storygame
December 3, 2021 9:38 AM Subscribe
You find yourself standing outside your college dorm hall. All of your friends are complaining about your Composition and Rhetoric Professor. He assigned a 10 page paper on Monday. The paper is due tonight...before midnight.
Choose Your Story is a website created by three friends twenty years ago. It hosts "storygames," which are web-based interactive fictions in the 'choose your own adventure' style with scripting support for tracking variables like items and scores. They currently have nearly a thousand "published" storygames in a variety of genres from Horror (Dead Man Walking) to Family Friendly (Imagination.)
Choose Your Story is a website created by three friends twenty years ago. It hosts "storygames," which are web-based interactive fictions in the 'choose your own adventure' style with scripting support for tracking variables like items and scores. They currently have nearly a thousand "published" storygames in a variety of genres from Horror (Dead Man Walking) to Family Friendly (Imagination.)
I'll try it! Maybe if I play through enough, I'll finally stop having dreams where this happens
posted by Countess Elena at 10:04 AM on December 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 10:04 AM on December 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
From personal experience, if your ex-girlfriend asks if you want to make out, but you make the decision that "Hey, I really have to get this important schoolwork done first," you will regret that schoolwork all the days of your life.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:18 AM on December 3, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:18 AM on December 3, 2021 [14 favorites]
I wanted to like this, but apart from too many forced choices the game seems broken. The page count was inconsistent, and when I found an object needed for the story, it somehow disappeared from the inventory when I needed it just a few clicks later.
posted by Rhaomi at 10:38 AM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Rhaomi at 10:38 AM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
The page count was inconsistent,
The displayed count seems to lag at times, but it should be accurate when you submit the paper. (At least, it has been when I've paid attention.)
and when I found an object needed for the story, it somehow disappeared from the inventory
I've not seen that happen, except when I forgot to actually click on the item to add it to inventory.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:54 AM on December 3, 2021
The displayed count seems to lag at times, but it should be accurate when you submit the paper. (At least, it has been when I've paid attention.)
and when I found an object needed for the story, it somehow disappeared from the inventory
I've not seen that happen, except when I forgot to actually click on the item to add it to inventory.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:54 AM on December 3, 2021
JFC it forced me to go to the party, and then wouldn’t let me leave, and I had to wander through every room and option in the frat house, until I finally quit. Screw this party, I have a paper to write!
posted by darkstar at 11:23 AM on December 3, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 11:23 AM on December 3, 2021 [10 favorites]
"I swear, if I catch anyone that sneaks out of their dorms, they are going to be in some serious trouble!"I'm going with option C: you throw a lit match onto your mattress as you walk out, pull the fire alarm, find an all night cafe with wifi, and immediately start looking into less horrible schools that you can apply to next year. Nick'll get over it.
Fun post. Thanks!
posted by eotvos at 12:53 PM on December 3, 2021 [6 favorites]
From personal experience, if your ex-girlfriend asks if you want to make out, but you make the decision that "Hey, I really have to get this important schoolwork done first," you will regret that schoolwork all the days of your life.I've had exactly the opposite experience. (Well, except for the specific designation of ex-girlfriend.) Whatever we choose, we will regret it.
posted by eotvos at 1:00 PM on December 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
Whatever we choose, we will regret it.
Maybe. But I wrote a lot of term papers, and I don't remember the grade I got on a single one of them, and nobody else does, either (aside from maybe a dusty spreadsheet entry deep in the bowels of Boston University somewhere). The few times I blew off writing a paper to do something else? I can't say they were all good ideas, but they were all memorable.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
Maybe. But I wrote a lot of term papers, and I don't remember the grade I got on a single one of them, and nobody else does, either (aside from maybe a dusty spreadsheet entry deep in the bowels of Boston University somewhere). The few times I blew off writing a paper to do something else? I can't say they were all good ideas, but they were all memorable.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:55 PM on December 3, 2021 [3 favorites]
Ohhhh you have to click on the item to add it to inventory! I missed that, and when the bouncer wouldn’t let me in I was like “but I have TWO fake drinks!” and then got a D :(
Anyway, though, I like how relatable parts of this story was, even if forced/unrealistic at times. Reminds me of the (unfortunately) several times in college that I’d finish a paper 20 minutes before the deadline and the printer in my dorm would be out of ink and I’d frantically bike to the nearest library to print it and somehow always got it in on time despite generally being a mess.
posted by chaiyai at 1:57 PM on December 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
Anyway, though, I like how relatable parts of this story was, even if forced/unrealistic at times. Reminds me of the (unfortunately) several times in college that I’d finish a paper 20 minutes before the deadline and the printer in my dorm would be out of ink and I’d frantically bike to the nearest library to print it and somehow always got it in on time despite generally being a mess.
posted by chaiyai at 1:57 PM on December 3, 2021 [4 favorites]
I like to think I’m being particularly meta by playing this game instead of writing my paper.
posted by corb at 3:00 PM on December 3, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by corb at 3:00 PM on December 3, 2021 [14 favorites]
In that case, you’ll particularly appreciate the secret ending! (Which I think triggers if you get an A). I got there by flirting with Nick and getting all the pages I could, though I never figured out how to make the fake drink with my solo cup.
posted by corb at 3:59 PM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by corb at 3:59 PM on December 3, 2021 [1 favorite]
How to make the fake drink with the solo cup.
You don't. You talk to the girls in the entertainment center without holding a cup (so either before going to the Kitchen, or just don't pick up the cup when there - once you have it, you can't drop it), then they'll do a deal with you. I didn't really understand what their argument was otherwise, but oh well. If after that you go to the Kitchen and try to take the cup, it will make you pick between that and the beer bottle.posted by solotoro at 5:51 PM on December 3, 2021
JFC it forced me to go to the party, and then wouldn’t let me leave, and I had to wander through every room and option in the frat house, until I finally quit. Screw this party, I have a paper to write!
I dunno, I kind of appreciated the authors for accidentally creating a simulation of having undiagnosed ADHD as an undergrad.
posted by Mayor West at 5:53 PM on December 3, 2021 [9 favorites]
I dunno, I kind of appreciated the authors for accidentally creating a simulation of having undiagnosed ADHD as an undergrad.
posted by Mayor West at 5:53 PM on December 3, 2021 [9 favorites]
What kind of weird concert forces attendees to be drunk before they are allowed in?
posted by ymgve at 9:23 AM on December 4, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by ymgve at 9:23 AM on December 4, 2021 [2 favorites]
The kind that's put on by a fraternity that's watched too many fraternity movies.
posted by box at 11:03 AM on December 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by box at 11:03 AM on December 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
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posted by Faint of Butt at 10:01 AM on December 3, 2021 [3 favorites]