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3 years ago
Commended by mizal on 10/4/2021 12:14:07 PM
I feel that we’re making these points every time a new person comes along, it’s getting quite repetitive. I’m going to try to compile some of these into a sort of faq section.

Hi, new person! Welcome to the site.

A: Where can I find XXX genre or XXX specific topic?

When you look at the left column, we have a ‘storygames’ section. Opening it up, you’ll see we’ve sorted our hundreds of storygames into genres. Not specific enough? Try looking in the left column again. Under the storygames section, you’ll also see a ‘search’ tool. From there you can browse the entire list, searching for keywords and sorting the results.

B: What tips/suggestions do you have for my storygame?

This is the one I see a lot.

Most of the time, writing a storygame is a long process, taking weeks to months to finish, edit and polish, don’t rush the process.

Starting out, if you haven’t already, check out the “Top Rated'' section for examples of community-accepted writing. Take your time to read through those that interest you and take note how it’s effective at storytelling, and the overall quality of writing.

To get a contrast, go to the newly created section and check out some of the lower rated ones. Skim through some of them, and compare them to the top rated storygames. Make sure to read the reviews, too, they give valuable insight on storygame quality.

Now that you have a solid grasp on what the community expects of a good storygame, you can start to brainstorm on your own(see:C).

One suggestion is to start off simple and short. Write a normal ~500-1000 short story, and really polish it. Post it into the forums, and ask for feedback. Afterward, try to start branching with a short storygame, perhaps a few thousand words in length. Once again, post a sneak peek link(turn sneak peek on in storygame settings), and take note of what we say. Afterward, you can start writing a piece you’re really going to be satisfied with.

Hey, you’ve finished? Don’t rush to publish it yet. Take a day or 2 off, and read over the entire thing after you’ve properly distanced yourself from it. From there make stylistic, grammatical, or storyline edits. Polish it to the last detail, and after you’re really sure you’ve got it down, hit publish.

I’ve only hit on the surface of most of these strategies and points, the articles(click ‘help and info’) dive much deeper and more thoroughly.

Of course, if you’re confident with your writing skills, go ahead and start writing whenever you feel like it. Many of our best writers also started this way.

C: I’m kind of out of ideas for my storygame, any help?

If there’s nothing that really pokes at you, then perhaps forcing out a plotline to write isn’t the best way to go about it. The best stories come from an idea that the author is personally excited to write about, and has a certain degree of attachment to. If you’re writing for the sake of having to write something, it’s, to be frank, not something that anybody would want to read.

If you’re really looking for inspiration, don’t just ask something along the lines of “idea pls, I’m bored.” To have people give really directed information, try giving us some context. What kind of writing style are you interested in, and what genres is it tied to?

D: Scripting/Items help

…should probably be asked in the advanced editor forum section. Unless you’re really proficient with scripting and writing along with it, a game would be difficult to create. Check out some highly rated puzzle games for examples of effective scripting and items.

Note: Puzzly/Scripty games still need a rich story background/writing, so don’t skimp out on any of those. A plain puzzle’s no fun if there’s nothing to grab the reader with.

E: How can I contribute to the site?

Rate and Review. Go to the newly created storygames, random storygames, or any section, and read + give some reviews. That does a lot of things: points and recognition, community involvement, encouraging authors and demonstrating to newbies how healthy and active the site is, etc. It’s really the single most important site activity and the easiest way to get involved and do something meaningful and appreciated.


Bit of last advice: it’s best to have thick skin here. It’s quite common that below-average storygames receive some really scathing, harsh reviews. One thing to note is that here, we don’t hesitate to give criticism. Sometimes it’s difficult to embrace and learn from it(there’s an article on that, as well). A lot of crude humor is thrown around in the forums, try not to get offended, that usually doesn’t lead to such good endings...

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3 years ago
This is a good thread.

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3 years ago
For now...until someone comes along and wrecks it...

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3 years ago

Thanks! I needed some help on what it is I should be doing. 

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3 years ago

This will certainly prevent noobs from asking the same questions each time they arrive, and even if they do, they can be directed to this thread. Maybe this could be pinned?

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3 years ago
Check!

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3 years ago
I see.

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3 years ago
I hear.

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3 years ago
I taste.

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3 years ago
I feel

that I'll be deleting more posts soon.

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3 years ago

Nice write-up! It would be njce if someone can pin this post down, otherwise it might get buried after a few months.

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3 years ago
Huh, that’s odd. It used to be pinned.

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3 years ago

Sometime threads just unpin for some reason. I know I've had to repin other threads before.

Anyway pinned.

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3 years ago
I think that makes three of us that have pinned it now.

The other two sometimes scroll on mobile while drunk, just sayin....

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3 years ago

Someone's probably drunk scrolling since this is unpinned again. It'll probably be helpful for the new newb (assuming they can read and actually gets through the recommended reading material I linked). 

Edit: It won't help the newb now, but others may still benefit from this thread.

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3 years ago

Yeah, that's pretty much all that 99% of newbies ask (even though they can read articles, or previous newbies questions/answers). This is a nice summary. 

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3 years ago

Pinned this again, for some reason things get unpinned randomly at times.

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2 years ago

This seems to not be pinned again. Shall I triple tag End to get on it?

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2 years ago
Hi!

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2 years ago
Oh, dear. Something seems to have gone wrong with the pin, again!

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one year ago

Once more, this is unpinned.

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one year ago
The people who frequent the Choice of Game forums would gain from your essay and writing links. Many of them lack writing skills and are quite accepting of variety.

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one year ago
We've got another one.

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one year ago

Well it's not wrong.

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one year ago

They're adapting, soon we'll have entire threads of bots calling each other fags.

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one year ago
We should never dream so sweetly.

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one year ago

You missed the opportunity to change your post's title to the obvious joke.

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one year ago

Just pointing out that this became unpinned again. 

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one year ago

Thanks. I thought something was missing in the noob section.

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10 months ago
question is 450 word ok for a first story game

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10 months ago
Most likely not.

There are stories with less "raw" word counts, but they're usually packed with scripts or is something clever like Gower's 16 words (iirc). However, for most regular stories 450 words is only enough for a single expository page or a couple of shorter ones.

I took a glance over your knight story, and I would suggest adding a lot more substance to the plot, a simplistic telling of what happened in one sentence isn't going to cut it. As I suggested, try reading some higher rated stories to get a good idea of what is considered effective storytelling. It is good that you have a skeleton of the branches, but now is the time to flesh out your writing.

Also, try reading some articles explaining grammar and sentence structure, your story is really difficult to read with all the mistakes.

Good luck on your writing, if you have any questions or want feedback on a passage I suggest making a post in the writing workshop.