General Update

I still haven’t worked more on writing the story, but I have added a lot to the twine. So far the first room’s exploration is finished, and the player can either swipe the card or manually enter the passcode to unlock the door. They also can enter the computer’s password to access an email.

Roughly 1/3 of the second floor is done, it is easier now that all the code(?) is written and I can just copy and paste the story in with it. I had to figure out using variables and stuff which took a hot moment. Now when the player picks up a card in any room they can automatically unlock those doors.

At the beginning of the game, where the player cannot double back and repeat, I added the (set: $key to “false”). Originally I had them before each room, but I figured because the player could go back to those rooms, they’d reset it by accident. This way when they pick up a keycard and it goes (set: $key to “true”) that never changes and they always have access to it.

I’ve really enjoyed using twine and troubleshooting things. I find tutorials and the cookbook a little confusing because I don’t remember the words for everything (hook/passage/micros) but seeing it visually is more helpful. Like these things {} contain a segment, as these [] contain only text/sometimes text edits. Doubling it up like [[]] created a new page that they can link (it’s basically a permalink). So it should be like this {[(text edits) text]} or {(text edits) [text]} or {[(text edits) [text]]} or {(text edits) [text]]} but not this [(text edits){text}].

There is probably an easier / more streamlined way to write all this but it gets the job done!

Here’s the reboot screen:

(set: $typewriterText to “R E B O O T I N G . . .”)
{
(set: $typewriterPos to 1)
|typewriterOutput>[]
(live: 150ms)[
(append: ?typewriterOutput)[(print: $typewriterText’s $typewriterPos)]
(set: $typewriterPos to it + 1)

(if: $typewriterPos is $typewriterText’s length + 1)[
(stop:)
]]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 4s)[
(stop:) >rebooting system]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 5s)[
(stop:) >loading…]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 6s)[
(stop:) >rebooting system]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 7s)[
(stop:) >loading…]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 8s)[
(stop:) >reboot successful]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+ (live: 10s)[
(stop:) >restarting…]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”faderight”)+(text-color:”white”)+(live: 12s)[
(stop:) [[>open eyes]]]
}

vs this is what it is to walk into a room and see options to inspect different areas.

{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 5ms)[
(stop:) There is no door between you and this room so you aren’t worried about being locked in.]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 2s)[
(stop:) Inside is a big open space, it was decorated as a lab of some sort. Three of the walls had large windows that went from the floor to ceiling. There, you could finally see outside.]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”fade”)+(live: 5s)[
(stop:) Outside greeting you was just complete and utter darkness, sprinkled with small little specks of sunlight and galaxies. You freeze and fully take in the vastness that lays before you in all its glory. The magnificent view makes you feel ^^small^^ and ”alone”, which is a fair assessment of your situation. No one else is in this common room, but evidence of people lingers. There is a dining table to your right, a hunk of metal toppled over just past that, and to your left couches, bookshelves, and tables.]
}
{
(text-size:1)+(transition:”fade”)+(text-style:”buoy”)+(live: 9s)[
(stop:)//However, it all seemed less important in comparison to the realization that you were trapped with no escape.//]
}
{
(color:”lime”)+(text-size:1)+(text-style:”fidget”)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 10.5s)[
(stop:) [[>view dining table]]]
}
{
(color:”lime”)+(text-size:1)+(text-style:”fidget”)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 11s)[
(stop:) [[>inspect metal junk]]]
}
{
(color:”lime”)+(text-size:1)+(text-style:”fidget”)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 11.5s)[
(stop:) [[>pass by the couches]]]
}
{
(color:”lime”)+(text-size:1)+(text-style:”fidget”)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 12s)[
(stop:) [[>browse the bookshelf]]]
}
{
(color:”lime”)+(text-size:1)+(text-style:”fidget”)+(transition:”fade”)+ (live: 12.5s)[
(stop:) [[>go to the table]]]
}

This is kind of killing all my brain power though so for the rest of tonight and tomorrow I’ll likely continue with just story writing.