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Hunter was an experiment in text-based combat. Returning to play it some two years later... eeesh. It's really a complete failure. For the most part, you can't tell what the optimum strategy for each demon is. And combat drags out for far too long, especially considering that you're either picking at random, or spamming whatever you think is the best tactic. Neither approach is fun.

And, of course, there's no real goal or victory condition. All you get is an increasing quantity of (meaningless) gold, and the respect of the proprietor of the Broken Bow.

So... what do I do with this thing? Unpublish it? Try to fix it? What would fun text-based combat look like, anyway? >_<

I don't know. It would be like, you know - with you on the edge of survival all the time. Now that's fun. 

...until you die. And restart only to die again. And restart only to die again. And restart only to die and RAGE QUIT.

Or maybe that's just me... XD

I thought it was fun... :(

I guess, fight simulators, for the more picky audiences, get a bad rap because there's fuck all to do outside of combat. Dungeon Stompage switched it up a little with RPG skills and and a shop and all manner of absurdly-difficult-to-make scripty stuff, but once you get all the endings it has little replay value. Yours had some replay value to me, for some unknown reason. What you really need is a shop, and probably a leveling system, or make your health and things fluctuate a lot, creating a need for lots of different potions. I mean, it was a pretty cool and fun idea, I felt like a badass when playing it, and if you just made it so combat was somehow constantly changing and evolving, up into the level-100-only-virgins-and-OCD-guys-ever-get-to-this-point kind of stages and beyond... Well, it might not get featured, but commenting with a big score could become something of an honor badge.

To make a quality storygame, it would definitely need to have more 'stuff' built up around the combat. I never bothered to do that because the combat itself seemed unfun to me, so it didn't seem worth the effort to expand on it.

I'm glad you liked it, anyway, even if I find it slightly inexplicable. XD

Whatever you do, don't get rid of it.  It's better than playing solitaire with the Jokers left in!

Thanks, I think? XD

I kind of want to improve on it... I just don't see how, at the moment.

The main thing it needs is a back story.  You might add a few quest items to be found.  Not for monetary gain but for snob appeal.  It doesn't really need a lot.

Well, but I'm not happy with the combat system. So, in my opinion, it basically needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt... and then embellished with backstory and missions and items and relationships and stuff. ^_^

It sounds fantastic.  Could I co-author until your ready to publish?  Then you can remove me.  I wouldn't change anything, just make suggestions and see how you structure it...

If I end up actually deciding to do it, then sure. ^_^

Thanks.  I would appreciate it.  I love to watch people work.  XD

Sooo, I kind of decided to do the new version in ChoiceScript. Sorry! 

I just checked it out.  Looks interesting.  And the scripting is way more flexible.  It reminds me of BASIC, but there are some C conventions, too.

Or maybe just a close resemblance to python or Perl.

I can't really decide...

The "whitespace is meaningful" convention is Pythonish, while the gotos are reminiscent of Basic. But it's definitely got its own quirky conventions. I'm liking it so far. ^_^

 If you do get into it, I recommend Notepad++ as an editor -- it tab-indents blocks of text, which helps readability, and you can set the tab size at two spaces, which keeps the indentation from getting out of hand.

I used to use Notepad++, but now I'm in linux and have several text editors that work similar (And a couple of generic IDE's).  I've been trying to run twine or twee, but without success.

Edit:  I just discovered that twee just compiles .tw files into html, if you create the text files.  It would be easier for me just to create the html myself, and skip the middleman!

Here's an interesting little Twine experiment.

I mean, it's a straight-up rock-paper-scissors mechanic -- that's not the interesting part. But the idea of combining knowledge gleaned before the fight with observations during the fight shows some promise, I think. "If the demon does this, it means it's about to do this other thing, which you can counter by doing this and then that." With a couple of those in play per demon type, it seems like it might be an interesting test of the player's memory... and/or their willingness to jot down notes. XD

It would also tie in nicely with the kind of relationship-building I'd like to do, as you try to pry information out of other, more experienced hunters.

Replace the "wandering into the desert" with a dungeon type setting. Use random variables to change certain parts of combat text. Like, if you missed, one time it might say "The demon's leathery hide deflects your blade", while another time it will say something like "The edge of your sword misses its mark entirely." Stuff like that to keep the text based combat from getting repetitive.

What would also be cool is if you had a book of demons that would tell you about all the different types and add more information as you fight, making strategizing easier for the player.

Both successful hits and misses, for both you and the demons, already have randomized text. Possibly I need to add more to those tables... but I don't think that would solve the underlying problems: It's hard to tell what you should do, and to the extent that you can tell, 'what you should do' is really simple to execute.

Oh, in that case. Include a few subtle, but important hints and italicize them  so that the reader will get it.

That would help the first problem... while making the second problem glaringly obvious. >_<

I appreciate the thought, but I really don't think the system is fixable. I need to come up with a new system entirely.

I hate to say it, but, yeah, you probably do need to start from scratch. Really, text based combat seems odd, anyway. It just gives you a vague hint as to how close the enemy is to dying.

 I liked the wandering in the desert setting.  I just wished there had been something else to do, storywise.

there were different types of demons?

Humanoid, flying, and that amorphous thing with the spikes.

And you may get your wish. ^_^

I don't know what fun text-based combat would look like, but I'm trying to create a few games that have it.

I look forward to seeing them! ^_^

I think fun text base combat needs to have many options like powers and moves. Different kinds of demons having different powers that you know about. That way you'll have to figure out what tactic is best against each demon. Also having a energy meter would make it more strategical.

Homo Perfectus is quite a good example of this: there are many powers to use and only using the correct ones makes you defeat the enemy.

Thanks! I'll see what I can come up with. ^_^

It would also be cool if there were NPCs that you could talk to that would give you new skills and powers, as you kill more demons.

Yeah, there's going to be a full cast of NPCs in this version. None of this minimalist combat testing nonsense, the new version is going to be an actual storygame. ^_^