I want to write a Choose Your Own Adventure game

Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares

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Oct 8, 2017
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Not sure if I should make a new thread or write more on this one. In doubt I'll stick to the one I already opened.

Anyway, it has been a good month and I was able to keep up steady progress. I got aquanted with Twine and I really like it. I also found a good work schedule compatible with my routine. I think I should be able to keep this up for the foreseeable future.
I even commissioned a nice cover, in order not to launch this thing completely without art. I was planning on putting the first chapter online by mid September.

So, I was wandering if there is anything I could/should do to make this project more visible and/or if there are any common mistakes I should avoid.
Thanks in advance for any advice, I really appreciate it.
 
Nagozo

Nagozo

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Sep 30, 2017
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I don't have a ton of good advice since I don't have any experience releasing projects, but I think from a creative standpoint there's one thing to keep in mind: people will criticise your work. If it's positive or constructive criticism, great! If not, you're probably better off not interacting. Keep the game/story on the rails you set out for it, and make it the way you want.
Other than that, best of luck!
 
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Rafster

Rafster

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Mar 23, 2019
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Daretimid said:
So, I was wandering if there is anything I could/should do to make this project more visible and/or if there are any common mistakes I should avoid.
Click to expand...
One way to do it, is start a thread on the Programming, development & art section, and publish different betas to gather some feedback. That's what I did: I started my thread there on august 2021, and improved the game thanks to their feedback, until I released it a week ago.

And that's the best thing I could do, my initial release on that thread (version 0.14, right now I'm at 0.20) was really ugly, lacked of a good Ui .And one of the core features wasn't implemented yet (fights).

But your game is not a sandbox, maybe you can just start the thread, publish your initial work and start working on the second chapter. Incorporate the suggestions they give you on the version with the second chapter, and release it here officially.

Most people just ignore this hassle and go directly and publish the game. True, you'll still get a lot of feedback, but if you're new to twine, or if you have bugs on your game, you won't make a good first impression. And if 1 star reviews start to roll in, it's hard to recover interest in your game.

Another thing? take a look on each HTML launch here. Believe it or not, you can learn a lot from their threads. I spent months monitoring the newer HTML games and see what they did right, wrong, and how the players reacted. Take a look at the games on the first two pages, and learn from their mistakes.
 
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Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares

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Rafster said:
One way to do it, is start a thread on the Programming, development & art section, and publish different betas to gather some feedback. That's what I did: I started my thread there on august 2021, and improved the game thanks to their feedback, until I released it a week ago.
Click to expand...
I didn't even know that section existed. I'll put together an alpha version in early september and see what they can tell me in a couple of weeks. So far I met no bugs (then again twine is super simple) but I could use some pointers on what is worth expanding over and what is not.
Thanks man!
 
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Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares

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What's the normal process for the aproval or rejection of a game request? I don't mean to rush things, I just want to know the community a little better.
 
Skylar Reign

Skylar Reign

Creating Katie's Diary.
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Sep 28, 2018
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I guess I am a little late to this thread. First off congrats on releasing the game, I released mine just yesterday as well. It looks really good. I wanted to point out that you may want to consider creating it on sugarcube instead of harlowe.

I myself stared the game on harlowe because it's user friendly for coding newbies such as myself. But it lacks in other departments, such as the UI and things you could do. When it comes to coding Google is your friend. To understand it faster you could always download html games and dig through their code. By the way my game is similar to yours as it too is a CYOA game. I wish you the best!!
 
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Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares

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Skylar Reign said:
I guess I am a little late to this thread. First off congrats on releasing the game, I released mine just yesterday as well. It looks really good. I wanted to point out that you may want to consider creating it on sugarcube instead of harlowe.

I myself stared the game on harlowe because it's user friendly for coding newbies such as myself. But it lacks in other departments, such as the UI and things you could do. When it comes to coding Google is your friend. To understand it faster you could always download html games and dig through their code. By the way my game is similar to yours as it too is a CYOA game. I wish you the best!!
Click to expand...
Likewise! I'll totally check out your game as soon as it available for download.
I'll also give sugercube a try. I just hope it's not too complicated switching from one to the other.
 
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