Hello! Thanks for monitoring this board.
If, when the player goes back to follow a different path, they re-read some screens that remain the same, do we need to count those words more than once? Using your example, if a person had to reread the 50-word intro scene each time they play, and they play 5 times, does that count as 250 words against the total count? Or does word count only increase based on words new in that play-through?
If a scene appears multiple times, you only need to count its words once, so that intro scene would only count once.
What we count is unique words in unique passages, not ones that are the same in all playthroughs. :)
If you’re writing in twine, you can use the proofing function to get a relatively close count.
Also note that code doesn’t count. Only words that appear before the viewer.
I know it’s kind of a weird way of doing things… The main reason we use it is to make sure we pay what the SFWA considers pro fiction rates for games published in our magazine. (9 cents per word). In this case, it just helps define the challenge!
