Looking for writers to work on my text adventure game, LEWD

[Sadtaco_]

Hey. I'm trying to find a few writers to take over making the content for for text adventure game, and I figured this might be a good place to look.
I suppose the subject matter is more out there compared to the mostly modern-realistic sort of stories I mostly see here, but I still figure it's worth a shot.

I've gotten my tools mostly done, and an almost feature complete new engine for the game to run on with some new features it couldn't handle before. Now I need some writers who have the talent and time to add a good deal of content.

I created a snippet from the dev tools where you can submit a sample of what you can make, which works roughly the same as actually adding content to the game. (Some things are stripped out for simplification, like the map and tools for creating and editing things other than Scenarios)

(editing old post to include the new info below)
See: http://www.playlewd.com/blog/?p=460

The deadline is October 1st

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Having a look at it...

 

[SusanJillParker]

Hey. I'm trying to find a few writers to take over making the content for for text adventure game, and I figured this might be a good place to look.
I suppose the subject matter is more out there compared to the mostly modern-realistic sort of stories I mostly see here, but I still figure it's worth a shot.

I've gotten my tools mostly done, and an almost feature complete new engine for the game to run on with some new features it couldn't handle before. Now I need some writers who have the talent and time to add a good deal of content.

I created a snippet from the dev tools where you can submit a sample of what you can make, which works roughly the same as actually adding content to the game. (Some things are stripped out for simplification, like the map and tools for creating and editing things other than Scenarios)
Some guidelines

• Familiarize yourself with the game and what it's about by playing it. http://www.playlewd.com/demo.html You need to have writing that's a somewhat similar style, and it needs to fit within the context of the game. (Scifi, another solar system, really lewd, aliens, etc) While the style needs to be similar, such as being second person and more emotive than verbose, you absolutely don't have to mirror it! Varying styles are fine. That link of the game is running on the old engine, and there are some bugs with it. I haven't ported it over to my new engine yet.
• Your writing should at least be as good as what's in the game currently.
• You should be able to cover a variety of kinks/fetishes
• However, you'll have a lot of free reign on the sort of kinky erotic stuff you write, you will still need to wrap it in the context of a story and not force it on people. Ideally, something fetishy should be written in a way that it's still appealing to people without such a fetish, when possible.
• You do not need to have a mastery of the dev tool, but as the tutorial says on it: you should be able to at least show you have a basic understanding of it. You can not simply write a long thing and have someone else "code" it for you. You should be able to figure out the basics.

How to submit your writing to try out for the team
http://www.playlewd.com/tryout.php
A tutorial there will walk you through how it works. Again, as noted above, you don't need to master how this tool works, but you should understand the basics that it describes.

As far as payment, I'll share the profits if you can help make it something great, and it winds up making some.

Lemme see if I understand what you really want.

You want erotic writers to write for you for free under the pretense that if we help you make something great (define great) that you'll share the profits (audit profits).

After we've written everything for you, how are we to know if you have something great or not? How are we to know how much you've earned? You must think we're really stupid writers who are just happy to write with the promise that we may or may not be paid.

Instead of future earnings against your non-disclosed profits, I want a new, 2015, Mustang GT now, Competition Orange with black racing stripes and Recaro seats and a $2,000 weekly salary with benefits, 4 week vacation, health insurance, paid holidays, and sick days.

I want an assistant to do my editing so that I'm not wasting my time rereading what I write. I want my own office with a Herman Miller Embody chair and a secretary of my choice.

I want stock options and only want to work from 1pm to 5pm. I'm busy the rest of the day.

Oh, and Fridays are dress down days with donuts, bagels, and muffins days supplied by the company, of course. Goes without saying but I'll spell it out, Starbucks French Roast coffee is free.

 

[DreamCloud]

Lemme see if I understand what you really want.

You want erotic writers to write for you for free under the pretense that if we help you make something great (define great) that you'll share the profits (audit profits).

After we've written everything for you, how are we to know if you have something great or not? How are we to know how much you've earned? You must think we're really stupid writers who are just happy to write with the promise that we may or may not be paid.

Instead of future earnings against your non-disclosed profits, I want a new, 2015, Mustang GT now, Competition Orange with black racing stripes and Recaro seats and a $2,000 weekly salary with benefits, 4 week vacation, health insurance, paid holidays, and sick days.

I want an assistant to do my editing so that I'm not wasting my time rereading what I write. I want my own office with a Herman Miller Embody chair and a secretary of my choice.

I want stock options and only want to work from 1pm to 5pm. I'm busy the rest of the day.

Oh, and Fridays are dress down days with donuts, bagels, and muffins days supplied by the company, of course. Goes without saying but I'll spell it out, Starbucks French Roast coffee is free.

Donuts & bagels - you go to far!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Yeah, no thanks. I got into something like this before, he was actually a friend(well not anymore). I'm still waiting to get paid for what I did.

Contract, contract, contract. But then you need a lawyer. Too rich for my blood. Bye.

 

[SusanJillParker]

Yeah, no thanks. I got into something like this before, he was actually a friend(well not anymore). I'm still waiting to get paid for what I did.

Contract, contract, contract. But then you need a lawyer. Too rich for my blood. Bye.

Mustang GT, Mustang GT, Mustang GT up front. I think it's a good deal. It wouldn't be as good of a deal if he was offering a Volkswagen GTI or a Mini Cooper JCW.

I suspect with no one else coming on board, I have him over a barrel. Don't tell him this, but I think he's desperate enough to hire me as his head writer.

"Hey, wait one second. You giving me the title of head writer doesn't mean that I'm giving you head. You hired Scouries for that. Now get out of my office so that I can write. Oh, and bring me a cup of coffee, black, no sugar, and a donut, honey dip."

 

[CyranoJ]

But it'll be great exposure!

 

[SusanJillParker]

But it'll be great exposure!

Exposure? If I want exposure, I'll just order a pizza.

"Oops, sorry. I can't believe I dropped my towel again. Please don't look at my tits, my ass, and my pussy. I'm so embarrassed, not really, not at all."

 

[Black_and_White_Writer]

Hey. I'm trying to find a few writers to take over making the content for for text adventure game, and I figured this might be a good place to look.
I suppose the subject matter is more out there compared to the mostly modern-realistic sort of stories I mostly see here, but I still figure it's worth a shot.

I've gotten my tools mostly done, and an almost feature complete new engine for the game to run on with some new features it couldn't handle before. Now I need some writers who have the talent and time to add a good deal of content.

I created a snippet from the dev tools where you can submit a sample of what you can make, which works roughly the same as actually adding content to the game. (Some things are stripped out for simplification, like the map and tools for creating and editing things other than Scenarios)
Some guidelines

• Familiarize yourself with the game and what it's about by playing it. http://www.playlewd.com/demo.html You need to have writing that's a somewhat similar style, and it needs to fit within the context of the game. (Scifi, another solar system, really lewd, aliens, etc) While the style needs to be similar, such as being second person and more emotive than verbose, you absolutely don't have to mirror it! Varying styles are fine. That link of the game is running on the old engine, and there are some bugs with it. I haven't ported it over to my new engine yet.
• Your writing should at least be as good as what's in the game currently.
• You should be able to cover a variety of kinks/fetishes
• However, you'll have a lot of free reign on the sort of kinky erotic stuff you write, you will still need to wrap it in the context of a story and not force it on people. Ideally, something fetishy should be written in a way that it's still appealing to people without such a fetish, when possible.
• You do not need to have a mastery of the dev tool, but as the tutorial says on it: you should be able to at least show you have a basic understanding of it. You can not simply write a long thing and have someone else "code" it for you. You should be able to figure out the basics.

How to submit your writing to try out for the team
http://www.playlewd.com/tryout.php
A tutorial there will walk you through how it works. Again, as noted above, you don't need to master how this tool works, but you should understand the basics that it describes.

As far as payment, I'll share the profits if you can help make it something great, and it winds up making some.

Not to be rude but that sounds very dubious. Even artists have to eat!

 

[SusanJillParker]

Seriously, why would they lie?

Not to be rude but that sounds very dubious. Even artists have to eat!

Have faith. You must believe that it's true. Why would they lie? I take them at their word. I truly believe them. I don't think it's a scam at all. Besides think of all of the exposure we can get when working late and ordering pizza.

"Hello? Yes, I'd like an extra cheese. Oh, and make sure you send a man instead of a woman this time. Okay?"

I seriously thought that Marilyn Monroe was singing President Kennedy Happy Birthday to him after meeting him for the first time...with her clothes on.

Just because I gave money to Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye to their Assembly of God Ministry and to their Christian Theme Park doesn't mean that I'm not a good judge of character.

I believed President Nixon when he said that he knew nothing about Watergate. Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed President Reagan when he said that he knew nothing about the Iran Contras. Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed Vice President Cheney had our best interest at heart when he won a multi-billion dollar no bid contract for his old company, Halliburton. Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed Papa Bush when he said, "No new taxes." Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed President Clinton when he said, "I never had sexual relations with that woman." Seriously, why would he lie?

It was our fault for not asking him the right question.

"Mr. President, did you stick your unlit cigar in that woman's pussy while she blew you?"

I believed President Bush when he said the Iraq War was over. Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed Secretary of the Treasury Paulson when he said that Goldman Sachs was sound. I don't believe that he lied to congress just to get his 450 million dollars in stock options before the company when bankrupt. Seriously, why would he lie?

Again, I believed Paulson when he told us all to trust him when he passed out billions of dollars to banks and insurance companies without accounting for any of the money. I trust him. Seriously, why would he lie?

I believed Sr7lplt when he said that he flew SR71 planes, was a CIA spy, a diplomat, a famous singer, a famous actor, a Broadway star, a model, a Bible teacher, and that he's not gay. Seriously, why would he lie?

 

[Sadtaco_]

Contract, contract, contract. But then you need a lawyer. Too rich for my blood. Bye.

You can have a contract without payment. You can maintain rights to everything you write, for example. I'm super in favor of people maintaining rights to characters they create, so long as they don't try to sell them to a third party and so long as they don't try to stop people from making their own free fan art.
I never said there wouldn't be terms. I just didn't include them in the post. I thought that was a given in business.

I think people may confuse the "tryout tool" as "make stuff with this and it'll be in the game". Nope. It's just to show your ability to see if you'd be a good fit as a dev. When you're accepted is when we can go over terms and you can still back down. You aren't committing to anything just by submitting a tryout.

I'm sorry I can't get into long legal details in one post. I could make a "FAQ" so long that no one would read it. Then it just comes down to that I think people should have some faith with all the work I've clearly put in.

Did you friend actually make something like this? Something that's ready mostly ready to go, that just needs content, and is on the verge of being something that people will probably support so there's money to be made? Something that a lot of people are already following, and that clearly has potential?

Yeah, it's likely you'll have to wait a few months for a Patreon to take off. People aren't going to support something until it already has content. I've have a Patreon already set up, but I didn't want to be taking money when I don't have writers lined up to actually make something out of it.

This isn't a full time job. Someone should be able to add tens of thousands of words worth of content in a month just working on weekends, right?
I made this in 6 weeks, and 90% of that time was spent programming. So what, that leaves 4 days spent to make around 50,000 words of content?
Doesn't feel like I'm asking too much. I'm not asking anyone to quit their job and sacrifice as much as I have. Just do some good productive writing in your spare time, and it could be very fruitful.


If someone would really like to be paid up front, sure. If you submit something, your writing is great, you're accepted, and we get to talking and that's what you want I can pay something like $12/thousand-words and I own it, with a number of other restrictions.
That's a fair rate, right? Super beneficial to me when I'm making a lot from it, but hey, you'd just be a contractor and how much I make from your work would be none of your concern. Don't expect to change over to profit sharing and get the same generous share people helped build this from the beginning got, either.

Ultimately, I just think it's more beneficial to both of us to have people getting a share of profits, which should be far more money. I think I could count on people a lot more to be active in the community.
I think I can count on people more to flex their creative muscles outside of just adding content to the game, because it's hard to figure out a pay scale for things like overarching worldbuilding and storyboarding.
I don't like the whole paying by word thing.
Lots of things.


For those that think I'm scamming them, well that's fine. Don't apply. Risk vs reward is just how life is.

 

[sr71plt]

I won't read your entire post, but this is a contradiction in terms right here:
"I'm super in favor of people maintaining rights to characters they create, so long as they don't try to sell them to a third party and so long as they don't try to stop people from making their own free fan art."

If full rights are maintained, the owner can do whatever he/she wants with what they own.

 

[DreamCloud]

You can have a contract without payment. You can maintain rights to everything you write, for example. I'm super in favor of people maintaining rights to characters they create, so long as they don't try to sell them to a third party and so long as they don't try to stop people from making their own free fan art.
I never said there wouldn't be terms. I just didn't include them in the post. I thought that was a given in business.

I think people may confuse the "tryout tool" as "make stuff with this and it'll be in the game". Nope. It's just to show your ability to see if you'd be a good fit as a dev. When you're accepted is when we can go over terms and you can still back down. You aren't committing to anything just by submitting a tryout.

I'm sorry I can't get into long legal details in one post. I could make a "FAQ" so long that no one would read it. Then it just comes down to that I think people should have some faith with all the work I've clearly put in.

Did you friend actually make something like this? Something that's ready mostly ready to go, that just needs content, and is on the verge of being something that people will probably support so there's money to be made? Something that a lot of people are already following, and that clearly has potential?

Yeah, it's likely you'll have to wait a few months for a Patreon to take off. People aren't going to support something until it already has content. I've have a Patreon already set up, but I didn't want to be taking money when I don't have writers lined up to actually make something out of it.

This isn't a full time job. Someone should be able to add tens of thousands of words worth of content in a month just working on weekends, right?
I made this in 6 weeks, and 90% of that time was spent programming. So what, that leaves 4 days spent to make around 50,000 words of content?
Doesn't feel like I'm asking too much. I'm not asking anyone to quit their job and sacrifice as much as I have. Just do some good productive writing in your spare time, and it could be very fruitful.


If someone would really like to be paid up front, sure. If you submit something, your writing is great, you're accepted, and we get to talking and that's what you want I can pay something like $12/thousand-words and I own it, with a number of other restrictions.
That's a fair rate, right? Super beneficial to me when I'm making a lot from it, but hey, you'd just be a contractor and how much I make from your work would be none of your concern. Don't expect to change over to profit sharing and get the same generous share people helped build this from the beginning got, either.

Ultimately, I just think it's more beneficial to both of us to have people getting a share of profits, which should be far more money. I think I could count on people a lot more to be active in the community.
I think I can count on people more to flex their creative muscles outside of just adding content to the game, because it's hard to figure out a pay scale for things like overarching worldbuilding and storyboarding.
I don't like the whole paying by word thing.
Lots of things.


For those that think I'm scamming them, well that's fine. Don't apply. Risk vs reward is just how life is.

I won't question your integrity, nor your alpha alpha code. Some of it even looked interesting. Unfortunately, you need artists - both graphic and literary. Cartoon graphics won't really cut it in the long run and crappy writing will kill the thrill.

Throwing js libraries at a page is the cheap part. It is content that is king. Look at the success of Lit. Remove the good stories and the site will die. The interface isn't even that good (I understand they are working on that.)

If I were to contract you to program, I would expect to pay an hourly wage 50% higher than that of a salaried position. You should expect no less than that from an artist.

What you are really looking for is someone with an entrepreneurial spirit to absorb your dream and take a big risk. Label it as such and sell the dream. That means passing out ownership. Otherwise, KickStart it earlier and hire your artists.

If you think I am full of shit, look at the credits of your favorite video game. 10 to 1, artists to programmers. Practically a movie production. Minecraft is a rare exception.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Mustang GT, Mustang GT, Mustang GT up front. I think it's a good deal. It wouldn't be as good of a deal if he was offering a Volkswagen GTI or a Mini Cooper JCW.

I suspect with no one else coming on board, I have him over a barrel. Don't tell him this, but I think he's desperate enough to hire me as his head writer.

"Hey, wait one second. You giving me the title of head writer doesn't mean that I'm giving you head. You hired Scouries for that. Now get out of my office so that I can write. Oh, and bring me a cup of coffee, black, no sugar, and a donut, honey dip."

What the guarantee that you will finish the project if you get your GT up front?

 

[Sadtaco_]

I won't read your entire post, but this is a contradiction in terms right here:
"I'm super in favor of people maintaining rights to characters they create, so long as they don't try to sell them to a third party and so long as they don't try to stop people from making their own free fan art."

If full rights are maintained, the owner can do whatever he/she wants with what they own.

Well, I clearly didn't say full rights. I said their rights to it, minus those things.
Either way, is it worth arguing about? I give someone a platform to create a character and get it loved, then that person selling it to a third party wouldn't be fair to me.
Though, I REALLY doubt such a situation would come up. I just don't want to get writers that are pissy about people making free fanart of something they made. That's just a bad attitude to have.

I won't question your integrity, nor your alpha alpha code. Some of it even looked interesting. Unfortunately, you need artists - both graphic and literary. Cartoon graphics won't really cut it in the long run and crappy writing will kill the thrill.

It's a text adventure game. I don't need artists.
I have some art there. And um... as far as cartoon style not cutting it, well that's a matter of opinion. I think they do better for this sort of content.
I did want a more realistic painted look more before, but couldn't find such artists. Ah well.

Throwing js libraries at a page is the cheap part. It is content that is king. Look at the success of Lit. Remove the good stories and the site will die. The interface isn't even that good (I understand they are working on that.)

It's actually not, especially when I wrote them excluding jQuery and some shims.
"Throwing libraries at a page" doesn't make a game either, even if it has writing.
I've spent about 1200 hours programming the new engine. Though, the engine isn't just for this game, to be fair.

If I were to contract you to program, I would expect to pay an hourly wage 50% higher than that of a salaried position. You should expect no less than that from an artist.

What you are really looking for is someone with an entrepreneurial spirit to absorb your dream and take a big risk. Label it as such and sell the dream. That means passing out ownership. Otherwise, KickStart it earlier and hire your artists.

If you think I am full of shit, look at the credits of your favorite video game. 10 to 1, artists to programmers. Practically a movie production. Minecraft is a rare exception.

Well, is there a lot of jobs for erotic writers?

You concede a lot and making money becomes riskier when you do something you really want to do.

Never did I say "You all would be dumb to not take this amazing opportunity to do work for me for no upfront payment".
I said I need help. If you like it, and believe in it, you can take the risk and hopefully get rewarded.
I don't think it's a huge amount of work. Do some work on it on the weekend instead of what you'd normally spend it on. A few tens of thousands of words of content per month shouldn't be a full time job if you're productive. Maybe it'll become that and people could work full time on it doing hundreds of thousands of words worth instead, but that wasn't asked of.

And uh, sure? Yeah you need more content creators, but programmers get paid way more.
There are no good programmers that make adult games. If you wanted to make something I've made, you couldn't pay anyone to do it even if you had the tens of thousands of dollars, so what's the point in bringing that up?
There is no game that's made only with an artist. There are games made only with programmers.

You could use Twine or Quest, but those don't compare to what I have, so it's moot. Oh, and no way you'll get any money from that.

You can write an erotic novel and hope it takes off. You're working for free then hoping you get some. Seems riskier to me, eh? Compared to being apart of something with more people helping make it big.

You can do commissions, but those take a lot of work outside of the writing and don't pay well.

If someone doesn't want to work on it, that's up to them. I can't pay people to be passionate enough, anyway.
Acting like people can't analyze what they're getting into themselves, and that they can't manage their own risk, seems like an insult to them. I think I laid out what I'm looking for fine, and it's up to some individual to make their decision.

Seems more that most people didn't even look or think about what it is, and got triggered at the mere mention that someone might do writing for free.

Plus, I said I can pay people up front, I just think it's a less good deal for both of us and pretty silly to even entertain the idea of. Did you not like the amount? Tons of people do erotic writing commissions that's decent for less. I hate to say it, but it's not a thriving industry and I wish you got more. I think I gave a fair amount.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Yeah I really like the concept and the potential.

I have to fiddle with the demo a little bit more to get more used to the basic 'game-play' - how it it is meant to play...

Don't drop this idea. There are ways... ahead. And forward.

 

[Sadtaco_]

There isn't a lot of "game play". I tried to keep it more like a basic choose your own adventure, or an interactive novel that you're playing your own character within.

There are a few puzzles, though not a lot right now. It was only toward the end of when I was adding content to it when I got some of the capability to add puzzles. And even still, the puzzles are really abstract and driven through the writing and choices, and not like geometrical visual ones.

 

[Black_and_White_Writer]

Well, I clearly didn't say full rights. I said their rights to it, minus those things.
Either way, is it worth arguing about? I give someone a platform to create a character and get it loved, then that person selling it to a third party wouldn't be fair to me.
Though, I REALLY doubt such a situation would come up. I just don't want to get writers that are pissy about people making free fanart of something they made. That's just a bad attitude to have.


It's a text adventure game. I don't need artists.
I have some art there. And um... as far as cartoon style not cutting it, well that's a matter of opinion. I think they do better for this sort of content.
I did want a more realistic painted look more before, but couldn't find such artists. Ah well.


It's actually not, especially when I wrote them excluding jQuery and some shims.
"Throwing libraries at a page" doesn't make a game either, even if it has writing.
I've spent about 1200 hours programming the new engine. Though, the engine isn't just for this game, to be fair.


Well, is there a lot of jobs for erotic writers?

You concede a lot and making money becomes riskier when you do something you really want to do.

Never did I say "You all would be dumb to not take this amazing opportunity to do work for me for no upfront payment".
I said I need help. If you like it, and believe in it, you can take the risk and hopefully get rewarded.
I don't think it's a huge amount of work. Do some work on it on the weekend instead of what you'd normally spend it on. A few tens of thousands of words of content per month shouldn't be a full time job if you're productive. Maybe it'll become that and people could work full time on it doing hundreds of thousands of words worth instead, but that wasn't asked of.

And uh, sure? Yeah you need more content creators, but programmers get paid way more.
There are no good programmers that make adult games. If you wanted to make something I've made, you couldn't pay anyone to do it even if you had the tens of thousands of dollars, so what's the point in bringing that up?
There is no game that's made only with an artist. There are games made only with programmers.

You could use Twine or Quest, but those don't compare to what I have, so it's moot. Oh, and no way you'll get any money from that.

You can write an erotic novel and hope it takes off. You're working for free then hoping you get some. Seems riskier to me, eh? Compared to being apart of something with more people helping make it big.

You can do commissions, but those take a lot of work outside of the writing and don't pay well.

If someone doesn't want to work on it, that's up to them. I can't pay people to be passionate enough, anyway.
Acting like people can't analyze what they're getting into themselves, and that they can't manage their own risk, seems like an insult to them. I think I laid out what I'm looking for fine, and it's up to some individual to make their decision.

Seems more that most people didn't even look or think about what it is, and got triggered at the mere mention that someone might do writing for free.

Plus, I said I can pay people up front, I just think it's a less good deal for both of us and pretty silly to even entertain the idea of. Did you not like the amount? Tons of people do erotic writing commissions that's decent for less. I hate to say it, but it's not a thriving industry and I wish you got more. I think I gave a fair amount.

Just highlighted the really offensive part. I am not saying this is a scam, but it sure feels like it.

It doesn't feel like we're doing it for free - but that you'd profit from another's hard work - and please don't say I'll pay you... a scammer is not going to say "Yep I'm gonna rip you off."

AS I said I do not know if you're genuine, but I'll take your word.. it just feels too much risk and not even a glimmer it could be successful.

Just because someone won't bet on a dead horse doesn't mean they're not optimistic, just that they aren't stupid.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Did you friend actually make something like this? Something that's ready mostly ready to go, that just needs content, and is on the verge of being something that people will probably support so there's money to be made? Something that a lot of people are already following, and that clearly has potential?

My reaction here is as if you'd told me "dinner's ready, except for the food part".

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Are people really returning to text adventure games?

Back when I was programming on a Prime computer, there was a text adventure game called of all things Adventure. It was fun for awhile.

At least until we all got PC's for terminals connected to an 802 LAN. Then we all played Skynet. Adventure was forgotten about. Just saying.

 

[DreamCloud]

And uh, sure? Yeah you need more content creators, but programmers get paid way more.

Humorous thought. I made quite a lot programming. Still do. I would trade all my paychecks to own the content that E. L. James created.

Just a thought - If you are designing a text adventure (or an engine for one), shouldn't an adventure be the first thing you designed? Content dictates design, not the other way around.

Ignore me - I am unforgivably condescending. You ask for help and I blast your premise for that help. I truly hope you find your pot of gold.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You could use Twine or Quest, but those don't compare to what I have, so it's moot. Oh, and no way you'll get any money from that.

You can write an erotic novel and hope it takes off. You're working for free then hoping you get some. Seems riskier to me, eh? Compared to being apart of something with more people helping make it big.

You can do commissions, but those take a lot of work outside of the writing and don't pay well.

What you're missing here is that you're not just competing with "write my own novel" or "do commissions". You're also competing with "go visit my cute nephews" and "freelance for the nice people who pay me $5 a page for technical editing".

You're right that for most, writing pays very badly. The corollary to that is that most people who write aren't depending on it for a living, and so they aren't losing a great deal if they pass on working for somebody who's going to treat them as a peon.

If someone doesn't want to work on it, that's up to them. I can't pay people to be passionate enough, anyway.

True enough. But even passionate people are liable to lose interest if they feel unappreciated.

Are people really returning to text adventure games?

Depends what you count as a text game. Games like Fallen London or Long Live The Queen aren't pure text the way Adventure was, but they're primarily about exploring a written, interactive story.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Depends what you count as a text game. Games like Fallen London or Long Live The Queen aren't pure text the way Adventure was, but they're primarily about exploring a written, interactive story.

Then the single player of any of the FPS's of the likes of Battlefield 4, COD whatever version they are on, which lead you through a story, yet give you choices on which way to go at certain decision points are sedo-text adventures.

Yeah, never did like them. Give me a scope and .338 Lapua from a hide where I can just pick off my opponent anytime.

 

[Sadtaco_]

Just highlighted the really offensive part. I am not saying this is a scam, but it sure feels like it.

Ah yes. The long con.

You make an online game with an online community, even with its own chat and private messaging for role playing, but also so people can spread every scandalous thing that may go on.
Then you get writers to add content, little by little, month by month. For years you don't pay them, while you're sitting on a beach sipping martinis, on one else the wiser.
You just hope that no one points out what a shitty thing you did, hope that everyone doesn't turn against you, and hope that thing you put so much into building up doesn't get destroyed inn the back lash.
Yes. Yeeessss. Excellent plan. Props to whoever came up with it.

I don't even know how to respond, except with jokes, because it's so silly. I don't know how you can look at this and go "Hm, yep, sure seems like a scam".

But anyway, I'm not strong arming anyone, am I? I am looking for people that like the game and want to help it. Don't like it? That's fine, you probably wouldn't care unless I offered so much money up front, so why all the, lets call it "passionate criticism", for something you don't even care about?

Are people really returning to text adventure games?

Back when I was programming on a Prime computer, there was a text adventure game called of all things Adventure. It was fun for awhile.

At least until we all got PC's for terminals connected to an 802 LAN. Then we all played Skynet. Adventure was forgotten about. Just saying.

Are people really returning to books? We have movies and Call of Duty now.

There's lots of them out there, that are new or still regularly updated. Flexible Survival is a pretty good example.

 

[CyranoJ]

Are people really returning to text adventure games?

There are some pretty good text adventure games on Steam. I dug Choice of Robots. And... *looks around warily for gators*... and Depression Quest, for that matter.

The key, though, is that text adventure in this day and age would needs to deliver a very high standard of writing, a cohesive creative vision and/or a unique angle on its subject matter to be compelling. That's the sort of thing that either takes personal-project dedication or funding. A bunch of freelancers working very remotely on-spec won't be able to deliver it. (And in fairness I don't think Sadtaco is trying to scam anyone, I just don't think the model is very attractive to prospective writers, at least not for me.)