post-mortem part 2: it was called 1st dragon because there was always a possibility for a second interation, another try. it's not ready, but lessons for 2nd dragon:

- empower players to do more without my involvement, because i'm lazy

- schedule my involvement but make it valuable, because i'm not actually lazy, i'm just bad at time management. if i set aside some time i'll spend it more intentionally and i'll maybe be able to not worry so much every other second of the day

- more prompts for action. the most active part of the game was when i asked ppl to envision different HOMES; ofc part of that was because it was right at the beginning of the game, but i think it was also because it was the only part of the game with a clear directive

- more surprises, more follow-through, more interesting outcomes. (food was a pretty boring problem because there was no choice involved, and once solved it was like "ok, food's solved, uh, ok")

It makes me... really sad, but also validated, to hear that you've been building in a vacuum and don't share much. I guess I've felt much the same way, and have been working on ways to dig myself (and by extension & necessity, others!) out of this hole. So far all the communities I've been exposed to seem to be focused on the 'indie' identity, which imo has gravitated away from just sharing creative stuff and having fun together.

Kill your dying and cannibalize their parts! Good luck with your dead projects. Thanks for your response. <3

to everyone who participated: genuinely, thank you so much and i appreciate each & every contribution.

i had big hopes & weird plans for 1st dragon, and i think i ... stretched them out too much. i'm thinking about doing something like this again but on a much smaller scale, built to last a week, tops. i apologize deeply for overscoping, for overestimating how long my attention (and your attentions!) might last. but i think if i did this again, i would make a better plan, and i would be able to actually make it... a full experience, from start to finish, with better tools in place for accepting creative inputs and rewarding them more deeply.

i hope everyone had a good time >.<

sorry sorry i haven't responded with the stairs!

i feel like 1st dragon has slowed down and i haven't been as excited about it, i wrote up a post-mortem over here: https://itch.io/t/327319/1st-dragon-social-community-post-mortem

i don't think i want to GM something over a long period of time, and i wish i'd designed this to be more evenly collaborative.

also: activity dwindled and my mind wandered to new ideas.

ahh

sooo, i made this forum thinking about social spaces, and i think the experiment is actually kinda done. i had some ideas for 1st dragon and i'm really (really) happy with everyone posting there but i don't think it's something i have the fire to keep going myself. I DID THIS LAST TIME TOO T___T

i wish i'd made the game able to go on without me? i realized i'm looking for social spaces and specifically i'm interested in ones where i and others share our art. to some degree this is what some tabletop roleplaying games are - everyone is sharing in the art of storytelling. i was drawing inspiration from that but i think i really missed the mark, making something with an authoritative server and a noninteractive client, the "World Viewer for 1st Dragon".

rather than build a game to contain such a community it seemed better to make a community for playing little games, and i believe that now more than before. i think probably what i want to do is make (or find) an indie games community that i want to be a part of.

i noticed how the forum mostly was quiet withouts prompts to get involved.

i learned a bunch.

i'll be back.

Although one such project has already started and it will still take [10 replies], you may now start a [COMMUNICATE] project that takes [only 5 replies] to complete thanks to BrandLibel's close study of communication with other species.

This is not limited to things that appear to be alive; indeed, you can [COMMUNICATE] with absolutely anything.

You might not learn much, depending on the subject.

Oh yes!! This is super cool, I remember reading about this a very long time ago.

I wonder if it's still something they're doing? Actively?

We can really get the lay of the land out here.

From this high outpost, we can see the world within 2 tiles...

When you post in this thread, please provide an 18x18 sprite for a single as-yet-unsprited item from the list below. After 8 posts, no more unclaimed spaces will exist, and I'll lock the thread.

1. The Outpost's Legs
2. Clear-Cut Woods
3. Valley Of Small Mushrooms
4. An Immense Mountain
5. Suspicious Watering Hole
6. Suspicious Regular Hole
7. Suspicious Bushes & Trees
8. Suspicious Chickens

(your sprites don't have to be beautiful, it's ok!)

wowow i can click on stuff

Working on this! Now I've https'd all my websites, but not the 1st dragon server, haha

Does this work... on Android? http://garbage.droqen.com/1st-dragon/

The biggest issue I foresee is I don't really do anything about touch... and I don't think touch emulates a mouse cursor position?

Let me know!

Does this work? http://garbage.droqen.com/1st-dragon/

There's been an update to the WORLD VIEWER APPLICATION, but still no HTML5 build -- itch is https and won't let me access my lowly non-https server ;_;

The library has been built! Feel free to [STUDY] Anything you like in the library. [only 5 replies required], but specify in the text: "only 5 replies because I'm studying in the library".

Project complete.

The moist mushroom farm has been planted. They're glowing and dancing curiously, but nobody's had any ill effects from eating them!

There's enough food for everyone, as long as you don't eat too much.

The doghouse is off the edge of known space: it is there, but unseen. You can always visit though, and perhaps its inhabitant will come for a visit now and then...

Project complete.

New client uploaded, map updates forthcoming

bear with me everyone! sorry! please keep it up in the projects subforum <3

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A new client (and server) are in development for October 11th, 7PM EST (delays not impossible).

There will be a Windows build, a Mac build, and hopefully an HTML5 build.

In the meantime, any construction projects that reach 10 replies will not be reflected on the world map, and I won't be posting any "official" updates or prompts to the forums. The upside is that I won't be around to set anyone straight (as if I would anyway), so I propose you all use this opportunity to wreak havoc.

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When a human licks those odd runes in The Tunnel Government's HQ, they have visions of things they should already know about.

But what happened to this moist towelette who licked the runes? Is it possible to communicate with it, and learn what it knows? See what it saw?

Little is known about conversation with these moist beings.

i laughed out loud @ this

What if... I made an HTML5 build? Would that solve for both Linux and Android?

The now-glowing rules have been studied and solved, cautioning future visitors:

"WARNING: DO NOT LICK THE WALLS". Mystery solved.

The moist towelette hums with purpose.

I'll give it a shot! Will reply to this message when I have an untested build up, hoping you're ok with a possibly-broken build since I have no way of testing it myself, hehe :X

Yeah sure :)

I'm not sure, but we're at 27 days now!

We brought food. We still have enough for 27 days.

Best find a food source, or establish a food production operation.