ChoiceScript IDE Public Release

[Post Updated June 16, 2017]

CSIDE for ChoiceScript is finally here (and about time, too!). If you’ve ever vaguely pondered maybe trying your hand at an ‘Interactive Novel’ style, choice-based IF — and perhaps even having it published by Choice of Games for a nice wedge of dosh… erm, I mean for tens of thousands of players to enjoy — then now’s your chance!

Seriously though, I’ve been a beta tester for the community-driven CSIDE project (albeit off and on; life happens), for well over three years now, so I know just what a difference this application can make for both newcomers and experienced coders alike.

If you have any questions and don’t yet want to sign up to the CoG forums to ask, fire away and I’ll do my best to reply—if someone else doesn’t beat me to it first. :smiley:

Following description taken from the ChoiceScriptDev Wiki:
choicescriptdev.wikia.com/wiki/Development_Tools

"The ChoiceScript Integrated Development Environment (CSIDE) offers a “hands on” approach to CS coding, providing a way to manage your files, write your stories, and test your game scripting, all in one neat package! It includes features designed to streamline the entire creation process and take out every possible hardship or chore, leaving only the fun bits for you.

Popular features include support for multiple projects, ‘Smart’ indentation, powerful testing and debugging tools, and fully-integrated (official) Quicktest & Randomtest functions—not to mention all the features you’d expect of a versatile Code Editor, such as handy code highlighting, spell-checking (US or UK, plus a User Dictionary), multiple Hotkeys for ease of use, and much more!

Among other useful Example Projects, for non-programmers and others new to ChoiceScript, CSIDE offers a detailed, step-by-step Interactive Tutorial, Learning Basic ChoiceScript, designed to help you progress at your own pace. "

Useful Links:

Desktop Downloads (Win & Mac): github.com/ChoicescriptIDE/main … tag/v1.0.1

Web Version (Requires a Dropbox Account): choicescriptide.github.io/web/

CSIDE Website: choicescriptide.github.io/

CSIDE on CoG Forums: forum.choiceofgames.com/t/cside … -ide/27622

Independent Viewpoint: pyramidifblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/by-cside.html

YouTube Early Demo: youtube.com/watch?v=yGXOy7zFi7I

[Topics Merged by Moderator]

I can verify that the CS IDE is really exciting and I think people will be quite thrilled to use it.

What? Windows 8.1 minimum requirement? Guess I’ll be experiencing this revolution through the browser version 8)

The creator has said if you have absolutely no access to a 64-bit computer and can’t use the online, he can provide you with a 32-bit version with the caveat that it’s unsupported. Contact him directly on the CoG forums, or let me know and I can help you get in contact.

Oh, and I wrote a blog post with an overview: pyramidifblog.blogspot.com/2017/06/by-cside.html

Hi, are there any example choicescript games around? thanks.

Many of the published games have Free Trials available which you can play in your browser, available on the Choice of Games site itself: choiceofgames.com/

There’s also a huge selection of WIPs (of varying length & quality, obviously) over at dashingdon: dashingdon.com/

[Topics merged by mod so I’ve moved the main stuff to the first post above, keeps it tidier!]

dashington.com did not know that one.

thanks!

I believe the full versions of the first two games, Choice of the Dragon and Choice of Broadsides, are available for free.

Also Lynnea Glasser’s Creatures Such As We took second place in IFComp 2014 and has got a lot of accolades (I think it has non-free versions for mobile, but the web version is free per IFComp rules.

I think most of the games have a free preview of the first chapter or so, and I believe they have experimented with a couple stories being free with advertisements, or cooldowns for each section.

Just to confirm, a 32-bit version has now been made available (see OP for download links) but cannot be officially supported going forwards. CSIDE’s sole actual developer really needs to focus his limited available time on improving the three main versions for the vast majority of users, as I’m sure you can appreciate.

Thanks for the info. I was vaguely aware of Dragon and Broadsides being completely free to play (slipped my mind!) but I didn’t know Lynnea’s game was too, if only on the web.

Exactly how “free” is the end results that can be produced through using CSIDE, since it is built on ChoiceScript?
I have read somewhere on the net, (on a page i just do not manage to find again after quite a bit of tiresome effort) that ChoiceScript has some particular “limitations” connected to the CoG business model?

Is this true, and if so, in what sense and to what degree exactly is ones own creations limited?

I do not in any way mean to criticize or complain, I just really would like to know this before i start rolling up my sleeves and start writing in CSIDE/ChoiceScript rather than in Ink.

If you do not wish to publish a ChoiceScript game via CoG, you can release it for free, or license the engine to release it commercially yourself:

Anything you write with ChoiceScript is owned by you unless CoG buys it and you sign a contract, but you have to pay them royalties if you earn money with a CS game not published by them (since it’s CoG’s engine).

choicescriptdev.wikia.com/wiki/P … _your_game

Thank you for making my doubts go away. This do not sound nearly as bad as I thought it to be.

The founder frequents the forum; they’re by no means a faceless corporation looking to rip you off. Choice of Games (along with perhaps Sub-Q) is probably the most readily accessible route for unknown IF authors to publish what they write.

Would there be interest in an open source CS interpreter?

Here’s the official license: choiceofgames.com/LICENSE-1.0.txt

More details are available about our Choice of Games label for established authors: choiceofgames.com/looking-for-writers/
…and our amateur Hosted Games label: choiceofgames.com/looking-f … sted-game/

IMO, the non-CoG CS community is mostly interested in publishing their works to make money; the amateur writers aspire to become professional writers. An open source license would allow people to publish on the web without support from Choice of Games, but to achieve their professional aspirations, they’d then have to publish on iOS, Android, and Steam. That requires significantly more than an open source engine; even with excellent documentation, it’s a daunting task.

When you publish with our amateur label, Hosted Games, we take a 75% share of the revenue, which is a significant share, but we claim that we can more than quadruple your sales if you’re an amateur writer with no existing following.