rbx4

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Jan 21, 2018
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311
"Don’t get it right, get it written
When writing this episode, instead of trying to get every scene exactly right, I sometimes used rough/placeholder text instead. (Example: in one scene I wrote “Add zingy banter” instead of actually figuring out the dialogue. This allowed me to keep working on the events in the scene, instead of stopping to think up some zingy banter.)"

If indeed things stagnate because of trying to write then doing storyboarding, then this is a very much needed approach that should be used more often. I like to write without diverting efforts to any other task, in the venue that works best for me and not necessarily in a layout itself. I don't believe that writing is served well by being part of a multitasking effort, and I could see how progress could be essentially impossible for anyone who tried to write while working on storyboards.

Or, if instead this is saying that completing a scene is chaining together a series of statements such as "they talk, they have foreplay, they have sex, they talk," then I could see why that would result in troubles in development as well. If one expects a plot framework to read sexily without complete dialogue, that's not likely to happen. I've seen many frustrated people who want a perfect complete product 5 seconds after they start anything, which obviously isn't going to happen in most instances. The frustration from this generally results in way more than 5 seconds of unhappy development time of course.
 
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Joe Steel

Engaged Member
Jan 10, 2018
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The writing of a complete and (mostly) finalized script and then converting it to storyboards is how every movie and TV show works. That's not what Crush is actually doing, though. Hos "storyboards" are just alpha versions of the game slides. You can do that when still refining the writing, because part of the writing refinement process is getting the right amount of text on the slide.
 
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Crushstation

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Sep 21, 2017
290
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The writing of a complete and (mostly) finalized script and then converting it to storyboards is how every movie and TV show works. That's not what Crush is actually doing, though. Hos "storyboards" are just alpha versions of the game slides. You can do that when still refining the writing, because part of the writing refinement process is getting the right amount of text on the slide.
This is a fucking astute observation
 
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rbx4

Member
Jan 21, 2018
244
311
Refinement of writing is absolutely part of making finished Twine pages work. However, I wasn't talking about refinement. Refinement is when tweaks are made to make things fit, for instance, or fixing a typo, or making an on-the-fly decision to improve part of the writing. That's not the same as going from “Add zingy banter” to actually providing zingy banter where the placeholder is. That is more usefully called writing, instead of refinement.

Still, the subject that I had really wanted to talk about was regarding throughput and productivity. Given that I can write 15 good book chapters in 3 months (I have actually done this recently), I think that I can fruitfully speculate on what could affect writing productivity. Having pointed that out, I can suggest that looking at placeholder text instead of dialogue, and then being concerned with the sexiness of the scene, sounds like a potential cause of productivity issues. Best to consider what exists instead of worrying about what does not exist.

I find this to be a somewhat interesting topic here, since that is the main topic at hand lately regarding this game. It's still a secondary subject to me though, since I'm mainly here to learn about how to make a very effective Patreon page. I can say that the previous 2 Patreon posts before this one seemed noticeably less elaborate, with less communication of emotion. This one also sounds like what someone would post while focused on a stage of the work.
 

Kevin Smarts

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Game Developer
Jul 21, 2017
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I can tell that no one (including you) cares, since you took the time to respond, even after you pledged to not respond to me anymore. As I said, you can't resist being my chew toy. I'm sure that zingy banter, if it is worth writing, adds an important amount of flavor to the scene. Since this is an "example," it stands to reason that at least one more example exists of another type of placeholder that may be flavor of a different sort. If something seems to the author to lack some kind of flavor (including sexiness), then just maybe that is because placeholder text lends little flavor to it and reminds one of work that needs at least some polishing.
I think you are presenting your text poorly, the correct notation is [zingy banter] and in that form its good enough for release.
 

rbx4

Member
Jan 21, 2018
244
311
The writing of a complete and (mostly) finalized script and then converting it to storyboards is how every movie and TV show works. That's not what Crush is actually doing, though. Hos "storyboards" are just alpha versions of the game slides. You can do that when still refining the writing, because part of the writing refinement process is getting the right amount of text on the slide.
As stated previously, this wasn't what I was talking about, although it is a consistent trait of yours (watch out everyone, here's the "ad hom") that you habitually either choose an irrelevant tangent or focus on an unimportant distinction that will be the (off-)topic of the next 20 posts that you make. That is except for the 5% or so posts that someone makes with your account that are actually appropriate, on-topic, or tolerant of others, which are out-of-character in a shocking manner. I'm not sure who writes those 5% of decent posts for you.

I think you might have previously implied, in an alternate reality, that the entire writing of "War and Peace" counts as a refinement to you, which does not count among the 5% of posts that I just mentioned.
 
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Joe Steel

Engaged Member
Jan 10, 2018
2,457
3,322
Is it planned to reinstate the early-life segments in a future version?
Long term, yes. I suspect that it will have maybe 1/10 the output variables as Crush realizes that the story just doesn't need the PC to have all of those statistics. In the meantime, telling the main story is what will keep the patrons happy.
 

Relssek

New Member
Aug 20, 2017
8
39
Long term, yes. I suspect that it will have maybe 1/10 the output variables as Crush realizes that the story just doesn't need the PC to have all of those statistics. In the meantime, telling the main story is what will keep the patrons happy.
Anything that actually adds content is good lol. I remember when I subscribed to the patreon for like a year and nothing substantial got added.
 

Joe Steel

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Jan 10, 2018
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The game really got bogged down in the "life story" phase as it got written, re-written, restarted, and rewritten. Going with the main Bangkok story was the right move, and progress has been decent since. When the life story part gets updated (many moons in the future) it can be updated knowing what its outputs need to be, rather than just guessing. That will all by itself make the life story more interesting, because players will be building the agent they want to play, knowing what that agent needs to be like in her earlier years to have the skills and proclivities the player wants to use/see in Bangkok.
 
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TheDeviant

Member
Aug 7, 2017
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359



Hey guys! I wasn't able to fix all 46 placeholders this week...I did 27, there are 19 left, so this episode isn't ready to release today.
Last week I was hoping that, if it weren't ready today, it'd be ready on the 31st (next Thursday). But I don't want to bullshit you: I need a day to integrate the new art (which is looking greta, lovely Victoria did an awesome job), and I'd be amazed if I can get all 19 placeholders written in just three days. I work long hours but I don't write fast enough.
There is an argument for just releasing whatever I've got, even with placeholders, on the 31st. Then Analysts+ can play the episode in its rough format, and their feedback will help me polish it for the general release 14 days later.
But I want the Analyst+ experience to be hot and interesting when you play it: right now it's still too rough for me to say it's worth your time to play it through. I need a little more time to get it right, so 1.15 will release in April not March.
How's it looking?

It's currently around 10,000 lines of code (with more to come as placeholders and art code are added). For reference: Episode 1.12 (Malaysia) was 6,600 lines; 1.13 (Bangkok) was 8,000; 1.14 (FNG) was 14,000. So this should feel like a big chunk of content.
A big story event happens in the next episode. No spoilers, but 1.15 changes something important for the heroine, and paves the way for a future plot development that is essential. It took some extra time to figure out how to do this and make it hot, but I think I worked it out in the end (with the help of lots of feedback and advice from team and community members).
I lose perspective when an episode is close to release, but I think it's hot when I'm playtesting it. I can't wait to share it with you guys – it just needs a bit more time in the oven before I can do that.

Okay, that's all for this week and I need to sleep because it's 0140 and I want to get in a good day of writing tomorrow! I'm so sorry for announcing a delay but hopefully it will be a short one. I love you guys and I wish I could write faster.
 

Marlin Brandy

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Aug 18, 2018
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I see things are constantly moving forward, but when are the different "modules" getting tied together into one product? When's the life path and current Bangkok content becoming one game from start to slightly further ahead?

Personal gripe: I'm assuming Crush says greta as a funny injoke. At first I thought it was the occasional misspell, but now it's really grinding my gears. It messes with my reading through
 
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