SpringThing 2023 Outdoor Tent Chat

system · May 14, 2023, 7:27am

This topic is an archive of the Spring Thing Outdoor Tent chat channel.

system · May 14, 2023, 7:27am

Originally sent in Spring Thing Outdoor Tent

HanonO

Welcome to Spring Thing 2023!

This is an experiment and subject to shutdown at any time due to abuse or lack of interest, or if Chat discourages people from forum participation. The Code of Conduct still applies, and you can flag content for moderation as always (click the three-dots kebab for select/flag/reply options), so please be on your normal good behavior in chat as you would on the regular forum.

DeusIrae

Yay! Looking forward to the Thing and the chat!

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HanonO

Please be aware we still prefer long-form reviews and discussion on the forums and we have the ability to pull interesting topics from chat to a permanent category.

groggydog

You are all welcome to join me in immediately diving into a new project to allay the anxiety I feel about releasing this project into the world

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manonamora

Heyyyy!

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Lancelot

Hi\

manonamora

hope you had a bit of a break first....
cause I've done that for three (more, probabnly) projects in a row.... it's.... not smart

Lancelot

Even though I had to withdraw from Spring Thing I still wanted to drop by and say hello

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groggydog

haha it's just getting all those brain worms out. nothing major

Encorm

I hope there can be good discussion between players and authors!

LapinLunaireGames

I also withdrew by virtue of never entering ;D But wanted to peek at some fun discussion!

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manonamora

I say that but,....

I've brainstormed about my IFComp entry with Jinx yesterday already

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Lancelot

oh whoa going for the big comp

manonamora

<- -- clearly not following her own advice

I did that last year
It's the return of my buggy entry

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Lancelot

I think I will basically shift comps....

my Spring Thing entry will now enter in ParserComp, and I guess that means my ParserComp entry will have to enter IFComp

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manonamora

you can do it Onno!

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Lancelot

when I see the amount I spent on the 'lil' SPring Thing game... I fear the worst for the other one

manonamora

you can finish it

Lancelot

Oh yes definitely I can finish it in my lifetime (assuming I wont get hit by a truck real soon)

Definitely within the current millennium at least

Its just that you know... how to put it... what was originally a lil thing somehow started to grow and get more serious ...

can't say it achieved life thats cliche but... dunno how to put it... once I started it I could not let go until I feel it is done.

manonamora

they never stay small.... or you have to learn to slash it to make it happen in time

Lancelot

if I slash it I slash part of my soul

that sounds even more cliche lol

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manonamora

is all good, Onno

that's part of making games

LapinLunaireGames

10/1 unlicensed medical professionals agree that the leading cause of stress in IF devs is scope creep (self-contained and conducted experiment)

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Lancelot

at least I have a big master plan I intend to follow until its all done

most of it is game dressing some people may not see... but I enjoy adding the lil things in there to make it appear more lively.

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manonamora

oooh easter eggs?

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Lancelot

let's say some things are optional

and there are more ways to skin the cat ... althought I do not really do branching, you can play the game the 'easy' way and experience some drawbacks.... or you can try to avoid them... at least thats what I hope to achieve to give some peeps more incentive if they want to achieve 'perfection'

part of it was because my alpha tester wanted to know if there was a way to avoid the 'bad things' happening... so I took some pains to implement alternatives or at least some ways to finish the games with no 'bad things'

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manonamora

(oh that's nice! I like being able not to do bad things in games )

Lancelot

and it is also fun to add a lil extra things happening when you do certain things... but most people will prolly not even realise it unless they go look for it... so I will add some 'post mortem' into my AMUSING so ppl can go back if they want to

actually it is not a matter of doing 'bad things' .... it is more like a matter of avoiding 'bad things' happening to others... I had to tone down some scenes because my a ester thought I was being gross

maybe I need to add content warnings

LapinLunaireGames

I love hunting around for those kinds of fun extras and digging out different paths, it's so fun

Lancelot

anyways this is the happy spring thing tent, I should not talk about bad things happening to npcs in games lol

Funny side note: Today attended a vendor event and they had some free Tee shirts promoting their Java Spring framework ... It immediately reminded me of this event instead however

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manonamora

aaaaw

Lancelot

I don't suppose we have a Spring Thing ParserComp or IFComp branded thingie?

manonamora

the IFComp has some merch

Lancelot

"I attended Spring Thing and all I got was this lousy tee shirt"

oh does it? hmm ill check it out

manonamora

https://www.zazzle.com/store/iftf_gift_shop

well/// it's the IFIT more than the IFComp

but it would be fun if it could be expanded to the other Comps too!

Lancelot

true...

manonamora

(though it might be hard for the non-IFIT ones, since they are run by one/two people without much or any funds)

Lancelot

well plenty of print shops which can facilitate custom prints

and yeah funding would be the biggest stumbleblock

HanonO

I used RedBubble to make a coffee cup for my game, and you can make t-shirts. It's print-on-demand so you can make merchandise for free and people can buy it from the site - it's only created physically when someone orders something. I know there are many print on demand services but that's the one I happened to use.

I know @mathbrush has been talking about funding the server, so this might be something he would want to set up and collect the funds for future support of Spring Thing.

Like he needs more to do! Maybe someone can help.

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kamineko

Yeah, Callie (partner/collaborator) had just one shirt made on demand. Cost wasn't bad at all, even at such low volume.

I wonder: how many people are releasing their first game for this ST? I am

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manonamora

first game ever or first game for that comp?

kamineko

ever

well, that is what I'm wondering about, though wondering about the other seems just as reasonable

manonamora

(I am not then for the first, but it is my frist time at the SpringThing )

kamineko

nice. last year, it was my favorite IF event as a player/reviewer. i'll look forward to playing your game.

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manonamora

Head's up, it is a bit... different from my usual stuff

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kamineko

Ah, that's good, I think ST is a preferred venue for "different" works

manonamora

I'm already happy I solved my challenge

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inventor200

Technically I've made a turn-based strategy game before, but it's missing a main menu and I just haven't gotten around to releasing it. There's only one other game that got to a similar level of completion.

But this SpringThing will see my first game that is playable to the public, which is a huge moment for me.

I feel a lot more at home with IF, I think, because it lets me create my game ideas while leveraging writing instead of graphics. 95% of my game attempts have fallen apart because the work to make graphics was too much to handle.

That turn-based strategy game got as far as it did because the graphics were so simple to do, and the main menu is where it got stuck because I wanted to do some fancy art for it.

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mathbrush

Speaking of first-time releases, there was a high school in Slovakia that had students all write games for Spring Thing as their own minicomp. I collected them all as one game

So there are at least 4 first time authors!

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LapinLunaireGames

That's so exciting!!

inventor200

Ahhhh!!!! I'm so excited to see what they did!! :DDD

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manonamora

I remember the Twine Sci-Fi jam from last december, from a school in Japan. It was so fun to go through all entries

looking forward to these little champs!!

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aschultz

Yes, not having to do graphics is kind of neat--it helped me focus. Though now I'd like to do some visual stuff beyond, well, MSPaint-y and obvious necessary stuff

Also, hooray for having this chat channel.

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manonamora

HAPPY SPRING YALLL

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Juuves

I was reading the game blurbs on the website this morning and they all sound so good. So exciting! Can't wait to get into playing Also, huge thanks to the organizer and all the participants this year! It couldn't have been easy

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inventor200

I know it was insane for me, and I've heard whispers here and there that quite a few people have been through an intense development experience as well. Mad respect to everyone else on the games list.

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jkj_yuio

I already tried several games yesterday, although some were locked then. A lot looked really interesting. I think several in the backgarden should have been in the main event, as they're good.

I havent played any all through yet. that's for later.

@manonamora I had some JS errors. could be my machine tho' try typing x me in the first box?

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manonamora

ah yea ok i see (@jkj_yuio tagging you in case the chat blows up)

I forgot to disable certain commands on certain spots

the command should still work, but you need to make some more text appear first

aschultz

Hmm, maybe I'll be able to get through everything this year. It's lovely to have a huge festival but last year's was too much. I'd like to write all the reviews I can, too, but I might save them for post comp

Note having too many entries for most completionists to review is a great 1st world problem--there were 3 one year I entered!

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Encorm

We had some last minute crunch mostly caused by time management issues + a very badly timed stomach bug, but nothing like "crunching since December" levels

Mostly we need to start planning our dev time assuming that something IRL is going to happen and suck up 1-2 weeks

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groggydog

Yeah. Having done last year's ST entry in less than 5 weeks, and then doing this one slowly over like 6 months...cannot say I want to go back any time soon haha

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aschultz

I got a jump on mine early but then blocked it out and put it off until a late scramble. The technical stuff worked but I had to pass on some story I'd have liked to add.

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manonamora

damn! I started on March 3/4th?

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kamineko

My game took around 18 months, though six months of that was about learning Inform. I should have given myself more time to build a release... the images and menu systems complicated things. I think the next game (assuming there is one) will probably take me a year

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groggydog

idk what best practice is, but I went ahead and put my own game on IFDB

system · May 14, 2023, 7:27am

Originally sent in Spring Thing Outdoor Tent

rileypb

Took about 6 weeks, but I had to ignore just about everything else in my life to do it.

groggydog, I imagine that's okay

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manonamora

I did the same lol

kamineko

given Brian's involvement with IFDB, I'm sure he has a plan, but I would think its ok

aschultz

Worst case is, it's just duplicate information. I think there is an API to add everything. Autumn Chen might have written a script? I think it is used for ifcomp.

Perhaps the only downside is, if you enter things before Brian does, your game will disappear from the front page sooner.

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DeusIrae

There’s someone named Zape who is a mysterious ifdb hero - they swoop in and put comp/festival games on ifdb every year. But giving them some help is good!

And yeah, I think autumn wrote a script for last year’s Comp but I assume it’d work a little different here since the formatting is different

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mathbrush

Traditionally putting up IFDB pages is an individual effort by authors and players. There are no current plans for a way to get the games on IFDB. I'm going to be writing individual reviews for games and 'hiding' them until after the comp, and any game that's not up by the time I get to it I'l make a page for, but that could be a long time. So go wild and make pages!

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groggydog

Thanks for everything Brian congrats on the launch

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pinkunz

I think that's more up to the author's discretion than the organiser, if I recall correctly.

Re: Back Garden inclusion.

mathbrush

I think people generally enter back garden if it's experimental, a commercial demo, or if they don't want as much possibly negative feedback

Also, I don't have an official Mastodon Spring Thing presence, so I'd love it if anyone who wants to spreads the message on there!

kamineko

I did! & Zarf boosted (he has a larger following than I do), so there's that. Already been a few boosts! I'll do it again in a couple of days

I'll do a gold machine thing too

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mathbrush

Very nice

rileypb

Started on Marie Waits by Dee Cooke because I liked Houghtonbridge, but now I have to go teach class. Sigh.

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JoshGrams

Oop, I hadn't scrolled through my feed to see that Drew already had, so I made another mastodon post: https://icosahedron.website/@JoshGrams/110147787029165195

Oh well, the more, the merrier

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Encorm

I'm honored that you chose to plug our game specifically after the testing hell we put you through

kamineko

the more the merrier! I'll go boost it

mathbrush

Yeah I think more posts is better than less!

JoshGrams

Heh. I mentioned the ones I knew something about, mostly. Been busy with the farm today and haven't gotten to dig in much yet.

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manonamora

omg thanks for the mention too

JoshGrams

Psh. Testing was fine though. I wish I'd realized more clearly at the beginning that I was running into unwritten endings than bugs, but other than that…

I'll nag people to go play other games as I get to them, I'm sure

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Encorm

Sounds perfect!

JoshGrams

Oh, hey, there's a Geoffrey Golden game on here. Missed that in my first read through the list

Juuves

I just played it! It's certainly amusing.

Norbez

ouo/ I just got in here, hello everyone!

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inventor200

ouo)/

LapinLunaireGames

That's SUCH a cute wave kaomoji, I'm def sending it for every interaction ever now ^v^
(ouo)/ <3

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inventor200

\(ouo\)
(/ouo)/
Dance!

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LapinLunaireGames

/(ouo/) \(ouo\) (/ouo)/ party in the Spring Thing tent!

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JoshGrams

The Mirror entries aren't bad! All beginner work, I'm almost positive, but it's fun to see newcomers experimenting

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kamineko

I played the mirror games, too. It sounds like the students would appreciate feedback, so I think maybe I'll write something up even if I don't get around to doing reviews.

mathbrush

Yeah I sent them Josh's review and they were very pleased

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kamineko

Ah, good to know! I'll definitely do something, then

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pinkunz

Samesies. Not great with reviews, but encouraging and rewarding the creativity of Slavokian schoolchildren seems like a worthwhile endeavor.

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JoshGrams

Ah, good. I kind of wrote it for that and then forgot to ask you if there was a way to contact them…

OK, that's it, I'm revoking some people's thesaurus privileges

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Lancelot

Wazzup?

pinkunz

Are some individuals abusing their synonymy onomasticon prerogatives?

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manonamora

I wouldn't put it past me… I've had wordhippo opened all months

JoshGrams

I knew what I was getting into with Manon's game, but Secret of the Black Walrus took me by surprise.

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piearty

powerthesaurus ftw

what i really need is a thesaurus for idioms tbh

JoshGrams

Huh. I remember there being paper dictionaries of quotations, so it seems like one of idioms should exist too, but I don't think I've ever seen one

inventor200

I just want it on record that the application of the was meant to be silly. I'm actually impressed by this sentence.

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DeusIrae

@rileypb I was just saying in the Lounge channel that the cover art for Galaxy Jones is great - stylish and promising an awesome adventure. But then I saw you aren’t in that channel so now I’m saying it better!

rileypb

Thanks! I drew it myself

that's a complete lie

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groggydog

I did make up a little riff in my head for every time the Galaxy Jones text art flashed in the game

not dissimilar to "Mr F" from Arrested Development

rileypb

My wife made up a similar thing while she was playing it

Wynter

Do play 'Red Door, Yellow Door' when you get a chance - I'm getting stuck into it now and it looks like I'm the first to review it

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DeusIrae

Agreed! I tested it and even then it was creepy and compelling

groggydog

has a very T. Kingfisher quality to it

JoshGrams

Gah. I guess I'm giving up on Red Door, Yellow Door for tonight. I know there's one more thing to do; I'm pretty sure I know what it is; I'm pretty sure I've found everything else; I have no idea how to get the parser to let me do the thing. I'm probably going to smack myself once I've gotten some sleep… dunno.

alyshkalia

Also currently stuck in Red Door Yellow Door

JoshGrams

Ah, I can probably give hints. Maybe over in the thread?

(so they're visible for other people who might need them an indefinite number of years later)

@alyshkalia if you're still around

alyshkalia

ooh thank you!!

JoshGrams

Ah, and since it looks like you're new here (?) the blur-spoiler thing is hiding behind the formatting button that looks like a gear

Or… I'll get distracted by being in the middle of the first book in Naomi Novik's Scholomance trilogy and someone else will be faster. Excellent community.

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alyshkalia

Newbie question perhaps, but where/how would be the best way to report bugs for Spring Thing games?

JoshGrams

Hmm, that's a good question. @mathbrush is the organizer, so he might have a suggestion. A bunch of the authors are also here but as you just joined you probably can't initiate a private message yet, but if we ping them they could contact you and ask…

Or reply to the author in one of the review threads saying you have private reports to make, maybe

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alyshkalia

ok, thank you!

rileypb

REALLY? I've been typing it myself all this time?

JoshGrams

Heh. I always type it: for me it's just as fast as reaching for the mouse and getting the right thing highlighted and then clicking through the menu… but yeah, that and the details folding thing are in there

Zed

Being busy because you're in the middle of the first book of the Scholomance puts you at high risk of continuing to be busy because you're in the middle of the second book of the Scholomance.

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JoshGrams

What's the line? I'm in this picture and I don't like it?

Ugh. You'd think I'd be smart enough by now not to stay up until 3AM reading a whole trilogy in one sitting. Good books, though

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bg

I think ClubFloyd may have been playing some Spring Thing games.

Sounds like they already played Red Door Yellow Door…

Lancelot

Ouch totally forgot about that

(ClubFloyd) was busy last few weeks…

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sophia

does anyone know if theres an archive of some of the stuff that used to be on sub-q anywhere? i keep running across mentions of the site in older articles when i dive into the internet a bit, but the links are always busted

DeusIrae

I haven’t, but have you tried putting the links in the wayback machine?

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sophia

oh theres a thought. ill try that the next time i find a direct link- mewst of the time they just link to subq itself and mention the name of a game

tysm!

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Zed

subQ Category Fiction

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pinkunz

kaemi

Encorm

LapinLunaireGames

HanonO

I’m planning to close this channel and archive the chat next week if there’s any last chat subjects to be hashed out.

pinkunz

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HanonO

Thank you, @pinkunz !

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GJMen · May 14, 2023, 2:50pm

Wait, there was a chat!?

Eudokimos · May 14, 2023, 7:15pm

Josh, you were the first to review on our Mirror games, weren’t you? Brian sent me a note. From then I kept on following all the posts regarding the Mirror topic and passing them on to the team. I am not sure who enjoyed the feedback more, whether the authors or their writing tutor

HanonO · May 14, 2023, 9:12pm

Indeed! I announced it: