Those Stories
Clickbait title out of the way, I'm probably just going to start.
These forums hold many stories, The Walking Dead fanfictions having their own thread and Game of Thrones stories are easy to come by, not throwing shade. However, there is a small section in the lost part of the forums called Forum Games.
In Forum Games, there's a lot of interesting things going on and I've gotten permission from a few writers there to link their interactive stories here.
The Multiverse: Prime: Prime is currently in progress, it's being written by @Lord_EAA. It's an adventure/mystery fic that is currently in the first episode and a lot can be said about it, but I'll let the description sum it up: The main focus (for the first few episodes) will be on a group of Doctors, Elite security squads, Teenage Students and Teachers going from universe to universe trying to get the prime device from a dangerous individual.
Cryocoffin: Cryocoffin is a Sci-fi/Fantasy piece written by @TheFurryOne and one that I haven't had the pleasure of reading myself, however, it's likely to undergo some change and this thread will update as it does change. The description currently states: this story is set somewhere in the future, around 20 years from now, in which the release of the world's first virtual reality device is now being sold to the public. It puts the user in an immobile state, whilst transferring their consciousness to a 3D environment, in which they taste, smell and feel like they are physically in the world; it also runs on an amazing engine which allows almost photo-realistic graphics and allows players to visit places they would've dreamed of visiting.
Voyagers of the Storm: Voyagers is my own Sci-fi/Historical fiction piece, currently in the second chapter and I'll continue to rely on the description: The year is 2189. Humanity has faced many disasters up to this point. Oddly enough, nobody can recall a single thing that's gone wrong since they've been alive. 3-29-2189: Word of war, plague, and disaster that once contaminated humanity's past begins to spread, striking fear in citizens. As higher ups fight the alleged rewrite of history, people begin to calm down and ignore the world of misfortune, but others begin to question the textbook history. Only few do so, even fewer start a search for the truth.
The Hunger Games: The First Quarter Quell: The Hunger Games: The First Quarter Quell, written by @TeamKennyW00T, provides a unique take on the Hunger Games, however I believe all of that character spots, which is naturally limited, have already been filled. That should not stop you from getting in on the voting. TeamKenny provides a link to the entire first book, which I've been told by readers that it is extremely well written and very interesting. I believe TeamKenny is on Book 2 of 5 right now, so it's definitely a good place to join in if you already haven't.
All of the above stories are interactive, as previously stated, and allow characters to be submitted. I can't really think of anything else to say, but if anyone else wants to link a story of their own, feel free to do so here. For those who want their stories to be put into the main post, feel free to PM me with information about it and I'll put it in.
Now, a disclaimer. Forum guidelines states:
3.1 Fan art, fan fiction, and let's play/walkthrough links may be posted by community members in the appropriate discussions. Games you made, books you wrote etc. which do not concern one of Telltale's games can be announced in the "General Chat" section.
I made this thread because I didn't really know where to announce my own story, because it does not concern any Telltale game, and I figured that instead of having multiple people creating multiple threads, it would be more organized to create one thread. If anybody at all thinks that I'm doing something wrong, I'd be happy to hear them out.
Edit: I sincerely hope that the people tagged in the main post aren't notified of each edit. If that is the case, I am so sorry.
Comments
Thank you, this is really helpful. Hopefully the other interfic writers with stories in this category join this group too
.
It’s no problem, if anyone mentions wanting to be involved, let me know and I’ll talk with them.
I can see its begun already. Good work
.
I'd like to see forum games more active but it's a shame that the section is hidden behind the telltale talk section. Back in the days of that one murder story called Raining or something like that (it was great btw), there was much more activity in that side of the forums. I know I'm not helping the case myself because of my inactivity on these forums, but if people want to write something for fun, forum games is the place to do it. It's always a pleasure to see new stories and especially new writers. People on forums games are very supportive towards each other so take no pressure in starting a story of your own if you want to do so. You don't even need any experience in writing in order to start up a story, it can still end up being great.
I personally haven't even commented on any stories for a good while because of my inactivity, so I'm probably the worst person to say these things. But I do still read them and I hope people would be able to find that side of the forums again, there are some really good interactive stories out there and a few active ones where you can participate yourself if you want to.
I’m happy to hear that interactive stories interest you
I do know that most of these stories listed accept characters and all of them are active in voting.
I think I know what you’re talking about with Raining, I’ve heard of it and I’ve also heard that it’s a good one.
Hey, thanks for the shoutout! I do agree that the interactive forum stories have gotten thrust into the background, especially for stories that don't rely on Telltale properties, and in the background of Telltale Talk even. I suppose that was helped out when Talk got moved up to the top of the main page, but I bet a fraction of a percent of people have no idea it's there unless they knew about it previously or if they were around before the page was made. I personally think it would be better if Forum Games had their own tab on the main page, so everyone would be happy.
I'm happy to help in anyway I can!
I wholeheartedly agree on having a Forum Games tab on the main page because I have seen some newer people on the forums that I've never seen before express an interest in writing and reading and I believe that a lot of the stories that are written in Forum Games are actually very good, there's a whole creative lot in there.
However, it can be difficult to run an interactive story with just a few voters, I'm certain we've all run into the situation once or twice and that draws back to having a Forum Games tab, I'm completely in support of it for that reason.
I remember that one, it was the first story I participated in.
It's hard but it is possible. I've been running mine since almost the beginning with maybe five voters at most.
I think the problem is that many have less than that.
They might have more if forum games was on the front page
I mean, if we really wanted to we could all ask the mods, but i don't know if they will ever change it.
It’s a possibility, however I’m not sure if such a thing would work. I believe the most the mods could do is pass on a message, that’s about it.
I’m all for it and @ any mod reading this, I only have one word for you and that is please.
What do you think @ingen-nate-kenny ?
I think it's only the Telltale Staff who can do that
I know. But mods being aware could help.
It’s an idea, but I didn’t think of tagging @InGen_Nate_Kenny
I mean either way, I’m going to continue write, but it would be more convenient.
Well Ingen is the most involved in these, back in the old days he joined Forum of the Dead, which was the probably the first, or the first popular interfic. After that he joined a ton JP, Dark Angels and lately FOT. So i feel like out of the mods he's one of the ones who understands this better (No offence to the rest, you guys are great
)
I will too and it would indeed.
There's this thing I've been thinking about for a while now, but I never saw a good time to mention it. I guess this might be a good place to bring this up though, so allow me to explain my thoughts on the matter and a little proposal on how to deal with the problem. Apologies for the longer post, but this is something that has to be said.
So, the way I see it, the Forum Games section as a whole separate section is kinda obsolete. I've never been much of a fan of limiting creative writing, probably one of the most time intensive forms of fan work, to a section that is barely visible and which many people here in the forums might not even be aware of. In the entire run of the forums, there has been one single time where fanfiction actually threatened to overshadow general discussion and it was in the 2014 TWD section, which in general has not been the brightest time of the forums. Perhaps a bit more fanfiction would have actually been better than the toxic shitfest that was the Kenny vs Jane threads.
Even back then, I would have argued against this big move, on account of the main argument from back then simply not being true. Fanfiction does not prevent quality discussion on the game or the franchise. It looked that way for a brief amount of time, but the development since then has proven it to be wrong. See the GoT section, where fanfiction and other discussions perfectly coexist. General discussions over there are not the slightest bit harmed by sharing space with these fan works. Stories there get a lot more traffic, attract new readers and as a writer it is simply a wonderful experience. I'm not exagerrating things when I say that writing in that section, knowing that my work is seen and appreciated has given me so much in terms of confidence, I have arguably become a wholly different person from whom I used to be before I started writing and I don't ever want to go back to how things used to be again. I don't want to imagine how much worse it would be knowing that no one sees the parts I put so much work into. But that is precisely the problem with the Forum Games section. Nobody goes there, it is barely visible, especially after the latest update. Making the section more visible, I don't know how that would be possible and the Forum Games section in its entirety definitely shouldn't be moved to the main page of the forums. Let's face it, that section itself is dead. Hells, this very thread, an advertising thread, has probably gotten more traffic in two days than many stories there receive in a whole month, that's how bad it is.
No, what I'd like to see is having the stories moved from the basically dead forum games section to the main section. TWD stories to the TWD forums, as well as general non-Telltale related fan work to the Telltale Talk, which after all does already heavily feature non-Telltale related discussion to begin with. To get back to my example of the Game of Thrones section, we can all see there that it is working, that fanfiction can perfectly be in these general sections, where it is seen and easily accessible, without even coming close to the level of activity that general discussions on the works and franchises have. Currently, with no Season 2 of GoT in sight (usually heaven for fanfiction), there are only 3 out of 10 threads on the front page of the GoT section related to fanfiction. Would that section be more active, such as it used to be during the run of GoT Season 1, that number would go down to a whopping 1 out of 10 at the most. Is that too much? I think not.
Taking a look into the Forum Games section, there are five threads that have been active at all in this week. If they would all be moved to the main section of the Telltale Talk, none of them would be among the ten threads that are visible on the main page of the forums at the moment. None of these stories is active more than two or three times a week, since writing new parts is a lot of work. Are these (by comparison) hardly active stories a threat to general discussion in the Telltale Talk and other sections? I think not. Would moving them to the respective main sections, where they can be seen and appreciated, mean the world to their writers? Definitely! It'd be a small move, one with no drawbacks whatsoever, but one that would really make a difference to the writers affected by it. If I understand recent developments here in the forums correctly, the mods are actively trying to encourage a more light-hearted, peaceful and pleasant forum atmosphere, which is the main reason why the usually toxic politics and religion discussions are frowned upon or outright forbidden. Well, that could be one move, accepting harmless creative work in the main section, such a thing could only contribute to a better atmosphere. The popularity they have reached back in the day shows that this is something a lot of people wanted to have in the forums at one time and I would like to imagine that there are still many who are interested in reading fan fiction and original stories.
Telltale claims that creativity is among their main values. I'd say it is time that this form of fan creativity in their official forums is encouraged and appreciated instead of limited to the forum graveyard and therefore effectively discouraged. It works perfectly for the GoT section, so why shouldn't it work for the other sections as well?
And just to be clear, as probably the person with the best overview of which stories are still active in the Forum Games section, if the mods are inclined to agree with me here, I would be very happy to help out by making a small list of these stories and send it to them. Emphasis on small, there are less than ten that had any sort of activity in the last month.
TL;DR: Fanfiction is a lot of work and it certainly deserves the same amount of spotlight as general discussion, yet the Forum Games section is completely inappropriate for this function. Therefore, fanfiction and original stories should be allowed and retroactively moved to the respective general sections.
I’ll be happy to share my own math and contribute more if needed.
Voyagers just reached 2K views, so I’ll be using that and doing the math from this page.
August 4 to October 12- 2K views- 2 months 8 days. 70 days.
October 9 to October 12- 423 views- 3 days. Roughly 141 views a day. 9870 views in 70 days.
2000/141= 14.18 days.
I did count today and the day the threads each started, however, all of that being said, if the views for this thread continue at a steady rate, it’ll have surpassed one of the stories that it’s advertising in two weeks, at most.
You are correct to assume that the traffic in this thread is probably heavier than the stories themselves, as I showed with my own math.
EDIT: I redid my math and included the growth of Voyagers as well as the General thread.
2000/70=28
28x5=140
28x14=392. Around 2.4K
140x14=1960
1960+423=2383.
Add another day to each.
Voyagers in 15 days= Around 2.43K
General Thread in 15 days=2523
At a steady rate, the thread will beat the story in 15 days.
Thank you for taking that time to do this. It prove that the stories DO suffer from being on the obscure 'games' page.
if the views for this thread continue at a steady rate, it’ll have surpassed one of the stories that it’s advertising in two weeks, at most.
That is awful. I am terrified to ask because it may be Prime, but at the same time feel like I need to help if it someone else. Which story is it? If is Cryocoffin, Voyagers or Quarter, then i give you permission to put them ahead of me on the list, its for the best and the story needs help. I will also like to help support the creator and possibly promote it more with their permission. If its Prime..............ill have to live with it.
THANK YOU LIQUID!!!!!
It needed to be said. The Forum Games section is like a private security chatroom with how difficult it is to access or even know about. I have absolutely no doubt that several of the stories would see an immediate rise in viewership and it would have an even bigger impact on the creators. Like you said, support and appreciation for writing changes one in incredibly positive ways. And i still fear the day one of the authors gives up exclusively due to lack of readership, which seems to be where we head to at this point.
Also thank you for mentioning the anti co-existence argument. Thought to be honest you either put the final nail in the coffin or punched its gravestone, since FOT basically killed that argument long ago. It actually sounds partly delusional at this point.
It is Voyagers, as that’s the only story I can currently do the math for.
I can do the math for other stories later on and see how well they’re holding up.
Then I stand by my statement, put Voyagers up first. I know you might feel bad since its your own, but its the one that needs to most support and I doubt anyone would protest.
Also you're smart, beautiful, lovely, sweet, kind, amazing, awesome, awesomely amazing, drop-dead gorgeous and most people will either support, love or be stupid or embarrassly jealous of you and things will work out i promise. Also with your permission, i will go around and shamelessly promote Voyagers like crazy, just give the word.
Also, statics for the other stories would help. But you don't have to look for them if you don't want to. However I still want to support the least viewed story, so if you honestly think there is one then please look for it.
I will accept your compliments, however I must deny putting Voyagers up top. I do think there is one that is viewed less than that, so I’ll find a way to check the daily views on the others when I get on the computer and rearrange the list appropriately.
Until then, I think it’s best we support what’s been said all along in this thread, and that is the fact that without much recognition, we aren’t going far, so it’s best we stand tall for now. I think what Liquid said has a lot of truth to it, but for now it’s best we take a few minutes and stand still for a bit. We will get this worked out.
No problem, you deserve them. Ok, fine but promise me right now that if their isn't you will not think twice and put Voyagers in big bold letters right at the top, maybe even give it some decorations to make it look prettier than the rest.
I agree completely. I will actually try to get Nohope, Arrodor and the rest over here since we should all be here to support each other in this. Well all need to stand together and therefore rise together.
I’ll put a
somewhere in the main post, just for fun.
I’ve already spoken with Hope, but I don’t think I’ve talked with Arrodor. I’ll reach out later today.
Cool. That seems great.
I reached out to Arrodor right now and was about to contact NoHope. I'm about to try and reach any other remaining writers, but i'll stop if you want me to.
I’ll work on it when I get home, thank you though
Well, I can understand where that argument came from back in the day. Some people were frustrated that their threads were heavily overshadowed by fanfiction and to be fair, for a while it looked the part and it could have gotten downright alarming, with over a dozen fanfictions active at once, often all at the same time. I can't blame anyone who thought this trend would last and the last thing I want is to criticize a decision made two and a half years ago, as the mod team from back then had no way of seeing the problems their decision would cause for the content creators in the long haul. However, I always suspected that this activity was only a phase, back when fanfiction in the forums has been a novelty and that few would persist once the initial thrill had worn off. Those that remain still are the ones that show genuine dedication to their work and I think that should be appreciated instead of being hidden in the Forum Games section. It was a decision that was perfectly justifiable in 2014, but it's been three and a half years since then and such decisions should be revisited and adjusted according to the current situation. What has appeared necessary back then is no longer needed now and only harms those that pour such effort into their work with such little chance at recognition.
FoT, well, has the benefit of being in the GoT section. I doubt it would have ever gotten the amount of attention it got and still gets if not for that. And despite starting a bit of a trend of fanfiction in the GoT section, this is still just a small percentage of the discussion over there, something that means a lot to me and the other writers, as well as the readers, but does in no way prevent users not interested in fanfiction from discussing game theories or show developments. It does add to the amount and diversity of content in the section though, without harming anyone. It's living proof of my point and I think the same is possible for the Walking Dead section, as well as the Telltale Talk. Particularly these two heavily active sections of the forum don't have to be afraid of a little fanfiction here and there, it'll barely be visible for those that prefer to focus on other topics. Giving fan and original fiction a fighting chance, you know, something they simply don't have as long as they stay in the Forum Games section.
No prob. The only recently active Non-TWD interfic writers (Since i don't know if were including them) i could find are Mr. quality (who hasn't been seen for a while) and alikir34 (who made a thread saying he was going to make a story but hasn't yet). I couldn't find any else, but i may be wrong there, Liquid is far more active so he might know.
Well here you are being very fair and i agree, but still i can't help being angered over the eventual consequences. Though to be honest, i have personally disliked the choice since it began. It shocked me honestly how the Great Interfic Purge of 2014 happened so instantly. Many stories suffered greatly and all it led to was the space to be open for the Jane/ Kenny War, which is one of the most awful moments in Forum History that i hope will never be repeated. Several peaceful question and conversation threads, some of my own, were quickly turned into disgusting threads full of vile insults and personal attacks. I might be remembering things too positively since i was 'raised' by the Golden Age of Interfics, but i can't help but feel like some of the chaos could have been prevented had they at least reconsidered or brought in a less drastic option.
Ok, so i spend the last hour or so looking through the Forum Games section and have absolutely no shame in saying this: Forum Games Is A Wasteland. Its barren and empty compared to the rest. Half of it is just people getting lost using it to talk about bugs or complain about a game or even make game suggestions. The actual stories are basically sandwiched between at least 3 or 4 of these. Does no one monitor it? I feel like if it was one of the more active threads the mods would have cleaned house, messaged people they were in the wrong thread and maybe even deleted a few of these since they block stories from getting seen. It's problematic and unhealthy for the writers.
For these stories and their writers to flourish. Things need to change.
This is a nice thread to see, while I don't find the Forum Games hard to find it is definitely a confusing place. I started my story back in January and while I was inactive on writing it for about five months, I received the same readers as I had before, which I didn't expect considering I didn't tell them I discontinued it for awhile. It's good to see that the readers are so loyal.
Some more promotion would be great for forum games as I barely have any reader submitted characters, I'm not to sure about other stories but I usually have to make alot of my own characters (which takes a lot more time than I expected).
Welcome my friend. Glad to see you here. Forum Games is indeed confusing. Enough that many people have no idea where they are when they get there. Hopefully the mods take notice of the situation.
As for promotion, well that's part of all this. As soon as broken is ready i trust she will add Osterlon to our list of beautiful fiction.
Greetings! It’s a pleasure to meet you and I’m glad you’re interested in this thread.
If you’d like to provide me with a synopsis for your work, I’ll gladly promote it in the main post
Hey, what's up (read this as like a cheesy New York accented greeting)?
Ew, reading.
A discussion on this? Of course!
It is a bit of a shame that not as much of the stories here don't get attention. I agree that there is something there worth addressing. How so? Well, let's get some ideas going. I see nothing wrong if a thread existed in Telltale Talk existed solely to promote the stuff that goes on there.
Anyway, I'm your friend guys, so lay some stuff on me and we'll see what we can do!
Take a gander at the later part of this thread.
There’s been a common idea between us here and I think Liquid voiced it pretty well.
I know you're probably joking but if you're not. You have joined your fair share of these Mr. Forgetful. We even started together, our characters died together too.