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[AlleeCat]

Hey guys, you know how I put off SLD to work on a smaller project? Well this is it! I don't have a release version yet, but as soon as I do, it's going in this thread.

In Red Dust, you play as a robot on Mars who has just gained sentience. Of course, this leaves you with many questions, and some, if not all, will be answered during the course of the game. But before you can think about those questions, you'll have to survive the harsh climate of the Martian desert. (Probably not all of them, though, like "What is life?" and "Where can I get a decent sandwich around here?") The finished product will have several different ways for the story to go, and at least 40 different ways to die. It will have a moral choice system without having that annoying moral spectrum thing other games have. I'm not very good at writing these kinds of blurbs, so this text will probably change at several points during development.

If you'd like to be a playtester, let me know! If you want to do some arting for the the game, let me know! If you have any experience with Inform and want to give me tips on how to more efficiently code this beast, definitely let me know, because I am so confused about so many things...

Spoiler: Current Progress (click to show/hide)

Rooms: 8
Deaths: 4
Words: 3000+

[AlleeCat]

Spoiler: Playtesters (click to show/hide)

RangerCado - Lead (You get all sorts of perks when you're dating the developer)
Kevak
Arx

RESERVED FOR RELEASES AND STUFFS

[~Neri]

I am interested in playtesting when it works~

[Arcvasti]

oOOOH, this seems neat.

[My Name is Immaterial]

What kind of game is it, exactly? Roguelike? Choose-your-own-adventure?

[AlleeCat]

It's an interactive fiction game slightly influenced by old-school text adventures and the old LucasArts point-and-clicks, and a fair bit of choose-your-own-adventure mixed in.

I was actually influenced quite a lot by Choice of Robots, in that I wanted to make a game where there's no "right" way to play. You can solve puzzles in different ways, and the story will change accordingly. You could, as a hypothetical example, get through a door by destroying it, but what if something dangerous can now get in? You might have to hide from it instead of just locking it out entirely.

[MisterMoxxie]

I actually just posted about the IF game I'm working on! haha what a coincidence. I love the idea you're working with, though! It sounds really interesting. Let me know when you get to the point you need playtesters, I'd love to lend a hand. And as far as advice with Inform, stick to the documentation! It helps a ton. What version are you working in?

[AlleeCat]

I would assume the latest version. I didn't pay much attention to the version number I downloaded...

[MisterMoxxie]

I'm relatively new myself. But there are pretty drastic differences between i6 and i7. either way, I'd still say stick to the existing documentation. I've yet to run into an issue that I wasn't able to figure out on my own using that.

Of course it never hurts to ask for help, but I feel more rewarded personally when I can figure things out.

Anyways, good luck! And again, pm me if you need an extra tester.

[AlleeCat]

I've yet to run into an issue that I wasn't able to figure out on my own using that.

I have. A couple times, actually. But I've never been stuck for too long, because I can mostly look stuff up online.

[MisterMoxxie]

I have. A couple times, actually. But I've never been stuck for too long, because I can mostly look stuff up online.

Hm. You're most likely doing more advanced things that I've yet to get to :p My biggest issue so far has been with trying to write a new definition for the limited conditions of 'starting a fire' in my game.

[AlleeCat]

Ah, yea. So far the things I've gotten hung up on have been trying to separate the inventory more than the default worn/held, and trying to make something only happen once.
Also, so far I only have 3 rooms in the game, and I've already made it possible to die. I should really keep a little stats spoiler for this stuff. :p

[MisterMoxxie]

what're you trying to only have happen once? Something like this usually works

Code: [Select]

Instead of examining the Boockase for the first time:
     Say "As you walk over to the bookcase, a book falls off for some strange reason.";
     The Strange Book is now in the [Whatever Room];

And that will happen only the first time somebody 'examines' the book case. After that, it will just show the normal description of that object.

[AlleeCat]

Also

Code: [Select]

Instead of examining the Bookcase at least twice:
Say "Just an ordinary bookcase. Nothing special here."I know how to do it now. I already looked it up earlier today.

[AlleeCat]

I'm running into a slightly different problem now, actually. Basically, I have a general "scavenge" command that will bring up different items in different rooms, but I don't know how to make it so that you can only use the command once in each area without including the room in the command.

So basically, what I want to have happen is that the player can just type "scavenge" in any room without typing "scavenge [room]" but only get the item that returns once regardless of dropping it in another room or having it carried or whatever.