Santo

[Release] The Mind-Tech Contingency

Recommended Posts

Alright, let's do this.

 

I've written and sketched game ideas since I was a kid, but I haven't finished/published anything, ever, so thank you to the peeps who organized this jam. It's great.

 

Anywayss. Gamez! I'm gonna do something that's foolproof, so that I can actually do it. So I'll be making a Twine game with no graphics but with plenty of audio, about the player finding a human-like AI in their computer, interacting with it and eventually, perhaps, choosing or not to help it.

 

I've made a linear sketch of it already, and a couple of friends who read it really like it, so now it's time to loose my sanity over branching, for a couple of days, and then recording the voice of the AI, which I'll make with a synthetic voice online software. 

 

I don't really know how to implement audio in twine, but I read it's possible, and the chill thing is that I'll finish the text-only version and then make the audio version, so if it doesn't work I can always just upload the text-only thing. The story is the most important thing, after all.

 

So yeah, I hope to not epic fail, since I have a few other things in my head right now, but I'll keep you posted on this train wreck of a dev process.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I will say right now that you should work with Twine 1.4.2 and not Twine 2.0.4 since a vast majority of tutorials and scripting macros you'll be able to find will be for Twine 1.4.2. I started my project in Twine 2 only to discover that it handles stylesheets and scripting in a completely different way from Twine 1.4.2 which made most of the tutorials I found irrelevant.

 

Also, of all the scripting stuff I've had to learn (including setting timers and setting tagged style sheets) audio is still the thing that I can't quite figure out. It's definitely doable in Twine but it's tough. I'd make a test game and start monkeying around with the audio implementation concurrently with writing your main game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, definitely recommend desktop Twine over the online version if you can use it. I'm not sure if online Twine doesn't support multiple stylesheets or things like disabling the use of the back button to undo choices or if I just haven't found these yet. It's definitely not as intuitive as the desktop version for anything more complicated than linking passages together though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wo--I thought this thing would email me when someone replied.

 

Thanks for the tips, I was using the desktop version but I hadn't considered the older version thing. Good to know. I don't want to ask whether the older version accepts Twine 2 projects though.... *scared face*

 

Patrick, that's a shame to hear that the audio implementation is a pain. I figured it would've been figured out for us already, and I thought what I wanted to do was simple enough. I just need to start an audio clip after clicking on an option, and then having the next text appear after it finishes. I guess, though, you where trying something along those lines as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you're using the desktiop version, you are using 1.4.2, i.e. old Twine. 2.0.4 is the online version.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Wo--I thought this thing would email me when someone replied.

 

Thanks for the tips, I was using the desktop version but I hadn't considered the older version thing. Good to know. I don't want to ask whether the older version accepts Twine 2 projects though.... *scared face*

 

Patrick, that's a shame to hear that the audio implementation is a pain. I figured it would've been figured out for us already, and I thought what I wanted to do was simple enough. I just need to start an audio clip after clicking on an option, and then having the next text appear after it finishes. I guess, though, you where trying something along those lines as well.

 

That will require two things: one script to play the sound, one script to time it out until it ends,

 

Sound is definitely doable it just takes a little monkeying around to make sure your sound files are in the right place and everything is timed out correctly.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If you're using the desktiop version, you are using 1.4.2, i.e. old Twine. 2.0.4 is the online version.

 

Not true! There's a download of Twine 2.0.4. It still runs in your browser, though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've pretty much settled on continuing with Twine 2 as text only, since I'd done quite a bit in it already, and then I'll be at the mercy of the universe, once I want to do audio. I downloaded Tyranobuilder, and I think it could work out with that. I'd have to import all the text manually, but it'd be worth it if it means I can easily do the audio thing.

 

But for now, look at these beautiful graphics I'm working on!

 

0PV2Ibq.png

I'm so pleased with unreal engine 4.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There is a template in TyranoBuilder called "SoundNovel". The only difference I saw in my short attempt to find out what it was is that the text does not refresh unless you explicitly instruct it to with a pageBreak and the text-box is much larger by default. So lines stack on the screen and remain until a pageBreak is used. 

I tried using audio-files in it and it works great. You have two types of sound files (two windows in which to import them), sound-effects, and music-tracks. It looks like not only can you play sound-effects over the music tracks on certain lines, but you can also play multiple music-tracks over each other. I did not spend the time testing the limits.

I did notice on a visual novel I made earlier that the webBuild seems to remove the music-track when played on tablets or phones (assumably  for optimisation purposes). I also don't think it will wait until the entire track is downloaded in order to start, so if their connection is slow, you could end up with the music coming in much later than you intended. This doesn't seem to be as big of a deal with sound-effects. 

Of course you can avoid all of these problems by making a desktop-build that the player downloads before hand. But in my personal experience, WAY more people are willing to play something in their browser than download a zip and extract it. Also, there is no option to export to linux.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There is a template in TyranoBuilder called "SoundNovel". The only difference I saw in my short attempt to find out what it was is that the text does not refresh unless you explicitly instruct it to with a pageBreak and the text-box is much larger by default. So lines stack on the screen and remain until a pageBreak is used. 

 

Great to know. Thanks for the tip and the info.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Once again, thank you to the people who made this possible. It was a great idea, and I'm reading great things from those of you who participated. I can't wait to play all of your crazy games! :3

 

Personally, I could be happier with my performance, but I have to accept that I have some big time-management issues, so it takes me a bit more to get there than to other people.

 

But! That doesn't matter right now, because I have an actual twine story, that I'm actually proud of, and, wait for it, it's on my motherfucking itchio page!!! Before, there was nothing, and now there's something I'm happy to recommend to friends. This is big for me!

 

http://santosuke.itch.io/ (Look at that bare-bones hotness!)

 

post-35135-0-20210600-1430134504_thumb.png

 

ABOUT THE GAME:

 

I actually don't want to say much more than what you see. It's a short interactive text; it's about finding a file in your computer and opening it. Beyond that, be yourself.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not played this yet as I'm at work, but that cover image is strong.

thanks, I made it rushedly around the time of the deadline and later thought 'hm, I actually like this, how??'

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this is a really cool idea for a story. Playing it I found I was personally much less skeptical than my character was at the start, I wonder what you could do to get me in the mind of a skeptic though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I enjoyed the shift of tone in this. Didn't get to replay, but I did feel that the game branched somewhat from my choices. And I really felt the voice of Steve Jobs/Gaynor.... Jaynor, Gabs, Jobnor... Anyways, I liked the incredulity of the phrases I could pick, it was fun and playful when it should've been and serious and bewildered when necessary.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think this is a really cool idea for a story. Playing it I found I was personally much less skeptical than my character was at the start, I wonder what you could do to get me in the mind of a skeptic though.

Interesting. Do you think it could be because you know it's a gamey thing and you're willing to play along? In the story you just find some file in your computer and it starts talking like a robot and seems to kind of understand what you say sometimes, but the technology for that is here with siri etc., so I feel the last thing you'd believe is that it's an advanced AI or a digitized person.

Edit: after going through it again I can see I may have turned up the skepticism too much. I still feel it's a stretch though, that you'd think it's something more than a game or simulation.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I enjoyed the shift of tone in this. Didn't get to replay, but I did feel that the game branched somewhat from my choices. And I really felt the voice of Steve Jobs/Gaynor.... Jaynor, Gabs, Jobnor... Anyways, I liked the incredulity of the phrases I could pick, it was fun and playful when it should've been and serious and bewildered when necessary.

Thanks man :D music to my earholes. I like that you found some Gaynor in there.

I wanted to make it even branchier, but didn't have time in the end. I will if I continue the story or remix this one with voice/visuals.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting. Do you think it could be because you know it's a gamey thing and you're willing to play along?

 

Yeah this is definitely the reason, I see no reason to question the world someone creates in their game, I'm inherently not skeptical. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am willing to assume that a game world is presenting a far more than the mundane I deal with day-to-day. But I went into it role playing as the player character. And there were times that I felt like I was being conned, so I went with a sceptical answer. I'm glad that you offered that scepticism throughout.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[Note - the following was written after I chose to shut the program and move on with my life, about ten or twelve branches deep]

 

Games like this depress me. I like to think of myself as a fairly even-handed gent who's always willing to give people a fair shot. Then you put me in a game where a purported AI or innocent trapped at the end of a terminal begs me for assistance and almost without fail I make a sarcastic comment and shut the program down. I blame Monkey Island.

 

I can't imagine how hard it is to write a compelling hook for this type of story game - I mean, it's basically a Spanish Prisoner-type situation, and modern adults are - I'd guess - thoroughly inoculated against internet strangers who offer vast future riches in exchange for some kind of immediate help. Republique manages to make that initial sell, but that's a AA budget project.

 

That said, maybe it is a Spanish Prisoner situation, in-game...! That'd be good. =) Shall play on...

 

[Just played through to an ending]

 

Hmm. That was fun, but I didn't really... get into the situation, if y'feel me. Perhaps if you wrote this in third person, you might lose the supposed connection to the player, but you could give the character responding to Steve some stronger motivations to stay in contact. Give her a load of debt, have her disowned by family and lonely, some kind of simple, fast reason why she'd pay attention to a voice coming from her machine. Perhaps she's interacting with it as part of the Mechanical Turk program -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Mechanical_Turk . That takes it a step closer to modern AI development, adds an element of dramatic irony...

 

Still and all - nicely written, enjoyed playing it!

 

 --Rev

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Still and all - nicely written, enjoyed playing it!

--Rev

Woot. That feels like getting a review for the first time. Thanks for being thorough and constructive, you heartless monster who'd kill a virtual life without hesitation.

I like how I'm getting to hear of different people having different experiences with it. I think if I had to fix my failure in making you more enthralled by it, I'd simply try to make the conversation more interesting in some way. I like that the main character is the player, in this case, but maybe I'm just wrongly attached to the concept. Dunno.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, I guess you'd say I'm jaded, specifically with stories that lead with "this life depends on YOUR CHOICE" - thinking about it, it's a little like being assaulted by a particularly insistent charity hugger. The cause may be incredibly worthy, but I find the approach intrusive and offputting.

 

Obviously a) this is all personal point of view and 2) I'm a terrible person.

 

If I may offer an example of this sort of story that I felt was effective? (Skip the following if I'm being too intrusive and offputting, I'll understand. =))

 

http://scoutshonour.com/digital/ - Christine Love is doing (SPOILER)

 

...

 

(SPOILER) a similar sort of story to yours, but she leads with young love, a nostalgia for obsolete technology and a second-person glimpse into a young person's life. You're not the protagonist, but you only learn about the protagonist through his/her actions and correspondence. Obviously this was a project that took a lot of time, so probably not a great example against a gamejam project, but a good example of burying the lead, in a good way.

 

That's the indirect approach.

 

If you really want to go direct... hmm. You could... threaten the player, maybe? It's high stakes, might bring the wrong kind of heat down on you, but you could get their attention. Back in the days when computers had internal speakers, I used to think it'd be fun for a game to claim that the villain had planted a bomb in the case and 'prove' it by making the desktop 'beep'. Obviously, I was a KID when I thought of this, and it's a super-extreme idea, but providing stakes for the player in this situation could be useful. I think Omikron does something similar.

 

Or you could lead with honey, and have the AI grok the situation quickly and begin to coerce the player. It offers resources and money to the player while at the same time implying that even having spoken with the AI marks the player as a threat to the United States (or wherever) and that it's in both of your interests to stay quiet... Basic espionage gangplank recruitment stuff. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

I grant you that this might fall under intrusive and offputting (charity hugger following you and threatening to make a scene if you don't sign), but at least if your player quits your game at this point it counts as an act of defiance. =D

 

Welp.

 

Welp, that was way more than you wanted or I expected to write. =)

 

I'll step back here and stuff my half-formed opinions back into my head. Wouldn't mind seeing another version or two, though...!

 

 --Rev

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Welp, that was way more than you wanted or I expected to write. =)

 

I'll step back here and stuff my half-formed opinions back into my head. Wouldn't mind seeing another version or two, though...!

 

 --Rev

 

Dude, this is gorgeous candy for me. I love it and would read a book of that. Having conversation happen around something I make, instead of it falling into the void of forgotten internet is what I live for. Also, you're insightful and all that good stuff.

 

I think you make a good point with the higher stakes thing. I guess my thought was that for this short story it would be enough of a draw having a conversation with this intelligent thing, which you'd wonder what is up with and all that. Perhaps a lot was lost when I skimmed the interactivity, as I think it'd make the player more involved, having the AI react more directly to their input. Not a very direct solution to the point you raise, but I think it'd make the player more involved.

 

Now that I think about it, there's higher stakes going on in the potential continuation of the story, so I guess I was just starting mild, simply chronicling this first conversation where Steve comes to terms with his current state and the player wonders what the well.

 

I guess besides making bad writer excuses, my point is, I always say 'it's not what you do, is how you do it', therefor I think if you gave this concept to an amazing writer they'd make something amazing with it. So that's why I'm reticent to blame it on the concept instead of simply my ability to make it work as is. But I guess in practical terms, a reasonable thought would be 'if you can't make this concept interesting enough, then spice it up with some heavier happenings because you don't yet have the ability to make the mundane interesting enough'. Which hey, no big deal, it's the first twine I write.

 

I feel maybe I'm not doing justice to your insights by just looking for justifications. I guess I'm also an overwriter so I'm just sharing my thoughts. In any case, thanks for sharing your opinions!

 

Do you write about gamez btw?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Santo! Sorry about the delay - I can be slow to respond at times!

 

Glad you liked the text wall - feedback's an odd thing, for dev and player and I'm happy you think this is useful and on-point.

 

Point taken on the interactivity - players always like to feel they're having an effect. If you didn't have the time pressure of the jam, what interactions would you have worked on?

 

Regards higher stakes in the potential continuation of the story, that's a fair point, but the problem is that you can't guarantee that the player's going to venture far enough into your story to get hooked. My feeling is that you have to set that hook fast - find a twist on the suddenly-aware AI story and get in front of the player asap.

 

(A quick follow-up on the earlier suggestion about a threat to the US, etc - you could instead maybe have the player working for the company, have the AI offer advancement within the corporate structure while reminding you of the NDAs you signed, that you're violating by having this conversation. Another carrot and stick, basically)

 

Agree with you TOTALLY on the  'it's not what you do, is how you do it' point! Execution is the key. There's not one original idea on the planet - but maybe you can find an original twist, or way to deliver it. Dude, I've never touched Twine, I have no idea how it works and I think you did an excellent job with your first project. =)

 

I do not write about games, I'm afraid... but I think about 'em a lot. A friend put it rather tactfully recently, calling me a "long-time observer of the industry". =D

 

I look forward to your next project, man!

 

--Rev

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites