After I posted Debugging ChoiceScript, Dani Church sent me a better version of Automatic Character Templates. Here’s her solution.
Copy the following line into debug_generate_template.txt:
*script for (var stat in stats) {if (stat == “scene” || stat == “sceneName”) continue; println(“*set “+stat+” “+((typeof stats[stat] == “boolean”) ? stats[stat] … Keep reading
I’ve been working on a ChoiceScript project lately, and for the benefit of other ChoiceScript users, I thought I’d describe the debugging and testing techniques that I’m using.
If you’re not interested in using ChoiceScript, this is not the post for you, because it’s all technical from here.
This post … Keep reading
The first time I got feedback on an interactive fiction game, it hurt terribly.
Back in college, I insisted on submitting science fiction to creative writing professors who officially disliked genre fiction, so I already knew people wouldn’t always like my work. I already understood that X% of the feedback … Keep reading
I’m working on a game in which the protagonist has a disability.
Writing this protagonist is scary to me. I’m able-bodied, so as I write this game, I’m trying to help my players empathize with life experiences that I have not personally had.
I’ve seen able-bodied people mess up writing … Keep reading
Discovered that people are willing to donate $190 for me to write a LARP that involves 20 decks of Tarot cards (by funding the cards.)
— Carolyn VanEseltine (@mossdogmusic) March 22, 2015
Did not win the Vericon auction for said cards, but seem to have committed to writing the … Keep reading
After “Writing Graceful Parser NPCs”, people asked me to write more about in-depth NPC design.
My primary example will be the puppy from Beet the Devil. This should be reasonably spoiler-free, so don’t worry if you haven’t played yet.
For people who haven’t played, here’s a transcript that … Keep reading
“NPC implementation is crazy difficult, and hard, hard work; most games deal with it by elision and sleight-of-hand, with the need to avoid direct character interaction often shaping a game’s core premise.” – Sam Kabo Ashwell, Best NPCs 2013
IF authors have been struggling with NPC implementation for … Keep reading
As an indie developer and interactive fiction author, I’ve worked in Unity, Unreal, GameMaker, Construct 2, and Inform 7, among other systems.
I’ve done more with Inform 7 than anything else. I’ve written quite a few games and a quick-start tutorial, and I’m … Keep reading
This past weekend, I participated in the DIY Digital Panel at Arisia. We cited a great many gamemaking engines, resources, and tools, assembled here for easy reference. (Also, I snuck a couple things in that I failed to mention, but should have.)
(left to right, from the audience’s perspective)
A while back, I wrote a post about the experience of learning something hard and new. I used two specific examples that were difficult for me: learning pointers in C last year, and learning classes in C# this year.
Now that I understand pointers and classes, I can … Keep reading
