Simple and to the Point Version
To get started all you need to do is go to the "Story Tab" and look at the most recent post. Think about what you would like to happen next, or what you would like the character to do and then post a comment to the post describing your thoughts. After you have posted your comment be sure to visit again soon to see what happened. I will use the comments to decide what to do next. I can't promise that I will always do exactly what is written, sometimes there may be more then one person who has made a request and I will have to pick my favorite. Sometimes there will be comments that request for things to happen that would ruin or break the storyline, and they will have to be ignored. This is not an attempt to censure, so much as to keep the story flowing.
For an example I will use the infamous "Zork" introduction to show how simple the post and comments could work.
You may see a post that looks like this:
Bob is standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
You may comment with:
I want to open the mailbox or What is in the mailbox or Bob opens the mailbox or etc
The next time you visit you may see:
Bob opened the mailbox to find three letters and a postcard. He flipped through the letters to discover that they were all junk mail before focusing his attention on the postcard. Now this was an interesting card. It was old and worn and had the postmarks from at least 5 different post offices around the world. The picture on the front was an ancient mask sitting on a desk. On the back the only thing written on the card was a phone number, 555-555-3265.
Don't limit yourself to such simple comments, but if what comes to mind is a simple action so that you can explore something a bit further, by all means do it. This is the beauty of interactive storytelling. Some things will only be discovered with complicated comments or suggestions while other things will only be found with simple posts saying that you should look somewhere or open something. There is a place and a need for both, so don't hesitate, just jump on in and make your comment.
For an example I will use the infamous "Zork" introduction to show how simple the post and comments could work.
You may see a post that looks like this:
Bob is standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
You may comment with:
I want to open the mailbox or What is in the mailbox or Bob opens the mailbox or etc
The next time you visit you may see:
Bob opened the mailbox to find three letters and a postcard. He flipped through the letters to discover that they were all junk mail before focusing his attention on the postcard. Now this was an interesting card. It was old and worn and had the postmarks from at least 5 different post offices around the world. The picture on the front was an ancient mask sitting on a desk. On the back the only thing written on the card was a phone number, 555-555-3265.
Don't limit yourself to such simple comments, but if what comes to mind is a simple action so that you can explore something a bit further, by all means do it. This is the beauty of interactive storytelling. Some things will only be discovered with complicated comments or suggestions while other things will only be found with simple posts saying that you should look somewhere or open something. There is a place and a need for both, so don't hesitate, just jump on in and make your comment.
Details on each Section
Home Page:
This page is just an introduction on what would lead me to start this sort of project. Once you have read the info there is no real reason to go back. I may make some minor changes as I review the info and find better ways to communicate why we are doing this but once you get started with the rest of this stuff you won't need a review on that anymore. I will not be changing it often and if you were to bookmark any page I would suggest either bookmarking the Story page or just using the RSS feed.
Instructions Page:
This is where you are. This page will give you instructions on how to be a part of this project.
Story Page:
This is where the magic happens. The story is written in "Blog" format, meaning that the post on the top is the most recent event. To go back to the beginning you would need to go to the bottom. This is the page that you will use to actually interact with the game. Read through the story to be sure you know what is going on, and then on the most recent post you can add a reply by hitting the reply link. I will go through these replies and either pick the best or the first post and the next part of the story will be based on that post. Check back often to see how your replies effect the story line.
Characters Page:
This is a list of the Characters that have been introduced during the story. As characters are added or passed a post will be added with their information as well. The information is divided into the following categories:
Description: This is just a basic description of the character's physical appearance
Personality: This is a description of the personality of the character, this may effect the character completing an action that you request via replies. For example, an impatient character is not likely to get very far if you want him/her to search for a needle in a haystack.
History/Timeline: These are the major events that have happened in the story or occasionally events that happened prior to the story beginning but were either introduced as a given or introduced through the story line.
Current Inventory: These are the items that the character is carrying. It is not only possible to become overloaded, but it is possible that you simply have no room or way to carry an item.
Character Status Levels: This is a place to list basic status items like hunger, cleanliness, energy, or others. If you notice that the energy level is low it may be time to suggest that the person do something to fix that. If these levels go to the extreme then the character may not be able to do what you are trying to get them to do. This can be the basis of the occasional puzzle where you realize that they need energy but if they sleep then something terrible will happen. Watch these levels closely.
Current Location: Where this character is located. As they move this is updated. Most of the time this is only updated when a post is made that includes the character, however sometimes they may move around and the observant eye may notice and realize that this is important information.
Map Page:
This page will show the current map as it has been revealed. The "?" symbol is used to represent that you know something is in that direction because you can see the exit but it has not been explored yet. For example: if you were standing in a living room and there were two exits, you would know that there is something there but if you had not been in those rooms yet you would not know what was there. This does not mean that there are not secret exits, but they would take exploring or actions to find. This, also, does not mean that the characters do not know what is there. It could be that person's home and they would surely know what was there, but it is not shown on the map until it has been introduced via the storyline. Below the picture of the known map is a description of each room or area as they were revealed in the storyline. These descriptions will change as actions are taken in the storyline, and so they reflect the current state of that room or area. The room descriptions will not show characters that are in them, because that will be reflected on the character page. The map page will not show the "current location" because there could be multiple characters in different rooms and so current location is relative.
This page is just an introduction on what would lead me to start this sort of project. Once you have read the info there is no real reason to go back. I may make some minor changes as I review the info and find better ways to communicate why we are doing this but once you get started with the rest of this stuff you won't need a review on that anymore. I will not be changing it often and if you were to bookmark any page I would suggest either bookmarking the Story page or just using the RSS feed.
Instructions Page:
This is where you are. This page will give you instructions on how to be a part of this project.
Story Page:
This is where the magic happens. The story is written in "Blog" format, meaning that the post on the top is the most recent event. To go back to the beginning you would need to go to the bottom. This is the page that you will use to actually interact with the game. Read through the story to be sure you know what is going on, and then on the most recent post you can add a reply by hitting the reply link. I will go through these replies and either pick the best or the first post and the next part of the story will be based on that post. Check back often to see how your replies effect the story line.
Characters Page:
This is a list of the Characters that have been introduced during the story. As characters are added or passed a post will be added with their information as well. The information is divided into the following categories:
Description: This is just a basic description of the character's physical appearance
Personality: This is a description of the personality of the character, this may effect the character completing an action that you request via replies. For example, an impatient character is not likely to get very far if you want him/her to search for a needle in a haystack.
History/Timeline: These are the major events that have happened in the story or occasionally events that happened prior to the story beginning but were either introduced as a given or introduced through the story line.
Current Inventory: These are the items that the character is carrying. It is not only possible to become overloaded, but it is possible that you simply have no room or way to carry an item.
Character Status Levels: This is a place to list basic status items like hunger, cleanliness, energy, or others. If you notice that the energy level is low it may be time to suggest that the person do something to fix that. If these levels go to the extreme then the character may not be able to do what you are trying to get them to do. This can be the basis of the occasional puzzle where you realize that they need energy but if they sleep then something terrible will happen. Watch these levels closely.
Current Location: Where this character is located. As they move this is updated. Most of the time this is only updated when a post is made that includes the character, however sometimes they may move around and the observant eye may notice and realize that this is important information.
Map Page:
This page will show the current map as it has been revealed. The "?" symbol is used to represent that you know something is in that direction because you can see the exit but it has not been explored yet. For example: if you were standing in a living room and there were two exits, you would know that there is something there but if you had not been in those rooms yet you would not know what was there. This does not mean that there are not secret exits, but they would take exploring or actions to find. This, also, does not mean that the characters do not know what is there. It could be that person's home and they would surely know what was there, but it is not shown on the map until it has been introduced via the storyline. Below the picture of the known map is a description of each room or area as they were revealed in the storyline. These descriptions will change as actions are taken in the storyline, and so they reflect the current state of that room or area. The room descriptions will not show characters that are in them, because that will be reflected on the character page. The map page will not show the "current location" because there could be multiple characters in different rooms and so current location is relative.