A while back I asked for participants in a playtest of Scribarchy, a collaborative storytelling platform (https://scribarchy.itch.io/). Thanks to everyone who tried it out and shared feedback. I have made a number of updates and am starting a new beta-test. For this round, I will be curating a Multiverse called The Starship Warden.
A generation ship lost in space. You wake from your cryogenic chamber to find the crew dead, systems damaged, and something very wrong with the ship.
Play will be structured like a persistent play-by-post RPG, but instead of submitting posts, players create game items. I curate and publish those items, players interact with them, create new items in response, and the cycle continues. I would love to have you take a look and let me know what you think.
From the last beta-test I learned that there are some aspects of Scribarchy that may be show-stoppers for some people:
An email address is required for account verification and only for account verification. You can always use a throwaway e-mail, but for some folks this is a non-starter. I use Amazon Web Services Cognito to provide this capability, which is necessary for the multiplayer aspects of the platform.
AI is used to create thumbnail images for some game items, prompted by descriptions the player writes as part of the game. Many people have strong feelings about AI, and I do not want anyone to feel uncomfortable about participating. The thumbnails are small and purely illustrative.
There are character limits. Names of items are typically limited to 40 characters, and descriptions to 160 characters. There are ways to do more exposition, but some may find the constraints too restrictive.
Because of the above structure and limits, opportunities for writing extended dialog are limited. These constraints are intentional and are part of what I am interested in exploring during this beta.
If this sounds like something you might enjoy, I would love to have you participate and tell me how it works for you.