Evolving the Plan

I really tried to think of a clever title for this post. Something involving evolution and adaptation. Eh, what are you gonna do?

So, here's the deal: I was too ambitious in my plan for the semester. School is really kicking in now, and I simply don't have the time to write a vignette every week. Luckily, the way I organized the project makes it very easy to switch things up.

The original plan was to have 10 vignettes, with some level of branching between them but with a mostly linear narrative. Last week, I detailed a design structure that would let me have more branching without actually having to write completely separate branches - the vignettes will be playable in any order, and the decisions the reader makes in one vignette will change plot points and enable branches in the other vignettes. That way, I can have high replayability without having to write tons of unique content.


This week, I decided to take that idea further. Given the time constraints in my schedule right now, I decided to remove two vignettes from the project entirely. That means I can take a week and a half to two weeks to write each of the remaining vignettes, which is much more achievable than one a week. The new schedule also gives me a week in which I will only write links between the vignettes, instead of writing a whole new one. These will be anything from little 'flavor' paragraphs that reflect the reader's past actions to full-fledged scenes that only unlock if certain other things have been achieved. The final project will have seven tightly interconnected vignettes rather than nine loosely connected ones. I think this is the right direction for the project.

Last week I promised some more details about the technical side of things! In the announcement post, I talked briefly about building an engine to host the game and that's what I've decided to do. Inklewriter exports all its files as JSON (Javascript Object Notation, a data format that originated with Javascript but is now supported by almost all mainstream languages). So I will have to build a JSON parser and write code that translates the Inklewriter output to a playable IF. It's not a monumentally difficult task, but it will require some work and a lot of troubleshooting. I'm probably going to publish the project as HTML, so that I can post it to websites and online publications. Content is my priority right now, so I'm not going to worry about the coding work until I've finished the story (in mid-April, if by some miracle I manage to stick to the current schedule).

Finally, here's an excerpt from the last vignette I wrote, about the main character's arrival to Adriata and some of the characters who helped him get there:

I welcome feedback/encouragement/harassment on Twitter, on Facebook, and in the comments!

If you're looking for excellent interactive fiction, check out LYRELESS by Bruno Dias. It's horrifying and heartbreaking and really really good. It was published in Sub-Q, an interactive fiction magazine. They publish consistently interesting material, so if you're into IF (or want to be!) check them out.