I'm thinking of trying again to step out of my normal zone. I've started a story before that wasn't fantasy or sci-fi, but didn't keep interest in it long. What can I say, I like fantasy. But I was at work the other day and I was thinking of story ideas and had this one. I've never actually tried the "Game" setting for stories, so I was thinking of making this one: Two Little Lambs and the Big Bad Wolfe. Basic Idea: Cassidey Lamb and Chastity Lamb are twin sisters both about to attend college. Cassidey is an art major that is shy, reserved, and a total virgin. Chastity is rowdy, tomboyish, had only one sexual partner, and amazing at sports. Although the two are polar opposites, they are best friends and Chastity is always protecting Cassidey. But now they are entering college and Chastity isn't going to be around for the first semester due to an accident. Jamison Wolfe is the head of the sports division and the head football coach. He is a tall, dark, and charismatic man with a taste for cute freshmen. When Chastity's file lands on his desk, he is instantly aroused. When he learns she has a twin sister that is also going to start in the fall, he begins hatching a plan to make both sisters his playthings. For the first semester you will only have access to controlling Cassidey, which will be when Wolfe has the best chance to begin making his moves. After a certain point, Chastity becomes available to play as well. The "Game" will focus on Lust Points. Some actions will increase the lust of one or both sisters and if their Lust is too high, they will be unable to keep from submitting. Some choices will lower lust and allow them to better keep out of the Wolfe's clutches. Now the ultimate goal of the game will be to make it through the freshman year. Along the way, there will be different paths for different endings, and it will be possible to get a good ending for one sister and still have a bad one for another. The best ending will have both sisters finishing freshman year and finding some form of happiness. Another variable to add to the game and that will affect the endings will be "Control" for Wolfe. If he does get the girls and his control is high enough, then more options will open for how he takes then and thus how they become attached to him afterwards during the endings. Control for him will fluctuate depending on how the girls react to his advances. If they are giving in and he is having an easy time bending them to his will, then he has complete Control of himself. If they give him a heard time and he has to wait, then his control will lessen and he may not be as careful in his advancements or his domination of them. I'm planning to start work on this game within the next few days and start posting up the first threads around Thursday if time allows. But until then, I wanted to check the potential interest in reading this story since it does step out of my normal comfort zone and adding the game mechanics will make it a lot of work. So please, feel free to post questions, comments, or ideas for this concept to help me make it better.
Sounds like a nice idea to me! Since you write, that you never worked with the variables and the game mode so far: I don't know how fast pacing your story will be. Or if you will skip over whole weeks at once, and focus on key events. But a semester to me sounds like a lot of time and lots of chapters to write. I got the impression that to create a game mode story, you have to provide even more choices, create more chapters, write more content, than with a normal story. I feel that being stuck on a dead end in game mode is pretty frustrating, compared to a normal story, where you can just continue down another path. So depending on your exact plan, i would suggest to set yourself some kind of "minor" goal, some key event close to the beginning of the story(i.e. first date, kiss, or something like that), and focus on a few select variables that can already be used in some meaningful way. Then flesh out the story, the choices and its path up to that event, to create something that can already stand on its own. And if afterwards, you decide that this is something you like doing, working with the possibilities, but also around the limitations of the variable system, you can continue and expand the timeline, and create something bigger.
I was thinking of having Cassidey fall for her Photography 101 professor and have ending up with him be the best ending for her. He was meant to be a young professor, just out of college himself, and a well traveled photographer with about a five to eight year age gap between them. Perhaps getting his attention while avoiding the Wolfe could be her minor goal to that point. There will be other characters that will influence her and will be possible couplings, but I figured she would be best with the mature and fun loving professor that could help her grow her passion for art over partying frat boys. Thanks for the input and if you have more please feel free to keep it coming. I'll probably start fleshing out the story sometime tonight and get a real start tomorrow, but I'd love ideas while I have internet access.
Looking at the success of stories with voting i am almost thinking of using that instead of game mode. I will be finishing up the opening today and hopefully posting it tomorrow. Any thoughts between game or voting before i commit either way?
These are two different concepts in my opinion: Quest stories, i.e. users voting via comments on several choices each chapters, then have only one path, that develops along the preferences of the majority of voters. With normal stories you would sonetimes branch off, to actually create additional content, even if that choice isn't everyone's favorite. With game mode you have the additional layer of that mode, the variables, the option to recognize and work with the readers previous choices, and can provide content based on that. But to do that as an author, you also have the additional overhead of the variable system, and the planning, and creation of this additional content. I think (gut feeling), that done correctly, the game mode story's can be very cool for the reader, but to do so requires much more work and effort. While with the quest stories, you "just " continue along the votes on one single branch, and stay focused on it. Thus you actually get somewhere with your story and probably develop and finish that one cool path, compared to lots of unfinished branches that you would normally have.
I could still use the lust points to limit options but i worry the game could end too quickly if voters too interested in wolfe
