itch.io

Interesting start so far.

Only thing I'd personally like is the ability for the reader to name the player character. Feels more like I'm included in the story as opposed to watching someone else's story. But certainly not a dealbreaker.

I had hoped to have something prototyped and in testing this week, however the number of choices I offered impacted the way Chapter 2 would play out, so I had to rewrite significant parts of it. One of the last choices in the chapter wasn't even planned, I tossed it in when it felt to me like it was a good opportunity to include an additional "darker" NPC. This caused some quirks in the start of Chapter 2. In some areas I have 4 different versions of the same paragraph.

Chapter 2 has been mostly rewritten, and am working it into the game now. Not having too many reported bugs has been very helpful in giving me the free cycles to get the story redone and up to the standard Chapter 1 set.

No problem at all! Unfortunately I had to do some significant changes on the backend when I got to Chapter 1. My goals for the number of choices and different possible arcs greatly exceeded the framework I had built for the Prologue. The behind the scenes code was far too simple and basic for what I was trying to do and track. Unfortunately, that meant having to make changes that caused the original prologue saves to be invalidated.

Sorry to hear about the problems. I'll be posting an updated version (0.1.3) shortly that has a few additional fixes. Perhaps it may resolve what's been causing a problem for you. Based on what you are saying, that sounds like it's a flagbit problem. It didn't crop up on any of my testing, but I'll check it again just to be sure.

If the fixes in 0.1.3 do not fix it, what browser are you using? Are you playing the downloaded version or the online version?

The profession should be clickable text, it was not changeable?

A fix has been pushed to remove the ability to name a saved game, which is where the prompt() error was coming from. More details can be found here: ttps://cooldevo.itch.io/survival-games/devlog/169589/012-released

Hmmm.. I hadn't even thought about the Itch app itself. I'll try and see what I can do. I'll make a note on the game page for now, saying that something in the app browser isn't happy with the save code.

The code snippet I'm using for the save function is from an IntFiction post by the developer of SugarCube. But with browsers being what they are it can be quirky to support all different iterations of it.

Thanks for letting me know!

I tested saving and loading various slots in the versions of Chrome, Edge, and Firefox I have on my system. When opening Saves, and clicking to save in a slot, it should be prompting (thus the 'prompt()' you to ask what you want to name the slot. By default, it'll use the character name (or 'unknown') until you've gotten to the point of choosing one.

What browser and version do you have? I can try and see if I can find the problem. It could be a specific problem with the browser. And if it's more common than anticipated I can try to workaround it.

It was a new SugarCube setup deployed in 2.33.0+, I'll go back and review it just in case. Thanks for letting me know.

It's posted here on Twitch, you should be able to find it under my profile, called 'Survival Games' as the working title. Mine has gotten crazy complex and I'm just in Chapter 1... I've lost track of the number of branches I've got to keep track of that split and intertwine several times over. I've even added in a framework for attributes and achievements, and a normal and "darker" world which has all added a bit more complexity to things. The Devlogs in the game break it all down.

I've got no hope of keeping up with your writing skills, so I've had to up my game in the GUI and interface. :-)

Great new chapter! A lot of memorable scenes and moments in this one. Keep up the great work!

Published the prologue for my story, and it's certainly not as easy as it seems at first blush. Although, I do keep expanding the scope and the number of choices to be made which is making it quite complex. I certainly have a newfound level of respect for you doing so much of this by yourself.

The prologue was very "talky" but it was aimed to try and introduce the world, the character, and what will become the first NPC companion.

Currently there are plans for a couple potentials to show up in Chapter 1. It's far less "talky" and a lot more choices to make, which is what is slowing things down. Their motives won't be apparent in all cases, some will be mysteries others may just be up for some fun, whereas others might be more of a love-hate relationship. The Rolodex (contact tracking) will hopefully work out as I hope to help you keep track of whos who and what they may or may not like. The hope is they'll feel somewhat human, and not just a talk 5 lines and then you are in a relationship. They may want something from you, before opening up.

I've currently got one worked into Chapter 1 so far, and I'm not even 30-35% done yet. There should be at least one more, maybe a few introductions that may not go anywhere until you meet them in later chapters. 

The complexity is definitely making my story telling more complex, as I've got about 5 different versions of chapter 1 written out to cover the possible variable choices being made. And it's going to expand from there.

Very few will be instantly romanceable. Some may be very superficial and want a more attractive man, while others are more person/decisions over looks. And a couple of the more intense love/hate relationships. Each will have different motives and some will like a more calloused approach while others will prefer a diplomatic approach. And some will be able to be pulled from "dark" to the "light" and vice versa.

NPCs may live and die by your decisions, and the world will change around you. Some will want order at all cost, others freedom for all, and some want the strong rule. It may be apparent what each is out for, but that assumes that none are out to play you, trying to get you to do something for their personal gain.

Simpler is definitely easier... it took me a few solid days of pounding away on twine, sugarcube's documentation and Google to get what I think is a good template that I like. And even then I find I go back to tweak or change something I'm not happy with. There is definitely more coding than in harlowe, although once you figure out what you are trying to do it's easy to make it quickly repeatable.

Definitely stick with what you know and are comfortable using! That keeps the story coming and holds off the riots for falling behind. It's a significant effort to convert from one format to the other mid-stream, and then having to get up to speed on how to use it. If you wanted to see how I've been able to tweak mine, I can send the project, for purely research purposes of course.

By all means feel free to reach out! I've definitely gotten my feet wet with both formats now and enjoying it more than I had thought I would.

The lack of syntax highlighting makes it a lot easier to make a mistake in Sugarcube. Harlowe makes it really easy, say if you forget to close a macro to notice it before you've gotten too far. I've even had to add a custom story javascript to do some things that are already built into harlowe. For example, customizing the menu bar in Sugarcube takes a couple of lines in there. Also, I always store my variable as all lowercase, and then if needed uppercase the first such as a 'he/she' at the start of a sentence. In harlowe you just use the built-in '(upperfirst: $variable)' macro in-line and it's easy. In Sugarcube, I had to add a custom story javascript to do that, and then it's referenced as a function. Once it's implemented it's easy to use, but took a good bit of playing around to get it working... but now I have a good template I think.

I am building mine in Sugarcube now, but am also working on it in Harlowe at the same time. Been a good experience to figure out the pros and cons of each. Maybe I'm just sadistic.

If you get stuck I'm willing to try and help, if needed.  No pressure, just an open ended offering.

Started playing around with Twine and Harlowe. Not sure how good of a writer I am, I'm much more of a technical person. But figured I'd give it a go. I definitely see what you mean with Harlowe's limitations saving.

I decided to switch my effort over to Sugarcube. It certainly has it's own quirks, but I think I'm picking it up. Saving is magically easy, the exporting your saves to a physical file and (re-)import them at will is fantastic.

Works for me! I really like watching the Profile develop as you begin to flesh out your character in-game. I also like that there are some conversations that just stay as conversations, even if you offer to do something (or Ezra/Elle does). There is no immediate requirements to do anything, it just gets lost/forgotten in the chaos and life of going on a scout.

One bit of feedback/question:

On the page where you decide whether you are concerned with the electricity quota, does the Scout Profile jump ahead of itself? Bolded parts are for my emphasis.

If you select '“Don’t leave the pot on too long.” You don’t want to take more than your share.' then the Scout Profile updates to say "Scout <name> illustrates the value of a collectivist mindset in the Community. <Name> puts other Community members first and makes a significant effort to know and support all members.". 

If you choose the oppose, '“Never mind.” You’ll be fine being over this month. Maybe next month too.' then the Scout Profile updates to say "Scout <Name> displays a worrying preference for individualist thought and behavior. Sometimes disconnected from the Community at large."

In the bolded parts, it feels to me like that part should be filled in based on your conversation with Grandpa Jones, or at least tweaked by it based on the three choices. On the one hand, it could be an odd mix to be individualistic and also support the community, but on the flip side, you could be community first, but just rule abiding and not wanting to go 'rogue' by doing something you aren't supposed to. I assume the conversation with Grandpa Jones is tracked for later, and just isn't shown as part of the character in the Scout Profile?

Anyways, as I said in my earlier post, great game!

Poking around on the internet, it looks like what you are asking is not in the current 0.7.2 public build available here, but in the soon to be released 0.8.2 build (this Friday). Not sure if you'll find too many able to answer those here yet.

Great start for a game! I'm really enjoying the story telling and am able to feel that I can visualize the different characters and world as things happen.

I don't mind that there are existing backstories between Ezra/Elle and the MC, that hint at a little more coming. It's heavily implied that there is an extensive intertwined background between them as two best friends. Things seem to be taking a slight twist with both very tentative and nervous about risking a step that might ruin the friendship.

Also, love the scout profile! A great way to build your character as you go.

One question though, and I've come across it on a few TWINE games thus far. I downloaded the HTML here on Itch and play it locally. I have my save that is the character I play to play through it from start to end. In order to not spoil things that character will be the first to go all the way from beginning to end and is built around the character/profession I like the most. However, I had a technical issue with my browser, and was required to clear the cache. This resulted in my saves being wiped. Is there a way in Harlowe to export the save games to a backup file? I'm not very familiar with twine other than a few google searches.

It's not a huge problem, as it's currently a short and very fun story. But as the chapter count starts to rise it'll be harder to remember and recreate all the options and choices my character made.

That aside, this is probably one of my favorite games thus far on Itch, and it's only at Chapter 2!

edit: removed incorrect information about another TWINE game for save exporting. Wrong engine. Sorry!