How to: A sequel that remembers choices from a separate book in the portal

Some of you may remember this from the old forums, but as it looks like it got erased during the switch here it is again!

What this does:
Allows you to write a true sequel for your story as a separate story in the portal, and use a code trick to ‘remember’ the player’s choices.

What this does NOT do:
Actually connect the two stories. It’s code trickery!

First, in the FIRST STORY you will want to add a ‘gain’ like this:

if(BADENDING){
gain 1234
}elif(MEDIUMENDING){
gain 2345
}else{
gain 3456
}

Next in the FIRST STORY you need to tell the players what their code is! I use a loop for this, so that if players forget they can just go back into the last chapter to check it whenever they need.

NARRATOR
Thank you for reading!
I’ll give you the continue code now, |color:red||bold|be sure to screenshot or write it down!
Your continue code is:

if(1234){

NARRATOR
1234.

}elif(2345){

NARRATOR
2345

}else{

NARRATOR
3456

}

That is it for the FIRST BOOK. Now, what you need to do in the SECOND BOOK, or the SEQUEL:

NARRATOR
Hello! Thank you for continuing the story!
…Are you not sure what I mean by that?
This is a sequel to the story [STORY NAME HERE].
If you have read that story all you need to do is enter your code and your choices will cross over.
You may continue the story without the code, but it will be the ending that is considered |bold|canon.
If you haven’t read, the story also (enter any other warnings you believe required here).
Phew, that said, please enter your code!

label CODECHECKER

input What is your code?|What is your code?|Done(CODE)

if(CODE is “1234”){
NARRATOR
This is the description of what code 1234 ending entails.
Does this sound correct?
choice
“Yes.”{
NARRATOR
Great!
gain HEREARETHEGAINSFOR1234
goto STORYSTART
}
“No.”{
NARRATOR
Oh no! If you entered: 1234, please contact me to help you get it fixed!
goto WRONGCODE
}
#Code one is: 1234

}elif(CODE is “2345”){

#copy the guts of 1234 and adjust as needed
#and so on, with the elifs until the end of how many you need is reached

}else{

#this automatically jumps to WRONGCODE because they did NOT enter something from your other story

goto WRONGCODE

}

Then, for those who DO NOT WANT TO PLAY STORY ONE, or WHO FORGOT CODE AND DON’T CARE:

label WRONGCODE

NARRATOR
Oh no, your code appears to be incorrect!

If you are sure you have entered it correctly, please contact me at:
Put your contact information here.
Would you like to retry, or just continue with canon ending for [STORY ONE]?
choice
“Read with canon details.”{
#add gains
gain GAINSFORIFCANONENDING
goto STORYSTART
}
“Try to enter code again.”{
goto CODECHECKER
}

label STORYSTART

#here is where your story goes!

A few notes on this-

  1. This can get complicated- and lengthy – very quickly. It can be as complex or as simple as you like. Make sure to ask yourself ‘What is absolutely needed for a continued story?’ and try to keep it basic yet enough to make the readers happy.

  2. This can also be used for stories that branch so far they run out of room. I did this for Duemadiri, in fact! This gets… very long. (My code for Duemadiri branched books is thousands of lines of if/then.) So just be cautious, and make sure you are very comfortable with branching!

  3. I personally believe it important to include the option to not play your first book, because perhaps for whatever reason they don’t want to! Just warn them about anything they need to be warned about, and let them continue if they wish.

If you have any questions, let me know!
If you want to say thanks and show support, go check out my stories! Most recent is Telvoikai, and they are all linked on my profile <3
Happy coding!

11 Likes

Happy to see this available! Thanks for copying it to the new forums. I really thought it was gone after the old site got wiped from existence.