Need help with italics

[SolarSnake]

Another major big use of variables for VNs is to keep track of choices in a non-looping story. e.g.

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menu:
    "Buy her a swimsuit":
        "I buy her a swimsuit!"
        $ gift = "swimsuit"
    "Buy her a tennis racket":
        "I buy her a tennis tracket"
        $gift = "racket"
    "Buy her a komodo dragon"
        "Aw, that komodo dragon hachling is so cute!"
        $gift = "dragon"

a whole bunch of story later:

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if present == "swimsuit":
    gf "Thanks for the swimsuit, but I already have five."
    "Rats."
elif present == "racket":
    gf "Thanks for the tennis racket, but I don't play tennis."
    "Rats."
else:
    gf "Thank you so much for this really cute komodo dragon! I've named him Mr Cuddles! I'm looking forward to buying him mousecicles and taking him for walks every day."
    "Yay!"

This way, you can make later parts of the story reflect earlier choices without requiring the earlier choices to cause major branches.


Variables are also useful for doing point based systems, so that when the game ends you end up with whoever you were nicest too, or whatever. In that case, every choice would either add or subtract points from the appropriate variable, and then at the end you'd do:

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if tracy_points > shirly_points && tracy_points > stacy_points:
    tracy "Want to go back to my place? *wink*"
elif shirly_points > tracy_points && shirly_points > stacy_points:
    shirly "Want to go back to my place? *wink*"
else:
    stacy "Want to go back to my place? *wink*"

(Note: I'm an american male, so I gave an example where you hook up with females in the ending. If you prefer an ending where you hook up with males, just pretend (or be) in England where those are all men's names.)

[papillon]

If you want a name that flips genders across the atlantic, use 'Robin' or 'Jamie'. Those'll confuse people nicely.

Shirley isn't a boy's name anywhere I know of... and Tracy's not only a girl's name but a rather notorious one. ("Sharon" and "Tracy" were apparetly so common among lower-class British women for a time period that they've been permanently stuck with a bad reputation.)

[SolarSnake]

Ok, granted, you might have to pretend that you are in England of 100 years ago...

But Shirley, Tracey, and Stacey were definitely all men's names at some point.

But good point about Robin and Jamie, thanks!

[NetGenSuperstar]

If you want a name that flips genders across the atlantic, use 'Robin' or 'Jamie'. Those'll confuse people nicely.

Kim works, too. It's an American female name (short for Kimberly), but I know of quite a few Korean-American males with the name Kim, since it's a Korean name as well.