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Theme Setting

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modgethanc edited this page Jan 23, 2015 · 10 revisions

General Ideas

  • :: Start as a splash page (put all the init stuff there)
  • Have a central hub to branch out to other stories
  • Preserve an easy entry point for new contributors

Train Station Setting

  • Likely to be a very worldbuilding/location-specific theme.
  • Central hub to move between different stories
  • Station map listing each section with a short description
  • Board the train to travel to a particular segment
  • New contributors/ones without a starting description do not appear on the map, but exist as valid places to jump off the train (written as unlisted station, gap between trains, etc.)

COMMENT: Is this inspired by the movie Inception: "You're waiting for a train, a train that will take you far away...."? -- ~papa

  • No, it came out of a discussion for possible ways to use the subway station I implemented as part of the metaverse. -- ~endorphant

Abandoned Underground Railway

  • As above, the twine is set on a transit system where each station can be created by one / many contributors

  • The splash page is an a manually or auto-generated ASCII map of the twine in the style of real world metro maps

  • The metro system is mysteriously lit and the single train is mysteriously functioning

  • Each station can be as discrete or connected as the creator wishes and can take on all sorts of different themes, the only requirement is that it leads back to a platform giving access to the other stations

  • Some stations can start blocked off and require some action in another location to allow access - this can be a good driver for collaborating

  • The reason for the character ending up on the abandoned railway can be oblique and slowly revealed during the exploration which could provide a nice narrative through-line

  • This also allows different time periods to be explored - one station could house a crashed space ship, another one the ruins of an ancient civilization

  • Some references / inspiration:

  • Possible way to implement character creation: player has to apply for a 'travel permit', which means selecting some options that could either be used as just flavor, or slightly change the flow of the stories

  • World Bleed: the main station/hub area changes slightly whenever you return to it from doing things in one of the worlds/branches/whatever

    • I'm exeperimenting with this already; I added a few lines to my subway station passage so every time you visit one of the other contributors' starting passages, a little bit of that world leaks back to the platform. -- ~endorphant

I'm really excited about this setting! -- ~endorphant

Interrogation Room Setting

  • Each story providing a different description of a previous event

COMMENT: Is this inspired by the IF Spider and Web? I think this may confuse players who don't know S&W, and seem unoriginal to those who do. -- ~papa

Plato's Cave

Another alternative setting for the hub.

  • The player is one of the prisoners in Plato's Parable of the Cave.
  • Each individual story is represented by a different shadow visible on the wall in front of the player.
  • Looking at a shadow starts the player in the corresponding story.
  • There is a rough version of the cave and shadows set up already. Click the "cave" link from the hub.

COMMENT: I offer the above setting simply as grist for the brainstorming mill. I will probably remove Plato's Cave, or move it out of the main flow of my story/ies when the hub's setting is implemented. We should allow for a player to have more than one story in their .twee file (each entry passage linked in their *-startDescription passage?). -- ~papa

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