vivdunstan

More interactive fiction game design work, drawing up an honest assessment of the current state of implementation of my next game. AARRGGHH!! Even if I know some bits have detailed designs worked out, just needing ("just" haha!) coding. But this all does help focus the mind on what to tackle next. Eg I may tackle chapters 6 and 7 next - already largely designed, relatively easy to code - while musing in the background more ideas for the scarier chapters 2 and 5.

Good bit of game design, planning out more of Chapter 4 of my latest parser interactive fiction / text adventure game. This time I was figuring out some plot structure in Twine, before coding in Inform 7. Figuring out obstacles, story beats etc. Have also been looking at ideas for Chapter 5. I'm designing/coding multiple bits at the same time. There will be 7 chapters overall. Quite a lot bigger than my previous game.

Especially pleased to manage this today because I've been too asleep all week to tackle it before. But finally got a good bit of game design work in! I was adding all the bottom half of this diagram today.

A very blurified plot diagram in Twine, showing a large number of individual plot boxes, and how they link together. The start of this section of the story is at the top, and the story continues down the tall plot chart to the very bottom. There are multiple endings.

Firing up Twine to figure out a plot/geography puzzle/state transition diagram for my current interactive fiction parser game. I don't usually do this but since this will require coding a lot of mini scenes and timed actions in Inform 7/10 I want to design first. Sort of like in pic (not this game).

And several minutes later after updating my Twine version I've made a good start. The Twine plot/puzzle diagram for just part of my new parser game is already vastly more complex than the example in the picture below. I've lots more to figure out before I can start coding it properly in Inform 7/10.

Screenshot from Twine showing a series of linked nodes and connecting arrows between them. Each node shows a location and description, or an action and the result of doing that action. This is a very rough incomplete game design, with nodes including "barrier", "touch the barrier", "into the woods" and more.

Screenshot from Twine showing a series of linked nodes and connecting arrows between them. Each node shows a location and description, or an action and the result of doing that action. This is a very rough incomplete game design, with nodes including "barrier", "touch the barrier", "into the woods" and more.

Got the first thing I've treated myself to from my IFComp 2024 prize money (I have quite a chunk of the prize still to spend). Jeff VanderMeer's "Wonderbook: An Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction". Reading this book is not going to magically make me a great writer. I know that the important thing is to just write, and stick at it. And I've confidence from my IFComp 2024 game that I can complete new creative writing projects in future. But any tips I can get from the book I will gratefully receive and apply to my own projects. It is a gorgeous book. Lavishly illustrated, very creatively designed. Not a wall of text. So it's accessible even for reading challenged me.

my favourite fountain pen, for a free writing session tomorrow, to figure out the details of the next key scene in a text adventure / interactive fiction game I'm writing. I couldn't resist starting jotting down some notes just now, so covered those with the pen in the picture below! I find drafting extended things like this by hand far more creative and imaginative than typing straight into the computer.

Just booked myself an online digital pass (early bird reduced rate) for this summer's Cymera festival of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing. I'd love to be healthy enough to go to it in person in Edinburgh but the online streaming is a great option. Masses of talks.

For anyone else who might be wondering if the Cymera festival ticket price - especially the online option - is worth it, here's what I wrote about my experiences watching it last year. So phenomenally rewarding for me.

Just played my final game of IFComp 2023. Here's my final score distribution. I played 30/74 games. Note the competition continues its judging period (anyone can be a judge!) for another week and a half. But I'm calling time on my play now. My play rate has slowed over the last week, and I was already going to have to stop early as it was. And 30 games seems like a good point to pause and take a well earned rest.

Most probably on my academic blog for my occasional musings:

(long overdue) on ethnicity DNA tests (I have strong thoughts!)
19th century Scottish passport records
the tentatively titled “Bookshops as alienating ableist spaces? Thoughts as a reader with progressive neurological illness reading difficulties.” - that one might prove quite provocative ...

It's a really good sign that I am thinking of writing these soon, a good sign that I'm recovering more and more. Though it may take me a while to get to them, I do now have a to-do list of blog posts to have fun writing. I hand draft blog posts with a fountain pen, then quickly type them up, very quick edit and post. I find writing by hand generates a freer sense of content than if I type. I usually surprise myself with what I come up with.

I am also hoping soon to get going on IFComp games. But at the moment, apart from some awake time at night, I am just asleep.

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Entries tagged with creative writing

Game design status quo

More game design

Twine as a game design tool

IFComp 2024 prize money purchase #1

Inking up ...

Cymera 2024

IFComp 2023 final plays

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June 2025

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