authors notes

timemachine.xml

@@ -134,23 +134,40 @@
  	<nev name="start">
  	  <h2>Author's Notes</h2>
  	  <p>
- 	  	Hi there.  That's all I've got for now.  Thanks for trying my silly game.
+ 	  	Hi there.  That's all I've got for now.  Here's some thoughts about what I'm trying to accomplish.
  	  </p>
  	  <p>
- 	  	There are two UI ideas at play in this prototype.  The first is that it might be interesting to see what 
+ 	  	There are two ideas at play in this prototype.  The first is that it might be interesting to see what 
  	  	happens when we get rid of the parser, and simply give the player the ability to know what she is capable of
- 	  	doing at any particular moment in the game.  I don't believe that every game should follow this path, but
+ 	  	doing at any particular moment in the game.  I don't see any reason why we can't create rich and interesting 
- 	  	I don't see any reason why we can't create rich and interesting worlds by doing so.  What appeals to me about
+ 	  	worlds by doing so.  What appeals to me about this idea is not just the simpler interaction from the user's 
- 	  	this idea is not just the simpler interaction from the user's perspective, but the ability to have greater
+ 	  	perspective, but the ability to have greater control of what the author has to model -- if something is not 
- 	  	control of what you have to model.  If something is not important to your game, you simply don't present the
+ 	  	important to your game, you simply don't present the option to the player.  Conversely, if an interaction is 
- 	  	option to the player, and she is not frustrated because she no longer has any way of trying it.  Conversely,
+ 	  	subtle or non-standard, you don't need to worry about teaching the player what the parser understands -- the 
- 	  	if an interaction is subtle or non-standard, you don't need to worry about the user not being able to guess
+ 	  	verb is there.  Your job is to make it interesting.
- 	  	the verb -- the verb is there; you just need to make it interesting.
  	  </p>
  	  <p>
- 	  	The second is that 
+ 	  	The second is to allow the player to interact with the story at any point that he has uncovered.  Quite
+ 	  	frankly, I am really uncomfortable making big decisions in most games.  But a game should be the perfect
+ 	  	place to make big decisions and explore the consequences!  
+ 	  	What bothers me is not that the consequences are unknown, but that my actions are irrevocable; that if I do 
+ 	  	something that I later understand was foolish, I am unlikely to be given a chance to redeem myself without 
+ 	  	playing through the game again.  Always showing the player the entire story and allowing him to make changes 
+ 	  	at any point is a promise that he will never be punished for trying something, even if his character 
+ 	  	is; that he can learn from mistakes and move on.  In this way, I can construct much harsher situations than may 
+ 	  	ordinarily be considered "fair"; I can do away with repetition of description and dialogue "just in case" the 
+ 	  	player forgets the vital information contained within; I can allow the player to dig himself into a hole, because 
+ 	  	I can give him the tools to quickly dig himself out.
+ 	  </p>
+ 	  <p>
+ 	  	I guess there's the time travel bit, too.  I don't advise trying it, personally; building a model of the world 
+ 	  	in code where causality can occasionally be violated turned out to be much more difficult and time-consuming 
+ 	  	than I expected.  I have no explaination for why I would have thought coding time travel paradoxes would be easy.
+ 	  </p>
+ 	  <p>
+ 	  	I would love to hear any and all feedback about your experience playing this game.  I can be reached
+ 	  	at jeremy dot penner at gmail dot com.  Thanks for playing.
  	  </p>
- 	  <b><a href="javascript:location.reload()">Restart game</a></b>
   	</nev>
   </section>
 </story>