Commentary

[i didn’t realize how much I rely on spellcheck till I put the code into a word doc.  It’s surprisingly sad.]

[A monster is a creature in the outside. //breaks code]

[A mirror is in the Bedroom.  //doesn't make sense because i turned exercise verbs into nouns]

[Looking is an action applying to one touchable thing.   Understand "look[something]" as looking. // applying to one touchable thing, breaks code]

[How would I create a condition that you have to carry out all three exercises before you go bald?]

[How can I put a marker in after you complete all 3 exercises that "a year has passed of you doing these exercises everyday" ?]

[Report looking:

    say "You look in the [the noun].  You have [if work out]you've trained so hard you went bald![else] a beautiful head of hair[end if]." ]

   

[error console says, "violence isn't the answer to this one" is this program being coy?]

    

    [This programming language is not like traditional writing and it's not like coding.  It is a weird syntax in between that. I've had countless compilation errors for small spelling and grammar mistakes.  The error console feels condescending. I enjoy the possibilities but this not agreeing with me like a day old burrito that is difficult to digest.  I wanted to re-create a mundane, absurdist superhero story but it turned into a regurgitated mess staining my brain tissue. I need to take a saline nasal spray and fill my entire head cavity. As the dark matter painfully drips slowly from my face holes I will try to suppress a nightmarish sleep tonight.]

Twining

Visual programming is a nice, but I still have an aversion to Max and TouchDesigner interfaces.  Perhaps it was all the academic brainstorm formats that haunt me.  The time of my life when I had to do my homework because my parents will be happy if I get good grades and will know if I Photoshop them to look better.

Twine was nice because of the immediate gratification.  You write a story point and it's there.  You can add on or it can stand on its own.  In the previous sketch, I mentioned it changed the way I thought.  I've always found dialogue to be the easiest thing to write.  Scenes are not always held responsible to carry the weight of a narrative. It's like banter with an old friend after a few beers on an empty stomach.  Twine enforced a rule-set to connect scenes.  If I can have any form of organization that promotes clarity in my work i'm a happy banana.

There is a draw to structuring my work.  I usually go by feeling and it is much harder to organize feelings since they are so unstable.  Also, I noticed in writing this way, I was able to move the story faster. Once you finish a container, you can leave that idea there rather than re-working it to a soggy page of eraser marks.

Twine html doc

Generate me

Tracery Generated Story - Sketch #1

This was my first experience of programming generative text.  It encouraged thinking in a modular way –like a puzzle but each piece had multiple functions.

The form or structure had to be hardcoded unless you really wanted to tweak your brain with the code.  This structure did not promote new ideas of narrative arcs but new outfits for the story to live in.

I enjoyed how the code told its own story of the narrator.  It was a new way to look at the language instead of the usual, linear sentence structure.  The thought process and the organization methods are unique to each person in our class.  It was fun to see the internal dialogue between human and computer during class presentations.

Code Link