Posting a new Story Game

[AwkwardlySet]

Because it's still in testing mode?

I don't understand this argument. The story isn't exactly hidden from readers and it does get views ( although I have no idea how many) but I fail to see how this being the testing phase prevents the story from showing up in its proper category, which in this case is Fetish. Surely, more views = more testers = more feedback. I don't understand why it's okay for all the readers to see the story, but the story can't be advertised properly.

More than that, I didn't sign up for any beta testing or anything like that. I had the impression that the story would be properly displayed and advertised. Nobody told me it wouldn't be. I had no problem being one of the first of course and I was prepared to be met with weak interest. But not for this reason. I'll also admit that I latched onto the idea of writing this story game because I wanted to be positive (for a change) about a new feature they were introducing, even though many of us would rather see some other changes being done. Well, serves me right.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I don't understand this argument. The story isn't exactly hidden from readers and it does get views ( although I have no idea how many) but I fail to see how this being the testing phase prevents the story from showing up in its proper category, which in this case is Fetish. Surely, more views = more testers = more feedback. I don't understand why it's okay for all the readers to see the story, but the story can't be advertised properly.

What's not to understand? It is super super common for sites to introduce new features in a limited fashion as to not potentially unleash big problems upon the user base at large. Look what happened with Alina's story, all bugfucked. A few hundred hits tested and found the problem and the site as a whole was not subjected to it. It didn't need to be. Lit did not need to expose hundreds of thousands of readers to a clusterfuck that might turbn them off of the new feature before it was even launched.

More than that, I didn't sign up for any beta testing or anything like that.

Uh, yes you did. Manu asked for test writers. You applied knowing full well that the feature was in beta test.

 

[AlinaX]

@AwkwardlySet
Your story is now listed in the Fetish new stories list, dated 11th iirc so quite a way down. Don't know when it was first visible there.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

@AwkwardlySet
Your story is now listed in the Fetish new stories list, dated 11th iirc so quite a way down. Don't know when it was first visible there.

That wasn't the case on the 11th or 12th. I did check today, but the New Fetish Stories list doesn't show more than 25 stories so it's not listed there as the last story listed there is dated 12th. I suppose that was somehow the point not to show it there or something. It's bollocks in my opinion so yeah, I am a little pissed off because of it.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

@AwkwardlySet
Your story is now listed in the Fetish new stories list, dated 11th iirc so quite a way down. Don't know when it was first visible there.

Eh, I just checked the Fetish story listing by alphabet and my story isn't there.

The name of my story is: One Night, One Bar... so it should be right there but it isn't...

 

[AlinaX]

That wasn't the case on the 11th or 12th. I did check today, but the New Fetish Stories list doesn't show more than 25 stories so it's not listed there as the last story listed there is dated 12th. I suppose that was somehow the point not to show it there or something. It's bollocks in my opinion so yeah, I am a little pissed off because of it.

It's No. 41 on the New list currently.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's No. 41 on the New list currently.

This might seem silly, but I have no idea how to even see that. I've never browsed stories like that. When I check for new stories, I always click on the category that interests me and there I can see the latest 25 submissions to that category. I also sometimes search by tag. I have no idea how to display the newest stories past number 25 in any specific category...

Edit: Lol, I see now. I have to click on mobile-friendly display and there I can see beyond number 25. But either way, on 11th and 12th, the story didn't show up in the first 25 of the New Fetish list so it must have been added later.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I believe I've figured out the cause of the issue with how my story was published. @AlinaX 's story as well. I am going to write it here for those who are interested in writing Story Games so they know what to expect. Hopefully, this will also reach those who publish our stories so they can correct their mistakes.

My story game was published on the 11th, but not at the usual time when stories get published and lists get updated. It was published later that day. That resulted in the story showing up in the story games list but not in its category list (or new stories list). Clearly, those get updated only once per day, at the time we are all familiar with (midnight Lit-time). The next day when the list got updated, my story did show up in it but the damage was already done, and in two specific ways.

1. We all know the importance of the first day. There are those who browse their favorite categories daily and I am sure many disregard stories with an earlier date as they know they already checked those out the day before. That is an obvious problem for a story that shows up on the list for the first time with yesterday's date.

2. The cherry on top of this fuckup is that my story, even though it was clearly the last story published on the 11th, was added at the bottom of the 11th story list, pushing it even further away from the eye of any potential reader.



Someone who browses new stories daily might have checked out the first couple of stories from the day before, but it's unlikely that many if anyone with such habits would scroll to the bottom of the list of stories with yesterday's date.

So this was a double mistake. Adding to the whole issue was the fact that there was an unusually high number of stories being added to Fetish category in those two days. Fifteen stories were added on the 11th and eleven stories were added on the 12th. So when my story first appeared on the list, it was listed as #27. That is also why I thought it wasn't published in the list at all. I use the old view on my PC and that view shows only the newest 25 stories in any category.

Needless to say, I've been getting a very unsatisfactory response to my story game. An uncharacteristically low number of comments and votes (don't know about views, I'll guess an abysmally low number, but I can only guess because the views do not display), far less than what I am used to, and I am certain that what I described above is the reason.

Once again, I'll appeal to those in charge. Many of us, myself included, write and publish our stories so they can be read by as many people as possible. That is basically why we are here for. So when your carelessness tramples over something that takes so much effort and time (It took me two full weeks of heavy writing to finish what I thought was going to be a simple stroke story - over 25k words) you can maybe understand my grievance.
More than that, a person can correct their mistake - you certainly have the power to do it, or at the very least apologize for making it. As I said, creating stories takes so, so much time, and these story games take a lot more. So when you appear unappreciative of such efforts it certainly doesn't bode well for a new feature you seem to want to advertise.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

There are some funny new stats being displayed...


60 million of what?

Average playtime can't possibly be 300 seconds, if those are actually seconds...

52.6k steps?
Is each choice in the story a step? Should I divide this number by the number of choices the story has in a single playthrough, and thus get a (probably inaccurate) number of full reads?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Needless to say, I've been getting a very unsatisfactory response to my story game. An uncharacteristically low number of comments and votes (don't know about views, I'll guess an abysmally low number, but I can only guess because the views do not display), far less than what I am used to, and I am certain that what I described above is the reason.

You're hard to please. There are two Red Hs in that snapshot list, one of them is yours. You're so keen to be negative you can't see the positive when it's in your face.

 

[nice90sguy]

52.6k steps?
Is each choice in the story a step? Should I divide this number by the number of choices the story has in a single playthrough, and thus get a (probably inaccurate) number of full reads?

Think that post should go in story game subforum, andyour post be marked as an [issue].
As I'm still working on my first story game, I'm interested in all these quirks you're finding

 

[AwkwardlySet]

You're hard to please. There are two Red Hs in that snapshot list, one of them is yours. You're so keen to be negative you can't see the positive when it's in your face.

I am clueless about how and if to respond to this, as your post shows that you likely didn't even bother to read the thread properly. Well, it could also be that you have some built-in mechanism that prevents you from understanding any legit criticism towards Literotica's admins.
Either way, I'll just say that none of this has anything to do with the red H. If I thought you had any intention to give this thread and the issues raised in it a fair assessment I would have provided a more detailed response. But all you proved once again is that the nickname I gave you is dead on.

 

[AlinaX]

Well, that's my second story game submitted now, this one 99% written a year or so ago. The other was started even longer ago. If I do a third one, it will probably be something cute for the 750 challenge next year.

 

[nice90sguy]

I'm still working on mine, and becoming, as I so often do, obsesssed.
The danger with me is that the blend of programming and story writing is rather addictive!

 

[AlinaX]

For me also. If Ink supported structured data, I have a great idea I'd love to pursue. As it is, I'd probably have to write a Python program to generate all the Ink code I need, and honestly I can't be bothered with such hackery.

 

[nice90sguy]

For me also. If Ink supported structured data, I have a great idea I'd love to pursue. As it is, I'd probably have to write a Python program to generate all the Ink code I need, and honestly I can't be bothered with such hackery.

Yeah, I've already gone down that rabbit hole.

One can use intersections to get some of the way there:

LIST city = London, Paris, Rome

LIST name = Alice, Beth, Celia

LIST relationship = self, aunt, mother, father

VAR mc = (Alice, Rome)
VAR mom = (Beth, Rome, mother)
VAR auntie = (Celia, Paris, aunt)



-> bio(mc) ->
-> bio(mom) ->
-> bio(auntie) ->
    -> END
   
== function city_of(person)
 ~ return person ^ LIST_ALL(city)
 
   
== function name_of(person)
 ~ return person ^ LIST_ALL(name)
 
 == function relationship_to_mc(person)
 ~ return person ^ LIST_ALL(relationship)
 
 == bio(person)
{name_of(person)} lives in {city_of(person)}. {person != mc:She's {name_of(mc)}'s  {relationship_to_mc(person)}.}
->->

When you run that, you get:

Alice lives in Rome.

Beth lives in Rome. She's Alice's mother.

Celia lives in Paris. She's Alice's aunt.

 

[nice90sguy]

Generically, you can do:

== function get_prop(obj, prop_type)
 ~ return obj ^  LIST_ALL(prop_type)

 

[AlinaX]

Now that it's finally published, I'm actually finding some enthusiasm for working on it further: more sex, more plot development integrating the optional elements, etc.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Now that it's finally published, I'm actually finding some enthusiasm for working on it further: more sex, more plot development integrating the optional elements, etc.

You are such a nerd

I admit that I am also feeling a certain incentive to write a new one or even create more paths for the existing one. The itch to combine gaming and erotica is definitely there. But the format is still too limited in my opinion and it needs some additional features to motivate me to write a story with more complicated paths and options. It would take so much more work compared to a regular story.

Well, at least they fixed the number of views/plays now, and the story game lists properly in its category the day it comes out. To be honest, I am still pissed off about my story not showing there when it came out, but at least they fixed it for future stories. I know better than to expect more than that.
Yeah, I'll wait and see if things change for the better when it comes to story games before I even think of starting to work on another one. I think allowing (AI) images, making a better interface, or maybe allowing some more interactive way of communicating with readers is needed.

 

[AlinaX]

Happy to wear the nerd label.

 

[AlinaX]

Version 2 of P&P Ch. 09 is live now and starts with a menu that lets the reader choose a name from a perhaps familiar list and lets them peek inside the boxes before playing.