Planning the story of Caverns and Dryads

As you know, I’ve already released version 2.0 of Caverns and Dryads.

I also told you that my method for writing the story is neither map nor compass. In writing circles, people usually talk about “map writers,” meaning those who plan everything, and “compass writers,” those who know where they’re going but don’t plan ahead.

Well, I’m more of an antenna. Things come to me from the muses. But for them to reach me, I have to enter a certain mental state. In that state, I receive things, but they’re disconnected visions. I put them together in the order I feel they should go.

When the decision is right, they connect and reveal another scene to me.

For me, planning isn’t a rational analysis but another kind of inspiration, a process in which I see where the pieces fit, like a puzzle. And as I do that, I receive more pieces.

I feel that describing it any other way would be rationalizing something that isn’t rational.

OBSIDIAN

So I go into my cave and sharpen the obsidian. Obsidian is a program that, besides letting me set everything to black with green text, allows me to place those pieces on an infinite board.

There I’ve placed the ones I’ve already written, and the ones I have but haven’t written yet, though I’ve already seen them.

THE NOVEL AND THE GAME, AND WHY PLAN NOW

The game has a story. Potentially, it’s a novel.

But I’m aware that in the game I can polish things again and again. In a novel, I can’t.

So I have to revise the text many times and give everything a precise shape. If I didn’t, the novel wouldn’t be good.

The game also needs planning, because the story has to be coherent. And the game feeds on that story.

WHAT I HAVE SEEN

The story unfolds on three scales:

• Personal: the relationship between the protagonists, their feelings and experiences together.
• Heroic: the quests, the epic, the sword and sorcery, the great events and classic fantasy.
• Shadows: events the heroes don’t know about but that are happening, and are revealed to them (and to the players/readers) at specific moments.

I must stay attentive to these three scales in order to shape the story. And also to maintain the genre, which must balance solid worldbuilding with romance and fantasy.

NEWS I WILL SHARE WITH YOU

So that’s what I’m working on. When I finish this, I’m going to open threads to ask what features you’d like to see in my game next. First I need to select the ones the story requires.

And I’ll also give you a pleasant surprise if you use Linux or Steam Deck.

If you have questions, ask away! :)