itch.io

Yesterday i found another interactive fiction engine called Windrift that made me think of you. Not because i think is the ideal engine for your case, as it is targeted to web developers, but for this mini decision tree i saw in its manual:

Windrift is not great at branching stories!
Windrift does not provide strong affordances for managing complex parallel plotlines—you can implement such stories in Windrift, but you'll have to manage this state yourself. If these are the stories you want to tell, look instead at a library like ink, which has first-order support for story threads that branch, join, and recombine.

Windrift does not have a parser!
There is no text input parser or world model in Windrift. If your story involves significant physical exploration or object manipulation, consider a parser-based game in Inform 7 or a similar library.

Windrift is not for novice programmers!
This manual and Windrift itself expect the author to be familiar with web development and software engineering. It's especially helpful if you are comfortable with JavaScript or TypeScript and the ReactJS framework. Novice programmers or people who want to just tell stories and not spend time on source code should start with the excellent Twine.

So, there you have it: Ink for complicated branching stories, Inform 7 for a deeper level of interactivity, or Twine if you prefer writing stories rather than source code.

I also wanted to share with you a commercial game written in Ink i heard about today: Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest. I think this game is relevant here because, even though it has nice visuals and sound effects, it is primarily a text-based game where the narrative is king. I do not know whether it is the kind of games you want to make, but i believe is a nice example of a game that focus a lot more on the parts that you seem to enjoy.

Is Inform and Ink usually used in conjunction with other engines though?

I believe Ink is usually used with Unity, yes. However, Inky, the editor written by the same authors as Ink, can export the story as a web page, like this example. I do not know how it compares to Twine, for example.

As far as i know, Inform is a standalone product and does not require the use of a separate engine. Of the two, Inform probably fits better with you profile. It also has an exhaustive documentation and plenty of examples; when you download the application, the documentation and examples are also included, and you can click an example and see it working. Other people have also written handbooks for it, although it is probably also true for Ink and the other engines.

As a writer / beginner solo dev, I probably only have enough bandwidth and patience to learn just a single engine and try make something with that vs trying multiple engines at once and putting it all together.

If you want an interactive story, i am afraid that some programming is inevitable, but, if you power through, at the end you will be comfortable enough to do what you need. We all have to do it when learning a new system, so at least you are not alone in that :).

Perhaps I should just stick to prose over making games?

That’s up to you, but, based on what you have told us, i believe your best bet is with interactive fiction, sometimes also called text adventures. Those are games that put a lot more emphasis on the narrative, rather than visuals, for instance.

The interactive fiction wiki has a list of engines that might help you find a tool you feel comfortable with. Some of these you have already tried, such as Ren'Py or Twine, but there are other well-known engines, like Inform or Ink, that maybe are more geared towards writers rather than  programmers. For Ink, itch.io hosted a jam recently that you can browse to see what others can do with it.

If you prefer something more akin to To the Moon, but simpler, you can try Bitsy. Itch.io regularly hosts Bitsy jams, and lots of people have made interesting little stories with it. I do not know if you would enjoy it, however, if you like writing prose.

As for teaming up with others, i can not help you there, unfortunately, because i have never been able to do so.

However, depending on how demanding you are, you can work with free resources available on the Internet. For instance, Aerostar Time Traveler is a narrative game made for a jam that uses exclusively text and sounds in a way that i found very well done, and you can find lots of free sounds on https://freesound.org/. If you are willing to have then text over a static image, like Snatcher or Policenauts did, you might find great resources on https://unsplash.com/ or https://opengameart.org/.  You might not find exactly what you are looking for, but good enough is better than nothing.

As a last resort—or as a first, depending on your views—you can try text-to-image models like DALL·E or Stable Diffusion. I have seen people make very good use of these, but it is a bit of a gray area for some.

Is this normal? Does this happen to everyone?

Yes, due to the way input in handled, one key at a time, which means that it detects when you press the “next letter needs an accent mark” key (i.e., the so-called “dead keys”), and it shows its name without  waiting for the next letter.

If you want, you can filter out these keys in line 275 of IFEngine/js/CRT.js, however the game’s license forbids modifications to its code, therefore i would avoid it.

Also, this one:
'IFEngine deve essere esteso'
this engine must be extended?

“IFEngine must be extended”. And the same for  “AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine must be extended”

Here, IFEngine and AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine are proper nouns, as it were.

(The original Italian string for the second message mentions AvventuraNelCastelloEngine, but this is a typo; the actual name is AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine.)

These are messages intended for developers, and players are very unlikely going to see these, because are show if the developer does not use the engine correctly, and the game would fail to start at all.

What it means is that IFEngine is the name of a JavaScript class that has game-independent data and logic to help writing interactive fiction. In order to use that IFEngine, developers must create a different JavaScript class that extends IFEngine (i.e., it inherits all game-independent bits) and adds the game-specific data and logic. In this case, the extended class is called AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine.  However, this other class also requires to be extended, in this game by a class called Avventura, that’s why the message is there twice.

In JavaScript code, it looks like this:

class IFEngine {
   constructor() {
      // if not extended, show first error message.
   }
   …
}
class AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine extends IFEngine {
  constructor() {
    // if not extended, show second error message.
  }
  …
}
class Avventura extends AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine {
  constructor() {
    // here there is no error message if not extended; this is the proper game.
  }
  …
}

See the “extends IFEngine” and “extends AvventuraNelCastelloJSEngine” parts? This is what the error messages are referring to.

Rather than “understanding”, you have to interpret the theme; “multiple applications” can mean many things, and all of them valid.

For instance, you can do a game in which you are the head of HR and there are many applicants to the job.

Or a “hacker” game where you have to run multiple applications/programs on remote servers to hack a company.

Or even a game that, for whatever reason, you have to apply many times sunscreen on the back of hairy men.

Just as you can describe your game as “many applications [of]”, it will be fine.

I think it helps a bit, but i still sometimes get confused.

I captured an example and i am going to “transcribe” my thoughts, so you can decide if there is really something confusing, or it is just that i am too dense, which it might well be.

At some point i had this screen:

And this was my reasoning:

I want to save the wild card for later, so not that one. Not the brew card because there is no drinking or magic involved in this situation. Wisdom card is hard to tell, because it is “common sense” for whom, her or the wizard? I’ve been bitten by this before. Seems that attack card is the best, because in a previous run it worked when she asked me “what kind of dangerous gigs are you cooking up?” and the response was some kind of dish specially for her.

I chose attack, and the response was:

I am pretty sure that the problem is me seeing the two situations, the one with the food and the one with other party-goes, as more or less “the same”, and expecting that i could use the same card for both.

Sorry that i can not be of much more help.

Thank you for trying it!

is there a significant difference between Aab vs apk file for users?

Yes: users can not install AAB files directly.

You can read more information about Android App Bundles in the documentation, but the gist is that AAB are intended for publishing to Google Play where APK are for installation to the devices.  In fact, Google Play generates APK files from the AAB when the user installs a new application from there.  Google Play requires AAB because it allows them to generate smaller APKs based on the user’s target device.

You also can generate APK files from an AAB with Google’s bundletool, therefore you could install an AAB to you device, if you wanted, but it is cumbersome for most users.

Step 9) there is no "Sync" option. I've looked everywhere and clicked on random things to find it. I do NOT have that option.

That sync option should appear as a bar between the file’s tab and the contents, like so:

If you do not see that bar, then it may mean that Android Studio failed to sync the project the first time, when you opened it, and it may be related to this other problem:

Step 2) When I click on "Build" tab, I don't get a "Build" nor "Build APK" option. I have no clue how I did it before. I clicked stuff there and it happened. But none of them worked for me in any kind of way.

This should be called Build Bundle(s) / APK(s) now, but if you do not see that option it means that Android Studio had problems reading the Gradle project and will not show that option until you have fixed the issues.

Android Studio / IntelliJ is a bit taciturn when there are Gradle problem, and it seems that everything is OK until you manually open the Build tool window and see lots of errors described there:

You can open the “Build” tool window in the Edit→Tool Windows→Build menu. Sometimes the error messages a bit obtuse, but it should give you enough clues to advance and at least sync the project the first time.

Step 10) This wasn't in the video, but there is no way for me to change my apk name. In fact, there is no "Manifests" folder. 

To  itch you must upload the .apk inside a zip[…]

There is no need to zip the APK, because an APK is already a kind of ZIP file, therefore you only add an extra, useless step for the player to install the game into their devices.

Thank you for trying it and for your feedback!

Hello,

I am sorry, but i can not run this. I think it kills my Intel-based GPU because all i can see is this:

There is an error on the top-left corner telling me that there are some unbuilt objects, that i do not know whether is relevant. I can see the lighting slightly changing where the glasses are, on the right, but i can not move at all.

If it is any consolation, i liked what little i saw, but unfortunately it is not enough for me to rate it.

Sorry.

Um, i think i am doing something wrong, but i do not know what.  The TutorialAI tells me that i can play or feed the dog, but i have found no way to do that; the only options i see is to go to sleep or go out by myself.  The same happens at the end, when it tells me i have a day to look for the culprit, but i can only go back to sleep and after waking up the demo ends. 😕

My failures notwithstanding, i think this story seems to have a lot of potential. And i liked a lot your art style.

When Computer told me not to look behind, i had to turn down the volume; it was starting to really creep me out….  That means it is very well done!

However, i am quite mad at Computer.  First of all, cats are not evil. And second, after telling me how much he wants to be my friend, it starts chatting with that Mike fellow, completely ignoring me; that’s not what friends do…. 😉

I do have one small critique, however. One teeny tiny critique: in English there is no space before exclamation and question marks.  That’s all.

Thanks for trying it out!

Thank you for your comment!

Oh, sorry. I must’ve been overwhelmed trying to remember what cards did what that i thought it was the same NPC when actually was another. But, of course, it makes a lot more sense to always write the same dialog for the same NPC’s question, otherwise it would just be luck! Silly me….

Oh, OK! I just wanted to make sure i did not miss it.

By the way, the game has a lot of content for being made in just three days. No wonder you say you only slept like four hours….

Sorry, but i do not think i can finish it because of bugs.  When i reach the page with the list of clues, i do not have any other link to follow.  I see “go to the bunker” underlined, but there is nothing to click on that page….  What a pity; i wanted to see how it turned out.

I think most of us interpreted the theme as texting with a mobile or computer, but you clearly went to a different route with a book that writes back. I did not see that one coming, and was pretty funny ^_^.

I don’t know… I am pretty sure most of us would have sent a clear warning message just to see if things would be different and call the current timeline a “fallback” ;)

Hah! “Thanks to a tip from the future, you prevented the heist from becoming a total disaster, or worse.” This is true not only within the game, but also outside of it, because in my second run i knew what i had to do to go from a bad ending to a good one, as i have seen “the future”! That was very clever!

It seems that i liked the music very much because each time it stopped i immediately missed it ^_^

By the way, i think i found a little typo: when asking Seth about the team, the option regarding Strobe says “Seth” instead.

Just to make sure i did not miss anything: are there multiple endings? I always end up in a screen with a red phone with a break-up message, no matter what choices i take.  Although, looking back at it now, maybe the cracked screen thing during the game was a clue… Umm.

Interesting! :)

In my first run i was a bit confused as to how the racoon could send these text messages “at random”, but in a later run where i encountered the Cat God i realized that most probably he was pissed off that i did not bring him to this realm, threw away the phone and the racoon found it. I liked that i had to play many times to fully understand what was happening there.

I still do not understand the relation of the cards and the replies, because sometimes the same card seems to have a different effect on the same character, or at least that what seemed to me. I must be doing something wrong.

I admit i did not think i would have to gather a birthday party based solely on the title, that was very interesting :)

Well, i tried all the options and am i glad to see that i could not have messed their wholesome relationship. Phew! I am so bad at these things, that i was a bit worried…. But i then joyed it!

 If you continue this, just a tiny bit of criticism, no really related to the game: in English there is no space in front of exclamation and question marks; i am guessing you are French :).  But that’s all.

Hello,

I am sorry, but is there a chance that did you submit this to the wrong jam? Although it fits the multiverse optional theme, i have not seen anything related to required theme of text messages, however maybe i missed something during play.

Would you mind explaining the relation to the text messages, please, so i can properly rate it?

 Thanks.

Thank you very much for your kind comment! I hope some day i could make a point and click adventure as half as good as those you and your team make.  Congrats for your 4th place in the Adventure Jam.

Hello quetzal2,

Just so you know, i did not think your submission felt “like a random game”. Looking back at it, i now realize that maybe my comment about your game being an “abstract map” made you think that this is the case, but the truth is that i liked your approach, mostly because last year i also tried to do something in the same spirit as you, i called it “abstract map”, and, retrospectively, i should not have said it in a public forum without proper context. Sorry.

(By the way, i ditched that idea because, unlike you, i was unable to make it work. So there, you bested me.)

I do not have data to back up this claim, but i think that this “i focused too much on just a part of the game in the detriment of everything else” is a very common complain among jams participants. For me, at least, is something i say about all jams i take part in, no matter whether it’s a 48-hour or a 10-day jam; i always have to cut down a lot of features. And, in fact, and much to my shame, in my first ever jam i also focused exclusively on the mechanics, just like you, but was unable to even finish the “first” level. You bested me, again!

In short, you did what every engineer worth his or her salt does: you choose the best trade-off to be able to deliver within the given deadline. And deliver you did. ^_^

Hello David!

Thanks for taking the time to play, not only my game but every game in the jam. And for your awesome showcase video :)

I tried to make an ending that had the same kind of humor as most Pepper&Carrot’s episodes have. Based on your comment, i believe i can count it as a success!

I do not think i am going to continue this particular project, as it was intended only for the jam. Having said that, i would love to make a full-featured point and click adventure based on Pepper&Carrot, with a proper story and a magic system similar to the one in Find Carrot !, which i loved.

Again, thank you for playing, for your comment, and, above all, for Pepper&Carrot!

Thank you a lot for your comment!

I am using Heaps for the engine, but all the point and click bits are the code i wrote for other jams.

All graphics assets are CC-BY, so reuse them as much as you like ^_^

Hey! I saw your game featured in David Revoy’s showcase video and it was very different than what i player last time, so i just tried it again.

Now it is much better: i no longer need to bump into anything to find the path, i can see the hazards, and finally found that elusive Phoenix! :)

Well done.

Thanks! At least seems that the effort the graphics took payed off somewhat :)

Hey!

I believe i made the same error of thinking that i could do more than i actually did in these ten days. But, in my case this is the exact same error i do in every jam i participate. Evidently, i am not aware of my own (giant) limitations, or something like that.

This time, however, the reason for the lack of content is different, because in other jams i wrote the game from scratch, and for this jam i made a library with all the parts that are independent of the game—path-finding, screen management, and things like that—, therefore i was a bit (over)confident that i would have more time for the actual game play. What i did not account for was the time that it would take me to try to imitate David Revoy’s style, far more refined than what i usually do. And the keyword here is “try”.

To put this into perspective, according to the timer, i spent shy of 56 hours during these 10 days on the game. I do not have an exact breakdown of how much time i spent on each part, but my guts tell me that around 90 % was for just the graphics, especially the animations and the outside scene, which explains why the basement had such a drop in quality. Therefore, i only had 6 hours or so for the game play. If i hadn’t made the library of common code, i would not have had anything to submit at the end.

So, in summary: i did well in preparing the game-independent code beforehand, but i have to limit myself to a level of graphics that is more in accordance to my low artistic skills—at least for jams.

As for whether i will continue it: No. Even though it is barely a game, specially compared to yours, for instance, with all the ingredient and potency rules that you managed to include, i think of this project as “done”—it was meant for a jam, and the jam has finished.

Although i would love to make a fully-featured Pepper&Carrot point-and-click adventure. But i do not think i would be able to do it all by myself. Therefore, for now this one will have to do for me.

Thank you very much for your kind comment!

Glad to know that, if not a proper game, i least i could deliver in terms of humor. Thanks a lot for trying it!

Thank you very much! ^_^