List score variables in editing.

Harst

Harst

Virgin
As a writer, I would like to be able to see the score variables of the story or current chapter. This would help the author to keep track of what variables are available.

It would also help a writer who contributes to a story to get the direction the story is taking and be able to see hidden variables they might have to consider.

For example:
The Invitation proclaims it has a hidden variable called "Your Love for your spouse" that supposedly should have an impact on the story but is hidden. This makes me hesitant to contribute because I then have to commit to this story by asking the author to make me a co-owner of the story to be able to see the variable draft a chapter. Or I have to be naughty and go into inspection mode on my browser and that way see what variables there are.

I realize that it might be difficult to accomplish, but it would be a huge help for authors and contributors alike.
 
There is a possible work around.

If you're in game mode and viewing a chapter that you wrote (even if it isn't published) you can see all the variables even the hidden ones.

For example, if you play the game to a certain point and want to know your hidden variables, you click add a chapter, then write just enough text to save it as a draft. Once it's saved as a draft you just have to get to the score tab and click on the show button next to hidden variables.

I think the variable you're talking about in The Invitation is called Love Megan, and it's a progression variable.
 
Your right!
Interesting...
Thank you for the response!
Though I still think that would be advantageous if they were listed instead of having two windows with the website to see score variables.

It hit me that score variables should be defined at the beginning of the story and not tacked on later which makes it hard to see the number of variables and hard to organize. ie when a new variable is added in a chapter later on its properties cascade back to the beginning of the story.

There is also a problem that a chapter might initialize a new variable that you might miss if you aren't vigilant and try every combination. There are several of them in The Invitation and that may leave the story broken if you don't do extensive testing.
 
As there might be different ways through the story and loops, it's not really possible to say what variables will exist at a certain point of the story.

Showing all variables that are used at some point in the story leads to another problem, as you might use a variable that hasn't been used yet.

It is also not possible to say what type a variable has as you can have variables with the same name but different types or even use different types on one variable.


Defining all variables at the beginning of the story might be helpful in many cases but on the other hand, the story owner might not know what variables they or a contributor might need later.
 
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