WT Maker Project

[Guest]

Hi, all

 

Alright, so I'm currently working on this Walkthrough Maker project and I would need some feedback regarding a few things.

The basic idea is to create a tool for people to contribute to the creation of complete walkthroughs easily and to be able to find walkthroughs if they need them. There are different designs depending on the kind of game we face, whether it's a multi branching tree or a single stream with small diverging routes.

But that's not the point.

 

The way it will work for users is that they have to enter the sequence of their choices. Example :

When arriving to this choice, the user would enter in the "Can you promise me to be more serious about this from now on?" as the question, "Yes"/"Maybe" as the chosen choice, "Yes"/"Maybe" as one of the other choices. And this at every choice the player faces in chronological order.

Thus we obtain a sequence of (Knot/Question + Chosen choice + Other choices).

What that allows the program to do is create the tree/graph structure behind it. Once that is done, what's left is to de the graphical interface but that's not the problem.

First Question I have for everybody is:

In what form would you like to have such a tool if it existed ?

Would you want a website ? An app ? A coputer software ? Anything else ?

Currently I'm using Java so I'm going more for some kind of web app but that can be changed easily as the algorythm is the only hard thing is the code.

I would really appreciate feedback regarding this and what you would expect from this tool.

 

Second, and this in for people who know a bit of computer science and oriented graph theory.

I am facing space issues. As you all know trees grow exponentially and while it is easy to receursively program an algorythm that would create a tree based on sequences, the amount of branching would make 40>choice walkthroughs too heavy and unfilable.

I have another model where I'm using graphs where a knot is associated to an index and in a table's index you would find the different sons. that way, I can avoid the redundance of several knots(associated to questions) and just give them an id.

However, sometimes in VNs you don't just trigger events, but you can trigger the apparition of route specific choices which are entirely dependent on the sequence that the player followed. That means that I have to find a way to isolate knots when they don't have their usual amount of choices. But that doesn't help me discriminate the triggers in the sequence that led to the apparition of said choices, and it means that I would have to isolated the whole sequence from the tree.

Moreover, a same choice can lead to different events depending on the previous sequences.

I'm not sure I'm being very clear, but basiclly I want to automate as much as I can the process of WT creating through event sequences.

If some people are interesting in helping, bringing in ideas, feel free, it's a much harder task than I had anticipated. Feel free to ask question so I can clarify shaddy points. I can illustrate the several problems at hand if needed.

 

Maef

[Dergonu]

This does seem like an interesting idea. 

I think a downloadable program would be the best. At least I would like that over a web browser based one. 

 

Question, would this then work as a database containing the walkthroughs generated by the program? 

So like, would it be a program for both making walkthroughs and for fans to access them? Or is the sole purpose of the program making the walkthroughs? 

Would this just be for translated games, or for untranslated VNs as well? 

And would there be any way to stop people making troll guides? Like, if they put in the wrong sequence of choices on purpose. (Some people are assholes.) 

[Scorp]

I doubt lot of people would really want to install a separate tool on their PC in order to get a walkthrough (especially Java), so I suggest using online website with option to download generated HTML walkthrough.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Dergonu said:

This does seem like an interesting idea. 

I think a downloadable program would be the best. At least I would like that over a web browser based one. 

 

Question, would this then work as a database containing the walkthroughs generated by the program? 

So like, would it be a program for both making walkthroughs and for fans to access them? Or is the sole purpose of the program making the walkthroughs? 

Would this just be for translated games, or for untranslated VNs as well? 

And would there be any way to stop people making troll guides? Like, if they put in the wrong sequence of choices on purpose. (Some people are assholes.) 

The final objectif is for the walkthroughs to be usable by our users. We want to provide complete walkthroughs rather than simple sequences to follow so that people can follow their own path without deviating from the route they are trying to follow.

An illustration for want we want to achieve would be the Katawa Shoujo walkthrough.

 

Spoiler

As long as there are people willing to contribute, this can be made for any game, in any language.

Quote

And would there be any way to stop people making troll guides? Like, if they put in the wrong sequence of choices on purpose. (Some people are assholes.) 

I haven't given too much thought about moderation but that is a valid point. Propositions will probably be submitted for basic verification and a report/correction button may be added if users find mistakes that moderation could not.

[Nosebleed]

I'd definitely love to make use of an app like this, linear walkthroughs are fine if all you want is the ending itself, but diagrams let you discover a route without fearing a wrong choice. I think a downloadable program is more practical in general but I wouldn't mind using a web app either.

[DarkZedge]

This is quite the interesting idea and honestly something I'd regularly use aswell also I'd have no problem installing an extra program on my pc.

It'd be quite useful I must say

[Guest]

Alright, thanks for those answers ! Keep em going