Dusting off the blog interactively

I'll have news to share soon, but I'm going to wait until I have officially signed contracts in my hands. In the meantime, I'll talk about one of my current projects so at least you know behind the silence is progress.

If you're interested, read on. Otherwise, hie away.

I think a fair number of people have played a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book as kids. I found them frustrating, because there's no real sense that any deliberation behind your decision-making is rewarded. You might make what seems on the surface to be a wise choice ("You examine the puzzle box instead of rashly opening it"), only to die in a freak accident ("It explodes at your touch, taking your life in a fiery explosion"). If you keep your finger tucked in the page presenting the choices and go back to take the other path ("You flippantly flip open the lid"), you usually discover that there's no consistency at all ("Inside lies the dragon-king's heart, still beating" -- although it really ought to explode if you touch it to open it, if mere contact triggers such).

I'm not interested in a world that changes every time I turn my head. I want a world three-dimensional enough that I can explore it from different angles and find each one interesting. The fun part should be in how I interact with the story, not how it twists away from any semblance of cohesion.

Gamebooks help by adding stats: you might have a strength score that you could increase by deciding to lift things, or by starting out as a litter-bearer, and later when it comes time to bust down a locked door or hold onto a dragon's lashing tail, that score determines your success. Instead of arbitrary choices, you have an idea of what you're gaining or losing -- after all, starting off as a noblewoman instead would give you a higher charm score or access to jewels with which to bribe folks, which you might find more appealing than brute force.

It's a pain, though, to keep track of these scores while flipping merrily through the gamebook. Enter: hypertext and some handy scripting to record your scores. And you see creations like Alter Ego (life -- seriously) or Choice of Broadsides (swashbuckling naval adventure).

So all this to say that I'm working on one of my own. Naturally my main focus will be on the writing (definitely a lack in those early Choose Your Own Adventures), but I'll be trying to integrate the interactive element in both a sensical and entertaining manner. It's inspired by Swan Lake is all I'll say for now; I'll try to get a snippet up so you can actually play around with it and see what it's like.