Why Am I Making This?

In the past, I've kept this project more local, only sharing it with friends. Even in the online presence I have given it, such as through here, I haven't communicated much or made it clear "what" this was, or "why" it existed. As I transition to a more public-facing project, I want to make sure that people who come across it know what this is. So what is it?

Well, first off, this is interactive fiction. I'm hoping to add graphical UI improvements and images in the future, but for now, it's a completely text-based game. It's written in choicescript, which is a popular choice-based "choose-your-own-adventure" style novel creator. However, it's not quite a story. It's more an open world experience. You travel about, unlocking more and more things just like in A Dark Room or CandyBox. I'm hoping for a similar vibe as those latter two games rather than the novelesque features of a Choice of Games label. In other words, this is more decidedly a game than a story. I like to think of it as "open world interactive fiction".

So why am I making this? The short answer is "to explore". I've always loved exploration. When I was a teen, I would walk tens of thousands of steps a day just to see what the world around me looked like. Unfortunately, walking like this isn't always super accessible due to weather or time constraints, and even worse it got "same"-y after a while. You eventually notice all the patterns in buildings and there's no intrinsic reward to discovery. Just, hey, look, you found another panda express! But in a game, you can build that diversity and those rewards. You can stimulate the discovery process so that it continues to be rewarding.

There are already games out there that I feel like do this very well. For example, the two I mentioned are excellent at this. But they both realistically only have a few hours of playtime. Sure, you can play them again, try to get every feature, or do some sort of silly challenges, but after around 3-4 hours the worlds feel pretty well-known. The feelings of mystery and fog and discovery just aren't there anymore. That's why I'm hoping to make this something massive. I want this to eventually be a project that someone doesn't have to worry about finishing, because there will always be more. This is a big ask, especially for the "open-world"-ish format I'm going for. People already reach dead ends consistently after an hour, even with 100k words written. However, I'm not deterred. I want to work on this for years. This is a passion project, I have lots of time, and I really want to build this experience for people.

The reason I'm hosting this here in such an early state is to catch initial problems. I've already been told that the world doesn't appeal to the senses enough. It's hard to imagine what things look, sound, and feel like, since it's never said. I'm still working on this, but knowing specific places where such difficulties arise would let me focus on the major pain points and prioritize. At the same time, I need to keep adding content and expanding the world. Knowing where people get lost, where they want to explore more, and things about already explored places that are unsatisfying helps tremendously in making sure I create the experience I'm looking for.

Happy exploring!