hello,
realy like this, but the main thing that is agrivating is go back and forthe trying to figure out page numbers and such, and i was wondering if you could make a comand to write the text in the program, not just the description but the text for the reading perpose of figuring out where you are and such, because so far i don't have the patients to slow myself down in the project and go to one text file at a time and write in the text, so was wondering if you could make it like the description where you just write it in there. also, is it possible to make it screenreader friendly? maybe not but it uses sapi and i can not interupt the speach and so it goes on and on for everything i go over and its quite confusing at times.
thanks, and great job so far!

hmm, if a webpage is a bit hard to implement it what about using a program
with files in a specific formate like *.gmb or something like that,
then you could do all these things.

that's true, but with the other option, peraps it could be even named diferently
peoples could create entire text rpg games, with multiple choices, combat system, equipment,
lots of ideas.. and seeing that you develope things so fast i don't know
if it would take lots of time for you to create something like this.
yes, it's not easy, but on my opinion it would totaly rock.
i mean there are no good text rpg's, there are some like world
of legends, but the random factor is almost 0 and
other games are just hard to find, and using only text it's easyer to create
a rpg game.

I also want a kind of if statemenet thing, like, if you pick up the weapon do this, and if you don't do this, but you're saying just make new sections, but let's say the weapon comes in useful a whole bunch of sections later. Who'd want to create a duplicate for each choice? Not me.
Edit: Also, make an updater. You're pushing out the updates just as fast or even faster than towers of war updates came. I don't feel like downloading all of them. I'm too lazy. I'd rather have a program do it for me.

Hi aprone.

I'm afraid I'm less keen on a couple of suggestions people have made.

Firstly, as regards text descriptions being titles, I'd very much prefer to have them remain as personal descriptions only.

it's certainly not usual in most gamebooks for each page to have a title, and while for some pages, ---- eg room names, it makes sense, for others, eg a conversation choice it doesn't.

For instance if in a section your offering the player choices in a conversation, --- what should the title be? ---- partly through talking?

To me, having the titles visible would just make them less useful as personal markers, especially sinse I've tended to write titles that are helpful to me rather than to the player such as swimming choice or death.

if people want this feature, perhaps add it as an option which may be enabled or disabled?

For screen reader support, i'm personally far happier with things as they are, --- and sinse nobody has ever managed to come up with hal support anyway, sapi is fine with me (anyway it makes it far easier to switch betwene files and the program than it would if I kept having to turn Hal on and off).

As regards a stats system implemented as some sort of backend to the system, I myself would personally like things left as open ended as possible so that a gamebook author is left to device his/her own rules.

The ffproject system uses the rules from the fighting fantasy books, which are extremely symple, but can't show very much.

For instance, the large, propper gamebook I've been planning is set in a city where reputation and social status are crucially important.

thus, as well as your bog standard tests of strength and skill that you'd get on ffproject, you also have a social stat which may be tested at any time, and may recieve a hole bunch of penalties or extra points depending upon who you speak to and even whatyour wearig.

Also, there is a reputation stat which begins at 5, ad may rise or fall throughout the book. If your reputation is higher you'll recieve plusses to social checks, but also how high or low your reputation stat is will ultimately determine the ending of the story.

While I've always wanted to write a text rpg, part of that for me is deigning my own mechanics. While in a gamebook you are limited to what the user can conveniently roll and add up, this stil does allow a fair degree of freedom, and I wouldn't like to see this changed.

I do know some people have reffused to play gamebooks unless! they have a backend stats system, but to me this is just doing yourself out of a lot of fun, ---- pluss is absolutely no problem to anyone who's tabletop roleplayed.

I think realistically if you were going to add a stats system, for me it would have to be extremely flexible so that the player could effectively completely defign all it's behaviour.

Something like this:

1: defign a number of core stats attributed to the player, ie, player attributes.

2: allow the creator in each section to alter those stats either perminantly (ie, by wearing or buying equipment), or temporarily, ie, by buffs.

3: allow the game creator to set a number of variables tied to each given section, eg, combat value or numbers against which character attributes or other stats will be tested.

4: include some basic numeric opperations, such as pluss, minus, greater than or less than and a random number generator approximating dice rolls, which could be done on either the character stats or variables.

5: let the user defign consequences of numeric operations in terms of either a, going to a given section, or b, addition of text to the character sheet.

6: allow the user to create a repeat operation link on a given page set whether this repeats once only, or needs multiple presses until another consequence occurs.

7: have all this run through a relatively logical scripting language with each set of scripting at each given section, with core values at the start (say, you hit ctrl t to open script commands at each given section).

I would think the scripting would look something like this:

introductory section:
Character stats.

stat1 name =  strength, value = 1D6+10.
Stat2 name= skill value =1d6+10.
Stat3 name =endurence value =1D10+10.

Then we go to a section where you fight something.

Variable1 name =troll's combat skill value=10.
variable 2 name = trolls endurance value=10.

Operation name = fight troll.
If stat1+D6>variable1+D6
Variable 2-D6.
Ifstat1+D6< variable 1+D6,
Stat3-D6.

Repeat.

If variable1=0 go to section troll dead.
If stat1=0 go to section player dead.

this is how I would imagine an rpg engine scripting a basic fight with a troll comparing the players' strength to the trolls with a D6 modifyer.

There are other things you could add, for instance add a go to section player runaway command, or give the player different combat moves with different modifyers to use.

buying items could be done with a non repeating reduce player gold, add item (and stat boosts). command.

this could be used to create an rpg as symple, or as complex as a player could want, indeed by doing lots of mucking about with variables per section and character stats, you could add things like experience levels, or even a skills system.

Essentially any rpg stats system reduces to interactions betwene two sets of numbers, players' initial stats and variables in given situations, which is why I thought a scripting parza like this would work.

i'd certainly love a project of this sort, it would let me realize my personal ambition of creating a text rpg, but my point is, this is the sort of thing I'd want if the gamebook creator was to include a stats system, ---- something which lets the creator defign their own mechanics using a basic scripting language.

other than this, i'd prefer to leave things as is with the gamebook standbye of allowing the author to create their own stats system through giving the player some rules to follow with basic dice rolling and additions and subtractions.

The screen reader support works great with NVDA.

I've already begun experimenting with a few ways I might handle the program.  I think I also have an idea for handling scripting when the files are opened with the program, but having the files still function like normal HTML files in case someone would prefer to just post their story as a webpage.

I wanted to know if background music would be a good addition.  I'm 99% sure I can just let you toss an mp3 file into the folder and let the program handle the necessary framing so the song doesn't restart each time the reader follows a choice to a new page.  It might be neat for a story to include some type of ambient background music that fits the theme.  I might be wrong about the idea though since music could be a distraction rather than an improvement.

The background music will work even if they are just HTLM files.  I guess I'll need to have 2 settings for the music.  The first option will allow you to use different music on different pages if you want, but the disadvantage to that method is that the songs will start over whenever the reader clicks on a choice link.  Even if the songs match between pages, it would still restart itself.

The other method solves the music restarting problem, but it also means there would be only 1 mp3 file so you would have the same music through out the story.

Just to keep everything in one place, CAE_Jones suggested I add support for headers and footers, so expect to gain that feature soon.  I'll also add in the music support.  Basically I'm waiting for a nice spot to stop coding Daytona for 15 minutes so I can jump over to DarkGrue to make the changes rofl! 

I'm still pondering ways of handling more advanced scripting, but for now that idea is on the back burner.  Dark, I'm looking forward to reading your finished story!  Actually I have a feeling a good number of stories are going to start popping up now that several people are writing.

Well I acquired a cold so spent most of yesterday feeling lousy so didn't get much done, but I hope to have it finished in the next couple of days at least.

I do feel a bit sad now I didn't start with a stats system, now that the thing is sort of being more serious than I thought, ---- but so it goes, and I certainly have ideas for something more serious later.

As to formatting and headers and such and such, what formatting were you thinking of? and how would it differ from html.

The reason I ask is that I plan to include a lexican in my first propper gamebook. I was just going to use the usual html <ul> command, but if your thinking of something else let me know.

One feature I would like to see is the ability to create a contents page for secondary material asside from the first story link, rather like the links to the rules, introduction and appendicies in Windhammer.

You could probably do this with the existinng gamebook link setup, but creating back to start links and then having a bunch of contents links at the start of your tree would be a bit cumbersome.

Perhaps have ctrl a (for appendix), or ctrl b (for back link), create you an auto one choice section with a "back" link which only goes to the previous entry (though obviously make the back link renameable).

Actually this could also come in handy anywhere you wanted a hole bunch of single pages off one entry, such as say a bunch of item descriptions on one page like  a shop, or a room with four different treasure chests to open which each contain something.

You can of course do it now by ctrl c the current page, create a choice, then paste, then rename and go back to the original, but this can get a litle tedius if you've got a hole bunch of entries on the same page to do.

What about using some javascript for the stat tracking? I guess it would work.. though I never worked that much with js so I may be missing something.
When you make a new section and don't rename it, it's blank. the problem is then it says "blank" in the page title. Could we possibly be able to change that so that we could force the page title to be the title of our book or some such?
BTW nice job about the screen reader support. Because you're just modding the title bar this actualy really works great with braille displays.