1 have tested my updated GDI (Gamebook difficulty index) system with a couple of gamebooks and have successfully calculated an (interim) GDI for each book.
The two books tested were:
- Creature of Havoc (A fighting fantasy gamebook); and
- Invitation to a Feast (My first gamebook).
I redid the score for Invitation to a Feast as the first score was calculated using the older (flawed) system.
As Creature of Havoc is a well-known gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series (and is well-known as one of the toughest), I will give the final score calculated, including where the adventure ended each time I read the book, using the GDI system (spoilers ahead).
CREATURE OF HAVOC
1) Lost - Creature controlled
2) Lost - Fell off steps into the Bilgewater
3) Lost - Fell off bridge into the Bilgewater
4) Lost - Fell off steps and crashed into boulder by the Bilgewater
5) Lost - Pushed mine truck over a cliff and into the Bilgewater
6) & 7) Lost - Defeated by Darramouss
8) Lost - Captured in Yellowstone mines
9) Lost - Defeated by Chaos Warriors
10) Lost - Mud Slime
11) & 12) & 13) Lost - Couldn't open metal door (Final exit from dungeon)
14) Lost - Captured by Galleykeep (Tree noose trap)
15) Lost - Defeated by moving trees (Forest of Spiders)
16) Lost - Furnace Trap
17) Lost - Dree: Ambushed in alley
18) Lost - Sunk in muddy swamp
19) & 20) Lost - Captured by old woman in Dree
21) Lost - Pushed into muddy swamp by Toadman
22) Lost - Defeated by Hobgoblins (Galleykeep)
23) Lost - Enslaved by Red Cloak
24) Lost - Defeated by Quimmel Bone (Surgery)
25) & 26) Lost - Defeated by Zombie
27) Lost - Defeated by Hobgoblins (Galleykeep)
28) Lost - Joined Zharradan Marr
29) Victory
EXPLORATION SCORE = 29
1) Lost - Defeated by Dark Elf bowman
2) Lost - Defeated by Warrior & Thief
3) Lost - Defeated by Dark Elf bowmen
4) Victory
GAMEPLAY SCORE = 4
(INTERIM) GDI = 29 + 4 = 33
Recapping my explanation of the interim GDI and final GDI (from a previous post):
Finally, to wrap things up, I made a comment earlier that this score is what I classify as an interim score. The reason being is that I could just as easily test the book again and come up with a different score. What I plan to do is to indeed, test the book again, calculate the GDI and then calculate the average GDI based on the two tests. I will continue to do this until the average GDI varies by less than 1 point between tests. I will then conclude the test and consider the GDI as the final GDI.
Looking at the breakup of this score, what it does show is that Creature of Havoc's famed high degree of difficulty lies almost solely with how well hidden the successful path is. Once the correct path is found, Creature of Havoc is actually a very simple book to complete.
Comparing this to Invitation to a Feast, I came up with the following score: (warning - spoilers ahead)
INVITATION TO A FEAST
1) Lost - Deceived by otter
2) Lost - Invite snatched by Walter Weasel at Noble Items stall
3) Lost - Couldn't open Noble Ranger's gate
4) Lost - Invite snatched by Walter Weasel at Noble Items stall
5) Victory
EXPLORATION SCORE = 5
1) Lost - Invite snatched by Walter Weasel at Noble Items stall
2) Victory
GAMEPLAY SCORE = 2
(INTERIM) GDI = 5 + 2 = 7
I am currently calculating the GDI for my second gamebook, The Wounded Falcon. At this stage, I am content with how the GDI system works and probably won't make any major changes to it now.
Showing posts with label gamebooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gamebooks. Show all posts
Monday, 17 October 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
GDI Rules Revisited
In my previous post, I mentioned (in an update at the bottom of the post) that frequent readings of the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Creature of Havoc exposed a weakness in the GDI system. I have since made some alterations to the GDI rules (including the addition of some rules I forgot to include in the previous post).
The new list of the GDI rules follow below:
THE EXPLORATION SCORE
RULE 1a): As a particular path to success is revealed and expanded upon while reading and re-reading the book, this partially revealed path to success MUST be followed in all subsequent reads.
This is the main change to the previous GDI rule system. The previous rule 1 (now rule 1b) has been superceded by this one.
This rule is best explained by an example. Let us say the correct path to success in a particular gamebook involved reading the following pages:
1 - 24 - 36 - 5 - 17 - 50
If, on the first read, you ended up reading pages 1, 24 and 36 and then went off the path to read pages 11 and 19, for all future reads you must always begin by reading pages 1, 24 and 36. Continuing with the above example, on the second read, once you read page 36, the decision to turn to the correct page (5) or the incorrect page (11) will be decided by the remaining rules that follow below.
As a variation of the above condition, if it is possible to temporarily depart from the true path to explore other pages, without jepordising the following of the revealed path, this may be done, if the remaining rules (listed below) cause this to happen. Using the above scenario again, if, on the second read, you read pages 1 and 24 and temporarily diverted from the true path (page 36) by turning to, say page 33, this is permitted if you eventually end up back at page 36 to continue along the correct path to victory without triggering an event that makes the book impossible to win.
Finally, if there are multiple paths to success (especially paths that are quite separate from each other), you can roll a die to decide which one to follow.
This rule overrides all other rules listed below.
RULE 1b): Each time the gamebook is read, it must be possible to complete the book EVERY time it is read.
This rule overrides all other rules listed below (but can be overruled by rule 1a above). The way it overrides the below rules is that it changes any potential compulsory selection of an incorrect choice to a random die roll between the correct and incorrect choice(s), where it is known that if the selection of a wrong choice is made, it will be impossible to successfully complete the book. (spoiler follows)
Example - In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain", one of the keys needed to open the chest at the end of the game is found early on, in a room, inside a box that contains a small snake. If any of the below rules force you to bypass the room that contains this key, you are to ignore the rule, but instead, roll a die to decide whether you enter the room or not.
RULE 2: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages to turn to, you must always turn to a page that you have not previously read.
Example. You walk along a road and arrive at a junction where you can travel to the east or west. If you travel to the west on your first read, you MUST travel to the east on your second read.
The above rule has two critical exceptions: Rule 1 (both parts - see above), and the below exception.
RULE 2 (exception): If, on a previous read, you have discovered that possessing an item of equipment or event (codeword) is needed to turn to a previously unread page, and you know both:
a) How to get to the page where you gather the item of equipment or codeword; AND
b) You have previously read the page where you cannot proceed to the unread page without having the item or codeword,
You MUST select the page number that will get you first to the item of equipment or codeword.
This is a complex exception and is best illustrated by using an example (spoiler follows):
In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Citadel of Chaos, the villain, Balthus Dire, has a combination lock to get into his war room for the confrontation at the end of the game. Let us say, for example, when reading the book, you discover the combination lock for the first time, but do not have the number for the combination.
Continuing on, in a later read, let us assume you discover the location where the combination is found but do not get to the combination lock at the end.
Because you have discovered both parts of the "solution" to this particular puzzle, for ALL subsequent reads of the book, you must ALWAYS seek out the combination first so that it can be used to unlock the room at the end, because there is an unread page that needs to be read. As long as there are still unread pages to be read after unlocking the door to the war room, this general path (seek the combination first) must be followed on every subsequent read.
If you have multiple examples of the above event, (i.e. You have discovered more than one item/codeword and where it can be used later on in the story), you must roll a die to decide which item/codeword you focus on (unless, of course it is possible for you to follow both).
RULE 3: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages to turn to and there are more than one unread pages to choose from, you must roll a die to choose between them.
This rule was alluded to earlier. Again, it encourages exploration of the entire book. Rule 1 (both parts) and Rule 2 (exception) can override this rule, however.
RULE 4: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages AND all of these pages have been previously read:
a) Select a page that will eventually lead you to an unexplored area
b) If all pages (or none) eventually lead you to an unexplored area, then roll a die to choose the next page
Where possible, all of the above rules can override this rule.
RULE 5: Making choices that do not involve turning to a page.
A typical example of this is choosing a list of items to buy from a store, merchant etc. where all the items are listed on the one page. In this scenario, once again, you roll a die to choose whether to buy an item or not. If you have limited money, then once again, you roll a die to reduce your selection of items to buy. Again, this rule can be overriden, primarily by rule 1 (both parts) or the rule 2 exception.
RULE 6: Avoid the instant failure page
If you reveal a path that leads to certain failure, you are not to follow that path again, if at all possible.
THE GAMEPLAY SCORE
Thankfully, the calculation of this score is very simple. All you have to do is the following:
1) Read the gamebook again as you would normally read the gamebook (i.e. All gamebook mechanics are reinstated).
2) Using the path to victory you discovered when calculating the exploration score, as much as is possible, read the story through to its conclusion.
Expanding upon the phrase in point 2), "as much as is possible", here is a scenario where you may deviate from the pre-determined path to victory.
Example - Let us say, when calculating the exploration score, you followed a path that involved a section when you had to battle a difficult enemy that could have been avoided. If, when reading the book with all gamebook mechanics reinstated, you were defeated by this enemy, you need to consider factors such as (using a Fighting Fantasy themed example):
What was your skill at the beginning of the story?
What was your stamina at the beginning of the story?
This can be up to the reader to determine, but if you had a starting skill of 9, but lost to the difficult enemy, the next time you read the book, and roll a starting skill of, say, 8, this may be a scenario where you choose to deviate from the pre-determined path and find a better one. The process of finding an easier path would be up to the reader to decide. There is no need to follow complex exploration rules like before because we have already calculated the exploration score at this point. Continuing on, if you roll a starting skill of 10, because your chances for success are slightly better than before, you would remain on the same path and battle the difficult enemy. If you lost again, perhaps you would not try that path again unless your starting skill was greater than 10, and so on and so forth.
This is just a small example of how to apply the intent of the principle that lies in the phrase "as much as is possible", in point 2.
So, there are the updated rules. I hope the adjustments make the GDI a strong measuring device for the difficulty level of any gamebook.
Jasan
P.S. Now that the system has changed, I'm going to go back and re-calculate the score for "Invitation to a Feast", amongst other things....
UPDATE
I made a small adjustment, reinstating what is now rule 1b. Previously, I removed it altogether, and then realised that it still served an important (though reduced) purpose.
The new list of the GDI rules follow below:
THE EXPLORATION SCORE
RULE 1a): As a particular path to success is revealed and expanded upon while reading and re-reading the book, this partially revealed path to success MUST be followed in all subsequent reads.
This is the main change to the previous GDI rule system. The previous rule 1 (now rule 1b) has been superceded by this one.
This rule is best explained by an example. Let us say the correct path to success in a particular gamebook involved reading the following pages:
1 - 24 - 36 - 5 - 17 - 50
If, on the first read, you ended up reading pages 1, 24 and 36 and then went off the path to read pages 11 and 19, for all future reads you must always begin by reading pages 1, 24 and 36. Continuing with the above example, on the second read, once you read page 36, the decision to turn to the correct page (5) or the incorrect page (11) will be decided by the remaining rules that follow below.
As a variation of the above condition, if it is possible to temporarily depart from the true path to explore other pages, without jepordising the following of the revealed path, this may be done, if the remaining rules (listed below) cause this to happen. Using the above scenario again, if, on the second read, you read pages 1 and 24 and temporarily diverted from the true path (page 36) by turning to, say page 33, this is permitted if you eventually end up back at page 36 to continue along the correct path to victory without triggering an event that makes the book impossible to win.
Finally, if there are multiple paths to success (especially paths that are quite separate from each other), you can roll a die to decide which one to follow.
This rule overrides all other rules listed below.
RULE 1b): Each time the gamebook is read, it must be possible to complete the book EVERY time it is read.
This rule overrides all other rules listed below (but can be overruled by rule 1a above). The way it overrides the below rules is that it changes any potential compulsory selection of an incorrect choice to a random die roll between the correct and incorrect choice(s), where it is known that if the selection of a wrong choice is made, it will be impossible to successfully complete the book. (spoiler follows)
Example - In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, "The Warlock of Firetop Mountain", one of the keys needed to open the chest at the end of the game is found early on, in a room, inside a box that contains a small snake. If any of the below rules force you to bypass the room that contains this key, you are to ignore the rule, but instead, roll a die to decide whether you enter the room or not.
RULE 2: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages to turn to, you must always turn to a page that you have not previously read.
Example. You walk along a road and arrive at a junction where you can travel to the east or west. If you travel to the west on your first read, you MUST travel to the east on your second read.
The above rule has two critical exceptions: Rule 1 (both parts - see above), and the below exception.
RULE 2 (exception): If, on a previous read, you have discovered that possessing an item of equipment or event (codeword) is needed to turn to a previously unread page, and you know both:
a) How to get to the page where you gather the item of equipment or codeword; AND
b) You have previously read the page where you cannot proceed to the unread page without having the item or codeword,
You MUST select the page number that will get you first to the item of equipment or codeword.
This is a complex exception and is best illustrated by using an example (spoiler follows):
In the Fighting Fantasy gamebook, Citadel of Chaos, the villain, Balthus Dire, has a combination lock to get into his war room for the confrontation at the end of the game. Let us say, for example, when reading the book, you discover the combination lock for the first time, but do not have the number for the combination.
Continuing on, in a later read, let us assume you discover the location where the combination is found but do not get to the combination lock at the end.
Because you have discovered both parts of the "solution" to this particular puzzle, for ALL subsequent reads of the book, you must ALWAYS seek out the combination first so that it can be used to unlock the room at the end, because there is an unread page that needs to be read. As long as there are still unread pages to be read after unlocking the door to the war room, this general path (seek the combination first) must be followed on every subsequent read.
If you have multiple examples of the above event, (i.e. You have discovered more than one item/codeword and where it can be used later on in the story), you must roll a die to decide which item/codeword you focus on (unless, of course it is possible for you to follow both).
RULE 3: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages to turn to and there are more than one unread pages to choose from, you must roll a die to choose between them.
This rule was alluded to earlier. Again, it encourages exploration of the entire book. Rule 1 (both parts) and Rule 2 (exception) can override this rule, however.
RULE 4: When you are asked to make a choice between two or more pages AND all of these pages have been previously read:
a) Select a page that will eventually lead you to an unexplored area
b) If all pages (or none) eventually lead you to an unexplored area, then roll a die to choose the next page
Where possible, all of the above rules can override this rule.
RULE 5: Making choices that do not involve turning to a page.
A typical example of this is choosing a list of items to buy from a store, merchant etc. where all the items are listed on the one page. In this scenario, once again, you roll a die to choose whether to buy an item or not. If you have limited money, then once again, you roll a die to reduce your selection of items to buy. Again, this rule can be overriden, primarily by rule 1 (both parts) or the rule 2 exception.
RULE 6: Avoid the instant failure page
If you reveal a path that leads to certain failure, you are not to follow that path again, if at all possible.
THE GAMEPLAY SCORE
Thankfully, the calculation of this score is very simple. All you have to do is the following:
1) Read the gamebook again as you would normally read the gamebook (i.e. All gamebook mechanics are reinstated).
2) Using the path to victory you discovered when calculating the exploration score, as much as is possible, read the story through to its conclusion.
Expanding upon the phrase in point 2), "as much as is possible", here is a scenario where you may deviate from the pre-determined path to victory.
Example - Let us say, when calculating the exploration score, you followed a path that involved a section when you had to battle a difficult enemy that could have been avoided. If, when reading the book with all gamebook mechanics reinstated, you were defeated by this enemy, you need to consider factors such as (using a Fighting Fantasy themed example):
What was your skill at the beginning of the story?
What was your stamina at the beginning of the story?
This can be up to the reader to determine, but if you had a starting skill of 9, but lost to the difficult enemy, the next time you read the book, and roll a starting skill of, say, 8, this may be a scenario where you choose to deviate from the pre-determined path and find a better one. The process of finding an easier path would be up to the reader to decide. There is no need to follow complex exploration rules like before because we have already calculated the exploration score at this point. Continuing on, if you roll a starting skill of 10, because your chances for success are slightly better than before, you would remain on the same path and battle the difficult enemy. If you lost again, perhaps you would not try that path again unless your starting skill was greater than 10, and so on and so forth.
This is just a small example of how to apply the intent of the principle that lies in the phrase "as much as is possible", in point 2.
So, there are the updated rules. I hope the adjustments make the GDI a strong measuring device for the difficulty level of any gamebook.
Jasan
P.S. Now that the system has changed, I'm going to go back and re-calculate the score for "Invitation to a Feast", amongst other things....
UPDATE
I made a small adjustment, reinstating what is now rule 1b. Previously, I removed it altogether, and then realised that it still served an important (though reduced) purpose.
Monday, 21 March 2011
Choices series - Add-on Adventures
Today I am pleased to announce a major development with regards to my gamebook series, "Choices".
My first book in the series, "The Wounded Falcon" was released on March 17. I have visited various markets over the past two weeks, attempting to garner interest in the series. So far, I am quite pleased with the number of sales.
If you have not read earlier entries on my blog (or on the official Choices website) you may not be aware of the primary gamebook mechanic that the Choices series uses: My new "Hidden Choices" system. I will not explain how it works once again in this entry, but you can read more about how it works in my blog, here or on the Choices website here.
Moving right along, I realised (only recently) that the operation of the "Hidden Choices" mechanic had potential to be used in a manner that I had not originally intended. Once I discovered this, and worked out the mechanics of how it would operate (which turned out to be quite straightforward) I was quite excited.
The instructions for the system are now complete (and work very well), so I can now announce the introduction of:
CHOICES - ADD-ON ADVENTURES
For those of you who are familiar with computer games, you will be aware that many games include things like "bonus missions" or "expansion packs" to continue the game once you have completed the original game. These are normally provided via an internet download. I have created the same system for the Choices series, and ironically, it is the workings of the "Hidden Choices" system that makes these Add-on Adventures work extremely well.
Looking at the first book in the series, "The Wounded Falcon", I am currently writing the first Add-on Adventure for this gamebook. Once complete, I will be placing the story extension on to my Choices website, for free download (as a Doc/PDF file). Without going into the mechanics in detail, the reader will use both the original book and the Add-on adventure together, discovering new areas of the story to explore and (here's the great part) using the add-on Adventure module to alter the outcome of scenes in the ORIGINAL story, without me having to re-write the original story!
The Add-on Adventures will be regularly updated in a manner similar to a downloadable patch to a piece of computer software. The first module: The Wounded Falcon - Add on Adventures - Version 1.0 will be released as soon as it is complete. Over time, I will add extra scenes to the Add-on Adventure and then re-release it as version 1.1 and so forth. Therefore, the adventure will become like a Never-Ending Story (while getting bigger and bigger each time).
I envisage that the first release will be (approximately) 25 sections long. Having the story released in shorter segments will enable me to release them more quickly. Having an expansion adventure taking me a year to write sort of defeats the purpose, time-wise. I may as well write another gamebook, instead.
In a sense, this setup has similarities to the Fabled Lands series, for those of you who are familiar with it, however, I am approaching it from a slightly different perspective.
I plan to utilise this system for each book I write in the Choices series, so the second book in the series, The Lost Diary (which I am also currently writing) will have the same idea - Release the major gamebook first, followed by the Add-On Adventures afterwards.
For those of you who have already bought, or eventually buy "The Wounded Falcon", I encourage you to take advantage of these "Add-On Adventures". They will be free and be downloadable from my Choices website.
Thanks for reading,
Jasan
My first book in the series, "The Wounded Falcon" was released on March 17. I have visited various markets over the past two weeks, attempting to garner interest in the series. So far, I am quite pleased with the number of sales.
If you have not read earlier entries on my blog (or on the official Choices website) you may not be aware of the primary gamebook mechanic that the Choices series uses: My new "Hidden Choices" system. I will not explain how it works once again in this entry, but you can read more about how it works in my blog, here or on the Choices website here.
Moving right along, I realised (only recently) that the operation of the "Hidden Choices" mechanic had potential to be used in a manner that I had not originally intended. Once I discovered this, and worked out the mechanics of how it would operate (which turned out to be quite straightforward) I was quite excited.
The instructions for the system are now complete (and work very well), so I can now announce the introduction of:
CHOICES - ADD-ON ADVENTURES
For those of you who are familiar with computer games, you will be aware that many games include things like "bonus missions" or "expansion packs" to continue the game once you have completed the original game. These are normally provided via an internet download. I have created the same system for the Choices series, and ironically, it is the workings of the "Hidden Choices" system that makes these Add-on Adventures work extremely well.
Looking at the first book in the series, "The Wounded Falcon", I am currently writing the first Add-on Adventure for this gamebook. Once complete, I will be placing the story extension on to my Choices website, for free download (as a Doc/PDF file). Without going into the mechanics in detail, the reader will use both the original book and the Add-on adventure together, discovering new areas of the story to explore and (here's the great part) using the add-on Adventure module to alter the outcome of scenes in the ORIGINAL story, without me having to re-write the original story!
The Add-on Adventures will be regularly updated in a manner similar to a downloadable patch to a piece of computer software. The first module: The Wounded Falcon - Add on Adventures - Version 1.0 will be released as soon as it is complete. Over time, I will add extra scenes to the Add-on Adventure and then re-release it as version 1.1 and so forth. Therefore, the adventure will become like a Never-Ending Story (while getting bigger and bigger each time).
I envisage that the first release will be (approximately) 25 sections long. Having the story released in shorter segments will enable me to release them more quickly. Having an expansion adventure taking me a year to write sort of defeats the purpose, time-wise. I may as well write another gamebook, instead.
In a sense, this setup has similarities to the Fabled Lands series, for those of you who are familiar with it, however, I am approaching it from a slightly different perspective.
I plan to utilise this system for each book I write in the Choices series, so the second book in the series, The Lost Diary (which I am also currently writing) will have the same idea - Release the major gamebook first, followed by the Add-On Adventures afterwards.
For those of you who have already bought, or eventually buy "The Wounded Falcon", I encourage you to take advantage of these "Add-On Adventures". They will be free and be downloadable from my Choices website.
Thanks for reading,
Jasan
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Gamebook Writing 101 - Page numbers (Part 2)
Hello,
Have any of you ever thought about writing an adventure gamebook but don't know where to begin? Writing a gamebook certainly requires some skills not needed when writing an ordinary book.
Today I am continuing my series called "Gamebook Writing 101". My plan is to share some of my experiences and ideas concerning gamebook writing with the hope that these articles are of benefit to you. I also invite discussion (via the commenting section) about each article I write, so we can hear thoughts from other writers as well.
Today, I will continue with the topic I started last week - Page numbers (Part 2) for those of you who have not read Part 1, I advise you to read that article first before starting this one. The link for that article is here:
http://jumpsterhopper.blogspot.com/2010/08/gamebook-writing-101-page-numbers-part.html
OPTION 2 - Random numbers
Repeating my example of last week:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 25.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 17.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 115.
Here, the story begins at page 1. The first choice to turn to is at page 25, the second is page 17 and the third is page 115. The two weaknesses I mentioned with option 1 in my previous article:
- 1) Reader seeing alternative decisions on the same two page spread
- 2) Endings piled at the end of the book
are eliminated. All the page numbers to turn to are far enough away from each other (and from the page the reader is currently on) for weakness 1) to be dealt with. Also, the random allocation of page numbers means that the endings to the story will, naturally, be randomly scattered throughout the book.
Random numbers - How many pages is my book?
Obviously, if you are going to allocate numbers randomly, you need tools to help with the "randomness" aspect. Before you start, however, because you not using the "allocate the next available page number" system, you are going to lose one of its advantages - easy tracking of how many pages long your book is. This forces you to make an early decision: You must decide how many pages (or sections) your gamebook is going to have. This is because when you go through the process of allocating random numbers, you must have an upper and lower range from which to select your next random page number.
As will be illustrated below, you are also going to have to be very accurate with your estimate.
If you decide that your book is going to be 200 pages long, and it turns out that you use your compliment, but the story is still going, you are going to have to readjust your estimate and start allocating a new set of numbers for the remaining pages. Let us say you reach 200 and estimate that it will probably take you another 50 pages to finish. You will now have to randomly allocate the final pages between 201 and 250. This is a reasonable compromise, however, one of the weaknesses of last week's system rears its head again. Quoting from my part 1 article:
As a natural course of events, this option results in the vast majority of the endings being piled together at the end of the book. As a result, the reader will get a reasonable idea when the story is more likely to end, the higher the page numbers become. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you don't want the reader to feel like the story is necessarily about to conclude as they read, this method of page numbering doesn't help the situation.
Even worse, in my opinion, is the other possibility: That you finish your story before you have used up your quota of pages. Let us say, you decide that you are going to have a 200 page story, but you finish it with only 150 pages used. Because you have been allocating random numbers between 1 and 200, but have only used 150 of them, there are going to be "missing page numbers" all over the place, which, on the face of it, appears to be a disaster. Imaging flipping through the pages of the book to find there is a page 1, 2, 3, 4 then a skip to page 6, then 7, then another skip to page 10 etc. It doesn't look good.
So, the above scenarios seem to suggest is it better to underestimate than overestimate the number of pages for your book. Neither, however, are ideal. Something else that could be done to "fix" the problem, however, is available to you. Whether or not you will be able to achieve this, however, depends greatly on your writing ability.
DELIBERATELY OVERESTIMATE YOUR BOOK LENGTH AND THEN INCLUDE "FILLER" SCENES
At some stage, when you are getting close to finishing your story, you should be able to get an idea when you are going to run out of pages or are not going to use them all. Another possibility is to deliberately overestimate how long your book will be and then make a conscious decision to include some "filler scenes" at various stages of the story so that you get closer to your originally overestimated number of pages.
Now, there is a danger that these filler scenes will detract from the quality of the story, if it is obvious that they are filler scenes. Padding out a book for the sake of page numbers is a dangerous business, and if you are wanting to publish it, a would-be publisher may not like what appear to be uneccessary story scenes. For gamebooks, however, you do have an option available to you that normal authors do not have:
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
For those familiar with gamebooks, the "game" element is an important part of a good gamebook so that the reader gets an opportunity to test out the characters game attributes. This should be done on a regular basis, to break up the story into purely "literary" moments to "gameplay" moments. Without going into to much detail about the random encounters themselves (as it is worthy of an article of its own), some examples that you could use are:
1) Random confrontation - Be it a wild animal that crosses the reader's path or an enemy of another sort, you can extend a story by a few pages by including a couple of random confrontations.
2) Random traps - Traps that test the character's attributes or simply cause an outright penalty without testing them are another option. Be imaginative! Recall your days of watching the Indiana Jones movies and think of how many times Indy was confronted with an unexpected trap that he had to overcome.
3) Random treasures/tests - Have the character potentially discover a special item that will help in the story later on. Better still, have the character need to overcome a series of tests to be able to acquire that special item.
4) Be really bold and use a combination of some or all the above to come up with a nice little extended scene that can benefit or harm the character in preparation for the final confrontation at the end of the story.
Just a final point on this, as far as myself is concerned, one of the series that I am writing (Woodland Forest Chronicles) is one that runs along a specific timeline. Each book that I write (indirectly) follows the previous book. I like to include extra scenes in one book that give a small clue as to future events in the land of Woodland Forest in future books, without being necessarily integral to the story being currently read. That is another way I like to extend my stories, if they need extending (although I tend to struggle to keep stories within my limit, rather than fall short, from expereience.)
Anyway, that will probably do for today. In Part 3, I will discuss the tools to use to help with the allocation of random page numbers as well as the third (and final) method on how to allocate page numbers.
Jasan
Have any of you ever thought about writing an adventure gamebook but don't know where to begin? Writing a gamebook certainly requires some skills not needed when writing an ordinary book.
Today I am continuing my series called "Gamebook Writing 101". My plan is to share some of my experiences and ideas concerning gamebook writing with the hope that these articles are of benefit to you. I also invite discussion (via the commenting section) about each article I write, so we can hear thoughts from other writers as well.
Today, I will continue with the topic I started last week - Page numbers (Part 2) for those of you who have not read Part 1, I advise you to read that article first before starting this one. The link for that article is here:
http://jumpsterhopper.blogspot.com/2010/08/gamebook-writing-101-page-numbers-part.html
OPTION 2 - Random numbers
Repeating my example of last week:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 25.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 17.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 115.
Here, the story begins at page 1. The first choice to turn to is at page 25, the second is page 17 and the third is page 115. The two weaknesses I mentioned with option 1 in my previous article:
- 1) Reader seeing alternative decisions on the same two page spread
- 2) Endings piled at the end of the book
are eliminated. All the page numbers to turn to are far enough away from each other (and from the page the reader is currently on) for weakness 1) to be dealt with. Also, the random allocation of page numbers means that the endings to the story will, naturally, be randomly scattered throughout the book.
Random numbers - How many pages is my book?
Obviously, if you are going to allocate numbers randomly, you need tools to help with the "randomness" aspect. Before you start, however, because you not using the "allocate the next available page number" system, you are going to lose one of its advantages - easy tracking of how many pages long your book is. This forces you to make an early decision: You must decide how many pages (or sections) your gamebook is going to have. This is because when you go through the process of allocating random numbers, you must have an upper and lower range from which to select your next random page number.
As will be illustrated below, you are also going to have to be very accurate with your estimate.
If you decide that your book is going to be 200 pages long, and it turns out that you use your compliment, but the story is still going, you are going to have to readjust your estimate and start allocating a new set of numbers for the remaining pages. Let us say you reach 200 and estimate that it will probably take you another 50 pages to finish. You will now have to randomly allocate the final pages between 201 and 250. This is a reasonable compromise, however, one of the weaknesses of last week's system rears its head again. Quoting from my part 1 article:
As a natural course of events, this option results in the vast majority of the endings being piled together at the end of the book. As a result, the reader will get a reasonable idea when the story is more likely to end, the higher the page numbers become. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you don't want the reader to feel like the story is necessarily about to conclude as they read, this method of page numbering doesn't help the situation.
Even worse, in my opinion, is the other possibility: That you finish your story before you have used up your quota of pages. Let us say, you decide that you are going to have a 200 page story, but you finish it with only 150 pages used. Because you have been allocating random numbers between 1 and 200, but have only used 150 of them, there are going to be "missing page numbers" all over the place, which, on the face of it, appears to be a disaster. Imaging flipping through the pages of the book to find there is a page 1, 2, 3, 4 then a skip to page 6, then 7, then another skip to page 10 etc. It doesn't look good.
So, the above scenarios seem to suggest is it better to underestimate than overestimate the number of pages for your book. Neither, however, are ideal. Something else that could be done to "fix" the problem, however, is available to you. Whether or not you will be able to achieve this, however, depends greatly on your writing ability.
DELIBERATELY OVERESTIMATE YOUR BOOK LENGTH AND THEN INCLUDE "FILLER" SCENES
At some stage, when you are getting close to finishing your story, you should be able to get an idea when you are going to run out of pages or are not going to use them all. Another possibility is to deliberately overestimate how long your book will be and then make a conscious decision to include some "filler scenes" at various stages of the story so that you get closer to your originally overestimated number of pages.
Now, there is a danger that these filler scenes will detract from the quality of the story, if it is obvious that they are filler scenes. Padding out a book for the sake of page numbers is a dangerous business, and if you are wanting to publish it, a would-be publisher may not like what appear to be uneccessary story scenes. For gamebooks, however, you do have an option available to you that normal authors do not have:
RANDOM ENCOUNTERS
For those familiar with gamebooks, the "game" element is an important part of a good gamebook so that the reader gets an opportunity to test out the characters game attributes. This should be done on a regular basis, to break up the story into purely "literary" moments to "gameplay" moments. Without going into to much detail about the random encounters themselves (as it is worthy of an article of its own), some examples that you could use are:
1) Random confrontation - Be it a wild animal that crosses the reader's path or an enemy of another sort, you can extend a story by a few pages by including a couple of random confrontations.
2) Random traps - Traps that test the character's attributes or simply cause an outright penalty without testing them are another option. Be imaginative! Recall your days of watching the Indiana Jones movies and think of how many times Indy was confronted with an unexpected trap that he had to overcome.
3) Random treasures/tests - Have the character potentially discover a special item that will help in the story later on. Better still, have the character need to overcome a series of tests to be able to acquire that special item.
4) Be really bold and use a combination of some or all the above to come up with a nice little extended scene that can benefit or harm the character in preparation for the final confrontation at the end of the story.
Just a final point on this, as far as myself is concerned, one of the series that I am writing (Woodland Forest Chronicles) is one that runs along a specific timeline. Each book that I write (indirectly) follows the previous book. I like to include extra scenes in one book that give a small clue as to future events in the land of Woodland Forest in future books, without being necessarily integral to the story being currently read. That is another way I like to extend my stories, if they need extending (although I tend to struggle to keep stories within my limit, rather than fall short, from expereience.)
Anyway, that will probably do for today. In Part 3, I will discuss the tools to use to help with the allocation of random page numbers as well as the third (and final) method on how to allocate page numbers.
Jasan
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Gamebook Writing 101 - Page numbers (Part 1)
Hello,
Have any of you ever thought about writing an adventure gamebook but don't know where to begin? Writing a gamebook certainly requires some skills not needed when writing an ordinary book.
Today I am beginning a series called "Gamebook Writing 101". My plan is to share some of my experiences and ideas concerning gamebook writing with the hope that these articles are of benefit to you. I also invite discussion (via the commenting section) about each article I write, so we can hear thoughts from other writers as well.
Today, I will begin with the most obvious difference between regular books and gamebooks - The page numbers.
Tip 1 - Don't try to write an epic on your first try
The first serious gamebook I wrote was when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. It was a 100 section story, called "City of Bakhad", that I wrote in a standard exercise book. Even though the story had about 100 sections they only took about 10 pages of the exercise book, as each section was usually only 3 or 4 lines long, on average. (I did write small, though, and still do!)
My suggestion for new writers would be to write a small adventure of about 50 sections for a first attempt. The "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, popular in the 1980s were usually stories of about 110 pages (sections) most of the time. So starting out with an adventure about half the size is a good starting point, I feel.
Tip 2 - How to make use of page numbers
Now, the basic mechanic of a gamebook comes into play when the reader is required to make a decision about what to do next. The reader will be presented with 2 or more options and will turn to a particular page based on the decision the reader decides to make. For example:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 25.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 17.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 115.
OPTION 1 - Use the next available page number.
The simplest option, when writing, is to use the next page number available to you. Using the above example again:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 2.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 3.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 4.
As you can see, the story begins at page 1. At the first request of the reader to make a decision, I have allocated the next available number, page 2, to the first choice, page 3 for the second choice and page 4 for the third choice.
I would then write page 2. If I gave the reader two choices at the end of page 2, I would allocate the first choice to the next available number; page 5 and the second choice to page 6.
ADVANTAGES OF OPTION 1
* You know how many pages long your story currently is, without having to count the pages.
* As the page distribution occurs in an orderly fashion, it is very easy to track the multiple story paths as they begin to branch out, without much effort and complex record keeping.
DISADVANTAGES OF OPTION 1
* When the reader makes a decision and turns to a page, they will often see one of their alternative decisions on the same two page spread. This can be distracting for the reader if they are trying not to see the choice they didn't make. Having it on the same page as the other choice causes this distraction. If one of those pages happens to be a conclusion to the story (or a bad event), they can easily see it and know for next time to choose (or not to choose) it. This can spoil the excitement for the next read. Admittedly, a lot of readers will "cheat" anyway, by looking at alternative choices, if they come across an unpleasant ending or event, but to those who don't, they don't want the story "spoiled" by seeing options they did not choose.
* As a natural course of events, this option results in the vast majority of the endings being piled together at the end of the book. As a result, the reader will get a reasonable idea when the story is more likely to end, the higher the page numbers become. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you don't want the reader to feel like the story is necessarily about to conclude as they read, this method of page numbering doesn't help the situation.
That's all for now,
I will continue with Part 2 of Page Numbering in a following article.
Jasan
Have any of you ever thought about writing an adventure gamebook but don't know where to begin? Writing a gamebook certainly requires some skills not needed when writing an ordinary book.
Today I am beginning a series called "Gamebook Writing 101". My plan is to share some of my experiences and ideas concerning gamebook writing with the hope that these articles are of benefit to you. I also invite discussion (via the commenting section) about each article I write, so we can hear thoughts from other writers as well.
Today, I will begin with the most obvious difference between regular books and gamebooks - The page numbers.
Tip 1 - Don't try to write an epic on your first try
The first serious gamebook I wrote was when I was about twelve or thirteen years old. It was a 100 section story, called "City of Bakhad", that I wrote in a standard exercise book. Even though the story had about 100 sections they only took about 10 pages of the exercise book, as each section was usually only 3 or 4 lines long, on average. (I did write small, though, and still do!)
My suggestion for new writers would be to write a small adventure of about 50 sections for a first attempt. The "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, popular in the 1980s were usually stories of about 110 pages (sections) most of the time. So starting out with an adventure about half the size is a good starting point, I feel.
Tip 2 - How to make use of page numbers
Now, the basic mechanic of a gamebook comes into play when the reader is required to make a decision about what to do next. The reader will be presented with 2 or more options and will turn to a particular page based on the decision the reader decides to make. For example:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 25.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 17.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 115.
OPTION 1 - Use the next available page number.
The simplest option, when writing, is to use the next page number available to you. Using the above example again:
Page 1
You continue walking north along the path until you arrive at a crossroads. The north path continues across the open plain. The path to the east appears to head towards a small forest nearby. The path to the west heads towards a large lake, some distance away.
If you wish to continue north across the plain, turn to page 2.
If you wish to turn to the east, towards the forest, turn to page 3.
If you wish to go west, in the direction of the lake, turn to page 4.
As you can see, the story begins at page 1. At the first request of the reader to make a decision, I have allocated the next available number, page 2, to the first choice, page 3 for the second choice and page 4 for the third choice.
I would then write page 2. If I gave the reader two choices at the end of page 2, I would allocate the first choice to the next available number; page 5 and the second choice to page 6.
ADVANTAGES OF OPTION 1
* You know how many pages long your story currently is, without having to count the pages.
* As the page distribution occurs in an orderly fashion, it is very easy to track the multiple story paths as they begin to branch out, without much effort and complex record keeping.
DISADVANTAGES OF OPTION 1
* When the reader makes a decision and turns to a page, they will often see one of their alternative decisions on the same two page spread. This can be distracting for the reader if they are trying not to see the choice they didn't make. Having it on the same page as the other choice causes this distraction. If one of those pages happens to be a conclusion to the story (or a bad event), they can easily see it and know for next time to choose (or not to choose) it. This can spoil the excitement for the next read. Admittedly, a lot of readers will "cheat" anyway, by looking at alternative choices, if they come across an unpleasant ending or event, but to those who don't, they don't want the story "spoiled" by seeing options they did not choose.
* As a natural course of events, this option results in the vast majority of the endings being piled together at the end of the book. As a result, the reader will get a reasonable idea when the story is more likely to end, the higher the page numbers become. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but if you don't want the reader to feel like the story is necessarily about to conclude as they read, this method of page numbering doesn't help the situation.
That's all for now,
I will continue with Part 2 of Page Numbering in a following article.
Jasan
Thursday, 29 July 2010
In conversation with a new publisher!
Hello,
Things have changed since my last post - A great many things.
My original plan to self-publish the first book in my "Choices" series, "The Wounded Falcon", is no more. I am currently in conversation with a new publisher, who wants me to write some more titles (2) to go along with "The Wounded Falcon", with the view of potentially publishing them all.
The two other titles that I am writing are books 2 and 3 (a duology) in the Woodland Forest Chronicles series:
- Journey to Mount Darkness
- The Re-lighting of Mount Darkness
As a result, my planned release month of August for "The Wounded Falcon" is suspended, pending further developments. My apologies to those who were keenly awaiting it next month. It will still be released, but now, at a later date.
The publisher is Wombat Books, based in Queensland. Their site is http://www.wombatbooks.com.au/ You can have a look at their site to see what other books they offer. My thanks to the Director of Wombat Books, Rochelle Manners, for this opportunity.
As things develop, I will provide you all with more information.
Regards
Jasan
Things have changed since my last post - A great many things.
My original plan to self-publish the first book in my "Choices" series, "The Wounded Falcon", is no more. I am currently in conversation with a new publisher, who wants me to write some more titles (2) to go along with "The Wounded Falcon", with the view of potentially publishing them all.
The two other titles that I am writing are books 2 and 3 (a duology) in the Woodland Forest Chronicles series:
- Journey to Mount Darkness
- The Re-lighting of Mount Darkness
As a result, my planned release month of August for "The Wounded Falcon" is suspended, pending further developments. My apologies to those who were keenly awaiting it next month. It will still be released, but now, at a later date.
The publisher is Wombat Books, based in Queensland. Their site is http://www.wombatbooks.com.au/ You can have a look at their site to see what other books they offer. My thanks to the Director of Wombat Books, Rochelle Manners, for this opportunity.
As things develop, I will provide you all with more information.
Regards
Jasan
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