I'm currently working on making a text based game. My absolute strongest desire is to not end up like the the 83 million other abandoned games. Currently I'm intending to make the game in twine as it is very simple to use, tho if there was any reason this would be a bad choice, I'd likey switch to HTML. My question for now is what word count or amount of content should I aim for, before releasing the first version?
Minimum word count?
- Thread starter LukaTheSergal
- Start date
- Jan 21, 2022
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There is no exact or best answer - though many will be glad to tell you 10 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 sex scene, 5 sex scenes, etc.
Bottom line is, if you are creating the game - go with what feels best for you. How much content would YOU want to see in someone else's first release of a text-based game on here. And then do that. There will be people who will be pleased with that. There will be people who think you didn't release enough. No matter what you do.
If you don't want to end up abandoning your creation - then you must take care to make sure you are enjoying the act of creating it. Take suggestions, if you want, but if suggestions aren't making you happy in fulfilling them, you will lose inspiration and motivation and will be more likely to abandon because you will dread sitting at the computer during the development.
- Nov 20, 2017
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Also you should listen to critique and recommendation as they can help. But you must know what you want and where you want to go with the game and need to know how to handle those critique and recommendation otherwise they will do more damage than good.
Yea I certainly expect to receive complaints. But I'm always open to constructive criticism cause you can never learn enough.
Just write a good story. It doesn't matter how long it is if it's engaging, satisfying, and not bloated with filler.
Very very very very rough rule of thumb: a line of text (assuming it's not just "Ooohh!" or "Ahhh!") takes roughly 3.5 seconds to read. You (I actually) want at least 30 minutes of gameplay per release, so you're looking at very very very roughly 1800/3.5 lines of text. Now, since you also have code, images etc' I'd aim for double that number, again: as a rough rule of thumb.
As a player, I personally prefer bugger versions I can sink my teeth into (even if they take more time) over frequent 10 minutes updates you finish before you even start.
Good luck!
Breaking it into math like that actually really helps! I especially didn't know the 3.5 seconds part.
- Jan 22, 2023
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I think a line of text is a bad metric. You can have different font sizes, different screen resolutions, and even word wrap disabled that'll allow a line of text to have massively differeing limits in terms of word count. If you're reading a line of text that has 80 words scrunched together in roughly 3.5 seconds, you are a god. I think a better metric would probably be to use the total word count of your script and divide that by the average word-per-minute reading speed of an adult. Therefore a 5,000 word script divided by an average reading speed of 250 words-per-minute results in about a 20 minute playtime. That's assuming the player doesn't take a single second to look at your renders or pause to take in what they're reading. That'll add additional playtime that I have no idea how to account for.
I'm sure it may set of some red flags, because 99.99% of people that say this are clueless or scammers. But I genuinely am gonna aim for an insane level of freedom. Countless variations of the same scene with changes based of character stats or appearance or relationship level. Truthfully I had been having a conversation with someone and when I discussed how I was eager to see the future and advancements of games, I was basically laughed at saying that such a high level of freedom was never going to happen.
- Oct 15, 2019
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The thing is, what does freedom provide, exactly? What's the merit in it over a narrower, more linear story? Replayability is nice, yes, seeing things change is, undeniably, great. But you're multiplying your workload to achieve it, and that could lead ya straight to burnout. I don't know you, your preferences, or your work ethic, but especially for your first project, I think it would be wise to go for something small. Once you have more technical and creative experience under your belt, then you can comfortably start thinking about going more ambitious. Your first work will never be your magnum opus.
Or maybe it will. What do I know. I'm just some rando online. But those are my two cents.
Or maybe it will. What do I know. I'm just some rando online. But those are my two cents.
No I think what you're saying is true to a t. That was more of like a distant end goal I hope to achieve at some point in the distant future. Baby steps is the best way to venture into the unknown.
I am going to work very hard and build a big world, here, let me post my screenshots and stop laughing at me, or keke i have double personality and i am making everything from scratch (can't link this one since they never made it to a release)...
I heard it all in these years in here, and it sounds like a red flag exactly because it is one.
You might have the false belief that everyone starts with the idea of being a scammer, but that's not the case. They simply have no clue how much it takes to create even a simple game, and end up dropping the ball.
Unless I misunderstood, you kind of fit this description since this is your first project.
Do not take it the wrong way, I am not laughing at you or trying to be mean, if anything I am offering you a few suggestions so that you can plan better and, most likely, scale down your project to a reasonable level (at least at the beginning), and that is to create a Game Design Document.
If you have written one and you can still say that, then good luck!
If you have not, then you missed the first and most important step in Game Development, and you should write one before doing anything else (Then you'd probably get what I am trying to say, and why people "laughed" at you).
All that being said, to answer your question, since it is a text based game I would say anywhere between 18k to 30k words per release.
No worry, your points are certainly valid. As I said, I was already able to guess how big of a red flag it is, nonetheless I'm really not someone to ever lie or embellish the truth or whatever. I'm fully aware of the utter stupidity of my dream/goal and know that it's likely going to be a year at minimum before the game is something I'm actually happy with. Then beyond that who knows how many years to actually achieve my goal... definitely a few though. Thanks for your input, it's all to common for people to ignore posts such as yours for stating the truth, I personally see your type of post as one of the most valuable comments I could get. So once again, huge thanks for your time.
- Oct 7, 2021
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In my experience, I tend to get out about 40-45k words per update for Stuck in Sutton, which is a purely text-based Twine. That includes both text and coding and admittedly some repeats depending on the options a player selects. Whether that's enough or not is going to depend on who you ask, but I find it a good pace for getting out a steady amount of releases, evaluating balance, and making sure things run smoothly.
For how much you need for v0.1, I'd recommend not worrying overly about word count and more about the following:
For how much you need for v0.1, I'd recommend not worrying overly about word count and more about the following:
- Have you set up the premise well enough? Not just the setting but what players will likely be doing in game (For example, v0.1 of SiS featured most of the jobs that are going to be in the game)
- Have you set up all the stats you'll need? It can be very hard to go back and change these sorts of things, and it'll likely dick over someone's saves for future versions.
- Likewise with the user interface.
- Is there enough 'sexual content'? Let's be honest, it's why we're here.
- Does it all work? Bugs can cause not only issues for players, but force you to halt development to release a hotfix (v0.2 DE being an example of me having to do that).
- If you're making an open world game with lots of freedom, you might have to consider what your player might do to break the game, such as using items or talking to NPCs in certain ways. An example I can give with SiS is an upcoming scene where players might meet a man outside a strip-club who is looking for his long lost daughter. As the player is a female, I thought it'd be a nice idea for a secret ending if the player has the same look and name as this character.
Thanks! It's great to hear from another developer, especially one that uses twine. Sorry if it's a stupid question but I'm not sure what SiS actually is? As far as the content type and their respective audience, I knew that it would always be an annoying subject. Just to begin I'm going to write scenes that I feel have the largest appeal. Namely 1 female npc and 1 npc that can be adjusted by the player to suit their preference. I'll be sure to give your game a look as well, cause as much as I wanna make this game, I also love to explore the world of another's creation.
It is a document (duh) which gives you a complete overview of your project, there is a pretty big difference between having ideas that live in your mind (even if you have a good memory) or a series of notes... It is like being inside a maze in first person view vs being in a maze from a top down view. The latter shows you the direction you need to take, and as such you know if you can realistically fulfill your goal in a reasonable amount of time.I'm still trying to figure out what's that
If you google "Game Design Document" or "Game Design Document Template", you will get many examples and explanations, but take them as a grain of salt. There's no right way of doing one, nor does it need to be lengthy. It can even be a page long.
Writing one is the first step, before even choosing the engine you will be using, and mixed with some prior experience, you can tell right away if the game you thought about is a good idea or not before wasting your time developing it.
Most games die at this stage.
- Oct 7, 2021
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SiS = Stuck in Sutton
If you want an example how SiS looked during v0.1, play the game up until the End of Day 1, ignoring the Church and any Lesbian Content.
If you want an example how SiS looked during v0.1, play the game up until the End of Day 1, ignoring the Church and any Lesbian Content.
Oh, I also forgot to answer, since my game is also a "sandbox-ish" text-based twine game. I don't have a metric, sometimes my count can be low, other times can be absurdly high.
Now, for my initial release here: I waited a year (and a half) until I got a complete storyline from beginning to end, and the most basic structure before making the thread here, and rolling out the patreon. But now I see I could have started 6-8 months earlier, but I was obsessed for my game to feel like it has a complete route.I'm not the best example for this.
But I didn't had any metrics, or word counts. For an intial release, I say 20-30 minutes of content. One suggestion I might give you, is to take a look at the most recent releases, and see how players react to them. Twine players's most often complaints I've read:
One day I need to take a look on those documents.
Now, for my initial release here: I waited a year (and a half) until I got a complete storyline from beginning to end, and the most basic structure before making the thread here, and rolling out the patreon. But now I see I could have started 6-8 months earlier, but I was obsessed for my game to feel like it has a complete route.I'm not the best example for this.
But I didn't had any metrics, or word counts. For an intial release, I say 20-30 minutes of content. One suggestion I might give you, is to take a look at the most recent releases, and see how players react to them. Twine players's most often complaints I've read:
- Game too short. Only 4 screens with text, maybe a sex screen, and that's it. That's why I tell you about the length.
- Kinetic novels does not seem to have a wide audience
- Bugs that stop progress, it gives you a bad image as a dev
- Simple UI, oversized pics, bad choice of fonts... try to take a look at the UI (or even better, open those games on twine) of the most successful twine games. For example, the game I used as an model for my UI was Confidence Man, by Whale_shark
- Over 1 GB size because you used those fat ass .gifs you found on internet (if Real Porn). Especially when you don't have enough content, players do not like oversized 0.01 versions
Hah, that's how I started, just a general idea: "I WANT A GAY TWINE SANDBOX FULL OF BEARISH GUYS!!". I thought: "How hard it can be?" and then meet the harsh cold reality when I tried to do the main screen of the game
One day I need to take a look on those documents.