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Twine beginner guide/Advice?

Hey guys I'm new to twine and recently discovered it. I'm very excited about it.

I've been trying to learn the code but find that some code that works with twine 1.42 doesn't work with 2 and vice versa. Because of that I haven't gotten very far at all. Can anyone point me to a guide that is either exclusively 1.42 or 2.0?

Or alternatively, can someone tell me the fundamentals of either one? I think once I know the foundation it'll be enough to go in any direction I want to go. Specifically, variable manipulation (declaring/saving/updating/adding/subtracting), logic code using variables(if/then checking), and how to generate + save a random number from a range?

I'm going for a short story involving encounters and little side quests. I think knowing those 3 fundamentals will be enough for me to basically macgyver my way through the rest.

Comments

  • edited July 2015
    It depends on what story format you're using.

    The only story format that is available in both 1.4.2 and 2.0 (and I recommend 1.4.2 with SugarCube 2) is SugarCube. For its code that addresses all your questions, see http://www.motoslave.net/sugarcube/
  • Hi,

    What would motivate the recommendation of 1.4.2 over 2.0, since you'd be using Sugarcube 2 in both?

    Genuinely interested since I'm fairly new to Twine and still can't find any perk in using 1.4.2 over 2.0.

    Thanks!
  • edited July 2015
    Twine 1.4.2 has a lot of perks over Twine 2:

    1. Has syntax highlighting for SugarCube, Twine 2 does not
    2. Allows you to edit the HTML structure if you want to put in extra divs for graphical effects like changing background images. Twine 2 forces you to do that via Javascript, which is an ugly way to do it
    3. Makes backing up your work much simpler, since you can back up individual story files and not have to backup the whole damn program (Twine 2 stories are stored "inside" the program afaik, not in easily copied external files)
    4. Has more advanced error detection (will alert you if you have broken links)
    5. Allows you to write passages in full screen, and not just a tiny window. This makes the act of writing seriously easier, especially in the css and javascript and other code-heavy passages.
    6. Allows the use of external javascript files in testing, twine 2 does not (e.g. GreenSock and other JavaScript libraries cannot be easily used in Twine 2)
    7. Allows you to preview sounds put into the game in testing, the standalone version of twine 2 does not (browser security prevents the Twine 2 app from accessing local media files)


    Twine 2 is a large backwards step imo, especially for stories that use a lot of visual and audio media. Fortunately, Twine 1.4.2 as a program is fairly complete so you don't miss out by it not being actively developed. It could use a few more improvements, especially if Twine ever wants to move into the visual novel space (that I only see becoming more popular, with all the questions we field about stats and other complex coding tasks), but it generally does everything it needs to do.
  • edited July 2015
    The following is my opinion, so like all opinions it may be bias and not fully correct.

    The Twine 1.x application requires you to install the product on your machine. Some people did not like this or wanted to build Twine stories using a Tablet so the Twine 2 application was rebuilt from the ground up to run in a web-browser, though since then an installable version has also been released.

    The Twine 1.x application is a more mature product and has features (like built in image embedding) not currently available in Twine 2, it also supports more story formats. One feature that some Authors like is the ability to import/export the story project as a text file (twee) which allows them to use other software to edit their stories.

    The Harlowe story format is only available if you are using the Twine 2.x application, so if you want to use that story format then you will have to use Twine 2.
  • Thanks a lot!
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