Tried playing through it a number of times, well done so far! Updates can't come fast enough for it. :-)
I tried all sorts of different combinations of options on the playthroughs, and it always comes to the investigation starting with Marc/Lucas. I'm guessing that's scripted as part of the story? I presume who the MC actually kissed, or was kissed by, is influenced directly or indirectly by the player as they play? And if so, are the only options the guys? Rebs early into the investigation straight up says that maybe it was her, but she can't remember after having too much to drink.
It's posted here on Twitch, you should be able to find it under my profile, called 'Survival Games' as the working title. Mine has gotten crazy complex and I'm just in Chapter 1... I've lost track of the number of branches I've got to keep track of that split and intertwine several times over. I've even added in a framework for attributes and achievements, and a normal and "darker" world which has all added a bit more complexity to things. The Devlogs in the game break it all down.
I've got no hope of keeping up with your writing skills, so I've had to up my game in the GUI and interface. :-)
Great new chapter! A lot of memorable scenes and moments in this one. Keep up the great work!
Published the prologue for my story, and it's certainly not as easy as it seems at first blush. Although, I do keep expanding the scope and the number of choices to be made which is making it quite complex. I certainly have a newfound level of respect for you doing so much of this by yourself.
Simpler is definitely easier... it took me a few solid days of pounding away on twine, sugarcube's documentation and Google to get what I think is a good template that I like. And even then I find I go back to tweak or change something I'm not happy with. There is definitely more coding than in harlowe, although once you figure out what you are trying to do it's easy to make it quickly repeatable.
Definitely stick with what you know and are comfortable using! That keeps the story coming and holds off the riots for falling behind. It's a significant effort to convert from one format to the other mid-stream, and then having to get up to speed on how to use it. If you wanted to see how I've been able to tweak mine, I can send the project, for purely research purposes of course.
By all means feel free to reach out! I've definitely gotten my feet wet with both formats now and enjoying it more than I had thought I would.
The lack of syntax highlighting makes it a lot easier to make a mistake in Sugarcube. Harlowe makes it really easy, say if you forget to close a macro to notice it before you've gotten too far. I've even had to add a custom story javascript to do some things that are already built into harlowe. For example, customizing the menu bar in Sugarcube takes a couple of lines in there. Also, I always store my variable as all lowercase, and then if needed uppercase the first such as a 'he/she' at the start of a sentence. In harlowe you just use the built-in '(upperfirst: $variable)' macro in-line and it's easy. In Sugarcube, I had to add a custom story javascript to do that, and then it's referenced as a function. Once it's implemented it's easy to use, but took a good bit of playing around to get it working... but now I have a good template I think.
I am building mine in Sugarcube now, but am also working on it in Harlowe at the same time. Been a good experience to figure out the pros and cons of each. Maybe I'm just sadistic.
If you get stuck I'm willing to try and help, if needed. No pressure, just an open ended offering.
Started playing around with Twine and Harlowe. Not sure how good of a writer I am, I'm much more of a technical person. But figured I'd give it a go. I definitely see what you mean with Harlowe's limitations saving.
I decided to switch my effort over to Sugarcube. It certainly has it's own quirks, but I think I'm picking it up. Saving is magically easy, the exporting your saves to a physical file and (re-)import them at will is fantastic.
Works for me! I really like watching the Profile develop as you begin to flesh out your character in-game. I also like that there are some conversations that just stay as conversations, even if you offer to do something (or Ezra/Elle does). There is no immediate requirements to do anything, it just gets lost/forgotten in the chaos and life of going on a scout.
One bit of feedback/question:
On the page where you decide whether you are concerned with the electricity quota, does the Scout Profile jump ahead of itself? Bolded parts are for my emphasis.
If you select '“Don’t leave the pot on too long.” You don’t want to take more than your share.' then the Scout Profile updates to say "Scout <name> illustrates the value of a collectivist mindset in the Community. <Name> puts other Community members first and makes a significant effort to know and support all members.".
If you choose the oppose, '“Never mind.” You’ll be fine being over this month. Maybe next month too.' then the Scout Profile updates to say "Scout <Name> displays a worrying preference for individualist thought and behavior. Sometimes disconnected from the Community at large."
In the bolded parts, it feels to me like that part should be filled in based on your conversation with Grandpa Jones, or at least tweaked by it based on the three choices. On the one hand, it could be an odd mix to be individualistic and also support the community, but on the flip side, you could be community first, but just rule abiding and not wanting to go 'rogue' by doing something you aren't supposed to. I assume the conversation with Grandpa Jones is tracked for later, and just isn't shown as part of the character in the Scout Profile?
Anyways, as I said in my earlier post, great game!
Great start for a game! I'm really enjoying the story telling and am able to feel that I can visualize the different characters and world as things happen.
I don't mind that there are existing backstories between Ezra/Elle and the MC, that hint at a little more coming. It's heavily implied that there is an extensive intertwined background between them as two best friends. Things seem to be taking a slight twist with both very tentative and nervous about risking a step that might ruin the friendship.
Also, love the scout profile! A great way to build your character as you go.
One question though, and I've come across it on a few TWINE games thus far. I downloaded the HTML here on Itch and play it locally. I have my save that is the character I play to play through it from start to end. In order to not spoil things that character will be the first to go all the way from beginning to end and is built around the character/profession I like the most. However, I had a technical issue with my browser, and was required to clear the cache. This resulted in my saves being wiped. Is there a way in Harlowe to export the save games to a backup file? I'm not very familiar with twine other than a few google searches.
It's not a huge problem, as it's currently a short and very fun story. But as the chapter count starts to rise it'll be harder to remember and recreate all the options and choices my character made.
That aside, this is probably one of my favorite games thus far on Itch, and it's only at Chapter 2!
edit: removed incorrect information about another TWINE game for save exporting. Wrong engine. Sorry!
