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Modesty is always something one should posses. :)

I'm temporarily disregarding that noble trait in order to get some motivation. How much ridicule would I receive if I make a thread claiming to write a feature-worthy storygame only for it to fail? The answer to that question hopefully will keep me from ever finding it.

This thread will be a journal in a sense. I will document what I am doing even if I am doing nothing (which will hopefully cause me to be criticized and thus motivated once again). It has been two years since I discovered this site (and a bit less after making my account), and it has been a goal of mine to have a storygame featured for far too long. Now, I will triumph over my goal.
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Entry 1
I've (literally) mapped out my storygame. It's only a little over 1k long in its written state, but I have the plot, characters, and the rooms mapped out.
It's a fanfic based in the StarWars franchise (more influenced by SWTOR and the pre-Disney EU than the movies). You play as a Sith apprentice who has entered the tomb (of an ancient Sith who our Sith has been tracking this powerful person for years).
Essentially, you're a dark space wizard who has to travel through a labyrinth... but this structure holds more than just a dead body. The force is at war in this tomb.

I'm not sure how one would interpret the format of this. It has plot, exploration (kept to a lower amount because I never liked storygames that have random clicking through mazes), and puzzles. There will also be those random dorky minions prowling about (if I can code them in properly), but I think I can make it neither grindy or annoying (if I can also code that part in properly). You may see some posts by me in the AEF.
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Lastly, I am not setting a deadline or anything like that on this storygame. Hopefully, it will be done before spring.

Here begins my journey to a featured storygame. :)

Bet 1000 points and pick a deadline if you want to do this like a pro.

I'm only an amateur, so I let the pro stuff to the pros. :)

Good luck, I do hope you succeed! Looking at the category's featured games will give you an idea of what you're up against. The more years the site exists, the harder it gets to get featured because you basically have to write one of the best stories every written on the site.

Keep us updated here on your progress and write well!

If she pulls off even half of what she's describing there's no difficulty in kicking something out of the Fanfic section.

I've looked at the categories a lot. (Being odd-ish, I also identified the storygames which I view as the ones necessary to beat in order to become featured).
Fan-fic currently has some vulnerable storygames. (Vulnerable enough for even me to beat!)

OK but I really like Carmen Sandiego so that one stays.

I was just looking through your story list and saw "Sith in a Catacomb" and thought it was actually "Shit in a Catacomb" which meant it still might have replaced one of the currently featured fanfic stories.

Good Luck~ :D I do always enjoy your stories, so I'm excited to see what you'll write for this.

Yes, I will try to make these often to forcibly motivate myself.
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I hate coding. Don't you? This storygame is apparently going to require the use on on text and $PAGETEXT (which I've finally managed to add quotes and apostrophes to after too much time). I'm building a foundation before I paint the walls.

I have 24 pages (mostly being empty still) and 50 links with coding, variables, and even some restrictions on them. Additionally, I've figured out a way through coding to make all the corridors the exact same page. That page will most likely have a couple thousand words (though I will most likely show up as just a few words most of the time). I do know what is happening in each room. I think nobody will know how much trouble it took me to simply figure out the scripting for the protagonists to become shocked in some water, turn around and not go through the other three doors, make the water safe, return, and go through any of those doors.

I hate scripting. If anybody goes through my storygame right now, then you would be in a labyrinth of blank pages that have no exit.

Good news for me: I can now paint some of the foundation and plug some of the leaks. :)

I've experimented with using one page as a hub for most of a story, and my conclusion was that it probably would have been less tedious to just create separate pages.

Once you start doing any serious scripting, compartmentalizing everything into chapters helps a lot however.

To be honest, I've tried to make my storygame as simple as possible. Instead of making about 50 pages, I'll just make one with some help from on-text variables (which is the one thing I sort of underatand), random values, and maybe some help from the AE section. 

Also, I am compartmentalizing (however does one spells that word?) this into chapters. I'd go crazy if this was all in one chapter and without page numbers built into each page.

I am unhappy with Steve. When his storygame becomes featured, that means mine will have to be better than approximately a 5.8/8 storygame instead of a 5/8. :(
I'll have to make mine really good now. :)

I have also found that over a thousand words of scripting (on one page) amounts to nothing in the storygame's word counter (for length). I may just make a page with almost all of my scripting to have the correct word count. (My scripting is basically all page text).

I NEED YOUR TESTING. It's literately just one page. Click on the link. (After starting the storygame, click on the "for testing purposes" choice to end up where I want you.). All I want is feedback on how your experience on the page "A Tomb" goes. Clicking the choices will keep you on the page. It's a different way of formatting for me.

I also suspect that I'll receive no feedback due to the contest taking up others' time. 

Lastly, I'll sprinkle in some facts that are true but may or may not be included in the storygame. For example, the protagonist is a Mirialan. 

I doubt Warped will be featured, he's already got Fear the Psyker and taking up two slots with the same series is a bit much.

Warped can replace Fear the Psyker, but that's about it. That's why Sin's Homo series for example only has one representative.

I feel bad about this, but I am quite happy to hear that. :)

I have also wondered why Homo Perfectus has just one featured storygame. Now, I know that too.

Oh and had a quick look, and the issue I'm seeing is that it will get annoying having to scroll down to the added text every time you click.

I was wondering how much text I could have before it became annoying. I'm not that surprised, and I have two solutions to that problem. I was mostly hoping that it would not be annoying.

Thank you for your feedback.

IRL is looking questionable for my time in the future. It's only providing more motivation!
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I've been going to each room and writing it out. I'm rather pleased with the way my storygame is turning out. I still am frustrated that pagetext is not counted in the word count, for it makes my progress seem much lower that what it is right now.

I just finished a puzzle in the catacombs. I feel like there was a more effective way of making it, but I ended up using ten variables and MATH. Anyway, I think it won't annoy the reader too much. I'm debating how many clues I should put in. I'll have to laugh if anybody wants to solve it yet remains stuck even if they know jack squat about Star Wars lore.

I am still working on the first of two floors.

Number of Pages: 28
Number of Links: 78
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To anybody reading this a while from now, Steve just made a fanfic storygame. Check it out.

It is also a cautionary tale of poor timing. Steve decided to publish the game just when a contest started. With much of the active site (minus me) in that contest, the users are too busy writing to read. Thus, his massive storygame is sitting around not being read. It makes Steve sad.

Why am I saying this? Well, I do not wish to make Steve's error. This storygame will be published after the contest regardless of when I complete it. (It takes a while for all of those soon-to-be-published storygames to be read, so waiting will give me a larger reviewer and reader audience.) This means I may be sitting on it perfecting it for a while.

Fun Fact: This is actually more of a Star Wars the Old Republic fanfic than a Star Wars fanfic. I also have the main villain's name as Steve in my head-cannon. I may even ask for site members for possible names for my storygame. Sith in a Catacomb sounds rather boring (though accurate of what happens in the story).

EDIT: I recently passed 500 posts. Cool beans.

I haven't been writing much (with no worries for I never set a deadline). It's been more debating.

What should my story-to-game ratio be? What would the audience want? It looks like this storygame will be called "walking through rooms then talking/interacting in rooms". However, I'd want to play that, so I'm making it. :)
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Right now, I'm debating how to deal with a monster. It is in a room, but I do not know how to defeat it. I could either just use some sort of combat on the thing (which I've found uninteresting for most storygames), or I could have the monster represent a painful part of our protagonist's past. It also comes up with a good way to add more backstory (that I've had since even before I started writing this).
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There isn't that much to report, but I will continue to make these. :)
Also, when I first started posting in this thread, it was a graveyard. Now, it's as active as the lounge. Oh well, I suppose that's a good thing.

On the monster -- I'm conflicted with those. Sometimes it can be fun having a battle and using random numbers. But other times it can be boring pressing the link to attack and then clicking back until I get the result I want (what, I'm not supposed to do that?). But what's the alternative? Three selections to either kick it in the head, punch it in the throat, or dodge; one of which kills it and the other two kill me?

I do love including some randomness in a story my favorite way of implementing it so far was how I did in Spy Mission, where things you could do earlier in the story could increase your odds later in the story, then I showed the odds when you got the result you did (and I make it so it was actually trickier than just clicking the back button because that wouldn't actually change your results!).

So I guess if there's just a monster in a room, I'd lean towards no way to defeat it in combat. Instead, you might have an item that will defeat it, but only if you have that item; you might be able to avoid it by going a different way; or you might consider attacking it, knowing that you're going to die.

Have fun!

A barfing brother next to me in the car, traveling four hours just to turn around, getting whacked by the flue, carrying disgustingly fat excuses for living chickens to the other side of a fence so our spicket's leak can be patched...
I still wrote less than I wanted to. :(
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Well, I finally finished a particularly hard room to write. It also caused my storygame to possibly venture off into either a dark or cheesy tone. I haven't figured which one it is yet (because I'm not good at writing dark things). I also found and odd error that made me teleport to a room with a garden instead of a "dark" room. Now, I'm worried about other scripting errors that are well hidden as well.

Anyway, I'll finish the first of two floors eventually. I still think this has a great shot at being featured if I don't blow it.
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Steve and the non-Steve's debate on Sith has been interesting. He'll probably find some way to critique what I'm writing.
Anyway, I've found a better name for the storygame. The Force Shall Set Me Free. I can almost guarantee that I'll change it again before publishing. :)

I can top that: I'm writing with pneumonia right now. Go team Sick Writers!

I'm sure if the storygame goes off to dark territories, it will do well -- a lot of people here like that sort of thing.

Good luck with the scripting errors, they can be tough to track down sometimes.

Easy way to snag a featured spot, if nothing else. Best of luck with your story.