Dev Diary: Your questions, answered.

You asked us questions. We have answers.

@TokuDeka asks: What’s the most annoying part of testing the gamebook? Not the easiest or hardest. The most annoying.

Chris says: Oh, let me count the ways. How about when someone tells you that the book doesn’t work on their side, and you load up their exact same page and it works fine, and then you ask them what browser they’re using, and you go and use that browser, and it STILL works fine, so you ask them even more questions and copy their exact setup with a teacup balanced on your forehead while fighting Mauler and rolling only doubles, and you still can’t find the problem?

We’ve not had that exact scenario, but it’s…not so loosely based off all the actual experiences we’ve had.

One of the most difficult bugs we’ve ever encountered was courtesy of our very first purchaser, who couldn’t get past the menu screen. I think it took 3 weeks (and the help of the only other person who had the same bug and also just happened to be a web developer) to figure out what was going on, and I think it ended up having something to do with Chrome adding some touchscreen parameters to a desktop computer. Still not sure we fixed it, but we sure as heck fixed something, so at least we’re getting some points on the board.

@Librojuegos asks: Why are you doing it?

Yuliya says: Chris asked me to answer this one too, and started left me one word: Because. That about sums it up. Because I met a random stranger over a year ago and, after discovering a shared likeness for obscure old point and clicks (Loom!), I was introduced to the world of gamebooks. Because I wanted to learn marketing, and Chris was willing to let me make mistakes at his expense (sorry..). Because suddenly this whole fantastic friendly community that I didn’t know existed was opened to me.

Because I love books. Because I love games. Because. Is there really ever more to it?

Chris says: You know mate, I don’t know.

I enjoy being able to help more people play DestinyQuest and gamebooks in general, and I’m hoping that the software we’ve built will help the whole world make more gamebooks and open people up to a way of being creative and writing that they might never have thought of before, or thought of and never been able to do. But honestly, I don’t know. Why does anyone make software? Because they see something and they say, “if I don’t do this, it will never exist?” I don’t know.

@HRMate asks: Do you use a software to help writing and linking the sections? Or the ol’good post-it?

Since we didn’t actually write the gamebook, this one is best answered by DestinyQuest author Michael J. Ward:

@destiny_quest says: “I rely on good old fashioned flow diagrams. And lots of arcane scribbles!”

Chris says: Mike Ward wrote DQ; we just digitized it. We have a lot of software to help us with the digitization process. There’s a separate database of every single enemy and item in the game (it makes it really easy to, say, double my speed if I want to test a specific fight), and a source editor that lets us make quick changes to the text and the interactive bits. We’re going to be talking a bit more about this in the future, and maybe share some (or all) of the tools with you all, so stay tuned.

We’re always open to questions. If there’s anything you’d like to know about DestinyQuest Infinite or the process that went into making it, send us an email, tweet us a tweet, or put your face in our book.

DestinyQuest

DestinyQuest Infinite is the first in the QuestForge Games, a new line of gamebooks.