So EndMaster has put up the annual Contest (#5!) roughly 12 hours ago and already 20 prompts are claimed. Are you planning to participate? Have you already claimed a prompt? Mystic hasn't even signed up yet, but they are probably already beating you on wordcount. Have you hit your first block yet?
I took pompt 6. I'm not far in at all, not even 1,000 words. Started around 30 minutes ago.
I took prompt #50 and will work on it between creating a rough plan for Safety Not Found. I'm probably going to procrastinate and rush out a half-finished project, but here's hoping that isn't the case
I took prompt 49, and I have a title.
So far, that's it.
XD
I'm not going to miss out on Endmaster's contest, and I'm using it as an excuse to write a storygame that people have been waiting for...
I only have 58 words so far:
Our world is a grave, yet here we live on. Our allies have fallen, yet here we stand strong. In darkest night we are the torch. In deepest cold we are the forge. Winterthorne weathers the storm!
For your walls, our lives. For your king, our blood. While Winterhorne shines, we shall not give up. Winterthorne is home!
*Gasp* No way! How did you do that?! That's insane!!! :D
Ok frick looking at scripting later I HAVE to have this.
I really liked the first page! How did you code something like that?
Scripting, propably very advanced scripting. Can't tell you more than that :P
Oh... I'm dumb ><
Thanks! :D
So... it isn't complex then? That also explains how you made Arise fade in.
Oh... well I guess being able to do something so cool with something so simple is all the more reason to start learning scripting!
I agree, you can do really cool stuff with scripting.
I know, I just didn't realize you could to the cool stuff in the easier levels. The way most things work is it gets better when it gets harder.
I guess all of them. CYS right now though, because I'm making stories on here.
Do you have a concrete idea (or even a loose one) for what you want to use this for or is this being driven by a novelty "wow" factor at the moment? (I'm mainly just asking out of curiosity here! lol :P)
Mostly wow, but I've wanted to do scripting for a while now and was scared by how hard it looked. I also want to do coding, but my mom always sends me to the same beginner camp using basic block code... I can't even figure out the variable blocks in scratch T-T
I have youtube. AI... I don't want my parents catching that on my history.
...You're a computer science professor? Or are you telling me to lie?
I unironically reccomend DMing Ogre about some scriptng stuff for CYS that you can't figure out via on site guides or googling. At least with me he tended to respond pretty well to that sort of thing. Maybe that's not the best idea per say, but its nice to have someone you can ask directly when everything else doesn't end up sufficing enough for learning this stuff.
Thanks. Not sure if I'm actually going to do that though. Is... this spamming?
Was going to edit my post to say Nevermind since others (like Fabrikant and Cavus) seem to know just as much. I only mentioned Ogre due to anecdotal experience on my part! My b... :/ (lol :P)
Sorry...
Wrong reply >_<
Ok. This is important. Ogre is so heart to the site there a phrase "I like Ogre" that people say here. I honestly don't know that much, so maybe bury through the forums or look at his profile.
Thanks!
No problem! :D
I like Ogre
I think, like with any skill, it comes down to understanding the basics, a desire to use the skill itself, and the willingness to learn more about craft behind the skill. I too was wowed by this, but then I started to question what exactly I'd use it for and if it was worth learning even if its not as "hard as it looks". I'm probably just really lazy though. Your still young though, you ought to be learning as much as possible before you turn 19! (obviously one should be open to learning new things in general, but its especially important at an early age for reasons I'm sure you can deduce well enough on your own accord! lol :P) (I heard at one point that your brain starts to develop differently once you turn 19, but I never looked into it so idk at this point if that's even one of the main cutoff points anymore...or if there even is one to begin with! So take that with a bit of grain of salt I guess! :/)
It does, but not entirely until 21 or 25 I'm not sure which. You can still learn after that, it's just harder. At that point you have better judgement, which is also why the drinking age is (I think) 21 because that's the earliest someone's likely to be responsible about their drinking.
I was thinking of somehow using it for my shopkeeper story, but didn't decide yet ;D
That's cool! Maybe you want to just join the conversation, but just in case, do you have threaded veiw on?
Yes, I think. Is it the thing were the reply's move a small bit to the right?
Yes! That's good. And you know if a post is floating it's replying to the first post above it a bit to the left?
Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for the info :p
No problem. It was just that Alien was responding to me, so generally that would mean he's addressing me unless a mistake was made. You can still join the conversation, it just could be considered rude or seen as you don't know who to reply to or you don't have threaded view or something.
That's incredible, how are you and Gryphon using magic on the storygame editor?
Okay, how the hell did you manage this sorcery?! It's almost exactly what I wanted to do for some parts of Name Not Found, but I could never figure out anything to do with scripting! Please, teach me your ways!
Top 5? I don't see Mysic around. Or anyone else crazy unless I don't know about the skill of someone here. Well, actually she's probably the mystery contestant. Let me check the thread quickly.
EDIT: Yeah.
Oh ok. I just thought it looked so cool. Or maybe that's just because I'm a kid...
:D
True.
Just reached 2k words in my story so far! Do you guys think 1k words a day is a good target? I'm still feeling like a bit of a newbie since there are so many great writers on this site. >_<
That's great! That's better than most people in the contest are (probably) going to do (no offense meant to anyone), and most definitely better than practically all the noobs in their first week.
My progress is now 2k words... T-T
What do you mean? 2k is nothing.
Ah, ok. This is my second sitting and I've done around 500 so far.
As someone who is known to write quickly, I think 2k in three days is pretty good. Consistency beats speed every time. I personally find it more difficult to write the start of stories, but once you're partway through, you're more accustomed to the narrative style, characters, world and writing daily in general, so that's where the occasional 5k a day (or even 10k a day) may appear. Just to clear up confusion, although I know it's tradition to suspect me of always being in these prompt contests, I have too many January deadlines to join. Writing would be too fun of a distraction at the moment. But that means someone else could write the epic this time around!
I was just hoping to have been more productive.
Prompt #15
I already have a plan for what the plot is going to be. Currently laying out the groundwork.
Cool! If I'm not wrong this will be your first story (assuming you get it done), right?
yes
Cool! Can't wait to see how you do! :D (lol, maybe this thread with get your posts into the double digits, just one more!)
I have about 1200 words written. I'm definitely planning on doing better with this contest than the last ones.
Nice! I got 1,000
That's awesome!
Despite this, you placed second in Sherb's summer contest, and won last year's prompt contest. You'll be fine.
And he's won a contest! :D
Lol, that's fine. And I don't know what coaches you're talking about, maybe (probably) they know better than me but I think it really depends on who you're talking about.
There's a reason I stopped entering NaNoWriMo. Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month just wasn't giving me anything that was either good or could be good.
I'm what I believe is a plantser - somewhere between plotter and pantser.
If you don't mind me asking, what's a plotter and a pantser? I don't think you mean the definition that I got.
A plotter - someone who works out every step of the way before starting writing.
A pantser - someone who just writes without a plan. AKA 'flying by the seat of your pants.'
It's been a while, but I think those are the definitions.
Oh, ok that makes sense. I think I'm a mix, but definitely more pantser than plotter.
Everybody is a mix, but it's good to have the self-awareness of where you are on the scale and adjust when necessary. Plotters can produce brilliant plots with cool twists and surprises, but they run a high risk of writers block and their characters can at times feel stiff. Pantsers excell typically excell at character and creating novelty from convincing character development, but they tend to get stuck in editing and often struggle with pacing.
Brandon Sanderson is very far on the plotter scale. Many of his books have elaborate plots with a firework of twists in the last pages. Stephen King is an example of someone who is far on the pantser scale. His plots are very simple but his best books really bring the characters to life.
Ideally you can adjust at least a little bit to the challenge that you are currently facing. Plot a bit more when you set big things in motion, pants a bit more when dealing with characters' internal life.
Oh, thanks!
I don't have that issue. I actually find making ideas for CYOAs easier because whether I actually want it or not I tend to come up with mutiple ideas of how something could go. I can't write all of those even with CYOA though, because it's different actions for all of the characters/monsters/ect.
I rather have the opposite problem. I think as if I am the protagonist. If there is just one course of action in a situation it is fine, and there will only be one choice. But usually I come up with multiple things that I could possibly do in that situation, and then the question is these chpoices would actually lead to branches that are sufficiently different to merit their existance.
I usually follow the "Save the Cat" story beats to get the plot in shape, and thus when I branch I still need to find a way to create the right beats.
To avoid creating branches that are too similar my condition is that each branch must introduce a new flavor to the story. For me that means usually it must let the character evolve in a different way or change the archetype of the story.
For example in Rainbow-1 the first choice is if you actually want a story about the firefighter or a story about a prison break. If you choose the prison break the next choice is literally if you want to embrace your life of crime or try to turn everything around and be good, and so on.
Of course I create way too many branches. Rainbow-1 has over 70 endings now and will have close to 100 when it is fully implemented.
I have a hard time making decisions so CYOAs are perfect because I can do both anytime I can't make a choice in story direction.
I was telling a friend about how I entered a writing contest and my prompt required incest. She told me "that's gross" and I "should've picked a different prompt." Clearly she does not understand fine art.
I've only written a couple scenes so far but the story is about falling into a court drama / romance video game and romancing the male leads... all of which the main character is related to.
That sounds interesting, I'll have to read it.I honestly hadn't even considered taking "court drama" as a legal court room drama. It would be a fun way to interpret the prompt though.
I think Mystic's Constellaris Court is a good example of court drama.
Glad to hear that you not only spoke proudly of your prompt choice, you fully committed to it.
Remember, you currently got the secret Group Hug bonus prompt so all point rewards are doubled. And if you win the contest, you'll double your double!
I currently am planning out my characters and trying to figure out some kind of plot! Since my prompt specifies what kind of protagonist I should have, I've been tweaking things here and there. I'll most likely actually start writing once the next semester starts because I have to study for my exams..
Your prompt is not easy. A passive protagonist in a CYOA sounds like an oxymoron but I'm sure there's a few directions you could take it. I wish you luck.
Thank you Orange! Since Undertale and other games have "pacifist runs", I believe there's some hope for a CYOA with one...
I just realized I misread Orange's reponse.. Thanks for informing me!
Not really! I have tons of ideas for the protagonist, but none of them feel right yet! I've been fiddling with ideas so I can choose the best out of all of them.
Well, the idea is kinda okay to do if you have this character be a diplomat, interrogator or just be so physically weak that they have to scheme their way to get what they want.
Being a Marauder does not make some one better, every order has a shit pile at the bottom. If you really want to think of it in the way you are, then I think the best way to put it is you have to contribute to distinct yourself as a member of the order and not another bumbling noob.
Hey, none of my characters has committed murder!
(yet)
That was actually one of my ideas LOL. I thought it would be too straight forward so I've been experimenting.
I've got an idea for the intro and general plot, and that's it. Haven't even taken notes on it yet, lol
._.
Does anyone here know a lot about ancient gods? I want to put some of them into my storygame, but I don't know too much about them, lol.
LMAO, how in the world did you do that?!
And while yes, I know I can just Google it, I find that people who know a good deal about a topic also know a lot of random trivia regarding it that you can't easily find via Google. Besides, it's more fun to see/hear someone talk about something they are passionate about.
All of them.
Here is unsolicited advice: Don't put too much in your story or you'll just spin your wheels. You should probably learn a little bit about all types of gods so you can get token representation, but focus only on one or two as major antagonists or major side-characters or important side-characters.
In fact, maybe disregard what I said and go read Rick Riordan's stuff. Not just "Olympians," but also the Kane Chronicles. What he did is use a few major gods for plot and conflict and the rest as background texture/world building.
That's a good idea. I have read quite a few books by Rick Riordan, and they were one of the reasons why I chose the prompt I did.
OK some thoughts:
We generally know very little about prehistoric gods, because in prehistrory people didn't write anything down (by definition). This is kind of crazy given that gods are probably as old as humanity, so about 1.2M years and we only know about the beliefs of people for about 3k years, so 0.25%.
What we do know are the ancient historic gods, particularly from culutures that wrote in stone (Greece, Egypt, Assyriah) or Clay (Babylon, Summeria). So if you want to go ancient this limits you to a small corner of the world. There are other cultures from which we know a little bit Norse/Keltic/Germanic, Chinese/Japanese, Aboriginal, Native American, but all this stuff is much younger. The sources that we have are typically 1000 years old, so technically medieval rather then ancient.
So let me stick to the really ancient stuff that happened somewhere areound the Mediteranean and the Red Sea. In these region we have a strong transition between the copper age and the broze age that happened almost accidentally (this is another super fascinating story). Copper age civilizations were not able to sustain large empires; They were city states, and this was also reflected in religion, each city would have there own god or gods. In the Bronze age we get large empires which all come with their state religions, so this is the first time that alot of people believe in the same thing.
Now if we focus on the early Bronze age the first question is are you monotheistic or polytheistic. Interestingly we know much less of the religions that believed in one god, compared to those who believed in many gods. This is partly because there is a tendency for monotheistic religions to eradicate each other. I guess, if you beleive in many gods anyway, it is easier to accept that others beleive in some more.
So on the monotheistic side we have mainly that guy called Jaweh, who you might know as 'God'. He started out as a high-priest in Ur, so he was actually priest to another god, which survived in the form of the 'Holy Spirit'. If you want to piss people off it is good to remember that there is more historical evidence for Jaweh than for Jesus (it's debatable, but the debate is winnable).
Polytheistic religions are more fun, there seems to be widespread belief that humanity started with polytheistic religions. The polytheistic gods start out half as explanations for natural phenomena (who made these islands, why does the sun rise, where does the lightning come from) and half as historical people whose tales have grown out of proportion. So all of these gods are people or animals and they typically fill archetypical roles of ancient societies (hunter, mother, thief, ruler are recurring topics.)
For specific examples: You probably know the Graeco-Roman gods, the romans basically copied from the Greeks and gave them their own names, for example Mars and Ares are the same and so are Minerva and Athene. Interestingly the ancient Greeks are aware that there religion replaced an older religion "the Titans" which is perhaps the oldest religion we know off. The other large empires of the region are Egypt, which you probably also know, and Assyria/Babylon, which again have many parallels.
Personally, I would go for Assyria, as there is quite a lot of primary information, and it hasn't been covered in stories nearly as much as the other options.
Oh wow, thanks for all this! I'll look into Assyria first then.
This is such a retarded and wrong take on the BIble that it's not worth really talking about.
OP, read Walter Burkert's Greek Religion and John Day's Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan for some actual scholarship about antique paganism. God help me.
Thank you :)
Well, I hope I haven't seriously offended anyone. Otherwise my apologies.
Honestly, I tried to properly read up on this history at some point, but 40 papers or so in I gave up because the field is so poisoned by exterior interests that its pretty pointless.
Y'know I hate to directly influence creativity here, but when I said "old gods" I was thinking more along the lines of unspeakable abominations from the outer reaches of reality.
But yeah sure I suppose the old pagan ones work too.
Honestly I was hoping one of the more skilled vets take that one and just loaded it up with unnatural body horror and the nihilistic dread of the inevitable terrors from beyond as the protagonist suffers mind warping insanity while trying to survive.
But whatever.
Well I mean proving himself worse at writing then we thought he was isn't exactly up, but I doubt that will happen anyway.
Really? What if I were to ******* ******* with ****** ** **** to ******* * ***** ** and ****** **** *** ********?
(Edit: These are just random amounts of asterisks, don't bother trying to guess what it is uncensored.)
0.0
I mean it could have at least been the Edrazi.
But perhaps UD can make something as epic as these types of horrifying elder gods.
Damn, that's a great card, despite it's obscene mana cost. Although I might have a deck that it could work in, lol.
Ehh, I thought of that, but I'm trying other things out first
There's a discussion thread for this contest that's better for sharing your progress.
That is this thread
Oh shoot I'm dumb ><
I'm catching up on all the posts I missed and keep getting threads mixed up :P
It's okay, I do the same thing sometimes, lol. Makes it worse when someone changes the name of a post to something completely unrelated, and I have two different names for notifications from the same thread.
I know!
Slightly unrelated, but when you look at forum posts, are some of them indented (i.e., in threaded view)?
That sounds like an ambitious project. Out of curiosity, how many words are you planning for your story to be?
Dang, already? You've gotten a lot done
