Screen Shots:

Purpose:

Creation of a dynamic content creator tool that allows game writers to focus on their stories rather than the semantics on how to set up a story in the game environment for Are we in this together? (A.W.I.T.T)

Before the creation of this tool, writers working on the A.W.I.T.T game project utilized a story template in google sheets/ excel to create complex story branches. The process was frustrating, time consuming and visually unintuitive; an absolute sap of energy on the creative process of writing.

Furthermore, game designers and programmers translated the stories from excel/ sheets to xml manually, a painstaking process which was terribly error prone and introduced further error checking requirements in the games entry point itself.

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Features:

• Loads previously existing scenarios (.xml format) into an intuitive writing interface
  This is useful because the writer does not need to have any knowledge of how xml works
  
• Select variables pertaining to the story from UI dropdowns rather than keeping track of how variables are represented. For eg: Write a story that takes place in the “Forest” location rather than trying to remember the forest location is marked by ID 100 in the game project
  
• Preview how dynamically written descriptions would appear in the game for readability and grammatical accuracy. For eg: Stories affect players in your 4 person party. Parties can have a leader PM(L) and another character selected at random PM(R). Regardless of the make up of your party, stories would integrate names and pronouns correctly.
  
• Add new phases and choices to the story scenario and build on the specifics of how the areas of the story branch and play out in terms of successful choices, failed choices, combat setup and inventory rewards or punishments
  
• Preview game writing rules or story scenario flowchart for reminding the writer of how content should be created as well as preview location art to understand the setting their story plays out in
  
• Upload a completed scenario or save it to work on it later. Uploaded scenarios are proof read and determined to be completed or requiring further improvement by the story lead and game designer.

Background:

Here’s an insight into the decision making blogs for this tools development