February 8th, 2024
Slubberdegullion is my proposal for creating a simple, easy-to-use encounter-based storyworld editor. A number of intrepid volunteers will be participating in this project. So far, they are Craig Maloney, Hanniel Logsdon, and “Prownie”, whose real name I don’t know.
The Slubberdegullion project will proceed in four phases:
Phase One: Preparations
This phase is already active, and will continue until February 20th. Our goal in this phase is to prepare enough material to permit potential patrons to evaluate the merits of the project to decide whether they wish to contribute to it.
Phase Two: Patreon Test
On February 20th, I will make a public announcement on Patreon that we are seeking patrons for the Slubberdegullion project. We require at least 20 patrons willing to contribute at least $50 each. The purpose of this funding effort is not to gain money — all proceeds will go to winners of the contest. The purpose is to discover whether there are at least 20 people who are committed enough to the project to be willing to spend $50 on it. If we don’t have at least 20 such people, then there really isn’t any point in developing the software. I spent at least 15 years of my life building tools for other people to use to build interactive storyworlds, and nobody ever produced a single storyworld with any of those tools. I shall not repeat that mistake. This phase will end on March 22nd. During the 30-day duration of this phase, we’ll continue working on the project to show our good faith.
Phase Three: Software Development
If we gain the commitment of enough people, then we shall proceed with software development. Two programs will be built. The first is the Slubberdegullion editor; early versions of it are on display here. It is a web page in HTML and Javascript that will permit full editing of a storyworld. It will save the user’s file on their computer, and load from there. It will provide appropriate testing tools to help the user refine the storyworld. The second program is the storyworld player, which permits any person to play the designer’s storyworld. I am scheduling one year for the development of both programs. This is a generous estimate; I believe that the software will be ready much sooner. Therefore, this phase is scheduled to end on March 22nd, 2025.
Phase Four: Release and Contest
When we release the software, we will announce a contest for the best storyworlds as determined by our panel of experts (us). The contest will last one year. We expect to engage in bug-fixing and user-helping during this period.
Phase Five: Contest Results
On March 22nd, 2026, we will announce the winners. The first prize winner will receive 50% of the pot filled during the Patreon funding period. Second prize winner gets 30% of the pot; third prize winner receives 20% of the pot. We do reserve the right to raid the pot to cover expenses, but no money will go into the pocket of any member of our team. Winners will receive their portion of the funds remaining in the pot.
This is the plan for the Simple Encounter Editor. We do not have any working software, other than the basic HTML for the screen layout. This document presents mock screens showing how the editor will function.
Strictly mechanical instructions for operating the editor will be presented in this sans-serif font.
Suggestions about designing a good storyworld are presented in this serif font.
Step 1: creating an encounter
Step 2: entering the encounter introduction text
Step 3: creating options
Step 4: entering reactions
Step 5: Altering perceptions
Step 6: Branching
Step 7: Multi-branching
Step 8: Adding actors