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I have started my first project and it is in its infant stages. I am starting this post like I have seen others as a motivational thread of how far I have gotten. I don't want to give out spoilers as to the nature of the game. But here is my working intro:

David Jenkins is an ordinary college graduate who failed to get into medical school. He just turned 24 and now is dealing with the humiliation of returning to live with his parents in Podunk, USA.

The town has, surprisingly, changed a lot since he graduated high school and left. New stores have opened on main street. The factory has tripled in size. Half his graduating class has moved into the big city; his little sister, chiefly among them, who is looking to open a small business with her best friend.

Not everything is different. His mom still has her bakery and his dad is still head chef at the town pump diner. His best friend from high school, Garrett Gargus, is still turning wrenches at the only town auto repair shop. And, he can still find peace at his favorite hang out down by the river on Silt Island.

None of that really matters today though. It's the day after his homecoming and he has a choice to make: what is he going to do for the rest of his life? Little does he know how much the next 24 hours matter.

____________________________________

I will update this post again later on today. There are some things I need to rework in my chapter infrastructure.

Keeping to my word, here is an update:

Today, I learned how to get items to be picked up by clicking a link. I also learned how to get text to change on the same page. This will save me from using tons of pages for dialog trees or searching rooms or things like that! Oh the variables! It is times like these that I should have been a programmer or an IT or something. NAH!

The following will change greatly and has been more for testing/learning purposes:

Word count: 548

Pages: 24

That seems like shockingly few words per page. This post is as long as your average page, and this is insanely short.

Dear lord, you have 548 words spread across twenty-four Goddamn pages? I mean, I get this was a week ago so maybe you expanded upon some of the pages and almost definitely wrote more pages, but still, that is an extremely small amount of words per page. One of my stories I'm working on has more than twice that (1,274) across half the amount of pages (12), and the story's not even halfway done.

Take my advice: expand upon what you have written. If it's something that's supposed to be left vague or fast-paced, then a short amount of words works. But everything else? Add more to it. Don't think you're some Hemingway who can tell a good story with a small amount of words because it's extremely hard to pull off; most of the time writing laconically makes the story extremely boring.

Well, she said most of them were just placeholder pages on a map, so probably just a room title or whatever. Still, might've been best not to list a word count until there was some concrete progress because I had the same reaction to that originally lol.

Although the (presumably complete) intro page and the attached choices she did post yesterday were really short too, well under 100 words. The focus seems more on being mysterious than on establishing any kind of plot though so I'm waiting to see how things develop in the next few pages.

Interesting. The set up at least reminds me a little of Night in the Woods.

You know I completely missed the word count on your update there the first time reading this. 548 words for 24 pages? Is that right?

Yes, and that is total coincidence. I had started mapping out the starting area as I was learning the editor and seeing what I could do with it.

This seems pretty interesting. It certainly seems like it'll be very interesting, although the words per page seems worrying. Cool idea, anyhow, best of luck writing.

A lot of those pages are dummy pages and will be filled. As I said, I was mapping out the initial area. Its gonna be in an adventure style where you can walk around and talk with people and interact with the environment. To make things easy, I plan to map out the main areas and add to the story as I go. The pages themselves are going to have to be coded carefully. I intend to use text changes to be able to use a page for more than one purpose. For instance, you may need to frantically search a room and rather than be directed to a new page that says you found what you were looking for, the text appropriate to the action or choice selected will just change that part of the page.

Trust me, I have it in my head and tested some basic mechanics, It will work, but now--today--I write! (Because I have the next 3 days off!)

Ah, that makes far more sense. Let it rip, then, best of luck

Here is my first page so far. I am playing with second person and getting a format going for how each page will look. I have to think about segways between pages and code things it. I am not writing any code just yet. I need to get the meat and potatoes of the story going first. So the numbers in parentheses are placeholders for links and scripting.

*************************************HOME: A DARK AND EMPTY SPACE**************************************
There is nothing but an empty space all around you. The darkness is densely thick. The expanse feels more real than anything you have ever experienced. You expect it to feel cold here, but it seems soft and invitingly warm.

You sense an odd presence nearby.

There are no discernable exits, just endlessness.

Look around. (1)
(1) Call out the the aether. (2)
(1) Wake up.

EVENTS:
(1) You look down to see if you can make out your hands. A strange thing happens, they begin to melt before your eyes as if they are slowly disintegrating. You let out a long scream, expecting to feel pain, but it never comes. Your cries only echo into the vastness. Suddenly, a sonorous voice speaks through the aether, "Hello there, young man." Something triggers in you, a realization that you've been through this before.

(2) You bellow, "Who are you? Why do you never show yourself?" You wait a moment as the expanse rumbles from your voice. The response is silence.

Should be interesting to see how you tie this in with a story about a failed college student coming home.

Dang, this seems like a good idea.