What the community and third parties are building in StoryNexus
Play-testing "Heroic"
Estelle Knoht
Posts: 1751
7/29/2012
|
So... I am trying out "Heroic" by CalicoJack at the moment (it's the only thing available at the moment) to get a feel of how StoryNexus work (and to have some fun).
You can play it here.
I am not sure what to say about the writing.
I do have some problems with it - the meance rise (feel) too fast and the anti-meance cards (feel) too weak, even when I expand resources for it. Particularly grating is the Rubbing People The Wrong Way card - I can understand taking a bullet again and again for a child, but why am I compelled to goad them?
Too many cards give a bad rate of exchange between items, and since you can't discard cards it get a bit annoying. So I use 10 Clues for a challenge to get 2 Favours, and then another card pops out forcing me to use 6 Favours to get 4 Clues.
Small things: The "The Golem Has A Hostage" Card, "Make your Escape" option's icon is broken. Apparently it is supposed to be Cloud.png, but it end up linking to Cloud..png.
--
Estelle Knoht, a juvenile, unreliable and respectable lady.
I currently do not accept any catbox, cider, suppers, calling cards or proteges.
|
|
|
0
link
|
Nigel Evans
Posts: 212
7/30/2012
|
I've had a look at Heroic and I must say that I'm very impressed. There's a lot of good stuff there in a very short time. The writing is frugal and clear, perfect for a superheroes game. And I like the show-not-tell approach to the world background.
I would offer some advice, though. The first is, as mentioned by Alexis, that you need to have a branch on each Sometimes card (Sometimes/Always are currently labelled as Opportunity/Pinned, but that's likely to change) that can always be played. It's a good habit to give the first branch of each Sometimes storylet no requirements, so you know you have that covered. One storylet that needs this - where I got stuck - was Talk to a Scientist.
The second thing is that I think you could use a little more player agency. At the moment, the game plays a bit like you're the Fox's sidekick rather than the hero. You might be planning something dramatic ('The Fox has disappeared!') but otherwise I'd suggest you tone down the 'you wouldn't stand a chance if the Fox wasn't holding back' stuff. The story is and has to be about the player's character.
I also think that you could use some goals straight away. Always cards that need X clues or Favours from the Law or something, that players could work towards completing early on. Otherwise the early game does seem a little aimless.
Those are the bigger issues I saw. I've got a few more specific/technical things:
You probably want to use 'set to' rather than 'change by' on laterals like the Power Source quality. You'll get more sensible change messages that way.
On 'the fox is reading a map' - I spotted a typo. 'pore through the information' rather than 'pour through'.
But let me say again that this is really good stuff. I like the spare writing style especially.
Nigel.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
CalicoJack
Posts: 47
8/8/2012
|
Samuel Goodall wrote:
Unraveling conspiracy at 2 and I can't get any further content border?
Yes, for now that is the content cap. I'm going to work hard to create 4 sections to each Obsession (possibly with branching endings) in time for the World of Seasons competition, so new/tweaked content should be added regularly.
|
|
|
+1
link
|
CalicoJack
Posts: 47
8/18/2012
|
I've made many goofs in the construction of Heroic, typos, missing icons, Qualities set wrongly, a lack of planning leading to a mass of cards that become useless later on. My biggest mis-step was with the first chunk of the Murder Obsession. All the other story sections had branching solutions. You could use your cool gadget, or call in an ally. Something.
When it came down to it though, I couldn't think of anything other than "finding the evidence" to catch the killer. I thought that might be OK, the Murder story was always meant to be the "smallest", in terms of scale. You shouldn't bring a jetpack or magic alien powers into it. I still think that was right. Perhaps I should have added a Stealth option too, but that wasn't really the problem for me.
It was anticlimactic and unfulfilling. That's why today I am sending live an extra event for the Murder story that I hope will give some measure of closure for those that have been playing the Murder story. It's based on an old plan to have a choice of sub-stories to each Obsession, to add depth and a sense of forging your own story. I will continue this more branching approach with the Murder story, as I've now begun to tell three separate stories with it.
Other stories will probably see these branching options to a lesser extent in the future.
|
|
|
+1
link
|