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b) The protagonist's personality is set out definitively (albeit vaguely) to minimise inconsistencies.

This was already done in the first two hundred (wonderfully written) words by Candall last time and it didn't stop the character from going completely off the rails last time.  I'm not sure how doing the same thing slightly earlier is going to help all that much.  Besides, the character's drastic inconsistencies and eventual decent into madness came more from people trying to explain the gaping plot inconsistencies more than people not understanding the character's general personality from the start.  The best thing you can do before the activity starts to avoid this is to urge everyone to read the whole thing thoroughly to make sure you understand it before making giant plot holes in the story.

No rules except word limit all the way!

[greatly]

This coupled with the ability to select a range of frames and re-import a gif over them (provided it has the same frame count) would greatly streamline the sprite importing/adding process!  I'd prefer a keyboard shortcut to a button that constantly moves, though.  That way I could just tap the '+' key 5 times and 5 frames would show up .

Agreed and agreed!

Uh oh Yesterday's Salad!  Looks like you've got some new (well... old) competition on the indie adventure game reviewing front.  Jozef is back!

http://indieventure.blogspot.com/

Let the games begin!

CJ, your post in SSH's blog thread prompted me to write this, hope it's helpful!

The Assign To View feature, while completely useful, may be overlooked because it violates some usability rules about context.  It's hidden at the bottom of a right-click menu containing a number of features used to bring in new sprites, in a section unrelated to views.  The view section has all the other functionality regarding setting up views, and is where I was always looking for such a feature (which I thought was sorely missing because it wasn't there until someone finally mentioned the Assign To View to me ).

I think that a more intuitive way to implement this would be to add another button next to the "Create new frame" button that automatically creates a new frame and sets it to the frame numerically after the previous frame.  That way, for 80% of the animations in my game which are imported sequentially into the editor, I could just set the first frame and press "Add next frame" several times, which would be almost as fast as Assign To View if not faster.

Additionally or alternatively, a way to select multiple sprites in one trip to the sprite window rather than one at a time (a process that is much slower in 3.0 than it was in 2.7) and having them be added to the loop in the order that you clicked on them would be extremely intuitive and fast.

From a usability standpoint, the Assign to View seems to me to be working backwards.  I wouldn't eliminate it, but adding some alternatives is always nice!

Also, while I'm posting, I'd really like a full makeover for the sound and music system that:
-Has more than one channel for music to allow manual crossfading effects (I usually import my music as sound due to this)
-Doesn't make music skip or stutter when changing rooms or loading large animations/sprites
-Allows full control over music and sound channel volumes
-Has functions that return the volume of each channel
-Has functions that return the music or sound number currently playing in each channel
-Allows you to toggle looping for each individual channel (including sound channels)

I still find it funny how the Mac users are called pompous when this thread is full of Windows users being pompous.  I'm also still not sure why there's even an argument.  Each platform is going to be right for certain people.  Choose the one you want and let others choose theirs.

Don't we have more important issues to debate, like politics...

I...

oh shit...

Hells yeah!

[email clipped!]

and if preference has any sway in the order, I'd prefer a late spot.  I want the challenge!!  Not that fifth wasn't enough of a challenge last time...

Likewise, I anticipate that books or movies about having children (or raising them, or losing them) will touch me deeper once I get my own children, no matter how well the writer conveys his feelings.

This is absolutely true!  I used to be able to watch any movie and never have more than a sniffle or a damp eye.  But now, having had a child, anything involving losing children, especially babies, to sickness, danger, or even just distance tears me up inside.  There was an episode of House a short time after the birth of my daughter that opened with a mother having a seizure while taking a bath with her baby and the father coming in to find the baby completely submerged in the bath.  I remember watching that, and pausing for an hour before I could get up the strength to watch the rest of the episode.

Mayhaps you are looking for Lil Jon?  He's not really fat though...

And happy b-day a couple days ago, you!

I've started writing out in-depth "pitches" on my blog that lay out the story and gameplay of games that I've set aside.  I've been doing this since I'm working on a long-term project and don't want these other ideas either getting lost, or having them taking up space in my head that would be better reserved for my main project.  The first one is here, and the second one is about 75% written.  It's a bit of spring cleaning for the mind and I would highly recommend it!

Exactly.  Having the story internally consistent is far more important than having it consistent with the real world.

[Boy, it's nice to have the forums back!]

Thanks Limpy!  It's so cold on this side of 25...

But I got the best birthday gift ever!  A coupon for 12 uninterrupted, baby-free, wife-free, hours to work on my game! Weeee!

I think your "true" example b is severely flawed.  Someone mugging a random old man on the street will rarely be carrying a gun and is likely just going for some quick cash and not interested in chalking up a murder charge.  The moment someone intervenes, it's likely that the mugger beats a hasty retreat if the intervening party is in the least bit physically intimidating, rather than struggle with two people.  Even more likely in the real world is the situation that whoever witnesses the old man getting mugged, decides to avoid the situation all together in their own interest.  I don't think that anyone would agree that your example b is, as you said, the most likely outcome.  And our disagreement underlines the weakness of the first half of that rant.  However, the second half about lying, but lying realistically is valid if obvious.

Obviously making the rules (or "truth") within your story internally consistent is important, as is making those rules apparently consistent with those of the real world if your story is set therein.  The writer gets to decide what is true for the characters in the interest of making the story an interesting bit of escapism and not a confining bit of tedium, but has to be careful that the events of the story maintain the suspension of disbelief.

DEAR MR./MRS. MONKEY,

I HAVE AN IDEA FOR A USE OF YOUR EXTRA MONEYS.

PERMIT ME TO INFORM YOU OF MY DESIRE OF GOING INTO BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU. I GOT YOUR NAME AND CONTACT FROM THE TOGOLESE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY. I PRAYED OVER IT AND SELECTED YOUR NAME AMONG OTHER NAMES DUE TO IT'S ESTEEMING NATURE AND THE RECOMMENDATIONS GIVEN TO ME AS A REPUTABLE AND TRUST WORTHY PERSON I CAN DO BUSINESS WITH AND BY THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS I MUST NOT HESITATE TO CONFIDE IN YOU FOR THIS SIMPLE AND SINCERE BUSINESS.

I AM AKEEM TIMM MADU, THE ONLY CHILD OF LATE MR AND MRS TIMM MADU. MY FATHER WAS A VERY WEALTHY COCOA MERCHANT BASED IN LOME, THE ECONOMIC CAPITAL OF TOGO BEFORE HE WAS POISONED TO DEATH BY HIS BUSINESS ASSOCIATES ON ONE OF THEIR OUTING TO DISCUSS ON A BUSINESS DEAL. WHEN MY MOTHER DIED ON THE 21ST OCTOBER 1984, MY FATHER TOOK ME SO SPECIAL BECAUSE I AM MOTHERLESS. BEFORE THE DEATH OF MY FATHER ON 24TH FEBUARY 2002 IN A PRIVATE HOSPITAL HERE IN LOME. HE SECRETLY CALLED ME ON HIS BEDSIDE AND TOLD ME THAT HE HAS A SUM OF US$15,000,000 (FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS.DEPOSITED IN A SAFEFIDUCIARY AGENT IN EUROPE THROUGH A SECURITY COMPANY BASED IN LOME TOGO,

THIS AMOUNT IS CONTAINED IN A SEALED TRUNK BOX ,IT WAS REGISTERED AND DECLEARED AS CONTAINING FAMILY TREASURES,SO EVEV AS I AM WRITEING YOU NOW THE SECURITY AND IT'S AGENTS ARE NOT AWARE OF THE CONTENTS CONTAINED AS MONEY IN THE TRUNK BOX .LET ME ASURE YOU THAT THIS TRANSACTION IS 100% HITCH AND FRISK FREE.BASED ON YOUR ACCEPT ING TO HELP ME I WILL BE GIVING YOU A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF PERCENTGEFOR YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN THIS AND THIS WILL BE DISCUS UPON YOUR RESPONCE TO MY MAIL .

HE ALSO EXPLAINED TO ME THAT IT WAS BECAUSE OF THIS WEALTH THAT HE WAS POISONED BY HIS BUSINESS ASSOCIATES, THAT I SHOULD SEEK FOR A FOREIGN PARTNER IN A COUNTRY OF MY CHOICE WHERE I WILL MOVE THIS MONEY AND USE IT FOR INVESTMENT PURPOSE ,(SUCH AS REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT)
.
SIR, I AM HONOURABLY SEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE FOLLOWING WAYS.

1, TO ARRANGE AND TRAVEL IMMEDIATELY TO MEET WITH THE SECURITY COMPANY AGENT IN EUROPE FOR CLEARING.
2) YOU ARE TO SERVE AS THE GUARDIAN OF THIS FUND.
3)YOU WILL MAKE ARRANGEMENT FOR ME TO COME OVER TO YOUR COUNTRY TO FURTHER MY EDUCATION AND TO SECURE A RESIDENTIAL PERMIT FOR ME IN YOUR COUNTRY. I HAVE DOCUMENTS AS REGARS TO THIS CLAIM.

BEST REGARDS.
AKEEM TIMM MADU

Wow, that's a brilliant story!  Really well done.  The game looks really cute too.  You're a much better older brother than I am!  Thanks for sharing!  Seriously!

I don't think there should be any kind of oversight or quality control, though I did email Emerald after getting the story from him and asked him if he would like to rewrite due to his misunderstanding.  That was probably counter to the purpose of the activity.  I didn't hear back from him though, so I just ran with it.

If we do another chain writing activity, I would throw out the suggestion that we have two teams of ten people instead of one giant team and start them both off with the same theme or even the same 200 word intro.  Then, the turnaround would be shorter and we could see how different the two stories turned out.

Did I?

HAHAHA!  It actually turned out pretty damned great.  I agree with Auriond, with some editing and a facelift, this could be twisted genius.

This is full of story spoilers, which I assume are ok now.

It's interesting, I see three real sections of the story: 

The first part starts out as a normal detective story (and props to Candall, it was a great first 200 words).  I would include FSi's bit from the POV of the killer in this first part, even though keeping it in first person when switching POV was not a great choice, it was still standard detective fair with a psychotic killer to be caught. 

Then the second part starts.  The "What the hell is going on here" section.  Emerald had a misunderstanding and for a bit things were difficult to follow but eventually got smoothed out to all making sense, with a little detour into grotesque-ville. By the end of this section (counting words, I think around Andail) it had smoothed out (and been very nicely summarized) and was ready to turn back into a detective story.  For the record, the "detective" has still not done any actual detecting and should be immediately sacked.

Then came the third bit.  The "Holy hell it's all going nuts again" bit.  At first when I got there I was thinking "What the hell are you doing, this had finally settled down to become a real story again" but eventually, the Bears, the multiple personalities, the newspaper, it all started making a semblance of sense.  And the best part about it is, due to the writers not actually understanding what was going on, the complexities of the story were never explained, which to me is fantastic because it leaves it up to the reader to interpret.  What were the family issues behind the first organ killing?  How were Lane and Carmine connected to the parties involved?  There's enough in there to kind of guess, but it's up to you to imagine what all really went down.  I really like this, especially when compared to todays TV shows, movies, and books that feel the need to hold the viewer/reader's hand all the way through.  However, I should point out, that the detective has still not done any detecting and the people responsible for sacking him have been sacked.

The ending came about 400 words too early!  But the last couple people did a nice job of adding an epilogue.

Well done everyone!  It was twisted and bizarre and delicious!

If we do this activity again, we need to make sure that we first of all, keep the POV consistent throughout the piece.  The only POV change that I thought really was done well was the Carmine section (taken into third person, flowed well, and it was relevant to the story).  Also, making sure to read the whole thing through a few times to make sure you understand everything and then writing something that follows in the intention of the story so far, rather than taking control of the story to turn it in the direction you want.  I think most people were playing for the team and a few people were just seeing what kind of twist they could throw in.  Not that there's anything inherrently wrong with that, everyone was in the activity for their own reasons.  And the... three? four?... people who really threw in curves really added big challenges for everyone else and those challenges were met excellently.  The story wouldn't have been the same without those bizarre bits, that's for sure and I really loved them all in the end.

Relax, it's not even 24 hours yet

Who's not relaxed?  I was making a joke.

And unless I'm mistaken, it's been 56.

... not that I'm counting... 

You have 48 hours to send the story, and after this the previous writer will re-send their document to the person next in the list.

So, what do we do when the last person takes more than 48 hours? 

First one: Obsessive-Compulsive Nudist Prophecy

I have never heard of any game that I've wanted to play more.

Actually, I apparently killed that one!  I had only one response to the last photoshop comp which I declared the winner and then... nothing... That would be a good competition to revive with some fresh new idea.  I also really enjoyed that competition!

Edit:  a suggestion for reviving Photoshop Phriday.

-The host (previous winner) provides five or six source images.  Contestants must make an image using at least two or three (or all, I suppose it's up to the host) of the source images and try to make something creative.  This may be more successful since it gives the participants starting images rather than just a theme.

Example: http://www.crestock.com/blog/design/photoshop-contest-07-round-3-winner-announcement-111.aspx