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ADVENTURE GENERATOR - Yeah, we all know the feeling; our inner adventurer took
us over when we in Neopia heard of the Adventure Generator! Imagine what we
could do! And then, came the trophies and Neopians from every corner of Neopia
scrambled over each other to be in the spotlight. Stories about the frozen Terror
Mountain, or the spooky Haunted Forest, from modern Neopia Central utopia to
the old ways of Meridell, we all wanted a piece of adventure.
Then, some of us faltered; could we make it? Get a trophy? For some of us (like
myself) we shuffled, guiltily aware of that trophy cabinet that’s been gathering
dust for quite a while! But then, in desperation, I decided it would be better
to plan adventures. (Believe me, you DON’T want to read my early stuff!)
At first, I opened my word eagerly, trying to beat down my hyper Neopets and
praying like mad that Oujiako* hadn’t jammed the caps lock. I thought; "Shouldn’t
we write the adventure out first and copy + paste it?" But then, that would
be complicated for multiple options (duh), so I opened notepad instead.
‘Hey Ky, still trying to think of a foolproof way to plan an adventure?’ said
Kya with a sly grin. She knew all too well that I had been glued to my monitor
till my eyes were bloodshot.
‘No,’ I had sighed; unaware I had already stumbled across a pretty good idea.
First of all it’s best to have a skeleton on paper (the basic story).
Exercise 1
- Choose a location in Neopia. This will help determine the variables of your
story.
- Write an 100-word summary on paper, or with Word / Notepad
- Create a character(s) to slot into your story. If you’re stuck with a name
it’s a good idea to use a Baby Name Book, or use a search engine.
- Write a small profile for your character(s) like this:
Name:
Age:
Species:
Height:
Weight:
Eyes + Hair Colour:
Personality:
Physical:
Family + Friends:
Notes: It is possible to swap b) and c) around, generally I create characters
first and then a situation, but that’s just me. ;)
Exercise 2
- Time to create the surroundings for your adventure. Where will so-and-so
live? What is it like? So, do a little profile of the neighbourhood. Some
questions to ask about your character’s area are;
Street/House Name?
Nice/Nasty Neighbourhood?
Are there a lot of [insert neopet species] or is it mixed?
Is there a doctor / dentist / shop nearby?
What is weather like?
Is there any interesting geography? (Lakes, mountains, forests)
b) Write a short paragraph (a short story) about your character, a day in their
usual life. Try to involve stuff about the neighbourhood, friends, family.
Notes: Now, if you’re pretty sure you should be able to TITLE your adventure.
* * * * *
Now, for a little break. That seems like a LOT doesn’t it? My Eyrie, Rhiannnon,
certainly thought so! But if you have time you can use those steps above to
help you. Exercise 2 isn’t very important but most of the stuff in 1 is essential;
it helps you learn about your story.
What about writing the stupid thing? You’ve read a page of blabber and you
STILL haven’t found out what this crazy girl did with her Notepad! Well, it’s
pretty simple. So for you guys who can’t be bothered writing profiles, planning
etc. here’s the juicy bit!
WARNING—This requires thinking--WARNING
1 – OPEN NOTEPAD
2 – Type ‘Start’
Easy enough right? It’s gonna get a bit harder!
Use hyphens (-) and the ‘greater than’ sign (>) to create arrows;
--->
3- Type your arrow (I usually have 6 hyphens and then >)
4- Now, write a short one or two word title, like "Early Morning"
and use this to help you remember so-and-so got up early in the morning. No
options here so just continue. Do a usual arrow.
5- Ah! It seems you have a choice! Wake up or sleep in. Type "Wake"
and then RETURN, press space till you get up to Wake, and type "Sleep."
Your text file should now look like this:
Start------> Early Morning------> Wake
Sleep
6- See what I mean? Can you feel the cogs in your brain working? Don’t have
one? Well here’s how to do the next bit; draw two arrows, the same length.
One leading from "Wake" and the other from "Sleep." This
symbolizes the choice.
Start------> Early Morning-----> Wake------>
Sleep------>
7- Okay, you’ve done that. Let’s make this a simple choice; Wake continues
your adventure but sleep will be a dead end. You can use anything, but for me
I use "DE." So, at the end of your Sleep arrow write (your equivalent
to) DE / Dead End.
8- So you’ve woken up and you go to have breakfast with your loving family*.
Start------> Early Morning-----> Wake------> Breakfast
Sleep------> DE
*Not all families are loving like something out of a surreal sitcom. Mine
certainly isn’t. *thwacks Oujiako* Stop sticking that CAPS LoCk, PleAsE!!!
9- Now you’re character’s been fed, they go to school, only to hear a strange
rustling in the bushes! How do we represent this in Notepad?
……..
Figured it out? Here’s the solution below;
Start------> Early Morning-----> Wake------> Breakfast------> Strange
Sound
Sleep------> DE
10- Onward! Let’s make another type of choice (which technically it isn’t because
there’s only one option…but can you think of a better name?) You can either
ignore it, and go to school or look about those mysterious bushes.
Start------> Early Morning-----> Wake------> Breakfast------>@Strange
Sound------> Look----> What now?
Sleep------> DE Ignore It--> Back 2 @
11- As you can see, this is getting pretty long! Also you may have noticed
on the 2nd line I added "Back 2 @" and in front of Strange
Sound I added the same symbol. Get it..? Instead of making the poor adventurer
go right to the start of your 114 page adventure, just make them go back a page
or it. And if you do want to save your player a few frustrating minutes then
this is how you can put it in Notepad.
12- Thankfully, notepad has a lot of space for lines, so if you’ve got a long
adventure keeping everything together should be easy. Now, you’ve reached
the end, huzzah! Like a Dead End I use initials, so it keeps everything short
(just in case the adventure is too long);
STUFFSTUFFSTUFF------>FL!!!
Well done! You are now qualified at using the K-way*!
* I don’t claim to "own" this, it’s possible one of you smarty-pants
figured it one out, too.
Tips:
- Give each page a title, that way, when doing complicated choices, you know
EXACTLY which page you’re linking to!
- For ideas, try games magazines. They can be inspiring.
- Use the NeoHTML as much as you can; since this is a relatively new update
not many adventures will use them.
- Please, please, use spelling and grammar. Type your adventure in
Microsoft Word if it helps!
- If you want advice with your adventure the Adventure Generator Board is
always friendly and open (just don’t spam and speak properly if you can) ;D
- There are LOTS of pictures out there, and sometimes it’s nice just to have
none at all. But if you really can’t find one try these sources;
Cards
Shopkeepers
Neopedia
NeoItems.net*
Other Neopian Times Pictures**
*I found this website very useful ;)
**But be careful with copyright!
So pick up that dusty sword with the golden handle, have fun, and get adventuring!
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