This will be my first Ludum Dare, and hopefully I’ll produce something readable.

I’m going to be using Basic Twine as my code base. The only macros I’m using will be ones easily available after a quick search. I will not be using TwineQuest.

For editing software I’m going to be using:

• Notepad++
• Editminion (More for easy spellcheck)
• Write or Die Desktop Edition

Image software(should it be necessary) will likely consist of MSPaint or GraphicsGale. I’m not planning on needing either, but there you go.

I’m making things a lot harder on myself than I could be, but I came into this with a point to prove, (if only to myself). I saw Twine games as being too limited in scope. Hypertext allows a story to jump around and curve in on itself. And yet, most tell a single, simple story with the illusion of choice thrown in. I thought I could do better. Let’s find out if I can. Together.

I joined the Compo in hopes of having a public place in which to demonstrate that Twine doesn’t have to be minimalist, doesn’t have to be short, and doesn’t have to rely on extensions. I was planning to create a game that tailored itself to the player. I was one of the hundreds that downvoted minimalism. I didn’t think it’d even make the top ten.

After all, we’ve got 48 hours. It’s all minimalist.

Guess I was wrong. So, I’m using a minimalist language known for it’s minimalist style choices. And I need to do something that stands out as embracing minimalism.

Wikipedia was my savior.  Thinking about minimalism as an art opened up a new avenue. What Minimalism was actually about…

So, I’ve embarked on the path of making a mystery game, where the point is to strip the surroundings until the truth is the only thing that remains. To this end, you have ten  “items” that can be used to remove certain details. You, the detective, are armed with only the Knox Decalogue. Well, a modified version there-of.

There are, of course, going to be a few Easter Eggs.

Language: Inform or Twee

Tools: Possibly PixelEdit and MilkyTracker, Write or Die

 

I was debating on if I should actually post something. I told myself I’ll know if I should enter the moment it was announced.

The reason for Twee and Inform isn’t that I can’t use anything else, or do graphics, or the like. It’s simple. They will run on the proverbial potato. If your game is in z5 format, it can run on a TRS-80, not to mention an amiga, android phones, Dreamcasts, and whatever you want. I know my computer chokes and dies on Unity, and I wouldn’t want to force people with flash either.

If I need music or graphics, I can switch to glulx format, which is only slightly less compatible. Twee/Twine is for if making a full on interactive fiction game is overkill. Well, here’s hoping. Thanks for having me, guys.

 

I’m going to try very hard to make something, and it might even be coherent.

I was at BJ’s(a somewhat local Discount Club) when my day took a turn for the exciting. I had a moderately severe audio-triggered seizure. Details follow. Some cursing. Sorry folks.

I was pushing the cart when something high pitched and warbly went off. And the whole world went quiet, like someone was cranking down the volume. I tried to get away, but it was like running through oobleck. The harder I pushed, the harder it was to move. And then I started to fall. I caught myself with the cart, but it wasn’t enough. I fell mid-stride, in slow motion.

And then I hear, plain as day, the sound of cloth tearing. My pants ripped from crotch to knee and I went all the way down into a stunning split. And as I’m toppling over, the only thing I can think are “My balls are dragging on the ground. That’s really cold.”

My SO barks some orders, and apparently I have just enough presence of mind to follow them, aand pull myself across the ground with my arms. I come to some time later(snow says it was like two minutes) with a poncho over me, and snow asking if I can stand. I can’t. I kinda lapse into the after shocks. So here’s this lady who thinks I’m having a normal seizure, which fair enough, and is trying to be helpful by telling me not to try to move.

Problem is, I’m not trying to move, I’m dry heaving and occasionally twitching. I understand now it looks the same from the outside. All I can think is “C’mere lady, I wanna puke on your shoes.” Not nice of me, not fair of me, but it’s what I was thinking.

Anyway, the manager comes over with a wheel chair, and wouldn’t you know it, the wheels won’t lock. I tell them to hold it steady as I try and pull myself up. I manage to sort of fall upward, but not far enough. I think “well, maybe I can use the foot bits as a seat…” That doesn’t work, and for a moment, I think I’m going to have to pay for it, but they spring back after I fall into a metal bar. Which, at least lets me steady myself. So, I finally manage to get onto one knee and grab the chair and sorta.. throw myself back.

So, I’m in a wheel chair, with my junk half hanging out, covered in a poncho, and they hand me a bottle of water. I’m wheeling myself, because is is not the first time I’ve been in a wheel chair. So there’s no place to put it but my lap.

Everything’s fine until the poncho gets caught in the wheel. It pulls just enough to drop the fucking water bottle right on my balls.I downed the water after that.

She gets me some new pants, we check out, and I have to go get changed. I’m in a wheel chair, and… Of course they don’t have an automatic door. I try to push through, I make no headway forward. So I turn around… And run into the water fountain. Then I make it into the door part way, only to get caught on the lip, and the accursed door spanks my ass back out of the bathroom.

I skid into a damn checkout line, and I look up at the cashier, eyes bulging, in a damn wheelchair, and ask “can you help me into the bathroom?”

I change my pants without further incident. as I’m starting to get my strength back. I get spanked out of the bathroom again, and skid into a bizarre victory lap. I get to the door, stand shakily, put the wheelchair back, and say to snow, as I’m standing in front of the guy who checks receipts “Snow, give me the receipt so he won’t repossess my pants.”He pretty much dies laughing.

 

So, I’m going to try to contribute, but I’m going to be a bit loopy for a while. On the bright side, gave me something to do for this theme. If I can concentrate enough to do it.

Edit: And I screwed the pooch on the cuts. Yay.