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Some Writing Questions

11 years ago

Okay I have a few questions.

First is: how complicated should I make the Prom story? For those of you that don't know what it is or haven't been here long enough to see my *awful* original, I'm writing a story that starts off with you trying to ask out a girl to prom but it spirals out of control as you learn some secrets about the girl. The original was poorly written and not very complicated to beat, and I want to make this one a little harder but not so awful that you can't win unless you go a certain path. Opinions?

Second: Should I try to remake Wolf Spirit? I don't like the way it is now because it is, essentially, a linear game. I want to rewrite it and make it have more branches but at the same time it isn't all that great of an idea because I don't see what other branches I could explore.

Thirdly: I have started a new storygame and I'd like some opinions on the idea. Basically you are a person who has been having strange dreams about murdering people (primarily prostitutes or other various women) and you've been seeing a psychiatrist. One day your psychiatrist uses a special form of hypnosis and you wake up in another life where you suddenly have new information planted in your mind. You're a murderer. A serial killer, actually. And you have to keep up the facade of a loving man until you wake up from the hypnosis, where the other life had felt so real that you can't tell your psychiatrist. You're trying to find your other life because it feels more real than the one you currently live in. (It's based off of Dreaming Wide Awake by Poets of the Fall, if that gives you a better idea on the tone of the story).

BerkaZerka

Some Writing Questions

11 years ago

Of 1, 2, or 3 - 2: Wolf Spirit Expansion intrigues me the most.

For all of them though, the more complex you can stand to make them the better. I use the word 'stand' here, because it is a real chore and not entirely fun to put such depth into a game. Sometimes writer's block or lack of time or boredome with a section, will all conspire to make actually finishing it a challenge.

Best advice though is to just do it. Plug away until it's done and not be too critical with it being 'perfect'.

Good Luck! ^v^

Jihelu

Some Writing Questions

11 years ago

For the third, maybe have it so at one point you realize you are related to jack the ripper? That would be super /cool/ maybe a bit clique?

For the second, all games these days are linear, and that isn't /bad/ but more choices and illusions of choice might help.

First, Sure, remake it. Sounds fun.

TaraGil

Some Writing Questions

11 years ago

1) That depends on your definition of complicated. I'm assuming you mean difficulty. If that's the case, by all means, make it a challenge. People that play this should feel like they earned than win if they beat it, right? Just make it in a way where there isn't just one path to winning and isn't so hard that it becomes frustrating. It helps if the difficulty is directly tied towards the overall goal you want the players to aim towards. Honestly, I'm one of the ones that have no clue what Prom Story, so it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

2) Ask yourself this: Do you want to remake Wolf Spirit? If so, do you want to, because you feel obligated towards it or because you really want to expand it. Are you willing to put the time and effort to follow through with it? Can you? Is it fine as it is despite being linear? Consider your answers before going through with it.

Only you can answer if you should remake Wolf Spirit. However, a part of me wants to tell you no, because not only do you not know what branches to add, you don't seem as enthusiastic about it as the other two. On the other hand, I never had the chance to play Wolf Spirit, so that might be a factor.

3) It sounds interesting. The premise is good, but I wonder how the execution is going to be. From the look of things, the story might be linear for a while until the player wakes up from the hypnosis, which is rather fitting in a way. I don't mind it, but I hope the payoff is good.