You awaken in a grassy field, unable to remember how you got here.

[MoneyBomber]

You're human. You wake up in this place. You have no idea how you got here.
This isn't just a game.
I need people to RP so I can fill out more and more of the story. It may take a while.

Trying to break the fourth wall, or just doing plane stupid stuff, I'm not going to waste my energy on. It actually cost money to run this thing for me & i'm competing against other writers.
anyway. it starts off like this

Everyone starts with the exact same prompt

You awaken in a grassy field, unable to remember how you got here. You can hear a waterfall in a nearby forest, and you can see smoke rising from a town in the distance

_Meditate in the field
_Go to the forest
_Go to the town

[WNTRjon]

Go to the town

the other options sound weird or sketchy.

[MoneyBomber]

Go to the town

the other options sound weird or sketchy.

As you make your way to the town you pass a bit of farmland just outside the border. Entering through the gate you see a bakery, several flower shops and a tavern. The town is very nicely decorated and the people seem very friendly here.

_visit the tavern
_Explore more of the town
+New Path (make up something and it will pass through the oracle to get verified)

[bitterguy28]

of course Go to the Town , That's the most logical answer people will provide.

[boyptc]

I'm thinking of the situation more of an RPG game. Usually that's how the setting starts for the story and there's go the quest.

And the first thing to do is to look for someone or go to the closest town and ask where you are.

[MoneyBomber]

I'm thinking of the situation more of an RPG game. Usually that's how the setting starts for the story and there's go the quest.

And the first thing to do is to look for someone or go to the closest town and ask where you are.

of course Go to the Town , That's the most logical answer people will provide.

True, spawning in the (magical) field is critical for multiplayer though.
The game mechanics are language itself & perception itself. So the vague beginning is key to getting multiple people in to the story. There are more "direct" ways of doing it but that kinda ruins things. but there's really a bigger picture you'll have to see to really appreciate what that all means.


are you playing? Everyone's options are the exact same & anyone can always add a new path (the oracle just has to approve it)

As you make your way to the town you pass a bit of farmland just outside the border. Entering through the gate you see a bakery, several flower shops and a tavern. The town is very nicely decorated and the people seem very friendly here.

_visit the tavern
_Explore more of the town
+New Path (make up something and it will pass through the oracle to get verified)

-------------
eventually your stories will branch. Or there will be very distinct things that happen to your character or that your character does that will solidify their identity.

Everyone wakes up in the field. It's magical.
Most people will go to town.
& then it only takes like 3 actions in the town for your "quantum identity" in this game to expand to almost anything.
There's a clock shop, there's an inn, a blacksmith's workshop. etc. bakery. the order in which you do things is a unique branch in the story tree.

The reason you don't want to break the fourth wall is because then you lose the interest of readers and less writers will get behind you.   While everyone is happy living in the world and playing by the rules, people that break the fourth wall effectively sever their reality from everyone else   & the consequence is that their reality will eventually slow down (grind to a halt) (branching stories, parallel universes )

[boyptc]

I'm thinking of the situation more of an RPG game. Usually that's how the setting starts for the story and there's go the quest.

And the first thing to do is to look for someone or go to the closest town and ask where you are.

True, spawning in the (magical) field is critical for multiplayer though.
The game mechanics are language itself & perception itself. So the vague beginning is key to getting multiple people in to the story. There are more "direct" ways of doing it but that kinda ruins things. but there's really a bigger picture you'll have to see to really appreciate what that all means.


are you playing? Everyone's options are the exact same & anyone can always add a new path (the oracle just has to approve it)

I guess it's because everyone has the same thinking as we get to observe this for the games that we play. Every single game starts with that whether it's an RPG or not.

I can't of any of other action to make the story before as it starts. This topic is making me think deeper with your words.

[MoneyBomber]

I'm thinking of the situation more of an RPG game. Usually that's how the setting starts for the story and there's go the quest.

And the first thing to do is to look for someone or go to the closest town and ask where you are.

True, spawning in the (magical) field is critical for multiplayer though.
The game mechanics are language itself & perception itself. So the vague beginning is key to getting multiple people in to the story. There are more "direct" ways of doing it but that kinda ruins things. but there's really a bigger picture you'll have to see to really appreciate what that all means.


are you playing? Everyone's options are the exact same & anyone can always add a new path (the oracle just has to approve it)

I guess it's because everyone has the same thinking as we get to observe this for the games that we play. Every single game starts with that whether it's an RPG or not.

I can't of any of other action to make the story before as it starts. This topic is making me think deeper with your words.

you're entirely right
and I should reset the game because now I really discovered what this is.

The town is meant for the identity to multiply
the field is meant for the identity to be ambiguous and unknown to anyone
and when I reset it, if anyone does go to the forest, I'll make it so that the event collapses that identity down to one person. (sure, 1 person may go to the forest)

so the option for "new path" needs to always exist. it's like an axiom to the system.
but the oracle will reject whatever "the people" don't want.
I'll start the beginning with 2... the forest and the town.


wow. this is amazing this is really amazing. I just launched this thing and I'm discovering what it truly is along with everyone else.
and there is inherently something important about the little town.

I was thinking about resetting it, and having it on a beach or something.
that way you could get a lot more people in a lot more places. but the main problem is "uhm... why  beaches?" the story is going to have to explain "why are people popping up on beaches everywhere" eventually.
and then I was thinking, "well, maybe just a forest". but the thing is... this isn't a survival game. this is about story building & people existing in these stories together. You're gonna need to eventually find civilization. and it makes more sense for it to be 1 place rather than any place.

it's easier for the story to explain the mysterious magical field of a little remote town that has some curious secrets about it.

the town, it's people. everything. it's like a "singularity" because. we all know how the game works. we all know why people are showing up in the field. but the town's people ... well, they're gonna eventually reveal their secret... I guess.. we'll have to find out.

meanwhile. be fruitful and fill the earth

[semobo]

You're human. You wake up in this place. You have no idea how you got here.
This isn't just a game.
I need people to RP so I can fill out more and more of the story. It may take a while.

Trying to break the fourth wall, or just doing plane stupid stuff, I'm not going to waste my energy on. It actually cost money to run this thing for me & i'm competing against other writers.
anyway. it starts off like this

Everyone starts with the exact same prompt

You awaken in a grassy field, unable to remember how you got here. You can hear a waterfall in a nearby forest, and you can see smoke rising from a town in the distance

_Meditate in the field
_Go to the forest
_Go to the town

What is the name of the game you are talking about?

And I don't know how you can attain the energy required to break the walls, probably via completing missions or buy the energy from store which maybe available on the town.

[MoneyBomber]

You're human. You wake up in this place. You have no idea how you got here.
This isn't just a game.
I need people to RP so I can fill out more and more of the story. It may take a while.

Trying to break the fourth wall, or just doing plane stupid stuff, I'm not going to waste my energy on. It actually cost money to run this thing for me & i'm competing against other writers.
anyway. it starts off like this

Everyone starts with the exact same prompt

You awaken in a grassy field, unable to remember how you got here. You can hear a waterfall in a nearby forest, and you can see smoke rising from a town in the distance

_Meditate in the field
_Go to the forest
_Go to the town

What is the name of the game you are talking about?

And I don't know how you can attain the energy required to break the walls, probably via completing missions or buy the energy from store which maybe available on the town.

it doesn't have an official name yet.
I'm kinda play testing it by being a proxy around different forums.
it's called "bandersnatch" on the website obelus.voto
you have to be on the $etc network
and also, right now. it's gonna freeze your browser for like 20 seconds because the optimization of the site is really shitty. I can fix that soon.

and i'm not sure if you're joking. but there is some idea I have that the fourth wall can be broken. or at least banged on a bit. and it would require great feats to be accomplished in the story, because the "oracle" that verifies all the pages is going to have to be "impressed"

the main thing that breaks the 4th wall is the town's people's secret of how everyone is showing up there.

[Mauser]

You awaken in a grassy field, unable to remember how you got here. You can hear a waterfall in a nearby forest, and you can see smoke rising from a town in the distance

_Meditate in the field
_Go to the forest
_Go to the town

Avoid the town, the smoke is a bad sign. There might be some fighting happening. Better to meditate or just go to the forest. If we don't remember how we got here it is better to stay away from people until our memory comes back. I would start collecting wood for a fire place and plants that are eatable.

[DeathAngel]

Go to the town & try to figure out how or why I ended up in this situation. The other options are not even a chooce for me.

[MoneyBomber]

Go to the town & try to figure out how or why I ended up in this situation. The other options are not even a chooce for me.

I'm gonna relaunch the contract and I'll pick this up when I get everything redone.

I have to plan the beginning better now that I understand this thing at scale.

I've got to somehow use the "singularity" of the town itself to instigate a struggle.

[boyptc]

I guess it's because everyone has the same thinking as we get to observe this for the games that we play. Every single game starts with that whether it's an RPG or not.

I can't of any of other action to make the story before as it starts. This topic is making me think deeper with your words.

you're entirely right
and I should reset the game because now I really discovered what this is.

The town is meant for the identity to multiply
the field is meant for the identity to be ambiguous and unknown to anyone
and when I reset it, if anyone does go to the forest, I'll make it so that the event collapses that identity down to one person. (sure, 1 person may go to the forest)

so the option for "new path" needs to always exist. it's like an axiom to the system.
but the oracle will reject whatever "the people" don't want.
I'll start the beginning with 2... the forest and the town.


wow. this is amazing this is really amazing. I just launched this thing and I'm discovering what it truly is along with everyone else.
and there is inherently something important about the little town.

I was thinking about resetting it, and having it on a beach or something.
that way you could get a lot more people in a lot more places. but the main problem is "uhm... why  beaches?" the story is going to have to explain "why are people popping up on beaches everywhere" eventually.
and then I was thinking, "well, maybe just a forest". but the thing is... this isn't a survival game. this is about story building & people existing in these stories together. You're gonna need to eventually find civilization. and it makes more sense for it to be 1 place rather than any place.

it's easier for the story to explain the mysterious magical field of a little remote town that has some curious secrets about it.

the town, it's people. everything. it's like a "singularity" because. we all know how the game works. we all know why people are showing up in the field. but the town's people ... well, they're gonna eventually reveal their secret... I guess.. we'll have to find out.

meanwhile. be fruitful and fill the earth

Keep it coming mate.

I'm really feeling that I'm the one who's having an adventure, what a great talent you've got there. You can make a sequence and have it on some platforms like medium to have it as a series.

[acener]

I guess the best would be go to the nearest town and ask for help or information.
But I wonder does that kind of thing actually happens in real life I mean not those drunk moment of course we all know it actually happens to some people.

[cabron]

Meditate in the field.
You have to make it like it's real when it comes to writing stories like this. It's sensible when you meditate in the field figuring out how you got there so you will have to examine yourself, look at yourself reflecting on the water, check your pockets or purse what you have there whether you have an identity card with you and so on.

[MoneyBomber]

yeah. I'm definitely still breaking it down.

there's an initial branching topology that needs to be  setup to give people that don't go to the town a chance to have a unique identity.
but that opportunity is very limited early on because most series of actions external from the town will define you, so the only way to get multiple identities is physically branching pathways, but that's also not good. so only rely on that a little & make the distribution of it "statistical" (me guessing what people would do... which is most people wouldn't travel all the way across the field past the town just to be in the wilderness. they're going to take the water that's right in front of them).  the thing about being in the wild is that you can also do more "random things" like shout out "hello!!!" just to see if someone is out there. or you can climb a tree. all these events make a path very specific. (what's considered collapsing is completely subjective to the oracle & evident on what it will let pass)

I was gonna start the players off with gold. gold and a note. the note says "buy a gift for the festival tonight" they see this note after their first choice.
anyway. I was thinking that gold pieces can be left in the grass. and that you can stumble upon 1, and if you can keep searching and searching. that's the only way to make infinite identities that can actually leave the town. but you're defined by how many times you've searched for gold pieces. which is okay actually because we can make the amount you find in any given search "random/quantum" until you count them, which means there wont be a correlation to identities & the number of gold pieces they searched for. But this whole idea of searching for gold to extend QI indefinitely feels very cheap.

It is sensible to meditate. yeah. that's what I was thinking, but in the RPG sense it sounds very magical and like it will induce something. and having the option at the beginning with the other two makes it look like some kind of "axiom" in the same way that the town and the forest are to the game's overall trajectory. I think it's kind of a given though that someone would try to adjust to the ontological shock.

I am gonna have
_Go to town
_Go to forest
 
now, TECHNICALLY, more can be added, but the oracle is all about social consensus (originating from those who have sacrificed money & time in a pyramid contract, long story, it's an oracle solution)... so anything added to that initial choice list will be "very qualified" but it's important to get the initial topology "jump started". The oracle will begin to interpret some branches of that topology as requiring more branches (when you enter the gift shops in town) There are 4 corners to town, you have to look for a gift in this gift shop town, and I want at least the most basic movements covered "choose a corner-> choose a shop-> get a detailed description of that shop that can be recycled for other ways people might arrive to this shop"
and the community-oracle will enforce everything from there.. There's a lot of "quantum ambiguity" when going to town, it's just gotta get "jump started" or at least recognized by the oracle what's required. manually doing every combination of 3 to 5 step movements and checking shops & exploring the town and what not is absurd. it's competitive story writing, so I have faith in the oracle & writers.
but this would be how you attack eden... go to  a shop and have the description say "you talk to the clerk, 'hey, this sounds like a pretty identity collapsing event doesn't it?' x-y-z-a-b-c and walk out"... so that means everyone that wants to get something from that shop, can't go there directly. or can't reach there by the same 2 or 3 step path that the original person took. (because a few steps is possible for anyone to take & is not an "identity collapsing")

identity potential going into the wilderness will be much more limited than going into the town. I want to make sure I give it a fighting chance to survive


(just thinking out loud... which i've been doing this whole post anyway)
... so you go into the woods. there are "clear" paths.
-a bridge of boulders next to the waterfall. (this leads you to something i  envision like a ridge, or cliff side where the waterfall is raised, and then where it's not, and there can be a path
-going down along the river
-going across the field (i'm going to have the field "spin" you around a bit because it is so wide and everything is so far and it's magical so you get a little disoriented)
-

the other thing is... damn. everything in the wild can be destroyed. there will be things that will protect the original scene. even if characters have to manually restore it, if someone gets revived they will just get the story about "how we just had the field and town set on fire" after they lock in their quantum identity.
so if everything beyond the opening scene can be destroyed. all the initial branches going into the wild will always happen in the past. more than likely (because it's unlikely a single liver in a particular direction will have not been travelled or whatever)
like. there is a way to do this.
for sure.
it's not "infinite" it doesn't need to be though. the town shows that it can be done, but it's easy with the town.

I think "random(but sensible enough)" actions will be key to creating "the heroes of the wilderness". they are gonna definitely be in their own category.
so it seems like all this quantum potential stuff has to take place within the opening scene. the forest, field, waterfall(& river)

so you can get spun in the field... easy
but the forest, ... hrm...

the river gives us some distance, that's good. and there is another river across the field. down a cliff, and there are two ways down that cliff. (depending on how you're spun around you can die either way)
spin spin spin 2^3  = 8 cliff can kill 2 ... 6 people make it down to the river. each step along the river is X-ish number of events those 6 people can invent to collapse their own identity.
That's still literally fucking no one. like even if there were 10 bullshit events you could get away with (oracle judging) that's 60 people that make it to the canyon (actually sounds about right, nvm)
but then what about the forest? maybe make the steps along that river more granular. because you can't spin them in the forest AND in the field.
the boulder bridge next to the water fall is also "protected" ... just needs to be so that people have more paths.
down the river, across the bridge
across the bridge adds another "down the river" path
deeper into the forest on the other side of the river.
up the ridge and deeper into the forest
...
i was looking up the difference between forest and woods. so forests are bigger than woods.
either way, doesn't matter. the forest will have to be preserved somewhat.

the only way to "break" this game is if the people in the game started using technology to measure everything & get NPCs to see something that can be deduced/proven later that they saw (& also communicating to them to stay silent about and play along) ... which is actually really cool. and gives this whole "engine" an inherent plot mechanic.

i've been gone for weeks on this since the first launch. I think i got it though.
i'm gonna get the fresh one out soon.

so it really just comes down to the length of the river and how deep you can go into the forest before it gets dark
(3) just down the river
(3) cross the bridge and down the river three times,
(2) cross the bridge and deeper in to forest west two times
(2) up the waterfall & up the river
(2) up the waterfall & deeper into the forest east (hangs north over the fields)

& then of course people back step & then there is whatever bullshit event they do (which can still be Q-ambiguous). Still this is a lot less than what I was thinking was possible.
the last "hope" is that there will be people who setup "temples" to extend the quantum identity potential.
if those temples are destroyed then people are either stuck in the past or future until it is built again.
I'm coining them as "temples" because they would be holy to this world
but they're similar to the shops in the town. maybe they'll take sacrifices. and you can sacrifice any assortment of things to collapse your QI. but yeah the main purpose of the temple is to get you out as far as possible while still keeping your identity ambiguous.

there may be some tricks that someone else comes up with to exploit language/perception. i can't think of anything though, not that will help this QI thing, but I think it's good enough for now with a bit of back-stepping & the "out in the wild" actions you can take.

[Chato1977]

_Meditate in the field

Since no one is filling this , then i will choose Meditating in the Field .

Lets see what's the twist on this one 

[cabron]

yeah. I'm definitely still breaking it down.

I'm already lost where you are going with it. Is this a story or a game?

A story has to have something which a character will solve what is puzzling his mind. If he wakes up in the field without a memory of who he is, that is something to solve. If along the way of solving this case, he can meet someone either who treats him as an enemy or friendly to him that's something that will give him an idea of his identity. That's something to start with.

[ethereumhunter]

If I awaken in a grassy field, I will try to rest for a while and maybe just sit down and look around me. Meditate to calm down myself will be better because I think in that time, panic can attack me. After calming down, I will go to the nearest town and find out if anyone knows about me.