At the Cabin

Discussion in 'Story Feedback' started by johnhoftb, Sep 20, 2014.

  1. DarkFriday1408

    DarkFriday1408 Experienced CHYOA Backer

    Personally i think that would be a good pairing and i'm also interested in their dynamic. The only problem that i can see is the fact that for the thread started by boomer97 that would be more easy to do, for now, due to the events from the Rivera cabin , but maybe in your thread they can reconnect and understand each other better while at the cabin. I also have a question, how come there aren't endgame pairings between Zack and Chloe? I can understand that a pairing between Gavin and Chloe isn't exactly normal due to the fact that Chloe and Zack know each other for longer and better and i imagine due to the fact that Gavin sees Chloe as a sister and i think he doesn't make a move on Chloe due to the fact that he thinks that Zack will get mad at him or just because he thinks that it would be weird for him to be with her before Zack or before Zack and Chloe atleast try to have a realtionship. Also on a personal note i prefer a Gavin/Heather or Gavin/Taylor endgame pairing. I haven't really decide yet which one i like better :D
     
    Duskford likes this.
  2. Yarkoz

    Yarkoz Really Really Experienced

    I always thought that that was a definite possibility. After her and Zack sleep together in the Rivera's cabin in your main thread Duskford, the option makes good sense there, and in Boomer's threads, it would serve as a bridge to reconnect Lisa with the main group.

    Slightly related, Heather and Lisa are oddly alike in interesting ways to me, and given their similarities I'm surprised they're not closer friends. I can't remember how you have it in "Azure Rocks" Duskford, but I think you have them interacting more in that story?

    Johnhoftb did Zack/Chloe pairings early on, and they turned out very nicely. They started from Duskford's beginning here.
     
    Zingiber, DarkFriday1408 and Duskford like this.
  3. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    Thanks for the quick answers, guys! Yes, I agree their dynamic is a very interesting one, those spots both of you mentioned being good ways to establish the pairing. But DarkFriday1408, I don't think the point boomer97 stopped on his thread would be a good spot for it, since it'd look like that Zack only went for Lisa because his thing with Victoria crashed in a bad way; I think it'd work better if Zack actively chose Lisa over Victoria, more or less like I was doing in my alternate (Vicky passes out, Zack reconnects with Lisa and things progress from there).

    In that sense, the thought of Zack/Lisa also popped up in my head when I was thinking which girls could believably make Zack fully move on past Victoria and start dating one of them all in a week-long trip; the conclusion I reached was Chloe, Lisa and Hannah. Zack/Chloe is an explosive love story just waiting to blow up. With Lisa, Zack already has some leftover feelings and he enjoyed dating her, it's a case of the right circumstances happening. As for Hannah, Zack absolutely worships her, and even if tells himself that he replaced his crush on her for the one on Vicky, he still has strong feelings for her, the first girl he actually liked. With Heather and Ashley, while I think he could have something with one of them by the end of the trip, it'd take some time after the break for him to fully forget Victoria and cement the new relationship (and let's not forget that it wouldn't be believable for Ashley to break up with Brandon and get a new boyfriend all in the same week).

    Yarkoz, you're right that Lisa and Heather are alike, although I think Lisa could be considered a quieter version of Heather, since she doesn't actively pursue boys and isn't so much active in the school scene as Heather is. The set up for Azure Rocks Chronicles is slightly the same as At the Cabin's, Lisa was a part of Zack's half of the gang (the others being Chloe and Gavin), and she's very good friends with Madison, but doesn't have contact with the other cheerleaders (this on Azure Rocks Chronicles). On At the Cabin, she was starting to become friends with the other girls as well when she and Zack broke up.

    DarkFriday1408, Zack/Chloe is a pairing that makes a LOT of sense, but it's also a really difficult one to write, a least in my opinion. I tried a few times to develop a storyline for them, but it didn't evolve past the planning stages. As Yarkoz told you, johnhoftb had some really good threads featuring Zack/Chloe; manmanzane also did a good job with them.
     
    Yarkoz and DarkFriday1408 like this.
  4. Zingiber

    Zingiber Really Really Experienced

    Rich, popular, confident, fun-loving girl vs. middle/working class, not-so-popular, intense girl? I thought of them as pretty different, especially in how they relate to possible boyfriend interests.
     
    Yarkoz and Duskford like this.
  5. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    I imagine it'd be a case of them either being very good friends or bitter rivals. Heather isn't the bully kind of popular, so there never was a reason for them to clash against each other. Maybe there would be if Heather took an interest in Zack while he was with Lisa.
     
    Yarkoz and Zingiber like this.
  6. Yarkoz

    Yarkoz Really Really Experienced

    I was thinking that they, despite their differing socioeconomic classes and popularity statuses, have a major thing in common -- they're both daughters of powerful and famous men and, at least in Heather's case, are expected to pick up their mantle in some way after they've gone from public view. Lisa is more ambiguous in that regard, though I can see that just by virtue of being Carlos's daughter people will assume she'll be involved in police work or social work or something similar. Social pressures, particularly on young women, are often bottomless sources of commiseration, and that's where I'm coming from. And histories with Zack, in the right context, I can think can only draw them together.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  7. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    In my head canon, Carlos gets promoted to captain of the ARPD a few years down the line and Lisa eventually becomes one as well in the future.

    EDIT: Turned on the new conditions and variables feature for At the Cabin, if anyone wants to give it a shot, feel free to do so.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2016
    Yarkoz likes this.
  8. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    So, here's the new thread I said I'd start writing: https://chyoa.com/chapter/[ALT-]-Yet-another-alternate-beginning.235859

    It starts as a rewrite of a chain of threads I posted a while ago, that one where Zack and Vicky win a game of chicken and then he rubs sunscreen on Heather, I altered a few parts of it. It'll also feature a lot of new versions of moments from my old main thread, such as the scene behind the waterfall and Kurt taking pictures of Chloe, but most of it will be new. It had to start as an alternate because I changed the trip's duration to only a week and changed a few details as well, like Brandon and Ashley dating for a year instead of two, and Zack and Ashley being friends for a longer time (similar to how it is on Azure Rocks Chronicles).

    I'll be writing this along with a Lisa storyline on Azure Rocks Chronicles, hope everyone likes it!
     
  9. Zingiber

    Zingiber Really Really Experienced

    Maybe you want to drop your note (or a briefer one) as a comment to the alternate beginning thread? "Alternate beginning: shorter trip, shorter history for Brandon/Ashley, longer for Ashley/Zack like Azure Rocks Chronicles"
     
    Duskford likes this.
  10. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    Oh yes, thanks for the reminder, Zingiber. I was going to, but ended up forgetting about it.
     
  11. henrytemp

    henrytemp Really Experienced CHYOA Backer

    I've been trying to find a faq on the game/scoring system but haven't had much luck. I'm interested in trying to do one but had a question- so using the scoring system and thread linking would it be possible to have a thread link to two options, say 1. Zack flirts with Heather 2. Zack reassures Chloe, each option gaining him points with the person mentioned, then have both options link back to the same generic thread, say "They head down to the lake" and keep the points intact?

    EDIT: I suppose I could test this out, but for a game seems to make more sense to go linear rather than having long divergent threads. And of course at some point you would have to have so many points for certain options to appear
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
    Duskford likes this.
  12. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    I've turned on the option for conditions and variables, but I only posted one thread to see how it worked. I read sometime ago that linking wasn't working in game mode, but maybe that isn't the case anymore.
     
  13. Javalar

    Javalar Really Experienced

    Linking definitely works. My "Happy Maid" story is full of internal links. I am trying to keep a core plot, so everytime there is a diversion, I link back to one of the other chapters after a while. Seems to work perfectly so far.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  14. Javalar

    Javalar Really Experienced

    Yes, this works. What you basically create is the following:

    chapter A
    linking to chapter B ("Heather") and
    linking to chapter C ("Chloe")

    chapter B ("Heather") then grants you "Heather: 2 points"
    it ends with "They head to the lake", which leads to chapter D, where the story continues

    chapter C ("Chloe") grants you "Chloe: 2 points"
    it ends with "They head to the lake", which has to lead to a new chapter E (you can't link via answers)
    chapter E then is linked by you to chapter D. For the reader, chosing E will immediatly get him to D.

    So both of your stories are connected again.

    If the story that is supposed to happen, is actually always the same (1st day: swimming, 2nd day: big group fight, 3rd day... etc.), then this can be a very smart option. It will help you to keep the story together and create the sense of "one story", instead of branching out quickly into endless options. Every branch that is not linked back needs to tell everything that happens afterwards.

    If you want to use the points, I suggest you do something along:
    F - [If Chloe > 5] Chloe suddenly kisses you.
    G - [If Heather > 5] Heather suddenly kisses you.
    H - Gavin takes you out to drink a beer.

    Obviously there could be situations where none of the "ifs" is matched, so you should always have an option that is viable in any case. You can of course also do this:

    F - [If Chloe > 5] Chloe suddenly kisses you.
    G - [If Chloe < 6] Gavin suggests to drink a beer.

    You have to chose different numbers here, otherwise "5" would not match any of those conditions.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  15. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    Thanks for the walkthrough, Javalar, it'll be really useful to the ones who want to use the game mode.
     
  16. henrytemp

    henrytemp Really Experienced CHYOA Backer

    Thanks for this. Just seems to make more sense to me that a game/scoring should work like a dating sim where the same basic story unfolds but your choices determine which scenes will open up for you.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  17. henrytemp

    henrytemp Really Experienced CHYOA Backer

    Been realy thinking about doing a "game" thread as my above questions show. However don't see much fun in doing it with Gavin or Kurt. Been going back and forth on Zack or Brandon. Each offers punishment/reward. In Zack's case will Chloe/heather keep him from Vicky. In Brandon's case, flirting with the other girls could get him laid or drive ashey into someone else's arms, or both.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  18. Duskford

    Duskford CHYOA Guru

    It would be really fun to have one of those on At the Cabin. I think all the characters would be cool; Zack is the most logical choice, being the main character, but the others can offer interesting angles as well. Brandon is a fun choice, in an "I shouldn't be doing this" kind of way, as boomer97's latest threads show; Gavin could be a "can someone like me attract gorgeous girls like those" way; while Kurt could be the evil way, making a checklist of girls he wants to fuck.
     
  19. Javalar

    Javalar Really Experienced

    I'd be very happy and curious to see more "game" style stories. :)

    I think there are some very fascinating opportunities in there.
     
    Duskford likes this.
  20. umbra

    umbra Experienced

    Just started digging through my notes again. Missing outline, 5 incomplete chapters, an edit for "Sorting Hat" and an Ashley/Vicky sex scene that fits absolutely nowhere. "In His Own Head" (tentative title) should be up this weekend, as long as I get a couple hours to polish it.
     
    Duskford and Zingiber like this.