Thanks Glen, and glad you enjoyed it :) What I meant it's more about how people dish it out rahter than the content of the stew. I accept that I got a few things wrong when writing Nye's Song and it needs some improvement. Nevertheless, there were some pretty harsh reviews from both Ashton Saylor and SJ Bell (who doesn't really need to swear, by the way). Coming from 'fellow' gamebook writers - well, who needs enemies?

I don't want to come all over negative on a friendly site as FF Project. However, last night, I felt so low and considered giving up gamebook writing altogether.

Andrew Wright
Mon Nov 26 03:16:09 2012
Nye's Song

@Robert Douglas: Hey Robert I wouldn't take it too personally - I don't think Ashton Saylor is a particularly intelligent reviewer (he completely missed the point in my Sea of Madness adventure and that went on to win last year!) - but he does have very good points with regards to gameplay. For example his criticisms, and those of others, regarding my entry this year,
Guild of Thieves confirmed some issues I'd began suspecting would be problematic. Also, a lot of his swearing and generally immature behaviour speaks volumes about his own potential insecurities.

Other reviews of Windhammer 2012 are here:

http://wolfmanbell.blogspot.com/2012/10/2012-windhammer-competition-reviews-and.html

http://www.thebrewin.com/blog/entry/thoughts-on-the-2012-windhammer-prize-entries-part-1

http://www.thebrewin.com/blog/entry/thoughts-on-the-2012-windhammer-prize-entries-part-2

None of it is especially enlightened and a lot of it is pedantic, subjective and rant-filled. I got told last year by one guy "too many rules!" and this year "too simple!" You just have to deflect the BS and wade through the muck to see if there's any justified complaints on gameplay, take them on board, and move on. Life's too short to give up on your creativity because of the comments of a handful of fellow competitors.

cheers

Andy Wright

C-Star
Mon Nov 26 08:01:51 2012
Nye's Song

Wow, don't! We'd be losing one of our best! :-(

pi4t
Mon Nov 26 09:34:41 2012
Nye's Song

I read a few of Ashton Sayler's comments, and I have to say I disagreed with most of them. I haven't yet read Nye's Song, but, for instance, he was quite critical of my so far favourites (A Familiar Story and Guild of Thieves) while giving a lot of praise to Academy of Magic, which is probably my personal least favourite of those I've read so far (my reasons for this follow). What I'm trying to say is that his comments are just his opinions, and his opinions certainly aren't universal.

My dislike of Academy may come partly from my never having read Harry Potter, but it mostly came from the fact that though there were a lot of interesting options that made it appear have a lot of choice, there was really only one route as far as I could tell that would reveal the culprit and get all the items, and finding it seemed completely arbitrary. I also found I was given a lack of information about the people my character had supposedly been studying with for some time, until I'd chosen who to accuse. That made it more or less impossible to take an educated guess based on their personality, as you would have been able to in real life.

Robert Douglas
Tue Nov 27 02:00:48 2012
Nye's Song

@ Andrew Wright, C-Star, pi4t

Thanks for the vote of confidence :) I've decided I'll keep writing Sean Calibre Book 2.

As I previously mentioned: admittedly there were a few things I could have done better with Nye's Song - yet I felt some reviewers comments were a bit over the top. Especially as how Ashton loftily advised I should read and write more to improve on my creative ability. All this said to me: an avid reader of Bernard Cornwell, John Wyndham, Peter F Hamilton, watching all eight seasons of a well-plotted 24, amongst varied ideas from action or war films to boot. Hmm.

Robert Douglas
Tue Nov 27 04:37:01 2012
Nye's Song

The Brewin' website proved more constructive, and I've sent my gratitude in response (and agreeing on what I did wrong). It's really Andy's idea (when he put The Curse of Drumer online) that has solved the dreaded 7 or 8 determined for Skill and Luck! Another solution is the introduction of what FF is doing at the moment: pre-generated characters. Each with their own skills and weaknesses.

pi4t
Wed Nov 28 08:45:53 2012
Nye's Song

I tried Nye's Song, but had to stop. I think I encountered a bug, or the information was hidden too well for me to spot it. I went to the church first, and was instructed to deduct one from my patrol, but I hadn't been given any patrol stat! If you could tell me how many troops I start with, it would let me carry on :P

Robert Douglas
Wed Nov 28 12:08:03 2012
Nye's Song

@ pi4t,

Sorry you had trouble determining the Platoon score. Entry 56 explains you have FIVE men under your command. I preferred to put this in the narrative as opposed to the rules section. Although, perhaps I should have written this in italics to have emphasized it better.

ffproject
Thu Nov 29 18:41:36 2012
Devil's Flight

Devil's Flight

The latest gamebook for online play is this 300-reference space-horror by Gaetano Abbondanza.

You are an Astro-Geologist; as such the determination of whether a newly discovered planetary body could hold permanent human settlements is dependent upon your professional opinion. You enjoy the work; it is interesting and stimulating if somewhat lonely. Today, however, will be unlike any other day you've ever experienced...

Pat
Fri Nov 30 10:17:49 2012
Devil's Flight

Thanks for adding Devil's Flight Andy!
I started on the same gamebook here for offline playing.

pi4t
Fri Nov 30 13:18:09 2012
Nye's Song

It certainly wasn't very clear, in fact I had to reread it twice to spot the passage after knowing which section it was in. I think singling out section 1 as the section which needed careful reading was a mistake which distracted me from looking through section 56 in more detail. The platoon stat never quite defined what it represented (it could, for instance, have been a combination of troop numbers and morale), though it nearly did.

The main problem, though, was the wording: 'Five men under your command have Suffields (sub-machine guns equipped with silencers) and Blakrite knives – further, your stealthy approach will be aided by the growing dusk.' I understood this as 'five of the men under my command have Suffields and Blakrite knives, while the others don't'. Especially in the apparently post apocalyptic setting which the book is set in (though as there isn't really any backstory it's hard to tell: What victory? Where's Plassey*? Is this an alternative timeline, a completely different world, the future with a new date system, or what?), this would be entirely conceivable.

I think it's clear from this that rules and mechanics should be made clear, and not worked into (and hidden in) the text more than needed.

I'll give the book another go in a day or so.

C-Star
Sat Dec 1 13:11:09 2012
Devil's Flight

Hey me again. Just started playing Devil's Flight and must admit, it's pretty awesome! Another great work of horror by Gaetano. Really reminds me of Dead Space. But i'm having one problem, right at what I believe to be the end of the book.

SPOILER

END SPOILER

Robert Douglas
Sat Dec 1 16:50:52 2012
Nye's Song

@ pi4t,

You've made a good point; I should have worded it more carefully: 'You START with five men under your command, ALL armed with Suffield sub-machine guns and Blakrite knives' (words in caps indicate what I should have inserted into the text to make it clearer - and italicized it, drawing attention to an important detail.)

In answer to your question: yes, it's alternate history. Plassey was a famous victory won by Robert Clive of India. World of the Blight is based upon his victory but without his patrol having intercepted one of the Thuggee high priests. In other words: our world is based upon a certain Thuggee priest in possesion of evil, ancient writings being killed and unable to attend the ritual that would open a portal between Earth and Kali's domain. Mankind in Nye's Song erroneously believes Plassey somehow caused the Blight! They're oblivious to how close a British patrol almost saved the world as we know it.

C-Star
Sat Dec 1 19:00:18 2012
Nye's Song

Forget my last post, I managed to get the solution from the text version. WAY better ending this time around! And I'll try out Nye's Song as soon as i can. Sounds interesting.

Gaetano
Sat Dec 1 19:11:32 2012
Devil's Flight

@ C-Star
Thanks for the kind words. Interesting comment about Dead Space- I'm not a big videogame player and had never heard of it. After looking it up online, though, I can definitely see the similarities! In response to your question-

SPOILER

END SPOILER

I won't get too explicit with the spoliers, since you say that you've just started playing. If you explore more of the paths and still are having no luck, let me know.

Ibrahim
Tue Dec 4 01:34:13 2012
Soul Tracker

Hi Andy. Thanks a million, will really enjoy playing the new entry and well done Gaetano for what looks like a rivetting story so far, keep up the good work. As you know, I really enjoyed your previous effort Soul Tracker, I wonder if we'll be seeing any more of the motorbike riding hero or something similar along those lines, maybe even a mad max cloan or something.

C-Star
Tue Dec 4 08:37:43 2012
Soul Tracker

There's already an official gamebook like that, think it's called Freeway Fighter, but I heard it wasn't that great...

Gaetano
Tue Dec 4 20:13:48 2012
Soul Tracker

@ Ibrahim

I don't have immediate plans for a Soul Tracker sequel, but who knows what the future holds? Mark Ghostview and Angela Luna have been living happily together these last few years, but perhaps they'll need to dust off their weapons someday...

At the moment, I'm working on a "Spaghetti Western" themed gamebook, which should appear in a future issue of Fighting Fantazine

Smith Smith
Wed Dec 5 06:54:17 2012
General Chat

Its me Susan.currently diagnosed with Leukemia being Cancer of Blood.according to medical report I have limited days on earth.I want you to Pray for me.send your prayer to my email susansmith716@ymail.com

C-Star
Wed Dec 5 08:24:52 2012
General Chat

Um, should I have heard of you? (Please don't take that the wrong way.)

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