Online Collaborative Storytelling Software

[Khendon Sevon]

So, I'm enrolled in a lovely web programming course right now. It's entertaining and I've learned to hate the PHP language (but, I appreciate having stuff work on the web).

We have final projects, of course; so, I decided to code something I'd want to use.

What did I make? An online collaborative storytelling system, of course!

It's Q&D (quick and dirty) right now. In fact, it's not pretty at all (that's not a requirement of the class).

Regardless, check it out at http://www.embracethemyth.com/bard/Index.php

Play around with it, and post any thoughts here.

I'm probably going to open-source it when the class is over; so, if you want to contribute, I'm all for it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

So, how does it work?

I registered. ;)

[Istina Chriferre]

As have I.

[Khendon Sevon]

Make a project.

I still have to write a manual and, you know, make it pretty.

But, you create a project, then for that project you can create pages, environments, chapters, or characters and associate them.

I'll give you access to my current project so you can see what it's like.

[Rev Solomon]

This looks like an interesting idea!

I just created a project using text from some backstory I was writing with Rhea a while back. I copied the text directly from Google Docs into the page text field, and it didn't preserve my paragraphs.

[Khendon Sevon]

Yeah, it's not the most loving of formatting. That's part of making it pretty.

Right now, it just accepts direct input (typing into the field). That's all our initial spec called for.

We've decided to keep working on the codebase after we get our grade; so, that's something to add to our list of "yay, add this" that'll grow.

[Dragon]

I figured that was probably the case. :)

Another thing I noticed is that there's no option to cancel once you've chosen to add a new element (character, environment, chapter, or page). Though you probably can just reload the page.

What is the purpose of the chapter element? Is there a way (or is there going to be a way) to associate pages with chapters?

[Khendon Sevon]

Yup, there is.

The point, by the way, of pages isn't to post your writing there. It's to add notes on things like "culture", "technology", etc..

That being said, anywhere within the project you can use the tags:
name
name
name

and it will create a link to that element.

As for canceling an edit, that's our lack of knowledge when it comes to AJAX :) Need to learn more about it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

OK so where do you put your writing? It looks like just a collection of elements to me. O_o

[Khendon Sevon]

You don't.

It's about outlining :P You put your writing in a word document, duh! :) Or google doc. Or something else.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Oh, well, that wasn't clear, duh!

[Peter McCoy]

Would I be right in seeing it as a sort of custom wiki tailored to writers who want to plan it all out as opposed to constructing the actual prose content?

[Khendon Sevon]

Exactly.

That's the goal of it, to make it a clean way to outline. Obviously, the interface needs work... but, that's not required for the class.