Adventure Game Studio

This activity is done!
VOTE NOW! (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=38663.0)

[original post:]
Ok, we've got twenty people signed up.  They are:

[Cameron]
LGM
The Ivy
TheJBurger
monkey_05_06
Babar
Andail
Akatosh
Andorxor
Scarab117
Trihan
Dualnames
tzachs
DanielH
Phemar
Bulbapuck
uncle-mum
Wyz
AtelierGames
Ultra Magnus

The rules

• READ THE ENTIRE STORY THOROUGHLY BEFORE ADDING TO IT.
• Once a story has been passed to you, you have 24 hours to send a response back to me stating that you received it.
• Once a story has been passed to you, you have a total of 48 hours to add your part and return it to me.
• If you do not reply within 24 hours or finish within 48 hours, the story will skip you, going to an alternate or to me.
• Each person may add a maximum of 200 words to the story.
• Do not post anything in this thread that indicates who has written what or what the plot is looking like.  No spoilers.

Six stories have been started with the themes "Science Fiction," "Medieval Fantasy," and "Adventure Game Parody."  For each theme, the twenty people who signed up were randomized onto two teams.  Each team will collaborate on a story.  After the completion of the stories, I'll post them here, we'll have a laugh, and vote on which team did the best job working together.

Current progress:

This sounds great! I can't wait to see how everything turns out, and how the person after me carries on my part (unless I'm last). I'll try working on a consolation trophy for those who are unfortunate, just to show they took part, but if anybody beats me to it then that's life.

The way you talk about being the hub Vince makes me worried that you might be more "AFK" than you try to suggest. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but I was thinking about it, and what if instead of everyone having to pass their stories through a hub we took a little different route?

I was thinking specifically of Google Docs (https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&ltmpl=homepage&rm=false). You, Vince, could create 20 generic Google Accounts, such as "ags.chain.01" or something.

You could PM each of us our designated username and password as well as our designated slots for when to write...for example you could just tell me, "You will be fifth in line to add to the story."

Something like that...I mean if you're going to be sticking around Vince I don't object to the hub idea, but I was just thinking this could be another possibility.

I considered google docs.  I love it and use it all the time, and maybe that would be a good way to go.  Especially since 10 out of 20 people signed up use gmail already.  The only worries that I would have with it would be that people would have to be checking it for their turn to come up, or their might be confusion about who's turn it is and no one would really be in charge of declaring one person MIA and going on to the next.

It would be fun, though, for everyone to be able to read along as the story develops.  Hopefully that wouldn't lead to collusion or something, though.

As for worries about me being AFK for an extended amount of time, I'm at the computer all day at work (like now) and am very rarely away from a computer for more than 8 hours (I have to sleep, right?) so I wouldn't see it as being a big risk.  Plus, I'm always in my email with my blackberry, so I could forward an email even if I were off at the zoo with my daughter or whatever.  If I had some emergency, I could just email the writing order along to the people with the stories and it could just be forwarded along by each writer like we did the last two times.

Anybody else thinking Google Docs would be a good way to go?

Well, I have a strong dislike for all things Google, but that's probably just the tinfoil hat talking - if there's a majority vote for Satan Google docs, that'll be ok.

As for the rules, I think they're awesome. About the topics, however - how generic are they going to be? Is it going to be something like "one fantasy, one sci-fi, one contemporary", or are there going to be more in-depth restrictions?

I had been planning on generic themes.  Previously we had "Detective story" and "Contemporary Urban Satire".  In the sign up thread, two people suggested sci-fi.  So, I was thinking along the lines of "Sci-fi," "fantasy," and "adventure game parody" or something like that.  Not restrictive, but at least a ballpark genre.  Did you have another idea for restrictions?

I'm not asking to specifically change it for me, but what I really enjoyed about the game last time was how it was the SAME story that slowly evolved into completely different tangents as each new branch had their go at it- so while my input may have been taken in 1 direction in the 1 branch, it was COMPLETELY different in the other.


Just a suggestion of an alternate.

Yeah, last time was really fun.  If there's some kind of consensus that we should do it that way again, I'll definitely do it!  Anybody else of the Babar persuasion?

Should we write this story as seriously as possible, or is the aim to make it as humurous as possible? Oh yea, and can we maybe have an option of how many words - maybe 150 to 500. (150 just seems like such a little).

Vince, it's nice that you're striving for a consensus here, but with activities like this it's probably better to just decide for the rules yourself and get going.
It'll take an eternity if everyone should share their two cents, and at the end of the day it's going to be about writing a story, and that's what people have signed up for.

I think you should go for your original plan, and just get it fired up.

I would like to add these reminders for our future authors:
Remember that this will be a short story. Short stories often have a limited cast of characters and just a couple of scenes. Do not include too many new elements, plot-changing twists and "hidden" facts just because you can. Try to build upon the ideas of your team members instead of introducing a whole bunch of brand new concepts.

I think the suggested genres will work, but I would prefer more specifications. It usually helps against writer's block if you have a more specified topic.

Oh, and definitely go for a fixed amount of words. I think 200 is fine.

I'm going to keep this short- I'm not a fan of the google docs idea. Seems easier just using email, to me at least.

Now a little more in depth:

I think a word count of 200 is a little short, but still okay. I suggest a count of 250, with a 50 word allowance either way. I think this will give more freedom without being too short or long. Also, I think the idea of both teams starting with the same idea or opening paragraph and having both stories evolve into something else is great. The 'hub' concept sounds good, providing you aren't going to be AFK for long (You never know what might come up). As for the idea of having three stories,  That sounds good, because having to write three times will pretty much ensure everyone is occupied writing throughout the competition.

You're right Andail.  I'll still leave this open for one more day so that people can have a chance to read and understand the rules before handing out the first stories.  I'll generally be following the structure I laid out in the first post, but may make some small changes based on suggestions here.

The reason I'm thinking of something short like 150 to 200 words is because the final product is going to wind up being really long.  Maybe that's not a bad thing though.

So, as Phemar was saying, is the aim to make a serious story, or to try and stitch up the next person in line by raising more questions than you answer, and ending with things like:
"Plankton walked through the door and he saw the most amazing...".

I think it would be fun to have something like that, especially if there is an 'Adventure Game Parody' category.

Peace 8)
Scarab

Urgh, last time we did this (first chain stroy, IIRC) we ended up with the detective talking to stuffed animals, who were also persons, and eating human flesh. Better not..

Well I really dislike people ending middle in a sentence. I actually like people to end in a paragraph. The halfway sentences are really going to stick out in de whole story and that will be very messy in my opinion. :)

Further more I vote for consistency. If a story starts out serious it should remain so, if another story starts out funny, same story. ;)

Quote from: Wyz on Tue 11/08/2009 14:49:19
Well I really dislike people ending middle in a sentence. I actually like people to end in a paragraph. The halfway sentences are really going to stick out in de whole story and that will be very messy in my opinion. :)

Further more I vote for consistency. If a story starts out serious it should remain so, if another story starts out funny, same story. ;)

This. The challenge in the Chain story is for everyone to come together to form one good, coherent story, rather than 10 short, almost unrelated paragraphs.

Ok, the stories are in the wild!  I sent six people emails telling them to start their stories.  I used random.org to choose the teams and writing orders.  There were three themes: "Science Fiction" "Medieval Fantasy" and "Adventure Game Parody"  We'll see where these go!

I'll keep the first post in this thread updated on how far each story has progressed.

Good luck and don't post spoilers here!

I wasted some time on two of these stories that, for some reason, got picked up by Google's spam filter.  I've learned my lesson and told gmail to keep those precious emails.  So far, I've received four people's writings, still waiting on two more who have about 11 hours till their deadline.  Stories so far are looking really good!

Have not heard back yet from any of the four people that I forwarded the stories on to, so just a fair warning to everyone: Check your spam folders!  I'll be sending PMs from now on to make sure people check.

Vince, couldn't you like...give the names of the people who have currently been sent the story, or will that cause problems with the anonymity?

Are you sending these emails through the same address you used in the last chain story? Since my inbox caught it last time, and I have the email, it should catch it again, right?

Theoretically.

I'm also sending PMs to people now to help speed things along.

Although I still have two of the first writers who responded within the first 24 hours saying they were working on it who haven't responded with the story.  They've got about two hours by the original deadline.  :(

Edit:  One is in, and the other asked for a slight extension which I've granted.  Moving along!

OK, one person has been skipped, but finally, all stories are on the board.  Some are moving along quite well!

[edited out, no longer relevant]

Edit: Saturday 9:30 AM American Central Standard Time-

Wow, four stories passed back to me while I was asleep.  Props to [Cameron] for the record fastest return!

[edited out, no longer relevant]

Heh, seems like the team one stories are catching up to those of team two. Nice to see this is moving along quickly.

Preemptive question, though - "Untitled" makes for a horrible story title, so would it be ok for a person (a bit later on) to change it to something more appropiate?

I've been mentioning in each email that each person can either name it or leave it for the next person.  First person to give it a title, bam, that's the title.

Edit:

Things are moving along a bit, though I have had to skip three people so far...  :(

16/60 done!  About 27%!

A couple names to throw out again.  Still waiting to hear from [Skipped again :(] (again, he got skipped once, and now has a second story), and now waiting to hear from [clear!].  They both have 12 hours from the time of this post to get back to me and tell me that they're working on the story before they will be skipped.

So, if you talk to either of them, give 'em a nudge.

I thought you send a PM when you send the Email.I didn't looked in my Email account because i didn't got one.

Oops.  Sorry, must've missed you.  Thought I did! Anyways, you've got in now, so no worries!

[removed]

Just checking in to see if I've unintentionally not responded to something. I don't really check my junk mail folder so if it ever gets sent there I won't see it unless notified by PM.

You're good LGM!  The random number generator that decided everyone's writing order seemed to think that you'd be best suited to the last half of each story.  :P  Sorry for the wait.  The closest one to you is still two people away...

This seems to be going well and the stories I've been passed have been interesting but have to admit I found it  difficult to come up with sections that had the same voice and tone as those that had already been done - I don't envy those that had the start the pieces and had the pressure of choosing a pitch that others would have to keep to.

I think it's a good exercise no matter where you are in the queue!

[edit]Never mind, just heard from him!

We're 1/3 through now!

I love waking up to stories in my inbox!  And by a twist of fate, one person just got two stories at the exact same time!  Good luck!

Also, I got an email from dualnames this morning saying that he needs to drop out because he's too busy, so I need a replacement!  If anybody else wants to join, just post in this thread, post in the signup thread, or send me a PM!

Daily update:

Today was a great day to be SciFi story number one!  Three people have recieved, written, and returned the story today, taking an average of 4.5 hours each.  Well done those people!  If everyone were like that, we'd be done!

But we are making some good progress.  Almost halfway done overall.  28/60.  Nobody with any quickly approaching deadlines right now.

I still would like to have an alternate sign up.  If you know somebody on the board who is a good writer and isn't signed up, threaten them. :)

Daily update:

Not a lot of movement today, but then almost every story has a deadline tomorrow, so I expect to wake up to lots of stories in my inbox! :)

Sorry about Parody 1.  I have now had to skip as many people as have finished.  It's kind of slowing down progress...

Still, we are now officially half-way done with this activity!  Congrats!  The stories are all really interesting so far, and I'm looking forward to see where they are all going!

Props to Ultra Magus who has now written all three times, and averaged about 5 hours for all three times!  Sorry that you now have to wait a while to see the results!

What happens if by the time a story reaches the last person it is nowhere near a nice closure point?

I'm a bit dissatisfied about how many people we've had to "skip".
We were told explicitly to make sure we really had the time to do this before signing up. It's strange that so many people have such a bad time management

Quote from: Andail on Thu 20/08/2009 06:25:34It's strange that so many people have such a bad time management

Strange? Or a perfectly normal and common sign of the times in which we live? :-\ Welcome to the 21st Century!

Quote from: Phemar on Thu 20/08/2009 05:54:42
What happens if by the time a story reaches the last person it is nowhere near a nice closure point?

Every email that I send contains a helpful tip reminding people that there will be ten people to write so the first three or so should be establishing plot, characters, and settings, the next four or so should be progressing the plot, and the last three or so should be moving it towards a conclusion.  If people don't move it towards a conclusion then it just ends when it ends!

@Andail

Yeah, I've had to skip more people than I had hoped.  With Parody 1, the first person to write emailed me that they had received my mail before the 24 hour mark, and then never returned the story and was unreachable as the 48 hour deadline approached and passed.  They later emailed me explaining that they had become sick and slept the whole day away.  Another person just never responded (they later explained that they were away the whole time and didn't know we had started) so was skipped at the 24 hour deadline (saving us a day of waiting) and then yet another person answered the first email, but never finished within the 48 hours.  I still haven't heard from that person, so they are out of rotation until I do.

I have skipped a few other people in other stories, but it's been people like one person who emailed me from their phone right away saying that their computer died and can't write for a couple days  until it's fixed, so I'm waiting for their email before I put them back in.  Another person said he was busy for a couple days and just asked to be moved slightly lower in the rotation.  One other person was busy and asked for a one day extension. 

So, yeah, there have been several delays here and there.  A lot of them understandable, though.  The worst delays are when someone emails me back saying that they're working on it, and then they never return the story.  Hopefully we can keep those down to a minimum.

I like to add that we're probably all on different time zones. I for instance received the story at 2 in the night local time, I'd just gone to sleep, and was busy that day thus barely made the 24 hour notice. After that I wrote my entry, but it must have been night for Vince by then. :)

Quote from: Vince Twelve on Thu 20/08/2009 04:15:55
Props to Ultra Magus who has now written all three times, and averaged about 5 hours for all three times!  Sorry that you now have to wait a while to see the results!

I was lucky in that I got sent two of the three stories in the evening and had the time to just write them and send them straight back.
The other was sent in the afternoon, so it only had to wait a few hours.

Speaking of waiting, does anyone have a copy of the previous chain stories that I can read while I wait for these ones to finish?
I found their original threads, but none of the links work.

I think I still have the one about Detective Lane on an old PC. As for the second one... dunno, I'll have to dig around a bit.

It would certainly be appreciated.

Parody 1 made a huge surge today.  Thanks to the three people who all turned it in in rapid succession!

I've got one deadline rapidly approaching: [removed]  five hours left!

And I still totally need one person to act as a replacement!  I've had two people drop out.  I filled in for the first three vacancies, but there are going to be three stories without endings if I don't get one more person.  Or, I'll just randomly select someone from the team to write a second time on the story.  I'll give you a day to jump on board!  C'mon new guy!

I wouldn't mind writing some more, lol, this is somewhat addictive ;)

I'll second that notion. Definitely it would be best if we could get a new alternate, but if you want to put some names back into that hat there Vince make sure you don't leave me out!

Ok, one story down!  I'll release it as soon as its mate is complete, then we can vote on the two and have a laugh until the next set is done.

Parody 2 should also be done in the next couple of days.

Two deadlines today! [both received!].  Two deadlines tomorrow: [removed] and PHEMAR!  Let's have 'em!

Well, hurry up a bit, guys! I can't wait to 'em, especially SciFi2...

Care to take a guess at when we might see the last stories, Vince?

Well, you can check the first post on this thread and guess for yourself.  I'd expect to release the SciFi and Parody stories for voting any day now.  The Fantasy stories, for some reason, are lagging behind a bit, but they, too, should be done this week.

I've had a four people write for a second time on a story, and I'll have to choose one more person to double up on Fantasy 2, for a total of five repeat writers.

Just one deadline remaining today:  [baleeted]!

Don't worry, I'm all done!

The last pieces of SciFi 2 and Parody 2 are both due today.  So hopefully, I can release them for voting soon.  (I'll reveal all the writers after voting has completed). 

I'll probably start up a new thread for voting, so keep an eye out for that!  I'll leave voting open for 48 hours so everyone has a chance to read and give feedback, then we can have a laugh about all the inconsistencies and all the brilliant bits!

Fantasy is still a bit behind, but still moving.

Oh!  And in case I haven't mentioned it, Atelier Games has been kind enough to make some signature trophies for the winning teams as well as a consolation prize for people who aren't on a winning team!  So, we can hand those out when the voting is done too!  Thanks Atelier!

Bam!  Voting has begun on SciFi and Parody categories, which both finished at about the same time!

READ AND ENJOY:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=38663.0

Fantasy voting will start when the last story is completed.

Thanks to all who participated, it was a lot of fun!

Thanks to a super fast return by the final writer (12 minutes.  Fastest. Ever), Fantasy 2 is finally done and the two stories are ready to judge.  So this thread is officially useless and can be locked (as can the signup thread).

Please direct yourself to the voting thread (linked above) to read, enjoy, laugh, and then vote and discuss!  Yay!