Playtesting: Fetch The Engines, Chapter One

StoryNexus
21

[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]From a technical point of view, all variables in StoryNexus are global: there’s no scoping. This being the case, fewer variables, global or otherwise, are c.p. better, if you use them appropriately, because it entrains simpler, more elegant behaviour. By ‘appropriately’ I mean intentional overlap, not arbitrarily reusing them to keep the list short, which, sure, is a well of bugs.[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]From a game design point of view, fewer qualities means richer potential for interesting interplay, because it’s easier for one storylet to have an outcome that affects another.[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]From a content creation point of view, every quality is a cheque you eventually have to honour, or leave players feeling let down. If you have fifty qualities, it’s harder to make each of them provide interesting outcomes than if you have three.[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]From a storytelling point of view, it encourages a degree of discipline in seeing if there are any loose ends you can tie up.[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]From a logistical point of view, it’s just easier to organise![/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]But it’s a design, not an implementation, guideline. By this I mean if you try to squeeze distinct behaviour after the fact into a quality that wasn’t appropriate for it, then it’s at best clumsy and at worst buggy. (The way we reuse Seeking… inappropriately with Set To in Mahogany Hall is an excellent example of this and a direct result of me explaining the principle badly: it basicallly meant we couldn’t reuse Seeking… after that). I think this is Gordon’s point. The weirdness around Dramatic Tension is the result of the flavour, not the parsimony: honestly, I like the flavour, but it’s unusually meta and I can see why some people wouldn’t.[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]It’s not an absolute good. Nightmares is a nicely parsimonious quality: narrow enough to have real flavour, broad enough to be called into service everywhere. But it would be a terrible waste to roll the distinct dream-trackers all into one ‘you are having dreams’ quality, even though that might mean seven fewer qualities.[/color]

[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]>4,000 storylets and I’ve got 100[/color]

[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]I think that if you went up to 4000 storylets and multiplied your total number of qualities by 40, you might find that you regretted it. We have 923 qualities right now, and I think that FL would be better with about half that number. And dull with a tenth that number,[/color][color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]
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[color=rgb(0, 153, 0)]tl; dr: Quality parsimony is the SN equivalent of ‘omit needless words’. The trick is in working out what’s needless, because ‘omit words’ isn’t a helpful rule to live by.[/color]

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Couldn’t possibly agree more. Thanks, Alexis. And thanks for explicating the connection to word parsimony. That’s exactly what I was going for.

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Thank you for the fulsome explanation. And yes, there’s nothing I can disagree with there.

But, I do still think it needs to be balanced by a note of caution about how difficult it is. Because, for example, saying “it’s easier for one storylet to have an outcome that affects another” is pretty much exactly the same as saying “it’s easier to introduce unintended routes through the story”. You’ve decided to trade off the thing you like (the potential for storylines to interact in interesting ways) against a thing you presumably find inconvenient (having to put thought into managing all those potential interactions). Or, netting it right down, you’ve added narrative potential but you’ve also added logical complexity.

…which was a great decision for Fallen London, and for you, and no doubt for Gordon. But I’m not quite ready to accept it as a universal guideline which works for everyone - in the way that I accept “Combinatorial Explosion Is Bad”, for example.

That’s almost certainly true. But it’s worth saying that although I’ve got proportionately more qualities, I’m making very very sure you don’t get to hang onto them for very long (except for the core ten or so). Which in turn means you have less to look at and think about, which I judge (maybe rightly, maybe wrongly) will be more appealing to the type of reader I have in mind.

Perhaps I’m just being parsimonious in a different way.

Thanks again
Richard

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I don’t know if this is a bug on your end or on StoryNexus’ (nor if it’s a known issue), but I had a card from my room follow me into old town. When I hovered over it, the text said I couldn’t play it when not in my room, but then I was able to play it anyway.

I want to mention that I have some difficulties reading text on a screen for long periods, but despite the arguable wordiness of Fetch the Engines, I stayed up late playing it anyway. I love your narrative voice.

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That’s a lovely comment Mr Rabbit - thank you so much for posting. And, there’s nothing arguable about it. It’s unashamedly wordy… though every time I read through it, I manage to trim a couple here and there :-)

Thanks also for reporting the bug. That one is actually a StoryNexus problem, which I’m told is slated to be fixed in due course. It’s just the message that’s wrong; once the card’s been dealt, you can indeed play it anywhere - I think it would be much too annoying to have it the other way round.

There’s a prize for reporting a bug. If you let me know your character name, I’ll put you on the list for a small in-game gift at the start of Chapter Two (coming soon! well, soon-ish.)

Cheers
Richard

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My character name’s Michael. :)

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OK everyone, last (full) day for free action refreshes. At some point tomorrow I’ll take away the card which gives you those, because I want to see how the super-sized 50-action bank pans out in real play.

Edited to add: That’s now done.

I’ve also taken down the surveys. But all comments remain very welcome, even if (especially if) they’re critical. Remember you can always use the “Contact Creator” option within the world if you don’t want to post here.

And finally, in case you missed it last time among the justified Zero Summer excitement… here’s the previous announcement again:

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I’ve just released a batch of tweaks to Chapter One of Fetch The Engines, based on the first round of playtester feedback.

If you haven’t tried it yet:
Now’s the time! It’s new & improved. Cobblestones! Heroism! Mutton-chops! Flames! A forgotten real-life hero, and a city to be saved!
>> Play Fetch The Engines <<

If you’re in the middle of Chapter One:
I really, really hope I haven’t broken anything. But there’s a chance you might be left with unplayable cards in your hand. If that’s happened, send me a message and I’ll find a way to fix it for you.

If you’ve already finished Chapter One:
Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything - except for an additional dream about a wall, which [you can find in the original version of this post further up this thread].

Thanks!
Richard
edited by Morton on 1/20/2013