by tlaero » Sun, 11Jul10 06:55
Here's what I do.
First I name major scenes. "pool1", "sauna1", "bar1" etc.
Within a scene, I've found that it's generally not really a tree. It's more a line with offshoots that either die off or come back to the main branch eventually. For instance, in Christine's initial bar scene, it goes like this.
Arrive at the bar.
Branching compliments that all eventually lead to getting drinks.
Get drinks.
Branching discussion about work that eventually leads to the bar game.
Start bar game.
Branching gameplay that eventually leads to the other guy hitting on her.
Other guy hits on her.
Etc.
In those branching areas, there are paths that end the game or jump to the end of that section. But, mostly the branches lead back to the next thing and the real trick for the user is to get the most points through the branch.
I use bar1, bar2, bar3 for the major steps and then letters within the branches. bar1a, bar1b, etc. You don't have to do "bar01" because AdventureCreator's Game View sorts bar2 before bar10. (I coded it that way intentionally.) Note, however, that AdventureCreator can sort bar1abc and bar10z, but it doesn't understand if you have two sets of numbers (bar1a3).
As for the branches, what I do is write the text for all of the options while I'm on the page, but I leave the html links empty. I work through one of the branches, then go back to the first empty one (I look for the empty ones in game view) and make it continue with the letters.
For instance, say that bar4 has 3 options for the user to say. I write the three options and put "bar4a.html" as the first href. Then, say that branch takes two more spots before going to the next collection point (bar5). So I do bar4b, and bar4c, where bar4c goes to bar5. Then I go back to bar4, pick up the second branch and start with bar4d. Etc.
Ocasionally I screw up and need to add things in between. Then I just add more letters. If I need something between bar4b and bar4c, I do bar4ba, etc.
Tlaero