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TIGSource ForumsCommunityDevLogsChoose Your Own Adventure Novel Creator: javascript
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Author Topic: Choose Your Own Adventure Novel Creator: javascript  (Read 3189 times)
st33d
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« on: October 17, 2010, 08:09:44 AM »

Can't do any Flash work on my new Mac because Flash Builder 4 sucks balls. So until I get all the software I need to rectify that, working on Flash at home will have to wait.

So I'm trying out some javascript.

I was inspired by this project:

http://www.ffproject.com/

And I've been writing a Fighting Fantasy adventure in the comments of my work project during compile times. (I put the lyrics to the Um Bongo song in the comments for Dirk Valentine, so I thought I'd carry on a theme with my steampunk games.)

These choose your own adventure novels can be quite fun (especially with objects and monsters to fight). And they're even better on the web, as you no longer have to flick through a whole book to find the references. But as I found out, they're very hard to write.

If you had a tool that showed you the whole graph of the novel, and you could easily edit the graph, then save projects that you could upload to a site, that would make it so much easier to write them. Keeping the whole project in javascript means that you could write novels that can be played on the iPhone and iPad. I'm also trying to set up the text for each reference so that you could write your own html and put pictures in. Since each reference is a javascript file, you could also trigger sounds and animations too.

Heres the basic framework so far:

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/03/

and source code

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/03/adventure03.zip

I need to start work on the editor now...
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george
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« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2010, 09:05:59 AM »

Looks like a cool project. I was reading about CoffeeScript recently, and it seemed like it would be great for this kind of thing too, especially because it compiles to JS, simplifies the syntax slightly and makes working with text a little nicer.
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st33d
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« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2010, 05:49:40 AM »

Got the editor for the text in now:

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/06/

Here's the source:

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/06/Adventure06.zip

Next I'm going to put a canvas element in there so I can draw a visualisation of the nodes. That visualisation will include a nodes palette, allowing you to drag new nodes in, delete nodes, edit links and other stuff.
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st33d
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« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2010, 03:20:55 PM »

New nodes can be dragged in off of a palette now. It also auto checks for duplicate node names and node names can be edited.

You can also drag new links between nodes, but I haven't got link deletion yet. Nodes can be deleted by dragging them to the palette.

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/14/

sauce:

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/14/Adventure14.zip
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agj
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« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2010, 10:24:50 PM »

Gonna give this a try later, but seems cool! Have you heard of Twine and Twee, by the way?
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st33d
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« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2010, 12:46:33 AM »

Thanks for that. I'll try it tonight.

For the sake of aggregating links, I was told on another forum about choice script:

http://www.choiceofgames.com/

Which sounds like a more programmery way of making these novels, but the programmable nature of it made me think about how I'm going to get more complexity into my gui setup.

Also, the guide to writing Fighting Fantasy novels is an interesting read:

http://www.fightingfantasy.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112&Itemid=37
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st33d
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« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2010, 10:52:00 AM »

Okay, the first iteration is complete.

You can now make your own (albeit basic) choose your own adventures.

You can also save and load whatever you're working on too.

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/17/

source

http://robotacid.com/js/adventure/17/Adventure17.zip

My next aim is to get sprites working on the editor so I've got a sprite renderer handy. Then expand the node concept so that creating adventures is a patch based system.

Variables would be modified by visiting a node that modifies a variable. That node would then feed you straight on till you hit a input node requesting the user make a choice between what node to visit next.

I'd like to get fighting fantasy style battles in too.

My overall plan with this is to write an adventure that will occasionally have javascript mini-games to complete to get to the next part of the story and also have a bit of a comic strip going on in it (ordered a graphics tablet - picking it up next week). I plan on breaking the story up into chapters so I can get the first part of the story out and get feedback.
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