"*You Are Starbound* - Story Game Series" --- When Death Looms (4th story released)

Hello there, fellow forum-goers. :alien:

Shardival and I felt the need to have a hub for our on-going project here, so we've decided to produce this thread. Basically, this place holds all basic information about the "You Are Starbound" series, such as what this project entails, links to all published adventures, thoughts on further productions, among other aspects. ^^ In addition, you may use this topic to post your considerations about the whole thing, should you like to do so. We highly appreciate your feedback.

Banner by Shardival



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What is "You Are Starbound"?
"You Are Starbound" is a group composed of Shardival and me. Our goal is to elaborate story games that take place in the Starbound universe and share them here in these forums. Our text-based adventures (with illustrations, I might add ^^) are basically games where the reader is the main character of the tale. As such, he/she gets to decide his/her own fate as well as the one of the surrounding world. The player, being the hero, may approach situations from different angles, take different paths, collect items, and so forth. The way this works is that occasionally at the end of each text-section, the reader may be presented with two or more choices. Afterwards, one must continue reading on the section that corresponds to the selected option. For example, "If you would like to take the left path, keep reading on 15 (section number 15). If you would prefer to take the right one, head to 16 (section number 16). Alternatively, you may open the door right in front of you, in which case you must continue on 17 (section number 17) instead." - After the player casts his/her decision, he/she may then move on towards the corresponding section and continue the adventure there.

These types of games usually demand dice rolling and a pencil + paper for the registration of skills (strength, agility, etc.), items, to determine the outcome of situations that depend on numbers, etc. However - "You Are Starbound" merely requires reading, a bit of memorising, and a shrewd mind. This more reader-friendly approach allows a more relaxed experience that we believe the majority of our readers prefer.

Update: We are using Twine to produce our fourth adventure. It will offer easier navigation and make everything much smoother. It's absolutely fantastic.



*** Released Story Games ***
From newest to oldest. Titles clickable.


When Death Looms (Released on the 1st of January, 2014) - This adventure is something on the side(ish) created by Keeper while the team was taking a break during the holiday season! It is the first in Twine, which means that it has a much more attractive, as well as accessible, gameplay. No longer will you need to keep track of items, for example, as the system can do it for you!

Brace yourself for a rough awakening...

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Firesoul (Released on the 2nd of July, 2013) - In Firesoul, the reader is a member of a Floran tribe known as the Fire Snake clan. The player must fight to make sure the clan endures the many trials that will be set upon it. Choosing one of the two classes at the start will highly affect how you must handle such challenges. May your ancestors guide you.

This is the first adventure that featured a class system. You are able to choose the type of character you are, which means that you will have to tackle situations according to your class.

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Between a rock and the MiniKnog (Released on the 18th of April, 2013) - The reader takes on the role of a rebellious Apex who is at odds with the MiniKnog and must do whatever he/she can to elude death. Any false step may very well cost you your life... Will you be able to best the Ministry's goons or will you fall at their mercy?

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Sky Watcher (Released on the 29th of March, 2013) - In this adventure the player is a young Avian acolyte who must live up to a rather demanding task: You must unveil the true reasons behind the destruction of the Great Golden Temple of Kluex while traversing the once familiar halls, now in ruins and riddled with danger...

Sky Watcher was created before the "You Are Starbound" group came to exist. It was the product of forum user Keeper, who sought to share his interests with the community, as well as provide readers with an entertaining and engaging experience. Only after this story's release did Keeper and Shardival join forces, the latter then conceiving art for the tale. The art was not put alongside the story, however - For one to see it, the first and following couple of pages within the Sky Watcher thread may be navigated.

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Future Productions
N/A at the moment



Feedback
We definitely welcome any feedback you guys would like to pass forth. Afterall, we've taken into consideration your comments and suggestions given after the conception of the first adventure and skillfully managed to use it in the production of the second one. Thanks, guys. ^^

With that in mind, we've put up a poll in order to assess public thought. Feel free to drop by a post anyways as we very much appreciate that too.



Gameplay Updates
Our latest adventure has been produced via Twine. It is a great tool that allows:

- Easier navigation: no longer will you need to browse through different text-sections; you can go directly to the selected section instead. This translates to a smoother gameplay;

- Improved inventory system: Twine will track automatically what items you have and will know when you have them;

- Improved decision system: Twine will track your choices and provide matching results automatically;



Art Samples
Here you may see some pictures created by Shardival for the already released adventures. Enjoy!

About the team...
Shardival is the master of illustrations. He typically gets an idea of what needs to be drawn, produces sketches, and then we both discuss how we believe the images should be developed. Afterwards, Shardival performs all the needed changes until we're both satisfied with the pictures. ^^ As a great artist as he is, here's a link that will take you right to his DeviantArt profile. Among his several works, Shardival has produced other Starbound related art for other projects too, like for the community newspaper Vector Squared. Definitely worth checking out.

I, Keeper, am the writer. Before I even start typing things down, I already begin running my ideas/thoughts and concerns through Shardival, and sometimes through other people too. Once the team is glad with the suggested course, I then start producing the story, typically going back and forth to change/edit things until I believe it to be presentable. It's both amusing and interesting to see how more than often the original ideas start taking a slight turn towards something a bit different, yet they usually maintain a quality level we're happy about. ^^

Nababoo joined YAS during the development of the fourth story-game. He's a writer as well and helps with pretty much everything in regards to that, from gameplay mechanics to the plot itself. He's brought a good chunk of great ideas to the table. It's been great to work with him, as with one extra mind contributing to the project we end up stepping out of our own "creative-box" in order to asborb new concepts.

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That's about it. Feel free to express yourself in regards to this project of ours - This is a thread for debate, afterall. Thank you very much for your attention and take care. ^^
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Lookin' forward to the Floran story!

Also, my feedback:
I like the current system; I prefer not having to record things or rolling a die, since I enjoy just casually reading.

 

I love this series, and can't wait to read the next issue!
One suggestion I would like to add is to have the main character floran be able at some point of the adventure ride an enormous creature, because I really think it would be a cool thing to do.(and an illustration would be awesome)
I am impressed with the logical formatting of this thread, it is very reader friendly.(as are most of keeper's written works)
Edit: You are quite welcome keeper.

 

more romance pls

 

Thank you very much for the feedback so far. ^^

Also, thanks for the correction, harnackam. I must have missed that little letter.

 

I like action things, because they are fast. I don't know you but I don't stare at the monitor if I read someone's shooting me, you must pick up the right choice and quickly, that's why I like action. Also dying in combat makes me feel less stupid than turning the corner and stumbling into a fly trap.

 

Right-o, here's the new feature we're likely going to implement in future YAS works:
(Bear in mind that this is merely part of the current plan so far, which means that things may be altered at some point. )


Updates
We are planning on introducing a Class/Specialisation System in the third adventure. It's quite simple, actually, and we believe it to be rather entertaining and interesting.

At the start of the game, the player's first choice will be to select his character's class out of two available ones. These two available classes are typically "opposites", such as soldier-like and thief-like classes. (These are just some quick samples. They will have more background to them in-game, of course, and may even be completely different than the ones being described here.) The purpose of this decision is that, later on, the reader will eventually be confronted with class-dependent choices. In order to succeed in such moments, he/she must go with the decision that matches his/her specialisation. Here's an example to better illustrate the concept:

As you traverse the abandoned city, you realise you are being followed by two bloodthirsty orcs. - If you would like to fight them, read on X. If you would rather climb a nearby house and escape through the rooftops, read on Y.

X - If you are a warrior, read on X1. If that is not your class, go to X2.
X1 - Fight, fight, fight, Win!
X2 - Not good enough in a fight... Defeat!

Y - If you are a thief, read on Y1. If that is not your class, go to Y2.
Y1 - Agile enough, you manage to lose them. Win!
Y2 - Too clumsy... Defeat!

Obviously, there will be much more detail in the actual thing. We're fans of this system because it grants some more level of individuality to the story (you can choose your favourite playstyle), as well as allows people to take completely different paths that rely on their class. Bear in mind, though, that this may make the adventures slightly larger, but you must also remember that it's always faster to give it a read than it seems, as the player is not able to see all options in a single playthrough.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this. I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have.

 

I have a good idea. Instead of you having to say "If you're ____ class, go to ____," you could have spoilers like so:

As you traverse the abandoned city, you realise you are being followed by two bloodthirsty orcs. - If you would like to fight them, read on X. If you would rather climb a nearby house and escape through the rooftops, read on Y.

Fight, fight, fight, Win!

Too clumsy... Defeat!

As you traverse the abandoned city, you realise you are being followed by two bloodthirsty orcs. - If you would like to fight them, read on X. If you would rather climb a nearby house and escape through the rooftops, read on Y.

Not good enough in a fight... Defeat!

Agile enough, you manage to lose them. Win!

 

Hmm... I like that type of layout. ^^ However, I honestly prefer the person having to cast a choice before the class is even mentioned in that particular situation. It's sort of a "mini-game" to make sure you understand the specialisation-system and take the path that matches your class. The decision in our example is obvious, but others may be a bit less apparent. Also, I believe that method you've mentioned would mean double the same text. Even though I can just use copy-paste, I feel there's no need to repeat information.

Hmm... I was trying to make something like that (with spoilers and sub-spoilers), though with a slight twist to make it shorter (still with all info), but it was already acting very strangely in the preview. >< I'll likely end up using the regular method of hopping around from section to section, as this one may get a tad odd to compile in this forum.

 

I guess you're right. Although it still irks me that it says "if you're this class go here", since it kinda disrupts the story.
It's not a big deal though, cuz that's how these games generally work.

 

Classes sound interesting.

I can see your point.Might I suggest to avoid situations like "You are alone against 5 enemies only a true warrior could get out of this situation by fighting."?
What I'm trying to say is don't make them too obvious.

 

That is also true. Hmm... Could it be a small sacrifice worth taking for the greater good?

I'll definitely avoid making things of the sort. ^^

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And lol at Romance winning the poll. I feel it's mostly for a laugh people are voting for it.

 

Ya, I guess it's fine.

 

Keeper, as I suggested you yesterday - "thief" class, might also be good at all "sneaky" skills.

For example, you are in tavern and you really need information from bartender. As thief you can bribe or persuade him. As warrior, you can threaten him - but he will call for security and....you are in trouble. Also, as Mianso said - better avoid situation where you spoil what your class can do. I mean....I better give you example



You see bartender. About this man Jessica told you - he have information.

What you gonna do?

blah blah

As berserker, you won't play "nice games", you whisper to bartender what you gonna do with him if.....

You lay on table few silver coins and smiles. "I need some information friend...."

I hope you get my point

 

Aye, it is an interesting idea to apply the class-concept in other situations besides combat.

Regarding that particular situation you've described, I'm seeing it more on the lines of:

The bartender stands in front of you, certainly the holder of vital information. You will have to make him talk, however. - If you'd like to threaten the man into giving you info, read on X. If you'd like to try to persuade him instead, go to Y.

X - If you are a warrior, go to X1. If not, go to X2
X1 - You are good at threats and it works!
X2 - You suck at threats and he calls security.

Y - If you are a thief, go to Y1. If not, go to Y2.
Y1 - You manage to sweet talk the guy into seeing things your way. Good job.
Y2 - Rhetoric isn't your strong point. The bartender sees what you're doing and calls security.

Again, the point is people having to choose the option that makes sense in the light of their class.

 

Wow. This is interesting. Totally going to read them.
Would it be possible to publish our own text adventure or as in your own words : "You are Starbound" Adventure?

 

Hello, Steve!
Could you please clarify this for me?

I'm not entirely sure I follow what you mean here.

 

I just finished up "Between a Rock and the MiniKnog" and I died in this one(only once though)

I liked this one too, not as much as your first one though, but that is mainly because I don't care much for Apex not because the writing or story wasn't good. Make one about Novakid(my new favorite race after we hit the stretch goal) and that one would be top of the list for me

I made the last 10 decisions or so in the story to the Desert Battle 1 song playing from the games soundtrack. It made the end even better because the music got more intense as the action started and the song was dying down as I was reading the last few sentences. Winamp randomized playlist seems to do this disturbingly often when I'm reading things online, it keeps picking strangely appropriate music for whatever I'm reading.

 

Well you know, maybe just for fun, we could decide to publish our own text adventure.
You could add a section for stories that are made from the community.
Just suggesting.

 

Everyone's free to write whatever they please. The "You Are Starbound" productions do not affect what others would like to create. ^^

Nevertheless, the idea of having an "Extra" section in this topic here in order to advertise/announce similar projects whose authors would like a mention doesn't sound too bad either. Well, if you ever compile a story within this genre and would like so, just give me a shout. ^^