Non Linear Script - What's your method?

[Tachyglossus]

I've just been looking at some dating sims or other games that aren't as much of a straight narrative, but a bunch of snippets of narrative dependant upon player actions.

So I was wondering what method people use to write and organize such scripts?

I am sorry if I am being vague, but I guess I am asking how people write up a game script as opposed to that of a linear story.

Do you focus on the progression of the game and the basic plot, filling in little snippets here and there as they arise? Do you go back and fourth, weaving in narration and dialogues from 'most important' to 'least important' by some personal criteria? Or do you order things by character, and, say, write all interactions with Character A first, then move on to the next? Or organize by instances? Write Event A, then Event B, then everyone's responses when given a gift, or all NPC's comments at this stage of the plot, then all of the shop dialogue, etc. Or do you do something else completely? I am curious.

I can't give my method since I haven't written anything like it. I'm not sure I ever will, but I'm still interested to see how people respond nonetheless.

I am probably not making sense, but then I live my life thinking I'm not making sense, yet I get by.

[chensterrain]

I'd be pretty interested in seeing how other people do this sort of thing, too. I personally separate my script into the type of interaction for each character - so I have one rpy file for dates with character X, another for character Y and so on. If the events of each type are short, I'll generally shove them into a single script file; I have all of the birthday interaction events in one file, all of the 'character X invites you to the funfair etc' events in another file, the code for the shop / email functions in another file (well, they each bled over into two, but you get the idea) etc etc. Aside from these basic events, each character has around two strings of events that are vaguely related to each other, and I shove all these into two script files each as well (i.e. 'character X club Y route', that sort of thing).

I don't write directly into the script, though, so the script order has little bearing on the writing order - when I've had enough of writing one section, I move on to another, so there are a few cases where I wrote the first set of events in a script file and didn't come back to finish the rest for a year or more (though I was totally working on other parts of the game in between, I swear! :B).

...This is probably a terrible way of doing things, though! :/

[papillon]

When I've done visual novels, I wrote the common path all together moving forward (do each option until they recombine, then continue) and then once it got to a more "character path" area, do one path all the way through until the end, then back up and do another path.

For scheduling sims, though, I tend to write it in chronological order after working out the placement of events on paper. On my desk at the moment is a stack of calendar printouts for January - April 2003, covered with pencil notes of what happens when for whom, along with the events that will ALWAYS happen. And this obviously makes it easier to see how events might interact, and what hints you might get of things that you're not actually seeing. I have a plot track for several characters who are carrying out plots the player isn't involved in, but will only see glimpses of now and then - and some of those characters we might be seeing more of in a later game, and these little references already plotted on the schedule will help provide a framework for how it will work then.

also I have to try and stick to chronological order because I have alphatesters trying to play the game as fast as I write it.

[Greeny]

I like to use special software to make flowcharts.

[kinougames]

I do what papillon does; start with a common branch and figure out decisions that give you a few extra scenes with a certain character that will take you down their road, and if you make those options that's where your story heads.

Then I write the paths for each character from there.

For Mitsumata, I have a common branch, then two secondary common branches that each lead to a few endings but different endings, and then from there each individual ending. In addition, when I do stories, I try to keep all the endings within the same canon. For example, out of all the endings in Mitsumata only 2 of them happen outside of canon, the rest are all within the same continuity and can all happen. The story doesn't change for a character because you chased them down, they will still meet whatever end they were going to meet, you don't get to choose between "HAPPY ENDING!" with them or sad ending, which cut downs on unnecesssary extra endings without killing plot.

[Tachyglossus]

Wow, thanks for all of the responses. It's interesting to see how different people organize it, although the flow chart seems the most common (for good reason).

I'd say more about each individual post, but I have to run... but I felt bad making a post then not following up when people started responding!

[SusanTheCat]

@Greeny: YAY yED! I downloaded that yesterday in my quest to find flowchart software that didn't annoy me.

Right now I am leaning towards GraphVix because I like text entry. Does yEd have keyboard shortcuts?

Susan

[Greeny]

It appears to have some, but they're not useful.