So I want to build a text-based game, and I would like some advice and guidance.

[Lola Slut]

Yes. That's right. I plan to litter the internet with yet another amateur video game. It's something I've never done before, but I figure that everybody has to start somewhere. And I have a concept that I am really passionate about right now, and I think could even appeal to a broad audience (even though that isn't really my goal).

I want to make a text-based game similar to "Corruption of Champions" or "Girl Life". A game that combines a simple choose-your-own-adventure structure with certain aspects of statistics and randomization.

Then I figured I could add imagery later. And with the combination of that and imagery, you basically get a game somewhat similar to "Summertime Saga", "Good Girl Gone Bad", "A Town Uncovered", etc.

I already know how to make a standard choose-your-own-adventure. And I find that really easy. I could even make a choose-your-own-adventure on Fandom/Wikia. But I also want the game to keep track of:

* The character's clothing and inventory
* The passage of time, (both on the clock scale and on the calendar scale)
* Stats for the character, such as their hunger, thirst, fatigue, health, strength, relation with other characters, etc.

Obviously, similar to "Corruption of Champions" or "Girl Life", the options that a player has and the outcome of their choices will depend upon each of the above factors.


Basically, the reason I make this post is to ask which websites or programs I should use to build the game and organize the factors so that the coincide correctly with the scenes. And if there's any other advice or guidance that any veteran text-based game makers had to offer.

So far, the only thing I have done is write a bunch of different scenes out on Google Docs. So this is basically the first place I went to ask.

 

[Lola Slut]

Reading through the WikiHow article, the one that stood out to me is "Story Nexus".

That's because you can use it through browser (which means it'll be easier to get people to play it).
And because it's based on the player choosing options, rather than guessing what to type.

None of the games I've played have had me guess what to type. And I wouldn't expect my players to have to guess what to type either.

But I don't know whether Story Nexus allows you to attach images and stuff to your game. I'd love for art and other stuff to eventually be an option.

 

[Deleted member 609064]

I prefer Twine or Ren'py.

Choose an engine and then you can start learning.

I suggest you play a few games here to get a feel for the limitations and features of the different engines.

 

[Lola Slut]

I prefer Twine or Ren'py.

Choose an engine and then you can start learning.

I suggest you play a few games here to get a feel for the limitations and features of the different engines.

So I am comparing those two engines, and I found this:

"Under the hood, a Twine game is just a flowchart for page transitions; the only way to add more complex behavior is to code it from scratch in JavaScript."

Is this true?

Does that basically mean that it would be impossible to use things like health bars and clocks in Twine?

 

[anne O'nymous]

Does that basically mean that it would be impossible to use things like health bars and clocks in Twine?

Without coding them yourself, yes. But the same apply for Ren'py and (almost) all the other engines.
Basically speaking, they all are nothing more than screws, nails, and planks. You can make either a table or a shelf out of this, but it's to you to decide how the said table or shelf will be made. The main difference between Twine and Ren'py being that Ren'py come with planks from different sizes, while with Twine you'll also have to cut each plank to the right size ; this while some other game engines (like Unity by example) come with a whole tree and you'll have to make the planks out of it.

From what I get from your posts, your choice for the game engine should be done in two times. Firstly, limit the list to the engines that need at max the knowledge you have or is ready to acquire. Secondly choose which one in this list you feel the better with.
But you'll have to have/acquire some basic knowledge in codding whatever the engine you want to use.

 

[crackedreneamon]

You can try Adrift, it is pretty good and I used it for a few projects like

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