To mangle a quote from Role Models, I love the idea of IF more than I actually love IF, and this is pretty clearly demonstrated in my current project stalling out. My enthusiasm for that project is pretty low considering its ambitions. I feel comfortable setting it to one side.
I’d like to focus on something that I could conceivably create solo that’s not going to require me to learn too many new disciplines to complete, so it’s not like I’m going to jump into something graphics-intensive or that requires a physics model, but I do want to push a bit out of my comfort zone. More to come as I have time.
My current idea is a game with about as much complexity of input as a board game. I like the competitive qualities of high-level pokemon breeding, but I’d like to limit how much you can ride one successful tactic over and over again, which in my mind suggests a drafting element is necessary.
So: you are one of several commanders squabbling for control over a city after the last shift in the balance of power; circumstances are such that many new allegiances are up for grabs. It is your job to recruit officers and assign them to your military’s needs. An officer can be assigned as a liaison (providing funding and your victory condition), recruiter (providing soldiers from one of the unclaimed armies or general population), field marshal (dividing your recruits into one or more squads which will function as your actual combat “characters”, after a fashion), proveditor (provides equipment & supplies to establish unit types for your squads), tactician (unlocks attack types and other actions), drill master (set up gambits and criteria for them to take effect), and coordinator (communicates orders to deployed units and intercepts intelligence about the other factions).
Thanks to a post by @janitor on mastodon I’ve purchased aseprite, and at some point I had also purchased Game Maker Studio when it was on sale a while back, so I stayed up 'til 2 last night watching tutorials and making tentative first steps that I immediately deleted. Despite being pretty comfortable with code, I’m sticking with the Drag & Drop paradigm for now.
My first objective after getting a basic movement-and-interaction prototype working is to reproduce the functionality of Inform 7’s system of scenes. My provisional understanding of instances in GameMaker indicates scenes will be created as instances of an object inside the room, which means they will need to either move with the player from room to room, or (more likely) travel between locations in-game all happens within the same room, creating and destroying backgrounds and level objects as needed.
Scene objects basically need a variable (0 for has not yet occured, 1 for is occurring, 2 for ended in failure, 3 for ended in success, or higher numbers for any alternative outcomes) and the ability to have events of their own, such as is provided by making them objects. Inform provides “when begins” and “when ends” which work as you’d expect, but I’ll have to think about how you’d implement this behaviour in GameMaker, or just resign myself to tacking all necessary events onto the tail of the conditions which bring about scene transitions.
My laptop just rebooted itself unexpectedly, which is always a good sign, and I don’t have a USB stick handy, so.
awful W I P, do not read
"THE EXIGENT SEASONS" by Jason Love
Volume I - The Creation of the World
Book 1 - Metagame Management
Part 1 - Bibliographic Data
[Welcome to my terrible source code! This is really haphazard. I apologize in advance.]
The story headline is "An Interactive Epoch".
The story genre is "Fairy Tale".
The release number is 1.
The story description is "Historians will have much to say about this period of your rule. Be warned that their interest springs mainly from the number and the frequency of the difficult decisions you must imminently make."
The story creation year is 2019.
Use American dialect and the serial comma.
Part 2 - Extensions and Effects
Include Basic Screen Effects by Emily Short.
Rule for constructing the status line:
center "[location]" at row 1;
rule succeeds.
Part 3 - New Actions
Abouting is an action out of world. Understand "about" and "credits" and "testers" as abouting.
Report abouting: say "The idea which finally culminated in [italic type][Story title][roman type] first seized my attention at some point between 2005 and 2012. Splitting the difference, you might say I've been thinking about this game for a decade.[paragraph break]While I owe gratitude to (probably) hundreds of people for helping me refine my thinking and turn this game into something playable, I would like to thank [bold type]Jenni Polodna[roman type] and [bold type]Ryan Veeder[roman type] in particular for their [italic type]Cragne Manor[roman type] project. My contribution to that game was pretty humble, but I found the event transformative. I must also thank my fellow [italic type]Cragne[roman type] contributors, many of whom provided me additional Inform assistance in the community Slack channels. With the inspiration they provided, I finally started coding this game the night of Christmas Eve, 2018, and the gameplay engine was complete two days later.[paragraph break]This is the line in which I thank my testers, but as of this version of the game, no testers have yet been recruited."
Dedication is an action out of world. Understand "dedication" as dedication.
Report dedication: say "[Story title] is dedicated to the creators of [bold type]Magic: the Gathering[roman type], for reasons which may become obvious if you're familiar with that game."
Hinting is an action out of world. Understand "help" and "hint" and "hints" and "walkthrough" and "walkthru" as hinting.
Report hinting: say "In this story, you are the ruler of a civilization facing a series of crises. As each crisis appears, your advisors will identify two potential paths forward. You must select which of these paths is your preference; they are mutually[one of] exclusive. Regardless[or] exclusive. (However, you're not strictly [italic type]required[roman type] to choose one of the described paths; you could instead select neither.) Regardless[stopping] of your selection, this particular crisis will pass, and another will present itself in the next season. As you make your selections, your civilization will gradually transform; once every crisis is finished, you will be informed what future your choices have brought about.[paragraph break]Frequent players may prefer to abbreviate commands; for example, shorten 'TAKE AWKWARD PATH' to simply 'AWKWARD'."
Understand "select [something]" as taking. Understand "choose [something]" as taking.
The description of the player is "The power and the pressure of your position make that impossible. If history is to be your judge, who are you to argue?"
Instead of attacking something:
say "You have commanders and tacticians for that. You are too busy steering the ship of state to dirty your hands with individual threats."
Instead of waking up:
say "You're all too awake already."
Instead of sleeping:
if the player is in the Present:
if NEITHER is not in the Present:
say "You sleep when it is time to sleep, just as you eat when it is time to eat.";
if NEITHER is in the Present:
try taking NEITHER;
if the player is in the Future, say "You sleep when it is time to sleep, just as you eat when it is time to eat."
Instead of eating something:
say "You eat when it is time to eat, just as you sleep when it is time to sleep."
Instead of taking inventory:
say "Your possessions are numerous, though perhaps not unreasonably so, considering your position. You need not further concern yourself with them for the purpose of navigating these turbulent times."
Whiting is an action applying to nothing. Understand "white" as whiting.
Carry out whiting:
say "That's not one of the options currently available."
Bluing is an action applying to nothing. Understand "blue" as bluing.
Carry out bluing:
say "That's not one of the options currently available."
Blacking is an action applying to nothing. Understand "black" as blacking.
Carry out blacking:
say "That's not one of the options currently available."
Redding is an action applying to nothing. Understand "red" as redding.
Carry out redding:
say "That's not one of the options currently available."
Greening is an action applying to nothing. Understand "green" as greening.
Carry out greening:
say "That's not one of the options currently available."
Pathing is an action applying to nothing. Understand "path" as pathing. Understand "final" as pathing.
Carry out pathing:
say "You consider the paths you might take."
Neithering is an action applying to nothing. Understand "neither" as neithering. Understand "none" as neithering.
Carry out neithering:
say "That was a rhetorical question."
Understand the command "no" as something new. Understand "no" as neithering.
Book 2 - The Raw Materials
Part 1 - Paths
[So the way the game works is that there are ten randomized scenes representing the various crises the player must confront. In each of these crises, the player is given two paths to choose between. By taking one of these paths, we modify the score of the various potential endings the player will encounter after the last crisis is resolved.
A note on scoring, because I'm pretty proud of how carefully I've balanced this: I got the numbers below by trying to decide how many questions are "meaningful" for any of the 32 possible outcomes. Since these are based on Magic color combinations, there are five single-color outcomes, ten two-color outcomes, ten three-color outcomes, five four-color outcomes, and one five-color outcome, as well as the colorless outcome. The ten questions are just a randomized presentation of each two-color pair (out of five colors total) and a request to confirm which the player prefers. As such, I determined the following:
Of the five one-color outcomes, each outcome cares about four questions. (That color vs each of the other four.)
Of the ten two-color outcomes, each outcome cares about six questions. (Color one vs the three colors not in the pair, and color two vs the same three colors.)
Of the ten three-color outcomes, each outcome cares about six questions. (Color one vs the two colors not in the triad, color two vs the same two, and color three vs the same two.)
Of the five four-color outcomes, each outcome cares about four questions. (Each of the four colors in the quad vs the one color not in the quad.)
The five-color and colorless outcomes are special cases to be addressed momentarily.
Based on those conclusions, I set the "target" for a perfect score at 24 points, which I then scaled up to 2400 to allow a little bit of probably-meaningless weighting; given a hypothetical tie, which a better mathematician could prove or disprove is even possible, I wanted the game to favor two-color outcomes over single-color outomes, which are themselves favored over three-color outcomes (arcs slightly over wedges, in Magic parlance), over four- and five-color outcomes. That's why the scoring isn't a uniform 400 or 600 points assigned to each ending.
For the colorless ending, I created a special "neither" path to give players the option to just not engage with a particular crisis. Using this too many times will get you the colorless ending, How many times is too many times? That will vary based on how focused the player is; haphazard and inconsistent answers will "neither" responses more likely to result in a colorless ending.
The five-color ending, then, is somewhat the opposite. Using "neither" makes it nearly impossible to get the five-color ending, but you need to be deliberately balanced and avoid favoring one philosophy over another. I tried to adjust the scoring such that it's not necessary to be PERFECTLY balanced to get the ending, but it's still relatively rare unless you know what you're doing.]
A path is a kind of thing.
Rule for deciding whether all includes a path: it does not.
WHITEblue is a path with printed name "the white path". Understand "the" and "path" and "white" as WHITEblue.
Instead of whiting while the location of WHITEblue is the Present: try taking WHITEblue.
After taking WHITEblue:
increase the current rank of EW by 590;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of EBRGW by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLUEwhite is a path with printed name "the blue path". Understand "the" and "path" and "blue" as BLUEwhite.
Instead of bluing while the location of BLUEwhite is the Present: try taking BLUEwhite.
After taking BLUEwhite:
increase the current rank of EU by 590;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EUBRG by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
WHITEblack is a path with printed name "the white path". Understand "the" and "path" and "white" as WHITEblack.
Instead of whiting while the location of WHITEblack is the Present: try taking WHITEblack.
After taking WHITEblack:
increase the current rank of EW by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of ERGWU by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLACKwhite is a path with printed name "the black path". Understand "the" and "path" and "black" as BLACKwhite.
Instead of blacking while the location of BLACKwhite is the Present: try taking BLACKwhite.
After taking BLACKwhite:
increase the current rank of EB by 590;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EUBRG by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLUEblack is a path with printed name "the blue path". Understand "the" and "path" and "black" as BLACKblue.
Instead of bluing while the location of BLUEblack is the Present: try taking BLUEblack.
After taking BLUEblack:
increase the current rank of EU by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of ERGWU by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLACKblue is a path with printed name "the black path". Understand "the" and "path" and "blue" as BLUEblack.
Instead of blacking while the location of BLACKblue is the Present: try taking BLACKblue.
After taking BLACKblue:
increase the current rank of EB by 590;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of EBRGW by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLUEred is a path with printed name "the blue path". Understand "the" and "path" and "blue" as BLUEred.
Instead of bluing while the location of BLUEred is the Present: try taking BLUEred.
After taking BLUEred:
increase the current rank of EU by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of EGWUB by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
REDblue is a path with printed name "the red path". Understand "the" and "path" and "red" as REDblue.
Instead of redding while the location of REDblue is the Present: try taking REDblue.
After taking REDblue:
increase the current rank of ER by 590;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EBRGW by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLACKred is a path with printed name "the black path". Understand "the" and "path" and "black" as BLACKred.
Instead of blacking while the location of BLACKred is the Present: try taking BLACKred.
After taking BLACKred:
increase the current rank of EB by 590;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EGWUB by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
REDblack is a path with printed name "the red path". Understand "the" and "path" and "red" as REDblack.
Instead of redding while the location of REDblack is the Present: try taking REDblack.
After taking REDblack:
increase the current rank of ER by 590;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of ERGWU by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLACKgreen is a path with printed name "the black path". Understand "the" and "path" and "black" as BLACKgreen.
Instead of blacking while the location of BLACKgreen is the Present: try taking BLACKgreen.
After taking BLACKgreen:
increase the current rank of EB by 590;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of EWUBR by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
GREENblack is a path with printed name "the green path". Understand "the" and "path" and "green" as GREENblack.
Instead of greening while the location of GREENblack is the Present: try taking GREENblack.
After taking GREENblack:
increase the current rank of EG by 590;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of ERGWU by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
REDgreen is a path with printed name "the red path". Understand "the" and "path" and "red" as REDgreen.
Instead of redding while the location of REDgreen is the Present: try taking REDgreen.
After taking REDgreen:
increase the current rank of ER by 590;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of EWUBR by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
GREENred is a path with printed name "the green path". Understand "the" and "path" and "green" as GREENred.
Instead of greening while the location of GREENred is the Present: try taking GREENred.
After taking GREENred:
increase the current rank of EG by 590;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of EGWUB by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
REDwhite is a path with printed name "the red path". Understand "the" and "path" and "red" as REDwhite.
Instead of redding while the location of REDwhite is the Present: try taking REDwhite.
After taking REDwhite:
increase the current rank of ER by 590;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of EBR by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of EUBRG by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
WHITEred is a path with printed name "the white path". Understand "the" and "path" and "white" as WHITEred.
Instead of whiting while the location of WHITEred is the Present: try taking WHITEred.
After taking WHITEred:
increase the current rank of EW by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of EGWU by 385;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of EGWUB by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
GREENwhite is a path with printed name "the green path". Understand "the" and "path" and "green" as GREENwhite.
Instead of greening while the location of GREENwhite is the Present: try taking GREENwhite.
After taking GREENwhite:
increase the current rank of EG by 590;
increase the current rank of EGU by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EGUB by 380;
increase the current rank of EURG by 380;
increase the current rank of EUBRG by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
WHITEgreen is a path with printed name "the white path". Understand "the" and "path" and "white" as WHITEgreen.
Instead of whiting while the location of WHITEgreen is the Present: try taking WHITEgreen.
After taking WHITEgreen:
increase the current rank of EW by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of EWB by 400;
increase the current rank of ERW by 400;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EWBR by 380;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of EWUBR by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
GREENblue is a path with printed name "the green path". Understand "the" and "path" and "green" as GREENblue.
Instead of greening while the location of GREENblue is the Present: try taking GREENblue.
After taking GREENblue:
increase the current rank of EG by 590;
increase the current rank of EGW by 400;
increase the current rank of EBG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERG by 400;
increase the current rank of ERGW by 385;
increase the current rank of EBRG by 385;
increase the current rank of EBGW by 380;
increase the current rank of EBRGW by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
BLUEgreen is a path with printed name "the blue path". Understand "the" and "path" and "blue" as BLUEgreen.
Instead of bluing while the location of BLUEgreen is the Present: try taking BLUEgreen.
After taking BLUEgreen:
increase the current rank of EU by 590;
increase the current rank of EWU by 400;
increase the current rank of EUB by 400;
increase the current rank of EUR by 400;
increase the current rank of EWUB by 385;
increase the current rank of EUBR by 385;
increase the current rank of ERWU by 380;
increase the current rank of EWUBR by 560;
increase the current rank of EWUBRG by 170.
NEITHER is a path with printed name "neither path". Understand "neither" and "path" as NEITHER. After taking NEITHER, increase the current rank of Enone by 250.
Instead of neithering while the location of NEITHER is the Present: try taking NEITHER.
Part 2 - Endings
An ending is a kind of thing. An ending has a number called the current rank. The current rank of an ending is usually 0.
An ending can be witnessed or unwitnessed. An ending is usually unwitnessed.
A person can be magical or mundane. A person is usually mundane.
EW is an ending with printed name "White with score of [current rank]".
EU is an ending with printed name "Blue with score of [current rank]".
EB is an ending with printed name "Black with score of [current rank]".
ER is an ending with printed name "Red with score of [current rank]".
EG is an ending with printed name "Green with score of [current rank]".
EWU is an ending with printed name "Azorius with score of [current rank]".
EWB is an ending with printed name "Orzhov with score of [current rank]".
EUB is an ending with printed name "Dimir with score of [current rank]".
EUR is an ending with printed name "Izzet with score of [current rank]".
EBR is an ending with printed name "Rakdos with score of [current rank]".
EBG is an ending with printed name "Golgari with score of [current rank]".
ERG is an ending with printed name "Gruul with score of [current rank]".
ERW is an ending with printed name "Boros with score of [current rank]".
EGW is an ending with printed name "Selesnya with score of [current rank]".
EGU is an ending with printed name "Simic with score of [current rank]".
EWUB is an ending with printed name "Esper with score of [current rank]".
EUBR is an ending with printed name "Grixis with score of [current rank]".
EBRG is an ending with printed name "Jund with score of [current rank]".
ERGW is an ending with printed name "Naya with score of [current rank]".
EGWU is an ending with printed name "Bant with score of [current rank]".
EWBR is an ending with printed name "Mardu with score of [current rank]".
EURG is an ending with printed name "Temur with score of [current rank]".
EBGW is an ending with printed name "Abzan with score of [current rank]".
ERWU is an ending with printed name "Jeskai with score of [current rank]".
EGUB is an ending with printed name "Sultai with score of [current rank]".
EWUBR is an ending with printed name "Artificial with score of [current rank]".
EUBRG is an ending with printed name "Chaotic with score of [current rank]".
EBRGW is an ending with printed name "Aggressive with score of [current rank]".
ERGWU is an ending with printed name "Altruistic with score of [current rank]".
EGWUB is an ending with printed name "Growing with score of [current rank]".
EWUBRG is an ending with printed name "Balanced with score of [current rank]".
Enone is an ending with printed name "Empty with score of [current rank]".
Part 3 - The World
The Present is a room with printed name "THE SEASONS APPROACH". "Fortunately, your advisors and ministers will not permit the destruction of your city. They are prepared for any calamity: even now, before the first crisis has even occurred, they prepare two avenues by which the emergency might be circumvented. They shall present them in your hour of need; all you must do for now is wait for the hour to arrive." The Present has some text called crisis summary. The Present has some text called crisis term. The crisis term of the Present is "ONCOMING STORM".
The Future is a room with printed name "THE FUTURE".
The reset button is a device in the Future. "If this future is not satisfactory, a figurative reset button here will revert your decisions over the last two years. Events will play out in a different sequence, and if you make different choices, you will most likely bring about a different future." It is fixed in place.
Report switching on the reset button:
say "With a figurative press of the button, two years are undone. You're back when you were before." instead.
When play begins: now the reset button is switched on.
Understand "press [something switched off]" as switching on. Understand "activate [something switched off]" as switching on. Understand "push [something switched off]" as switching on.
The End of Exigencies is a room with printed name "THE END OF EXIGENCIES". "Through this crucible of crises, you have melted down your civilization and forged it anew in your own image. There is but one final path to take."
Instead of waiting in the End of Exigencies:
now the player is in the Future.
FINAL is a path in the End of Exigencies. Understand "the" and "final" and "path" as FINAL. Instead of taking FINAL: try waiting.
Instead of pathing while the location of the player is the End of Exigencies: try waiting.
Every turn when FINAL is not in the End of Exigencies:
if the location of the player is not the Future:
now FINAL is in the End of Exigencies;
otherwise:
now FINAL is in the Future.
Book 3 - Organization of Time
Part 1 - The Crises
A scene can be exigent or calm. A scene is usually calm. A scene has a number called the progression. The progression of a scene is usually 11.
[I'm pretty sure the progression value described up here is vestigial code from an earlier implementation of the progression of crises, but I'm leery of deleting it now.]
A scene can be unresolved or resolved. A scene is usually unresolved.
A scene can be imminent or distant. A scene is usually distant.
White Blue is a recurring exigent scene. White Blue begins when White Blue is imminent. White Blue ends when the player carries a path.
When White Blue begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: white or blue?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "UNFORGOTTEN CRIMES".
White Black is a recurring exigent scene. White Black begins when White Black is imminent. White Black ends when the player carries a path.
When White Black begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: white or black?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE PAUPER RIOTS".
Blue Black is a recurring exigent scene. Blue Black begins when Blue Black is imminent. Blue Black ends when the player carries a path.
When Blue Black begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: blue or black?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "PERILOUS TOOLS".
Blue Red is a recurring exigent scene. Blue Red begins when Blue Red is imminent. Blue Red ends when the player carries a path.
When Blue Red begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: blue or red?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE UNBLINKING EYE".
Black Red is a recurring exigent scene. Black Red begins when Black Red is imminent. Black Red ends when the player carries a path.
When Black Red begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: black or red?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE ENTERTAINMENT".
Black Green is a recurring exigent scene. Black Green begins when Black Green is imminent. Black Green ends when the player carries a path.
When Black Green begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: black or green?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE IMPRESSED REBELLION".
Red Green is a recurring exigent scene. Red Green begins when Red Green is imminent. Red Green ends when the player carries a path.
When Red Green begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: red or green?" ;
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE FAMINE".
Red White is a recurring exigent scene. Red White begins when Red White is imminent. Red White ends when the player carries a path.
When Red White begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: red or white?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "DAGGERS".
Green White is a recurring exigent scene. Green White begins when Green White is imminent. Green White ends when the player carries a path.
When Green White begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: green or white?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "MALIGNANT GROWTH".
Green Blue is a recurring exigent scene. Green Blue begins when Green Blue is imminent. Green Blue ends when the player carries a path.
When Green Blue begins:
now the crisis summary of the Present is "Which path will you take: green or blue?";
now the crisis term of the Present is "THE POX".
When a scene (called the postlude) which is exigent ends:
now every path is nowhere;
now the postlude is resolved;
repeat through the Table of Seasonal Progression in reverse order:
if the Emergency entry is unresolved:
now every scene is distant;
now the Emergency entry is imminent;
if every scene is distant:
now the player is in the End of Exigencies;
now the printed name of the Future is "THE FUTURE".
When a scene (called the prelude) which is imminent begins:
now the prelude is distant;
choose row with Crisis of prelude in the Table of Critical Components;
now the option one entry is in the Present;
now the option two entry is in the Present;
now the option three entry is in the Present;
now every path is undescribed.
Table of Seasonal Progression
Sequence Emergency
1 White Blue
2 White Black
3 Blue Black
4 Blue Red
5 Black Red
6 Black Green
7 Red Green
8 Red White
9 Green White
10 Green Blue
Table of Critical Components
Crisis Option One Option Two Option Three
White Blue WHITEblue BLUEwhite NEITHER
White Black WHITEblack BLACKwhite NEITHER
Blue Black BLUEblack BLACKblue NEITHER
Blue Red BLUEred REDblue NEITHER
Black Red BLACKred REDblack NEITHER
Black Green BLACKgreen GREENblack NEITHER
Red Green REDgreen GREENred NEITHER
Red White REDwhite WHITEred NEITHER
Green White GREENwhite WHITEgreen NEITHER
Green Blue GREENblue BLUEgreen NEITHER
Part 2 - The Seasons
A scene can be atmospheric or nonatmospheric. A scene is usually nonatmospheric.
Hibernal is a recurring scene. Hibernal begins when Hibernal is atmospheric. Hibernal ends when Hibernal is nonatmospheric.
After taking a path during Hibernal: now Hibernal is nonatmospheric; now Vernal is atmospheric; continue the action.
When Hibernal begins:
now the printed name of the Present is "THE HIBERNAL CRISIS OF [crisis term]";
now the description of the Present is "Snow coats the ground. The air is crisp and cold, but at least the days are bright. [crisis summary]";
if the player is in the Present, try looking.
Vernal is a recurring scene. Vernal begins when Vernal is atmospheric. Vernal ends when Vernal is nonatmospheric.
After taking a path during Vernal: now Vernal is nonatmospheric; now Estival is atmospheric; continue the action.
When Vernal begins:
now the printed name of the Present is "THE VERNAL CRISIS OF [crisis term]";
now the description of the Present is "Wherever the ground has thawed, new life now sprouts up. The days are growing warmer. [crisis summary]";
if the player is in the Present, try looking.
Estival is a recurring scene. Estival begins when Estival is atmospheric. Estival ends when Estival is nonatmospheric.
After taking a path during Estival: now Estival is nonatmospheric; now Autumnal is atmospheric; continue the action.
When Estival begins:
now the printed name of the Present is "THE ESTIVAL CRISIS OF [crisis term]";
now the description of the Present is "The days are long and hot; the nights are awash in the cacophy of nocturnal life. [crisis summary]";
if the player is in the Present, try looking.
Autumnal is a recurring scene. Autumnal begins when Autumnal is atmospheric. Autumnal ends when Autumnal is nonatmospheric.
After taking a path during Autumnal: now Autumnal is nonatmospheric; now Festal is atmospheric; continue the action.
When Autumnal begins:
now the printed name of the Present is "THE AUTUMNAL CRISIS OF [crisis term]";
now the description of the Present is "Harvest time has returned. The forest blazes with color. [crisis summary]";
if the player is in the Present, try looking.
Festal is a recurring scene. Festal begins when Festal is atmospheric. Festal ends when Festal is nonatmospheric.
After taking a path during Festal: now Festal is nonatmospheric; now Hibernal is atmospheric; continue the action.
When Festal begins:
now the printed name of the Present is "THE FESTAL CRISIS OF [crisis term]";
now the description of the Present is "Most of each day is lost in twilight. To stave off the cold and the dark, your people have turned to feasting. [crisis summary]";
if the player is in the Present, try looking.
Part 3 - The Setup Event
Setup is a recurring scene. Setup begins when the reset button is switched on. Setup ends when Hibernal begins.
When Setup begins:
now every scene is distant;
now the reset button is switched off;
now the crisis summary of the Present is "The first crisis is about to start; simply look again, and it will be upon you.";
if the player is not in the Present, now the player is in the Present;
now every scene is unresolved;
repeat with ender running through endings:
now the current rank of the ender is 0;
sort the Table of Critical Components in random order;
repeat with N running from 1 to 10:
choose row with sequence of N in the Table of Seasonal Progression;
now the emergency entry is the crisis in row N of the Table of Critical Components;
now the progression of the emergency entry is N;
Choose row 1 in the Table of Seasonal Progression;
now the emergency entry is imminent;
now Hibernal is atmospheric.
Part 4 - Ending Management
[This part's a little misnamed because I realized my original design caused the "correct" ending to be displayed a full turn after the player actually got to the final room, so I switched things up to run the cleanup scene after every crisis is resolved.]
Cleanup is a recurring scene.
Cleanup begins when White Blue ends.
Cleanup begins when White Black ends.
Cleanup begins when Blue Black ends.
Cleanup begins when Blue Red ends.
Cleanup begins when Black Red ends.
Cleanup begins when Black Green ends.
Cleanup begins when Red Green ends.
Cleanup begins when Red White ends.
Cleanup begins when Green White ends.
Cleanup begins when Green Blue ends.
Cleanup ends when White Blue begins.
Cleanup ends when White Black begins.
Cleanup ends when Blue Black begins.
Cleanup ends when Blue Red begins.
Cleanup ends when Black Red begins.
Cleanup ends when Black Green begins.
Cleanup ends when Red Green begins.
Cleanup ends when Red White begins.
Cleanup ends when Green White begins.
Cleanup ends when Green Blue begins.
When Cleanup begins:
now every ending is nowhere;
let L be the list of endings;
sort L in reverse current rank order;
now entry 1 of L is in the Future;
Part 5 - Final Resolution
Instead of pathing while the location of the player is the Future:
end the story finally saying "Your people's future is decided."
The chatty final score rule is listed instead of the print final score rule in for printing the player's obituary.
This is the chatty final score rule:
say "You reviewed [score in words] ending[s] out of a possible [maximum score in words] before you embarked on your final path."
When play begins:
choose row with a final response activity of amusing a victorious player in the Table of Final Question Options;
now the final question wording entry is "read a more thorough albeit less AMUSING explanation of what's going on here".
Rule for amusing a victorious player:
clear the screen;
say "[paragraph break]In case it wasn't obvious: this game is a 'what [bold type]Magic: the Gathering[roman type] colors are you?' quiz which I have constructed and then [italic type]marginally[roman type] redecorated. If you're not familiar with [bold type]Magic[roman type], all you really need to know for the purpose of this explanation is that most of the cards in that game fall in one of five colors: WHITE for selflessness and lawfulness, BLUE for logic and artifice, BLACK for opportunism and amorality, RED for rebelliousness and passion, and GREEN for instinct and harmony. Some cards are not just one color, though, and that's what's always interested me the most: what does it mean for a card to be both green and blue? How must it differ from a card that's green, blue, and also red? What's the real difference between one card that's all five colors and another card that is altogether colorless?[paragraph break]The game's popularity is such that the web is littered with quizzes to see what colors [italic type]you[roman type] would be if you were a card. (At the time of this writing, a Google search for the terms 'magic color quiz' yielded more than 61 million results.) I don't want to imply that all of those other quizzes are garbage, exactly, but I don't mind implying that I think they're pretty bad. They usually just give you a score for all five colors, or assign you one of ten color pairs, or the questions make it way too obvious which outcome you're going to get.[paragraph break]I knew I could make something better.[paragraph break]This game is my proof of that: it has exactly ten questions in which I present each combination of two colors out of the five. You may choose one of the two presented colors, or you may choose neither. Each selection impacts the rankings of the thirty-two endings: five single-color endings, ten two-color endings, ten three-color endings, five four-color endings, the five-color ending, and the colorless ending. Once you've made every selection, I throw the lowest-scoring endings in the trash and leave you with the ending that best fits the selections you made.[paragraph break]If you'd like to see this for yourself, invoke the name [bold type]VAADIGNEPHOD[roman type] to open your mind's eye to the magic that underlies this story.”
Book 4 - Testing Flags - Not for release
Volume II - The Notes
[A NOTE FROM THE HALF-WAY POINT:
This section was literally the first thing I wrote when I started this project on Christmas Eve, 2018. I then hammered out the engines governing the selection of paths and the resulting endings over the subsequent hours, and now that the game is playable and works the way I envisioned (a mere two days later!), I've added some post hoc organization and additional notes wherever I could be bothered to, and the notes below are now a little redundant and unnecessary. Ah well!
Preliminary notes before commencing on the project itself:
This game is essentially my "what color combination are you" quiz, rendered into playable form: ten primary questions contributing points toward a total of 32 possible endings. (Because we're using the framing story of a ruler's decisions during moments of crisis to present these alternatives, we can finally dodge the problem I'd been having in which folks of some color combinations are less likely to even respond to the quiz in the first place.) The ten questions are presented as a series of rooms named for the seasons in which they take place; the room descriptions will explain the scenario, and present two "paths" for the player to choose between. A secret third option will permit the player to take NEITHER path; choosing this option too much will land the player with the "Colorless" ending.
The 32 endings are objects which the player can actually see in the prototype version of the game. We should be able to set "amusing" or "deluxe" flags to permit players to switch this sort of feature and descriptive text on or off. I want to use scenes to control the flow of questions, probably?
What are the seasons?
VERNAL - Spring
ESTIVAL - Summer
AUTUMNAL - Fall
FESTAL - Early Winter
HIBERNAL - Late Winter
It's a little awkward to throw a distinctly calendrical season in the middle of a bunch of terms primarily used for ecological seasons, but it's my game and I'll make it as awkward as I feel like.
]
Yep, games have to do something petty unusual or interesting for me to give them much of my time. I’ve got my Surface with me on my week of vacation, so I hope to make some good progress on this; I’ve completely changed the format into a situation where a friend is reading this quiz to you from an off-brand Dragon magazine.