How to get a transcript

Authoring Twine
1

Twine Version: 2.6.0.0
Story Format: SugarCube (but should work with others with tweaking)

This is a way to save a transcript of your game. The text of each page is output to the developer console, and you can grab it and do what you like with it.

The code needs to go in the footer, so it is always present. InSugarCube, this is called PassageFooter, and code needs to go inside script tags. If you are using different formats, adjust accordingly.

<<script>>
setTimeout(function() {
  console.log('-------------------\n' 
   + document.querySelector('#passages .passage').innerText)
}, 100)
<</script>>

The can see the developer console in most browsers by pressing F12. You need to select the “Console” tab, which is probably the second one after the “Elements” tab.

As you play, the text you see will appear in the log. It will only be what is visible when you land on this passage; if the text changes dynamically, you will not see the changes.

You can add comments to the log by starting the line //

At the end of play, do [ctrl]-A to select all, then copy-and-paste as required.

2 Likes
2

Do I understand correctly that this would be perfect for playtesters to make and annotate a transcript of a Twine game?
A transcript that the tester can then edit and send to the author as a text file?

3

Yes, should be great for that.

4

It’d be a good start, though it depends on the game and which features it uses. It wouldn’t catch, for instance, whether they clicked links that expand to add more text, or other things that happen within a passage. And a more player-friendly version could add a “download transcript” button in the sidebar (or wherever it’s appropriate) instead of asking users to find the browser’s javascript console (which might not even exist on mobile?) and copy/paste. That kind of thing.

1 Like
5

I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but what’s the advantage of this method compared to a proofread format (like Paperthin)?

6

It doesn’t show each passage in the story once, like a proofing format, it shows a player’s path through the game. So if you have someone test your game, you can see where they went, and what they had trouble with, that kind of thing. It’s a common thing when testing parser games: they can produce a log of the gameplay, and testers can insert notes of what they were thinking or problems they noticed.

2 Likes
7

Makes sense. Thanks for the reply. :grin: