Looking For Literotica Interactive Story Game Author BETA Testers

[HanonOndricek]

Ah, I'm using em for italics currently. Maybe there's another way.

From what I understand if the text is being displayed in HTML apparently normal tags work, such as <i></i>

 

[NightPorter]

I can't say I would make a good BETA tester but I'm all for writing an interactive story once the system is in place. Good luck I'm looking forward to it.

 

[JoeyAcrimonious]

I would totally be interested in participating in the beta test.

I'm a nobody in this site's community, so as a sort of CV (and to add to the list of examples of what IF is), I've just put together this piece of erotic IF written in Ink:
https://joey-acrimonious.itch.io/meatmonger

The page also includes a downloadable file ("matteus.ink") containing the game's script, which can be viewed in Inky or any text editor in case someone wants to see exactly how it works behind the scenes. Although admittedly it is a technically simplistic game that only takes advantage of Ink's most basic features.

This was my first experience writing in Ink, which should be a good indicator that it is an easy language to learn. So for anyone else who is on the fence about whether to get involved as this stage, know that you can do it too. The basics are really simple, no coding background is necessary.

 

[HanonOndricek]

"Uh," spoke our hero, trying to guess from context what forbearance was.

@JoeyAcrimonious , this whole story made me laugh so hard. Stupid barbarians and verbal gymnastics are so my jam.

like a stalactite in reverse - whatever such a thing is called.

 

[LdyHoneybee]

NotWise, thank you for your response. I kind of got it, but I'm having trouble visualizing it, still. I've never read anything like this.

Manu, are there any such stories here that we can check out? Or anywhere else so a neophyte like me knows what this is about before volunteering?

I think maybe you write several possibilities for how the story happens and the reader picks one at each juncture. Like

set the scene and introduce characters in the initial opening (they meet in the park)

then write several possible next steps for the reader to choose from (they take a walk; they argue; they play hide and seek)

then write several outcomes for each one of the choices and so on. (They talk about their hobbies on their walk; they find a lake with swans on their walk; they climb a tree on their walk…and three for argue and playing hide and seek)

then write several more outcomes (they take all their clothes off and go swimming; they try to kill the swans; they lie down by the lake and start kissing…..and then episodes for talking about hobbies and climbing a tree)

ultimately, the reader chooses which story they read. Then the reader can backtrack to the beginning and explore another story. At least that is how a “choose your own adventure“ story works. i do not get how the dice come in But i didn’t try very hard.

 

[8letters]

Out of curiosity, what is the status of this? Has the beta-test started?

 

[AlinaX]

Not as far as I know. :-(

 

[cowboy109]

This is actually quite fun! From the manual, it looks like ink is pretty well featured with variables, conditions, and functions. It's also pretty easy to upload it to itch.io. Thank you for showing the way, @JoeyAcrimonious .

In case, someone is curious to see another ink example. Here is my hello world. It's a loop and keeps track of state (the clothing of the heroine).

VAR dressed = true
VAR current_clothing = "school uniform"

April arrived at her dream college, dropped her duffel bag next to her new bed, and threw herself face down into the downy bed.

-> main_loop

=== main_loop
What Is she going to do next?

+ [Go pee.] She pissed like a horse. -> piss
+ {dressed} [Take off clothes.] Whoops, all her clothes flew out of the window. -> go_naked
+ {not dressed} [Put on bathing suit.] -> put_on_bathing_suit
+ [Say hi to roommate.] -> meet_roommate
+ [Check herself in the mirror.] -> mirror_check


=== meet_roommate ===
April: "Yo! I can see your pussy hanging out!"
Roommate: "Always!"

-> main_loop

=== piss
Happiness spread over her face with the release.
-> main_loop


=== go_naked
~ dressed = false
~ current_clothing = "nothing"

I feel so free and so happy without my clothes!
-> main_loop

=== put_on_bathing_suit
~ dressed = true
~ current_clothing = "bathing suit"

Whoa! Do my bums look hot in that g-string!

-> main_loop

=== mirror_check
Those eyes are dreamy as heaven! I can't stop looking at myself!

I'm currently wearing {current_clothing}.

-> main_loop

 

[AlinaX]

The programmer in me is frustrated with the lack of structured variables.

 

[Manu]

Thank you for the replies on this thread and sorry for the slower than expected work on the Literotica Interactive Fiction BETA.

As some of you have probably noticed, we pushed the new Literotica Audio publishing system up to release that before Interactive Fiction. We are working the bugs out of the Audio feature now, and then we'll get back to Interactive Fiction (although manual Series Management may be released soon as well).

We have been improving on our plan for what a first release version of the LitIF feature will include and we think that we can support all of the built-in text features of Ink, as well as adding the ability for you to allow the reader/player to enter custom variables (using our own mods). As mentioned previously, we have several custom author editing tools already built, but we're not sure if the first version will include those tools, or if we'll launch the simpler text editor first and try to get the reading experience polished before we finish integrating our own author tools. Experienced IF authors will probably end up just using the Inky editor and writing in code, so the editing tools will be more useful to those who prefer a visual way to write and map the stories.

We are not planning to support images or multimedia in the first versions for obvious reasons (that requires far more development), but it is our longterm goal. As far as text formatting, the first versions will likely limit that formatting to simple text formatting that we can support without any risk to readers, similar to how we currently limit HTML on the story side. We have ambitious goals, but we have to see how interested readers are before we can decide how many resources we can put into development of more game-like features (images, layers, assets, etc.) since we have limited resources.

I'm excited that so many of you are interested in the project, and I really hope that readers will be excited as well. I look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.

Thank you.

 

[Manu]

We're working on our feature release schedule for next year and Literotica Interactive Fiction is high on our list. We're hoping to release something in BETA in February or March, but that could change.

We would benefit from having a wider variety of Ink stories for testing. If you're an Ink author who is open to the idea of sharing a few of your stories that you may publishing here are Literotica, can you send me a Private Message or reply to this thread? We would like to have stories by at least 10 authors so that we can do more thorough testing. Testing with test stories or stories that we have written is never as good as testing with stories written by authors for readers.

The types of Ink stories we need are ones that use at least some of the built in features of Ink. Branching is obvious, but we would also like to test conditionals, variables, knots, and other advanced features. We cannot support custom code (anything not built into Ink we can't do, functions that Ink natively supports are fine) or HTML (images, video, or audio) right now. We have bigger plans, but we need to get the core Ink features working first.

If you have even one Ink story that you're considering publishing here, please reply to this message or send me a Private Message and hopefully we can use your story for testing, and you'll be one of the first every Ink authors on Lit when the feature gets released.

Thank you.

 

[AlinaX]

Well, I have one at least. Looking forward to writing some more too.
Thanks!

 

[TheRedChamber]

I haven't use Ink before but I downloaded it this earlier today and have been?playing with it. I may be able to put something fun together with it.

 

[nywonderboy]

As mentioned several months ago, we've been working on bringing interactive stories back to Literotica.

Literotica has a long history of publishing interactive adult stories. Back in the 1990s, we would hand code choice-based stories one HTML page at a time - with some stories having countless individual pages and taking many hours to publish. It was great fun, but also took a lot of time. Our interactive story technology evolved, but we eventually got overwhelmed by the management of the interactive fiction projects, and put those on hold to focus on the main Literotica site. We never gave up on interactive stories, though. For the last few years, we've been working behind the scenes to bring them back.

As we prepare to BETA test our next generation interactive stories, we need experienced interactive story authors to help with the testing. The core of our new interactive story system is a simple to learn, well documented IF language. We have built our own visual story creation tools, but they are not yet ready for testing. For this stage, we need authors who are familiar with writing in common IF languages in text, without visual tools or maps.

If you're an interactive story author interested in publishing at least one story during the BETA stage of the project, please let me know either here or in a private message. I will be making a list of 10-20 BETA testers and getting anyone on that list more information as the first interface is ready for testing.

Thank you!

I’d like to participate

 

[MelissaWeber]

I'd very much like to take part as well. I'm rather versed with Ink (using Inky), and I'm working on a rather lengthy story as an addition to a series. Having this feature (ink) would be spectacular!

 

[Priscilla_June]

Hello! I don’t know if it is too late, nor do I directly have experience writing Choose Your Own adventure Erotica, but I am SUPER interested in learning more/being a beta writer if it is needed. I am going to be spending some time reading up on this. Hopefully i can find some examples of existing stories as well.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Is this still active? How involved can it be? Is it pure CYOA, or can more advanced stuff be done with variables, etc.?

 

[AlinaX]

Is this still active? How involved can it be? Is it pure CYOA, or can more advanced stuff be done with variables, etc.?

Lit has decided to use Ink for its new interactive fiction, which I think is clever. It's pretty advanced and intended as much for interactive games as stories. Variables and functions are built into it, although the variables can't be structured in the way I'd really like.

What I don't know is anything about the beta testing that's supposedly going on.

 

[NoTalentHack]

Lit has decided to use Ink for its new interactive fiction, which I think is clever. It's pretty advanced and intended as much for interactive games as stories. Variables and functions are built into it, although the variables can't be structured in the way I'd really like.

What I don't know is anything about the beta testing that's supposedly going on.

I'm assuming no objects of any real note?

 

[AlinaX]

If you mean objects as in structured data, then none.

 

[JackRosenkohl]

As I just joined Lit, I'm a bit late here. Is the Beta still going on/being planned?

I'm a (hopefully) ok writer and develop software irl.

Having read the tutorials on ink, I'm sure I'll get along well with it as it's looking very straightforward.

 

[8letters]

Let's say you have a story where the protagonist gets to choose between having sex with a blond, a redhead, or a brunette. Will there be anything that tells the author how many readers picked which choice?

 

[ElectricBlue]

@Manu Silly question - but what's the basis for giving this development priority over other features such as threaded comments, writer blogs etc... (to name just two)?

I've been here on Lit for ten years, and I can't recall ever seeing much evidence that interactive stories are "wanted by authors", so do you have a pile of letters from readers saying, "Gee, I'd like to see that?" With limited development resources, what's your process for prioritising new initiatives?

We've all seen the stories of huge amounts of development for something no-one wants. This thread alone suggests there's not much interest.

 

[AlinaX]

Is it given priority, though? A year ago it seemed to be in active development, but silence since.

 

[NightPorter]

If anything the opposite seems to be true. Interactive fiction keeps getting bumped for other features, like audio and mobile. I would like it to be a priority, as I would like to write interactive stories for the site but communication has been sparse to say the least.

The main issue at the moment seems to be that few people are willing to commit to write a story in an obscure programing language if there's no hard timeline for the launch of the category. That's a lot of man hours into a story without any indication of when distribution of the story is even going to be possible. Ultimately we won't know how popular it is until it launches. So we're all stuck in a holding pattern waiting for news.