Complete luck, 4531bc.
I saw the opportunity for something neat to happen and leaped at it, which is what usually happens in my quests. Many of the major twists or events or effects (Oren's little escapade in the temple, for example, or meeting the kithik queen in the first place, or the entire character of Gryphona) are usually me looking at the comments and getting new ideas based on the actions suggested for stuff that would be cool to write in. Believe it or not there really is no overarching plot or railroad besides that defined by you guys. I knew I was going to stick that full circle thing in from the moment we challenged the Queen for domination of the Kithik, but no earlier. Hell, I didn't even think you guys would even meet the queen, until you took yourselves prisoner like you did.

>>328726
I can answer some of these for Larro:

Shoujen is based off of a game world that Larro has been building and using for years. The Dart/Rai connection was a part of that world, and so is far older than the quest itself. Anything that existed in the world was technically 'planned out' at the start of the quest.

However, the plot was intended to be very short. We were 'supposed' to leave Nari behind, get fed up with Alex and chase her away, run into Dart, lose horribly, and get wiped. It was intended to be the first in a series of short quests taking place in the same world, and Cecil was eventually going to be rescued from Dart at some point along the way.

This leads into the first question, to which the answer is 'as it was happening'. We weren't 'supposed' to have a Red Cell Stone when we fought Dart so he was 'supposed' to have his powers, we weren't 'supposed' to tap Norue in to fight Lucien, we weren't 'supposed' to take Bella out in one Standard Action, we weren't 'supposed' to TAS Eronen's ass, or resurrect Amy, or rescue and befriend Felix, or befriend RJ, or cure the Shoujen curse, or save Chel, or stop the felinid war, or go to the felinid cities, or romance Nari, or etc...
We were constantly doing things Larro hadn't anticipated, and so he had to constantly revise his plans.

>>328726
I don't know. ;_;

>>328732
Oh, but hey.

CIRR: Rumor has it that almost everything in your quests is made up shortly before it appears. IS THIS TRUE? >:V

Larro 2010/07/02(Fri)14:12 No. 18935 ID: cf68aa
File 127810516091.png - (26.29KB , 500x500 , 962.png )

Like 7 said this world has been brewing in my mind for many many years now and I finally got to share it with this board.Several key points, namely Rai being evil from the start, were already established but other things were not.
I have a bad habit (or maybe it's good...?) of making stuff up as it goes along so most of the actuall story doesn't get written til it's happening so the actual ending didn't hit me until midway-ish.
One good example of how little is planned is the Merfolk lake side story. This came into my mind a few updates 'before' Cecil was sent there and thankfully it fit well with RJ's past.
Characters also had to be made up from scratch mere moments before their into. People like Nari. RJ, Felix and others had to have a backstory and half the time I didn't even know what it was gonna be! But there are some things I did plan like Cecil's father being alive. Inserted is one of the older updates when they were trapped in the school. See the resemblence?

Any plans I orignaly had were thwarted but /quests/ so I really nothing was planned. Instead of a series of small quests I ended up doing a quest on one guy for 1300 updates :P
I thought it would have been kind of cool that like 4 protags into the quest you meet up again with Cecil and have to defeat him/her in battle.

All in all the whole thing was just as much of a suspence filled ride as it surely was for you.

Anything else you want to know?

>Any plans I originally had were thwarted
What plans and how if you don't mind answering?

>>328733

Not always the case! It's sort of half-and-half. For instance, in Resonance the three protagonists and their general situations were planned out from the start, as was the whole Golden Empire/Machine situation. Of course, a large amount of stuff IS made up on the spot some updates prior. For instance, I basically came up with Lesin as an arbitrary character just because I wanted there to be some random tension (I know, it was a bad idea). And now Lesin is a viewpoint character. I'll get back to updating Resonance when the stars align or I finish updating Defective or whatever happens first.

As for Defective, well, the line between "made up on the spot" and "planned out in advance" is kinda blurrier. I had an idea of how I wanted things to go and pretty much drilled down into further and more specific detail when it seemed likelier things were going to progress further or certain leads were followed. I'm not entirely sure now how much was planned and how much I thought "quick think up a reason for this that makes sense".

Although originally monitors were just going to be robots with a different colour scheme until it came to drawing the thing. I changed that to make them more distinct from the flesh-blood-and-metal drones and the already present Network Prime robots.

Jukashi: In Lunar Quest sometimes it seems like you're speaking to "us" and sometimes you're speaking to Saulanna as us. Would you prefer responses like third party helpful suggesters prodding the Saulanna character around, or would you prefer responses more from the role of Saulanna herself?

Reka: Who in Sue Quest is your OTP?

>Anything else you want to know?
There's a lot, but I could just ask Seven for most of it :P

A couple questions, though. You told us what you did with Tikita, What other etymology-related references did you bury in Shoujen (that we didn't catch)?

Also, a few questions about your unfinished quests.

What was inSanity about? Where were you going to go with it? Why did you abandon it? What similarities does the Alimentor there have to the alimentor in Shoujen? Does the alimentor have one of those easter-egg-hidden-in-its-name things I asked about before?
Where were you going to go with Quests TCG? Did you abandon it because you ran out of references to make?

Erm, I think that's about all for now.

@rand: Why do all the characters in your quest(s?) forget their articles half the time? Can nobody in your universe speak proper English!? (I have no problem with it, though, it's pretty amusing :P)

Hey Gnoll, why do we always end up with sexytimes?

>>328739

I really don't mind either way.

Offically, I "translate" suggestions into what Saulanna perceives as her own thoughts and impulses, within reason, and she responds as if that were the case. I'm not terribly consistent with this, however. Luna and Wordblood, being entities whose nature puts them slightly beyond the fourth wall, will occasionally speak to the players directly so that they can explain the quest's game mechanics.

Reka 2010/07/03(Sat)14:06 No. 19016 ID: 9c88ce
File 127819116233.png - (13.10KB , 100x150 , OTP.png )

>>328740
> Your OTP?
Romance has never been a big priority for my quests. But that doesn't mean I don't think about it!
As far as Cave Story goes, I've always been a fan of King and Toroko. I think they're really cute together, and it kindof makes their role in the game all the more poignant.
As far as Quests go, I guess I go for whatever seems the most interesting, or fits the story.

As for Sue Quest, I imagined King as a thick-headed, shonen-style love interest. He cares about Toroko, for instance, but doesn't really know why. So focused on protecting the village as he is. He is not bright.

Romantic subplots probably won't ever take priority. But I do like throwing hints around occasionally, and you guys can always try to pair up characters. It makes things more interesting sometimes.
... I mean, George and Kara weren't even on my radar.

>>328753
Probably because 1: it`s heavily suggested. 2: it draws lots of attention and 3: Drawing boobs is fun.

I`m going to work on getting some more conflict into the quest in the future to maybe distract from the sex, then I`ll have sex AND violence and everyone will love me! KEHAHAHAHAHA!

>>328816
Obviously, the canon pairing from Sue Quest I was SuexBalrog. 8U

DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO UPDATE REGULARLY

'CAUSE I DON'T :(

>>328827
Draw when you are drunk.
Get drunk every day.

Or just update daily.

Oh wait I had a question.
>@rand: Why do all the characters in your quest(s?) forget their articles half the time? Can nobody in your universe speak proper English!? (I have no problem with it, though, it's pretty amusing :P)

Minähän puhun hyvää englantia, enkäs puhukin? Sitähän ymmärtävät kaikki, joten ongelmaa ei ole.

Well, it might be because my native language does not have articles at all, so I tend to forget them. And as for English, it just sucks.

>>328830
You don't use contractions either. Is that because you haven't heard of them, or won't use them out of spite?

>>328830
I see. My first guess would've been that English wasn't your native language, but I assumed it was because (apart from the articles thing) you speak it so well. :3c

>>328827
Slap yourself in the face if you don't.

>>328830

Tory sounds awesome. I bet that will catch on and then we will all speak awesome Engilsh.

>>328827

Did you try setting an alarm? Here's the order I go through to set about doing something regularly

1) Just do it whenever I feel like it. If that doesn't work...
2) Set an alarm to remind me when to start working. If that doesn't work...
3) Start rewarding myself with a tasty treat after each update. If that doesn't work...
4) Ask a friend to help remind me to get started. If that doesn't work...
5) Go see a psychologist. I clearly have serious self control issues.

>>328867
fuck

I'm failing step 4

>>328827
YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN THERE BUDDY. :(

Speaking of which, I should really be updating NicQuest.

>>328873

Hey. Hey Typo. It's time to update. Typo? Typo? It's time to update!

>>328987
People are already doing that for me on IRC.

They've been doing that for me since uh.

Like.

A few months ago now.

It has a mixed track record, let's say.

>>329008

Well, those are more like general guidelines than anything. Looking at your quests it seems like you run out of ideas of what to do next. A good way to avoid that is to think of a bunch of awesome things to be done, and have the quest go from thing to thing. An example would be OP probably wanted to get us meeting that spunky female who treats the main character with such disdain. So that gave him plenty of time to screw around with the terrarium and the monster, heading for that goal. Once he reached it, he can pick another thing he wants to aim at. Don't think of it like suggesters pushing you off track; the only way a suggestion can push you off track is if it gives you a new idea, which you can safely embrace and no one will be the wiser. There's no way to lose!

With your latest quest uhm... the elevator one, it's pretty clear you rely on suggesters for new ideas. Well, look within yourself instead, try to find something you really want to see happen in a quest, some thematic element, some character or plot device. Cultivate your desires, and you can use them to generate ideas, just by picking an idea that's almost at random except it oughta satisfy some of those desires.

If you can't seem to get it together long enough and simply become lucid long enough to make an entire quest, then you've got my problem and you're dissociative. If you can't find anything you enjoy or anything you ever want to see, and you just feel dead inside, then you've got major depression. If you see quest characters standing on the street staring at you, telling you that the ducks are to beware of, so you run away and make yourself an egg sandwich, but the sandwich inexplicably seems like the most horrifying thing you've ever experienced and you throw it across the room, becoming tangled with the blankets which you mistake for snakes, clawing at your skin to get them off and crawling on all fours out into the hallway where you break into wracking sobs unable to comprehend what others would see as an ordinary hallway, but you see so much more, then you're delusionally schizophrenic. Major psychological disorders excuse you from having to do a quest.

>>329019
...

Okay, I'm not the guy who does I think any of the quests you referred to in that post (with the possible exception of "the elevator one," which, if it's mine, has been completed for some time now.)

I do Vapor Quest. And I know what happens next, and the general guidelines of what will/might happen (as far as I can rig it knowing that suggesters may well go in any direction) for probably a good fifty or sixty updates, depending. :V

Speaking of updating, GREEN, when are you gonna update? I never even see you in IRC.

Anonymous 2010/07/06(Tue)09:17 No. 19237 ID: 4531bc
File 127843306988.png - (96.31KB , 500x500 , btqtypo.png )

>>329019
Huzzah, my quest was mentioned! That's good advice, although you probably don't want to use me as an example, with my biweekly updating rate. :P

>>329034
For clarification, the 'OP's quest' with the 'spunky female' is the quest I run. I think you can find it on page 4 of the board right now. >_>

Now, one thing I noticed recently is that being able to update is more of a mindset than anything else. An approach that I'm trying to use, and I think Larro does, is running two (or more, if you're that pro) simultaneous quests. That way, if you don't feel like updating one, you can update the other, and when you 'get in the mood,' you can go back and update the first quest. Keep in mind that any time that you'll spend updating your second quest is time you would probably have spent procrastinating otherwise. One note, I'm not really sure as to whether this approach will be a catastrophic failure or not yet, so you might not want to employ it until you think you can handle something like that.

Also, check the image for a brief explanation and some subliminal messaging for you, Typo.

>>328748
To answer your first question there are a few that maybe some caught. Fides, one of the Cerin, means Faith and his power is actually to shatter faith help in others and in oneself. The title Shoujen is a combo of the japanese words Shonen and Shoujo. Thead is an anagram of Death and Rai means lightning, which is Rai's specialty.

You ask about InSanity? InSanity is for all intents and purposes a one shot meant to bridge the gap between The Game and The Game 2. However until I really get some things worked out it should be considered uncanon.

The Quest TCG was a really near concept and I thought it would work. But then I noticed one slight flaw... As the opponent I had a serious advantage; I knew every care you guys had in hand and face down on the field. So I decided to just let it go.

>>329039
If you're so concerned about having an advantage, you can always not metagame and think of it through the opponent's perspective. That, or I won't follow the quest anymore and you can query me.

No one's asked me for advice or anecdotes, but I feel this is important and don't know where else to post it:

This guy
>>329074
is not alone. Having the title of your quest thread be "???" by "???" is tiresome, and it makes people want to skip it. Even if you want to wait a few posts to explain what's going on, you should at least have a thread title so people know what to call the thread. Word of mouth can't work if there's no word to give.

>>329077

Yeah, I wouldn't do that again.

>>329078
Don't feel alone. It used to be really, really common. It still happens from time to time... Also, your e-mail seems to be broken.

>>329077
Also, if you start your thread with a splash/title image and subject line, you get to show up usefully in the nifty catalogue:

http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/catalog.html

You do want to show up in the nifty catalogue, don't you troubleshooter?

>>329079

Whoops.

Ok, I checked it just now, I did get your message from the 19th, but for some reason I've received nothing afterwards, not even my comic's update notices. Sent you a reply, anyway. I hope things can still come in to me.

On the other subject, it does leave the question of how to properly start amnesia quests. They're a popular genre, for good reasons, and titles, images and poster names have to strike a balance of not giving things away with not being cumbersome later on.

>>329114
This is how you start an amnesia quest: http://www1.tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/res/507108.html

With a title image and a quest name, and THEN go into the amnesiacness.

Test Pattern 2010/07/07(Wed)12:06 No. 19341 ID: 8bdb6a
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>>329114
Nope. Haven't received anything.
The first thing I sent which didn't work was on the 25th. I didn't get a notice about it until the 30th.

>On the other subject, it does leave the question of how to properly start amnesia quests.
I tend to take a pretty straightforward approach.

When it comes to quests, my motto is to hide stuff if you think there's a good reason, but otherwise be as clear and direct as can be managed. In this case, Luna showed up right away to explain what was going on, so why beat around the bush?

>>329141

Well, buggery.

Gonna have to get on to my provider.