#randomtesting

[thelonelyshore-if]

Absolute best part about this (cleaning up my code) process is the fact that randomtest is throwing errors on code that I haven't touched in a year and that has, as far as I know, been working 100% perfectly this entire time.

[taintedsoul-if]

What to Expect from Dangerous Games — A Throne Beneath the Grave, First Installment:

Experience two forms of death

Choose your past life’s profession: were you an Imperial Physician, Grand Diplomat, or Warlord?

See the world through the eyes of the body you’ll inhabit after death

Partially customize your MC (more options unlock in Chapter 1)

And most importantly… die twice

Changes Made / Things Added to Tainted Souls:

Added *if statements for when the MC chooses not to pull Cailyn off the cliff

Reworked hair customization—players can now choose their preferred hair color

Introduced a stats chart to track Revenge, Good Life, and Uncertain paths; these will help shape future consequences based on your choices

What to Expect from Tainted Souls: Second Installment

Attend your ex-betrothed’s Welcoming Ceremony

Activate a hidden stat—or not (still debating whether to include it in the main stats screen)

Lose control of your abilities due to emotional remnants from your new body—and attack the original host’s murderers

Meet and briefly interact with two or three out of five romance options

Dig your own grave with your selected punishment

Learn more about the upcoming Armistice Competition.

Have breakfast with the imperial family

Remind Ragriel that you are the only child of the $!{surname2} household

As always, if you notice any inconsistencies with pronouns or spot any coding errors, please send them my way! I’ve run both randomtest and quicktest on these demos, along with my own read-through, edits, and tweaks. And you all know my ask box is always open—even if I take a loooong time to respond.

Also, I miscalculated earlier—Tainted Souls is now sitting at 85k words, and Dangerous Games is at 8k. I know some of you are probably itching to code dive, but I kindly ask for your patience. I still need to set aside a day to properly clean up the stats and startup pages. Until then—no code diving, sorry 🙇‍♀️.

If you’re enjoying what I’ve shared so far and want to support this lazy, introverted potato, you can treat me to a virtual chocolate! Totally optional, but always appreciated. Ko-Fi

So please enjoy—I hope you have as much fun with this update as I had writing it!

You can find the demos here:

Dangerous Games — A Throne Beneath The Grave Demo

Tainted Souls: Fables & Myth — The Bonded Awakening Demo

Oh! Before I forget—your saves will definitely be in shambles thanks to the new variables I added to the startup file.

[morbethgames]

The Recoding of The Bureau is Finished

I’m done recoding the game. All in all, it was honestly about what I expected to be slimmed off once I got a good look at some of the scenes. As I expected, 90% of that were from the first 3 chapters. I am a mix of emotions after arduously spending hours upon hours replacing gender variables one at a time by hand. Which unfortunately, I couldn’t think of another way for doing it, because all of the characters were using the same gender variables instead of independent ones for each character.

I’m relieved it’s done. Disappointed in myself that I had to do it at all. Irritated that some people decided to put the game on blast for it rather than give actionable suggestions on how to fix it. Excited to finally be able to continue writing both the extra scenes that need to be written and the main story. I honestly don’t know which one I’m going to continue with first.

Please leave feedback.

There are still no doubt one or two spots with maybe 1-2k words each that could be slimmed down, but that would require a lot of work for very little payoff. So yes, I’m comfortable saying, the game is almost 400k words long in total. 85k words per playthrough. That’s not including the extra scenes in the stats screen, because randomtest doesn’t go in the stats screen (to my knowledge at least, someone can correct me if I’m wrong). So you still have to play the game roughly 5 times and choose different choices to see everything it has to offer.

Is the game smaller? A bit, yeah. Is it 100-150k? It’s more than double that.

Now, that doesn’t say anything for the state of some of the writing. If I have to read someone nodding, or smiling, or ‘slightly’, ‘a bit’, or ‘a little’ something in my own work again, I’m gonna jump out a window. Obviously, back when I started writing this, I was very much influenced by Wayhaven. I’ve since grown out of that idea. Since the game has taken on an identity of its own, and while I will forever be grateful to that series and continue to support it, there’s gonna be some changes in the final version of this game. Less of what I said above, less ellipses, and the flirting (especially in the beginning) will seem much more down to earth and believable for the setting it’s in, with a bit of wiggle room since this is still very much a YA game.

Please leave feedback.

The rewrite will not be happening until the first draft of the game is fully finished. I refuse to get stuck in a rewrite phase, mostly because I would just find it way too boring.

My patreon will continue to have static fiction on it, as well as sneak peeks into upcoming stuff. In case you’ve been missing it, Love In Stasis is up to Chapter 6 at this point, with more to come. I’m also thinking about potentially starting a horror static fiction.

I’ll be relying on people to playtest this new version of the game to tell me about any continuity errors, and gender errors, any anything errors. So please, play the demo. Let me know if you notice anything. I think if I’ve proved anything at this point, it’s that I act and fix things based on feedback.

And pettiness.

But mostly feedback.

Please leave feedback.

Last thing I’ll say; I’m gonna stop saying I’m bad at coding. Someone who’s bad at coding wouldn’t have been able to implement the text boxes and fine tune them. Someone who’s bad at coding wouldn’t have been able to code Golden Eyes. Someone who’s bad at coding wouldn’t have been able to slim down the game that much from where it was. So it’s time I give myself the credit of someone who at least knows what they’re doing. I’m not adept at it, but I’m certainly not bad at it either.

I’m still expecting the game to end up over 500k words when all is said and done. It will not be one million words, but I’m actually kind of happy about that. This is proof I’m still working on this game, and the next time it updates, it will have new content. Thanks for those that are patient and stick around, your support does still genuinely mean a lot.

Please leave feedback.

Stay Brilliant,

-Vi

P.S. Please leave feedback.

🛡️Patreon | Forum Page | Demo Link🛡️

[brightest-stars-if]

Mini Update is Up

Hi everyone! I'm not finished with Chapter 3 Pt. 1 yet, but I'm aware that it's been a hot minute since the last update, and I wanted to give you guys at least a little something in thanks for the patience and understanding that you've shown me. This is why I've uploaded the first 10k words of Chapter 3 to the demo. You can play it here. And if you have thoughts abt the demo, you can send me an ask here, or you can talk about it on the forum.

It's a mini update, but I hope that y'all enjoy it all the same. I've run the game through randomtest so there shouldn't be any errors, but if you find them, please report them back to me. And if you find typos -- of which I'm sure there will be more than I'd like rip -- please feel free to report those too.

Have fun playing!

[parasitical-if]

A small one - the RO povs for 1k followers. The interlude as a whole is around 3.8k words, and I haven't bothered to run randomtest to find the average playthrough, but I'd estimate ~3-500 per. The last interlude I posted, you were able to jump straight to it from the opening page, but this one is attached to Chapter Four, because some of it jumps off whoever you spent your free time with in that chapter, as well as some other flavor text.

With this comes the fixing of a few of the coding/writing issues that I've been informed of. Thank you to people who send those in - I'm always glad to see them.

Unrelated to Parasitical, I've been obsessively working on another choicescript game that grabbed me by the throat and hasn't let go. By 'obsessively', I mean ~18k words in three days obsessively, which is quite unusual for me. Still unsure if I'll be sharing it online, at least for the foreseeable future, but maybe keep your eyes peeled. Thank you all for reading!

Demo(Dashingdon)

Demo(COGdemos)

[adoriels-tears-if]

It's incredible that Twine doesn't offer a randomtest function.

Having to replay the game countless times to find out whether such and such a variable or condition works really gets on my nerves.

[collegetennisoriginstory]

Help! The full doubles match against Sam and Pan should be available, yeah? For me the game stops when I choose 'look across the net' (new save, paired with Rayyan, Sam is my bestie, no romance)

Oh no that’s so weird, the code looks OK?

I’ve also ran it by randomtest. I can’t seem to find a problem. D: Did you get an error message? Or it just brings you to the end scene?

Also, this shouldn’t matter but you’re playing from an old save ? Or right from the start with a new save? Or the skip ahead function?

Is Sam opposite gender from MC?

[barbwritesstuff]

Thicker Than Monthly Update

Hi everyone. I’ve updated the demo and it’s over 200k! I didn’t realise I was so close! This is so exciting. Thicker Than is growing up so fast!

Here's the link for the Thicker Than Demo!

The focus this month was on chipping slowly away at the romantic scenes in Chapter Seven. I’ve done Chris, Minjo, and Ravima, and started work on Nathan. The rest are still unfinished. Please let me know what you think. All the tribute routes are now also finished. Hopefully all those scenes seam together well.

My big problem right now is the randomtest is still crashing in Chapter Six and I can’t figure out why. I think it has something to do with an infinite loop in or around Erin’s scene, but I’m not sure. I’ve spent hours trying to figure this out. Hosted Games won’t accept a game which can’t pass the automatic tests, so it’s really important that I fix this bug. If you see anything weird, or have any ideas, please let me know. I’m so stuck with this.

Other than that, I hope you enjoy getting your vamp on.

Thank you everyone for all your support.

If you'd like to support me and recieve weekly Thicker Than updates, please check out my KoFi page.

Update Details:

As of the 25th of January 2024

Continued work on Chapter Seven

Finished tribute routes

Added romantic scenes/moments for Minjo, Chris, and Ravima

Error and bug fixes

Additional Words: 26,291 (excluding commands)

Total Word Count: 201,731 (excluding commands)

[eaglet-if]

Орлёнок Demo Release

Finally, the demo is here! It's not exactly January anymore, but better late than never, right?

You can play it right here!

I also made a post on the CoG forums, if you want to check it out: Link

Features include:

Meeting your family! And getting bullied.

Getting executed!

Rising from the dead!

Celebrating life by slaughtering some rebels!

(Being extremely miserable!)

Feedback:

This is, quite obviously, a work in progress. It is made available so that you, the reader, can give feedback that improves the game.

So, while you can - and should - obviously tell me whatever you want, a specific list of what I need most in terms of feedback can be found here:

Language. English is not my first language (actually, not even my second one), and I mostly read non-fiction academic works when I read in English, so my writing is certainly not at the level it should be. If you have any concrete issues, please tell me, and I'll try to learn how it can be improved.

Spelling. I don't expect much in the way of outright errors, but I do know that I mix up British and American English all the time. The intended style is American English, so please point out spellings that are wrong in that regard.

Inconsistencies. There are a lot of variations between scenes, and I'd like to make the story as immersive as possible; so, if a phrasing, a character's behaviour etc. feel like they don't fit into the choices you previously made, please tell me. In detail, if possible, otherwise I won't be able to amend it.

Sensory descriptions. AuDHD makes my brain process sensations, including visual impressions, very differently, which means I often end up forgetting those exist. Please tell me about scenes that lack description in that regard. (My first grade elementary school report card called my writing 'efficient and devoid of feelings', and I'd very much like to move past that.)

Technical problems. The code should be pretty solid, but with how complicated it is, it'd be weird if there weren't at least some problems. If you find them, please try to include as much detail as possible when telling me about it. (CS Quicktest and Randomtest are not usable due to the complexity of the code, lol.)

You liking the story. I remain thoroughly convinced that I am a worthless person who isn't able to, nor deserves to create anything, and currently my only motivation to continue this project is derived from pure stubbornness. So, if you, for some reason, actually like this demo, please tell me. It won't change my mind about how bad I think it is, but it will force me to continue in order to avoid being even more of a disappointment.

Additions. If I like your idea, I'll probably add it right away; if I'm unsure, I'll do a poll. You can get me to do almost anything if you say you're sad if I don't do it.

Formatting. Although I try to playtest as much as possible, it's not that easy with how many variations there are, and in VS Code it's sometimes hard to see how well or badly readable text passages actually are.

CWs/TWs (v0.0.1):

Graphic violence and gore

Attempted sexual assault (against the player, avoidable, f!MC only; also against an NPC if massacre route is chosen (is dealt with quickly))

Suicide attempt (by the player, avoidable; f!MC only)

Loss of loved ones

Massacre of civilians and/or PoWs (avoidable)

General misery

(please let me know if you think this needs additions)

As of yet unfinished content:

Autistic variations do not exist yet for the latter part of the demo

Only one of three locations for taking a walk available for now

Tooltips are incomplete

Asexual is not available yet, as it requires a lot of additional scene variation text

Special (psychopath) routes are missing from some scenes as they were added late in development

Choices that are locked and marked as (WIP) are unfinished

Interaction routes for Semyon/Selena, Mikhail/Marina and Leon/Leah. They are top priority for the first set of updates

It is recommended that you play this with a stable state of mind. If you choose the suffering paths because it's relatable and/or as a coping strategy, please make sure you have support available and avoid triggering yourself too much.

The whole point of this game (apart from the dress-up part) is that, no matter how bad things get, you shouldn't stop fighting. It's your enemies who deserve destruction, not you.

Please keep in mind that I am both literally insane and pretty reasonable, so: if there is anything you find grossly offensive, don't assume I meant anything bad by it. Just explain to me why you think it shouldn't exist, and if I am convinced, I will amend it.

[kingdoms-and-empires]

Hello I just informing that I've tried the second demo and it's come with error " chapter1 line 4231 non existent variable 'allchildrenborn' " And when opening reputation tab something about Dread is missing.

Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention. I just spent the last hour traumatized by looking over the Alpha version, shaking my head at my past self lmfao

It's all fixed now! I ran it through quicktest, randomtest x100, and looked over the reputation tab and didnt get anymore errors. I even found other ones that you guys wouldve ran into and fixed those too lololol, fucking made me stressed xD

[nocifer]

hi! in shattered ch1, after you deal with the bandits and you confront loran, if you choose "no, something's wrong" you get this error

chapter1 line 279: Non-existent variable 'bloodcolour

Sorry for the inconvenience, I've made a full sweep of the game and corrected all the errors I could find through randomtesting, there should be no more errors now.

[beckwritesif]

Hi! I was wondering what program you use to code/write with!

Hi great question! I use CJW’s Choice Script IDE or CSIDE for short ;)

Here’s a link to the post on the Choice of Games forum

There’s both a desktop version and a web version, either has benefits and downsides. The desktop version can be customised further to individualize the writing experience (colors), and it also includes a ‘test project’ program to quickly find bugs in your code. The downside is the files are stored locally, so if you computer crashes everything is lost.

The web version is accesible through a dropbox account and can be accessed through any device online, so your files will all be safe from water damage and overheating on the computer. You can even write and code on your phone, I’m pretty sure. Web version doesn’t allow customization, I believe, and you can’t execute ‘quick test’ or ‘randomtest’ to debug.

I use a mix of both, copy my files from the web onto my desktop when I have to check for bugs. I don’t really care about customization anymore, darkmode is fine for me!

Sorry long answer, hope this helps :)

[taintedsoul-if]

I am super excited—and you might be wondering why. Well, I was mid-editing when I suddenly realized that Chapter 2 had a ton of if statements and branches.

As many of you know, I’m creating this game entirely from my mobile phone. Yes, it may look like a tablet, but it’s actually a phone. I’m currently using QuickEdit, and I just discovered that there’s a play button at the bottom of the screen—meaning I can actually playtest the game directly!

The good news? I passed both randomtest and quicktest! Yes, I fixed over fifty errors; now, this chapter is ready to go live at any moment. That makes me incredibly happy. When I published Chapter 1 a month ago, I literally read over my IF fifty times. But this time, no need for that.

I haven’t decided on a release date yet, but just know: The update is done. It’s here with me.

As for DG’s prologue, I still haven’t decided exactly what I want to do with it. Like I said, the prologue is completed—it’s a short read at around 8k words, but a good amount of stuff happens in there. It’ll probably take about fourteen minutes to get through.

And honestly, I do believe the opening of any IF/book/novel/series sets the tone. It’s what tells the reader—or viewer—whether they’re in it for the long haul. So I definitely want you all to get a taste of the prologue and see if you’re willing to come down this rabbit hole with me, lol.

For DG, all that’s left is fixing some errors, running final tests, and creating some kind of cover for it…

But yeah! You guys—I’m so fricking happy! 💃💃

Anyway, I hope everyone’s week went well—mine was crap, lol.

[thelonelyshore-if]

There's something so comforting about passing quicktest and randomtest. Like, it's always great to know that when I hit the end of the chapter I won't (hopefully) have to spend hours bugfixing.

[vendetta-if]

I lost my saves, so i was replaying the game again to read the latest 7th chapter, but kept getting a "chapter3_mission line 945" error. I don't know if it's just my browser or not ;—;

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but i really wanna read chapter 7 lol

Ooh, I don't know how this manages to pass through for so long, and even randomtest seems to have missed it. But I've just checked it and immediately seen the problem. I've fixed it and hopefully it should work now. Sorry for the inconvenience 🙏

Also, thank you for telling me the error message, it really helps to track the problem down 😊

[jcollinswrites]

Hi! So I'm also an author and I've had the same error. This error is not supposed to pop up when you have implicit_control_flow set to true (which you do, I checked your code).

I've posted about it on the forum. The author of Fallen Hero then posted with the same problem. I'm not sure it's exactly the same issue, as for me it popped up when running quicktest/randomtest. But the fact that it happens *sometimes* makes me think it might be. From a developer POV errors that aren't systematically reproducible (happen only some times and not others) are the WORST.

Anyway, it might be a good idea to let the CSIDE developpers know? Something strange is going on and I don't think it's something we as authors are doing wrong.

Technical stuff here for game devs :D You can ignore this post if you aren't an IF writer.

In my case, I figured out what was causing it, but yes you are right that this is no error on our part, it's just a weird bug in the ChoiceScript code. I couldn't find it at first because the error isn't even on the line that the error mentions, but the line before that, which is definitely a hassle to comb through and it should be fixed in the ChoiceScript base code itself.

But yes, so, the problem was that on the line before that, I was using *if commands and no *else at the end. Which shouldn't be a problem. But sometimes ChoiceScript freaks out because it thinks that if I use only *if's and not *else, then I didn't think of every possibility in the *if statements and if I continue with that, it will put the game into an infinite loop and it will break the game 😱

...It won't. But sometimes ChoiceScript gets confused with *if prompts. So I fixed it by simply replacing the last *if with an *else in the line before the error, and now everything is good. It should've been good before too, but yeah man, it's frustrating...

Edit: the problem wasn't even the indent. It was the *if's. So the error message lied on 2 accounts 😂

This is not a CSIDE error though. When I ran it through the normal ChoiceScript randomtests, outside of CSIDE, it sometimes still produced the error, but only on the randomtests. So it's a bug in the ChoiceScript base code itself, and I don't know if we can do anything about that, except trying to find workarounds to a problem that shouldn't even exist in the first place...

Frustrating.... Very frustrating.... 👺🔪