Writing tools

[Angry Gobbler]

Having just started working on my game design and finding writing in a normal text editor mildly inspiring; I had a little look arround if there could be any sort of tool that would be more appropriate for the task.

I found Twine, that is used to create interactive stories.

This might be a good tool to help the design of adventure games.

Any thoughts on the idea?

[nigec]

Some people use mindmap type software, theres a Java one called FreeMind
I just work in utter chaos

[Trumgottist]

I don't think I'd heard about that one before, but I have another program in my list of links to look at sometime: Scrivener.

I've not used any specialised software yet. I have some docs in my word processor, but mostly lots of papers. (I have a binder full with papers from Frasse. Sketches, maps, music themes scribbled on a coffee filter, …)

[Angry Gobbler]

I could see Freemind coming in handy when it comes to character trees and such.  Hey, I might actually do that. Great idea!

Scrivener looks interesing though, I'm not sure it's really suited for games and might be a bit "heavy". I guess, I'll use it for my next movie

I guess ideally, I would have a huge wall full of post-it notes but I travel a lot, so not so practical. 

Today, I have experimented a bit with this Hypertext editor(Twine) and my impression is that it looks pretty usable and even a good way to prototype the game.

[nigec]

I've been pondering doing a "Make your own adventure" and mindmap would be perfect, I have one called SmartDraw but its also a 2D cad type program
Apparently these book based type adventures are getting very popular on handhelds, Kindle etc

[ad7venture]

So far, I've only used an outline.  I outline the story according to places and what has to happen.  I set up the puzzles after I have placeholder art for the places.  It's easier for me to come up with ideas for them at that time.  Most of the time, they just involve barriers to keep the character from getting what's needed.
I think I tried mindmap, but it didn't work for me.  Different things probably work for different authors.  Some storyboard, which is sort of like setting up placeholder art.  I think mindmap would probably work better for a make your own adventure because the paths get harder to keep track of with them.

[Kickaha]

For organising notes and designs and todos I've used MacJournal, and may do so again.  I don't know if AGS and the like offer tools which will from the code generate maps of the game world, something like that would be pretty neat.  The games I'm trying to do are not that large.

Good to see people experimenting!

[Jannik]

I fiddled around a bit with the beta-version of Chat Mapper, and it seemed quite promising. It's made especially for nonlinear dialogue. There's a free version for non-commercial use, and two different versions for commercial use.
http://www.chat-mapper.com/