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Let me start by saying, if it wasn't for ChoiceofGames.com, I would not be here. I found Choiceofgames from an ad on another website, advertising one of their story games. I followed it out of interest and played the entire story before realizing I needed to pay to finish it. I was extremely disappointed, as I don't read. I dislike it, as I'd much rather watch a movie than read a book. However, these interactive stories were something special, they got my attention because I had a choice in how the story played.

So after realizing everything on Choiceofgames cost money, I scoured the internet in search of more of these games. Surprise, Chooseyourstory.com. The site had stories 10 times better, and more fun to play than that of its "rival". But what made this site far better in my eyes, was that anybody could just hop on, make a story, and it's there. A lot of creative people write. However, Choiceofgames doesn't allow just any game on their site to enjoy, and those very few sacred stories you can enjoy come at a cost.

I rambled on a little bit there, but my main point is this: This site surpasses its counterpart at immense lengths, and I think it would be tremendous to see the most popular, and best written storygames to be put into a format for everyone to enjoy. Let mobile users read these stories such as the Homo Perfectus series, Ground Zero, The Order of the Midnight Sun, and several others. 

I am not a programmer. I have not the first clue of building an app, but I imagine there are people on and loyal to this site who could create these stories in an app form. Include an ad at the bottom or top of the screen, and make the apps free, so everyone interested can enjoy. Just a personal preference of mine. I know for a fact I would love to download some of these stories and read/play them when I am out and away from my computer... And perhaps some of my own one day as well? :P

If it's possible, I believe it's something worth considering, or if not attempting. This community, and especially many of these stories, are too special in my eyes to just be limited to this site. I think there's a lot of potential with some of these stories. 

Let me know what you think. :)

Pretty interesting. I always figured that I'd only finish my game's other half if I were to release it on another platform lke COG, since otherwise I've moved on from that story and it'd give me an impetus to finish it up. Still, I always liked the idea of having a mobile version of some of the great games on here, since there isn't really a downloadable form of any of them.

EDIT: But yeah, this has been suggested several times before in the Feature Wishing Well. Alex doesn't have the time to work on an app and there are other places like COG or Twine where, if an author wanted, he could get his work published and downloadable. So unfortunately that doesn't really have a place here.

Alright then. I figured Alex doesn't have to be the ONLY person to do it, but essentially if he wouldn't want it that is acceptable. I know if I had any clue how to do it, I'd do it myself just to help out, voluntarily.. But I don't know how. :P Other than Choice of Games, I haven't seen or been aware of any other places with story games. Figured it was at least worth a mention just in case it hasn't crossed any minds. Never mind then. 

If there were to be a mobile app, it'd have to be ad-free. Just like the site, no ads is a big plus to visitors and it makes the site seem a lot more open and friendly. It'd also need to keep the "cream and white" design (until the new site design is done) so there's continuity. I have bare minimum experience with mobile app creation - but I think a problem might be stories with the CYS scripting in them. I'm not sure how to wrap my head around having something on mobile compatible and able to load complicated custom scripts and variables.

Of course, there may just be some solid legit wall in the way of creating a mobile app. Like maybe the storygames would look ugly on mobile or something. Or how when you go to play a storygame, it creates a pop-out window for the game. That seems like it'd be a bit complicated and bug-prone on a mobile device.

... I'm confused. Why do we need a mobile app?

I don't just read / play story games on my phone's browser, I've written and scripted games on it.

I know not everyone's phone can post on the forums, but I see no reason you wouldn't be able to play the games.

Mobile apps are cool.

We're cool.

We should have a mobile app.

Not everything people wish for is something they need; and this is a wishing well.

 

Reposted from the original thread, a list of what your FWW post needs in order to avoid rejection:  

1. Does it clearly state who it will benefit (readers, new members, authors, power users, etc.) and how it will benefit them?
2. Does it thoroughly describe the mechanism in which it will work? I.e. how it would appear to a user, if it could "leverage" an existing feature (like, the notifications)
3. How difficult will this be to implement?
4. How important is this to implement relative to all the other things that can be done?
5. Has this already been requested? If so, how is it different (if it's new) or why should it be reconsidered (if it's rejected)?
6. Does the community think that it's a worthy idea?

Difficulty --- I would use the “obvious” test more than anything; before, there were some crazy ones like “allow me to make a video game inside my game that you have to pass first”.

Mechanism --- that’s mostly about making sure the idea is very clearly (and unambiguously) described from the users’ perspective. For example, don’t say “allow me to favorite a storygame” without saying “add a star icon (like this one I found [over here]) next  to the title on the storygame overview page, that lights up when a storygame is favorited, can be clicked to favorite/unfavorite a storygame. Then, under MyStuff, have a page that lists the storygames that were featured.”

 

A message from Alexp:

I don’t foresee having time in the near future to do any website changes… but sometimes I have a few hours and I want to try coding something again. So, it’s nice to have a list of things that are easy to implement and high-value. As an example, the “Does it thoroughly describe the mechanism in which it will work?” rule was huge ---- that’s where the @notifications came from. It’s been a “wish” since day one, but as soon as someone said “just use notifications like duels”, it was like “oh yeah, I could do that”.

This is the FWW article verbatim.  

Notice how specific Alex would like mechanism descriptions to be.  "I don't  know how, but someone should make an app" doesn't pass this requirement.