There might be an upcoming text adventure game

[Taramafor]

I'm sure there's been threads like this before. That people will "toss up a text game". Treating it as a side project in their spare time or something.

Well, I for one want to make something people can be proud of. I want to put as much time and energy into this as I possibly can. Frankly, I have to treat this like it's my job so it can be awesome or it won't get the attention it deserves. I got good feedback on my "ideas" (I make "personal posts" and "IC RP") and know how to set things up in general. I know how scripts and coding works and how to put them to use even if I don't know how to code myself (yet. Working on it). Comes from a lifetime of gaming. If there's one thing I know it's games. I started with Doom 2 and MS-dos and went up from there.

It's always been the coding that's held me back. Rather the lack of being able to use it myself. But that's just it. You don't need to do something like this all on your own. I been brushing up on my skills in the area and one of my owners knows coding herself (and this is someone I know and trust who has my back. Fuck yea! Support guaranteed! Happened to recently meet another coder I get on with too). She made a text game before (a MUD actually. I'll have to show her what I want on a custom website though). She's going to do the coding, I'm basically doing everything else. (making lore is honestly a LOT of work). Well, kind of. I'm going to be getting feedback and ideas from others as well. More so then normal perhaps. I might have a sub-forum just for fan made stores/ideas that might end up in the game (SCP kind of evolved from that). I've taken ideas from Fenoxo's games (Helia from CoC is a good example of where I'm heading) along with Flexible Survival, and other games and even roleplays I've done. I got a theme set up and a basic "plot". Nothing is set in stone yet but there will be multiple areas of different environments (some techy. Some not. You'll basically choose which areas to head too). It might get a bit more serious in some ways while maintaining the "fun factor". Conflict. Different sides. Ideals that get challenged with having a "everyone having their cake" approach to it all which won't be easy. You get the idea. overall I want to get "character backgrounds" with the smut. That doesn't mean smut will be lacking, it simply means plenty of both. I want to make every character feel like they're a big part of the player (which, as you can imagine, is going to involve a lot of writing for each one, which in turn affects other characters in multiple ways depending on player choices). I got the time and energy to do it all. More then that I got the passion and know I won't burn out. Fenoxo seems to make "small changes daily" (or used too in his CoC days). Personally I prefer "Big changes now and then". Wherever that will end up being a few weeks or a month once the ball is rolling I have no idea. Can't predict the future and need to squeeze in me time. I do know I can make it happen though. Changes will be made consistently. The real challenge will be in making it remain unpredictable enough even for me in order to provide an enjoyable story/playthrough each time the game is played. Which is where random events come into play. There needs to be randomness but with guidance. I've actually taken ideas from none text games that I'm going to apply with this. Mount and Blade is a good example. But also a bad one since the NPCs in that game lack personality. Thus "random personality generator" combined with "Encountering new people who can come and go and live and die". Ever got attached to an X-com soldier? That's nothing, these people are going to have their own stories with the player. Ugh. If my coding owner wasn't currently doing exams I'd be working on this already. I want to start on this already now I got myself looking forward to it. Rewind. Intro area and forum first. One step at a time.

Currently I'm finally at a phase in my life where I feel like I can start focusing on this in the near future (had to work on the whole owners thing first. Kind of riding the recent love train with the other), provided the coder I know doesn't run into any troubles. Right now I'm not promising anything. Actually I never make a promise at all. Things can happen down the line regardless of our intentions (that said if I'm having my way it's staying UP line. MAKE good shit happen). I'm basically saying "It's planned to happen soon". That is the "bare bones" of it. First step is often the hardest. Should pick up speed after that. Since so many here are into that thing I figured "Let's give people a heads up". Emerging from a tube (where you start and pick your species) on a space station with different sides fighting each other where you're caught up in the middle and take a shuttle to escape as chaos is around you for a start. How's that for an intro? (this idea I kind of got from Mass Effect, Skyrim and other action packed games. Only you won't be forced to pick sides from the start. Everyone should have the option to go their own way as well).

I'll go into more detail if people seem interested. Right now I'm trying to figure out if I should take a "grid like" approach to things. It does seem to help with navigating around. I'm actually impressed Fenoxo got a text game to have a "rouge like" feeling to it. Is that actually the first time a "hybrid" of the two has been pulled off well? The only thing I can compare it with is Spiderwebs games. Exile, Geneforge, etc. but those have visual graphics (which I'll have to skip on. Enough work as it is and player imagination has its perks).

 

[Glassboy]

If you're posting this here I'm going to assume you want feedback, and to be honest you're a lot of beginner mistakes already.
I'm really going to suggest you check out this video. It's from a youtube channel that focuses a lot on how to make your first game.

The biggest mistake you're making by far though is in your scope. If you watch the video the first thing he literally points out is that It's bad to put all your time and energy into your first game. You're not going to make a God of War, a Final Fantasy, or in our case a TiTS on your first try.
I would really suggest before you try anything like this you and your friends make something a lot simper first. Like try making something with Twine, or write a combat encounter for TiTS. You need this to both demonstrate you can create a game, and also to experience what it will be like to work with your team.

Here's the rest of the beginners guide playlist. I recommend watching it.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhyKYa0YJ_5C6QC36h5eApOyXtx98ehGi

I'll also argue that Skyrim, while a great game has a terrible opening.

I don't think the map grid serves TiTS particularly well.

Nothing about TiTS is roguelike, I don't know where your coming from with that.

And you'll still probably need some visual graphics. Like if your want a health bar or a lust bar, or text boxes or other UI elements. They aren't exactly anything fancy but they still need to be considered. I'm also assuming you'll want some sort of logo or title card. You could of course commission somebody <cough>me<cough> so keep all that in mind.

 

[Taramafor]

Being blunt here. I am NOT making a mistake. I know you're trying to be helpful but you simply do not even know enough about what I have planned to even make that call. Either way "I don't believe in you and don't think you know what you're doing" sucks balls. I will not work on a "worse game" just because of that. Frankly I'm sick and tired of the eye rolls from other people when I say "I know I can make this work". Let me DO something before judging me. Not taking it out on you, but damn, give me a chance here everyone. Advice and criticism is fine but not "I know this is bad for you, don't put in the all the time an energy you want too" (unless that's ALL of it. That's often a mistake regardless of the topic). What's more people do make first games go well too. Unsure if CoC is Fenoxo's first game though.

What I think a lot of people do is let something important (be it hobbies, games, people, etc) is "eat up ALL of their time" which compromises the product. Even relationships can go bad with a mistake like that. That's one mistake I fully intend to avoid at all costs. Markiplier sets a good example. "Do it for yourself". Not "make it a chore". Yet at the same time "have a plan and progress without being lazy".

What I can do is start simple with the current game before improving on it. The real mistake is that people try to make a "Perfect product" right off the bat thinking it has to be "all done" on release. What I aim to do is start with the "bare bones", get that published and then work from there. That's how good games get made period. Not "make a worse one first" but "keep improving on what you have". It needs to be simple enough to not be too much at once yet it can't be "too simple" or there won't be room to expand either (and I am NOT making "thing here" in another game if I know it can work in the first one. That's more work then it's worth). It also needs to have "The intended structure" before being "officially released" (that is something that will come after bare bones/beta. Basic plan laid out but can't afford to think too far ahead). And it WILL end up being successful because that's the dedication I am going to put into it and what I will expand from. It DOES happen with the FIRST game when people treat it seriously without overwhelming themselves because they know they already have the talent and skill to get it done (believe me, I've spent years considering this). It's how I make everything else in my life go well. "Here's the plan. One step at a time". I approach it with a can do attitude (without forcing it. THAT'S the ultimate mistake). It's fine to make mistakes but you can always go back and polish things up with something like this. The SAME thing. There ARE people out there that make the FIRST game a successful one, be it triple A games or indie games. Most don't because they overestimate their own abilities or don't do enough research or otherwise aim to do too much at once instead of "making it fun instead of a chore" (EA actually does that on purpose to try and make the devs they brought out slip up. People also make the mistake of "making it a chore for themselves". That means I'm making sure I don't rush this either. Aim to enjoy it too). I am not making those mistakes. I know the plans I have and you are not aware of them. I also have a lifetimes worth of gaming experience from being on the comp literary every day for hours on end (Way back into MS-dos days). It's where I basically live. That's why I'm so confidant about this. What I'm NOT confidant about is doing coding itself with my own hand even if I know the ins and outs of it (kind of like knowing how a foreign gun works yet never firing it). Which might be something I need to work on myself (currently self teaching after a coding course). eg: Starting simple with "Place player there. Pick up item here. have it saved for the next page in the game". But that can be bypassed with others that have coding skills. If worst comes to worst I'll have to find someone else other then who I have in mind. That will need to be established before anything else. Need to know I can trust someone not to "pack up" halfway if nothing else.

Unfortunately other factors at play might be getting in the way. Other events might have postponed things. Being told something after a year will do that. Strangely enough it doesn't bother me too much but if I was to write about things I don't even have myself, of which I know I can have if I put my mind to it... I guess I need to have "myself" established before being able to work on this. Otherwise what I type will be "depressing to write daily" instead of "fun".

Personal life first I suppose. I was so sure I had what I want but man... word of advice lads. Don't wait a year to reveal things. Regardless of intentions. At least I'm not making the mistake of "juggling the two" at once when I know I can't. I know I can make this work but not if I can't make "myself" work first. I'm going to have to do some thinking on this for a while. Don't want to start something if I can't finish it. Technically there wouldn't be an "end" because of "always expanding" but my point is I need to be able to focus on it.

 

[Glassboy]

I didn't say you should make something worse, I said you should start with something smalle and I didn't say what you're doing is a mistake. I said starting with too big of a scope, and too much expectation is a mistake.

Personally, I could never be upset with having more kinky games and independent creators in the world. But my point is if this is your first project you'll be learning as you go, and learning a skill means you're going to make mistakes. In fact the most important part of learning is making mistakes.
If you watched the video I linked you, the host says that a lot of new creators end up getting frustrated at these mistakes, and because of it they end up quitting before they ever really make anything. By starting small you'll get an opportunity to make mistakes early, instead of 30+ hours into your project when you suddenly realise you forgot to include a basic function like a pause button, and it would take another 20 hours to go back and fix previous code to allow a pause button in the game. (I know you're not going to be the coder and your game might not need a pause button, this is just an example and things like this do happen when designing anything.)

Look I absolutely want to see you make something brilliant, especially if it's a dream of yours and you're really passionate about it. And if you do make your dream project in one go and it turns out brilliant I will absolutely be the first person to show up at the congratulations orgy with campaign and lube. But I've seen this time and time again, you only need to glance at sites like Newgrounds and you'll be accosted by beta after beta of countless dead projects that gave up just a short while in because they weren't getting the results they expected.

And I don't personally know of any creators who finished their dream project the first time through. Could you let me know of any of them?

Also btw

What I aim to do is start with the "bare bones", get that published and then work from there.

What you're talking about there is called a "minimum viable product," Extra Credits also has a great video on the concept.