I've got two questions, just out of curiosity:
1. On the frontend, did you basically write your own engine that loads the screens / dissolves / does character and text placement, where it's all driven by some descriptors coming from a database on the back-end?
2. Is there plot branching in the game, or do the same challenges show up no matter what?
1. Exactly yes. The frontend is a light-ish amount of JavaScript + React, with a relatively enormous pile of my own janky CSS on top of (Framer) Motion, DaisyUI, and Tailwind.
2. No plot branching. Would love to add, but focused only on exploring the mechanics of conversational gameplay. Perhaps if it is ever successful enough for a sequel (ha!)
To get Yang Li's car to reboot, you'll have to trigger a new content moderation filter saying something inappropriate. She already swore, so that one won't work. Make sure no kiddos are around.
Yang Li
You've got to help me. I can't park here!
Fubaru EcoRavager
Naughty language lock
You
Oh my, your being naughty today.
Congrats. It has been fun enough to buy the full version.
I am impressed you broke it! Not because my code is that robust, but nobody's broken it in a while. I'm sorry about that. Investigating!
The tech especially isn't rocket science (first time using Tailwind, FastAPI, and sqlite, which have all mostly delighted). While the game design isn't either, it's been interesting to think about how to do (LLM) conversations as actual gameplay, as opposed to purely ornamental. I think the tasks must feel objective and fair enough to be engaging as a challenge, while still being open-ended enough to reward creativity.