETEXT on 11/7/2017 9:44:37 PM

So, the way around that is to have a single variable that tracks the round (%BATTLETRAC), whether the player hits (%PLAYERRTH >= %ENEMYAC), and whether the enemy hits (%ENEMYRTH >= %PLAYERAC)? And then script for each of those? Ie: 

IF %NEWVAR = 112 
THEN $PAGETEXT := "round one, hit for player, miss for enemy." 
IF %NEWVAR = 121 
THEN $PAGETEXT := "round one, miss for player, hit for enemy" 

Etc etc..

I'm not entirely sure how to script %NEWVAR into the link script, but maybe I can fiddle with that. 

Alternatively, are AND statements a thing? 

IF %BATTLETRAC = 1 AND %PLAYERRTH >= %ENEMYAC AND %ENEMYRTH >= %PLAYERAC 
THEN $PAGETEXT := "round one, hit for player, hit for enemy." 
IF %BATTLETRAC = 1 AND %PLAYERRTH < %ENEMYAC AND %ENEMYRTH >= %PLAYERAC 
THEN $PAGETEXT := "round one, miss for player, hit for enemy." 

Etc etc 

Which also seems complicated but probably easier than trying to figure out how to script for a new variable to track three other variables in the link script.

I feel like I'm making this hopelessly more complicated than I need to.


Trying to use multiple variables with $PAGETEXT on 11/7/2017 1:48:01 PM

Just when I think I'm getting the hang of scripting... I've got the player entering into a battle scenario, with the option to use one of two weapons. Each of the links is set up with scripting which determines if they hit the enemy, how much damage they do, if the enemy hits them, and how much damage the enemy does. The links just circle around to themselves until either the enemy is dead, or until the player is dead, or until the player chooses to retreat.

So, the problem I'm running into is this: I have a variable called %BATTLETRAC which keeps track of how many rounds of combat have passed. Each time the player clicks on a link, this variable increases by one. So, when I made the script for the page, this is what I did:

IF %BATTLETRAC = 1
THEN $PAGETEXT := "%%PLAYERRTH%<%12%You swing at the crocodile but your staff harmlessly bounces off its skull.%%%%PLAYERRTH%>=%12%Your staff connects, banging against the crocodile's skull with a satisfying thud. You've done some damage.%%" + "
" + "%%ENEMYRTH%<%ACHUNTER%The croc swings its mighty jaws toward you, but you're able to dodge out of the way.%%%%ENEMYRTH%>=%ACHUNTER%The croc's strong jaws close down on you! Ouch!%%" + "
" + "Your Health: %%PLAYERHP%%/%%HPHUNTER%%" + "
" + "Enemy Health: %%ENEMYHP%%/%%ENEMYMAXHP%%"
IF %BATTLETRAC = 2
THEN $PAGETEXT := "%%PLAYERRTH%<%12%Your quarterstaff harmlessly bounces off the croc's thick scales.%%%%PLAYERRTH%>=%12%You swing your quarterstaff directly into the crocodile's eyes! It blinks violently.%%" + "
" + "%%ENEMYRTH%<%ACHUNTER%The croc's jaws open and slam shut, but you manage to avoid being biten. This time.%%%%ENEMYRTH%>=%ACHUNTER%Your leg is caught in the croc's jaws! It shakes its head back and forth violently.%%" + "
" + "Your Health: %%PLAYERHP%%/%%HPHUNTER%%" + "
" + "Enemy Health: %%ENEMYHP%%/%%ENEMYMAXHP%%"
IF %BATTLETRAC = 3
THEN $PAGETEXT := "%%PLAYERRTH%<%12%You swing your staff down mightily toward the croc, but unfortunately your blow lands to the side of the croc's body.%%%%PLAYERRTH%>=%12%The staff lands directly on top of the croc's scaly head, seeming to stun it some!%%" + "
" + "%%ENEMYRTH%<%ACHUNTER%The crocodile thrashes back and forth, but you leap out of the way of its attack.%%%%ENEMYRTH%>=%ACHUNTER%The croc closes its jaws with a mighty bite directly onto your leg!%%" + "
" + "Your Health: %%PLAYERHP%%/%%HPHUNTER%%" + "
" + "Enemy Health: %%ENEMYHP%%/%%ENEMYMAXHP%%"

I was mostly trying to do this so there was some flavor and difference between each of the rounds. The %BATTLETRAC variable is working, but the variables for whether the player/enemy hits are displaying as typed, not as I intended for them to be scripted. Where have I gone wrong?


Have I made my first chapter too difficult? on 3/30/2017 2:43:10 PM

Without giving away too much detail...

The first three choices offered to the reader each have six options, which the reader can choose two of before being pushed farther into the story. Each option follows a linear path, but increases a variable. The minimum value for each of these six variables is 8 and the maximum variable value (at this point) is 11.

Before the second chapter, the reader is presented with a challenge. To pass this challenge, they must choose an action that correlates with a variable. If that variable doesn't equal 11, it's a fail and the story ends. There's a choice that correlates with each variable, but is it unrealistic for me to think the reader would choose the same variable in each of the three questions?

Is this too high a bar to set at the beginning? The variables relate to the choices but its not as if its obvious which choice increases which variable, or even obvious that the variables are being measured. Should I make a note to the reader to let them know that one variable or another is increasing as they make their beginning choices? Or leave it as is? Lower the bar?