Post by irrbloss on Mar 8, 2011 5:28:06 GMT -5
These are only guidelines. You can write however and whatever you wish, but if you follow these guidelines your work stands a better chance of being accepted.
*Write concisely. There are roughly two reasons for this. First, the interface only holds 2-3 sentences at a time. That means you should roughly express an idea in less than 10 sentences of so (cf. paragraphs in conventional writing). Second, the more you write the more work you create for someone else, which does not improve your chances of having your piece accepted.
*Follow the following format. This is mainly to reduce the amount of work you create for someone else. This pseudo-code format can more easily be translated into source code, which makes it easier for someone to implement your piece.
The list of currently usable tokens is:
$player (The name of the player.)
$assistant (The name of the assistant, this one is situation-dependent.)
$girl == $slave (synonyms, the name of the slave you are talking to/about.)
$display_quest_reward (Show a little picture of which item is offered as quest reward.)
$speaker (The name of the person speaking.)
$npc (The name of some other NPC.)
The list will be added to and expanded as needed. It is also a bit schematic until a system is established. The values of $display_quest_reward, $speaker and $npc are dynamic and you need to declare them and change the values as needed. Feel free to suggest/request new tokens.
For example, if we were to translate the quest where you enter the Little Time café and receive the quest for a cook into this pseudo-code format, it would look like this:
$speaker=Tera
$npc=Mew
$display_quest_reward=Milker
SlaveCook1
("$speaker I've heard of you, $npc says you train slaves for a price.")
("$speaker I just so happen to have such a job actually. I need a basic cook for the store.")
("$speaker In return, I have an extra milker. I mean, that I have a milker, that a customer left!")
GOTO SlaveCook2
SlaveCook2
("$speaker What say you? A good deal, right? $display_quest_reward")
("Sure, I guess.") GOTO SlaveCook3
("No Thanks!") GOTO SlaveCook4
SlaveCook3
("$speaker Great. Sooner is better, I can't keep buying all my stock from that damn cat.")
SlaveCook4
("$speaker I'll just ask someone else.")
*Write concisely. There are roughly two reasons for this. First, the interface only holds 2-3 sentences at a time. That means you should roughly express an idea in less than 10 sentences of so (cf. paragraphs in conventional writing). Second, the more you write the more work you create for someone else, which does not improve your chances of having your piece accepted.
*Follow the following format. This is mainly to reduce the amount of work you create for someone else. This pseudo-code format can more easily be translated into source code, which makes it easier for someone to implement your piece.
- A piece consists of one or more events. Each event should be uniquely labelled. If two events are connected without any player choices, indicate which event comes next by a GOTO on a new line.
- An event is a single scene, comprised of one or more clauses. You progress from one clause to the next by e.g., hitting space bar.
- The interface only readily supports clauses of up to a certain length. Longer clauses require you to scroll and should be avoided. Think 2-3 sentences and adjust for the length of the sentences.
- Each clause should be enclosed in (" and ").
- Avoid using line breaks inside clauses. If you want to indicate a line break you can use the HTML tag <br />.
- Player choices should be in clauses of their own and there is a soft limit of five choices. Indicate which event the choice leads to with a GOTO on the same line.
- Player dialogue should preferably be limited to choices, without words being put into the player's mouth.
- Avoid mixing action text and spoken text in the same clause.
- When you want to indicate who is speaking, begin the clause with e.g., $speaker or $girl.
- Also use e.g., $speaker or $girl when you want to refer to someone specific during action text.
The list of currently usable tokens is:
$player (The name of the player.)
$assistant (The name of the assistant, this one is situation-dependent.)
$girl == $slave (synonyms, the name of the slave you are talking to/about.)
$display_quest_reward (Show a little picture of which item is offered as quest reward.)
$speaker (The name of the person speaking.)
$npc (The name of some other NPC.)
The list will be added to and expanded as needed. It is also a bit schematic until a system is established. The values of $display_quest_reward, $speaker and $npc are dynamic and you need to declare them and change the values as needed. Feel free to suggest/request new tokens.
For example, if we were to translate the quest where you enter the Little Time café and receive the quest for a cook into this pseudo-code format, it would look like this:
$speaker=Tera
$npc=Mew
$display_quest_reward=Milker
SlaveCook1
("$speaker I've heard of you, $npc says you train slaves for a price.")
("$speaker I just so happen to have such a job actually. I need a basic cook for the store.")
("$speaker In return, I have an extra milker. I mean, that I have a milker, that a customer left!")
GOTO SlaveCook2
SlaveCook2
("$speaker What say you? A good deal, right? $display_quest_reward")
("Sure, I guess.") GOTO SlaveCook3
("No Thanks!") GOTO SlaveCook4
SlaveCook3
("$speaker Great. Sooner is better, I can't keep buying all my stock from that damn cat.")
SlaveCook4
("$speaker I'll just ask someone else.")