Omega Update Fan Adventure Discussion Thread

I wanna make a flash (of the video kind) for my adventure, but I have no money or access to any advanced programs of any kind. Does anyone know some free programs to create one?

Here's a question - do you guys think an adventure's number of panels matters too much? I ask because Cult Following recently broke 600 panels and I'm still only on what I'd call Act 1, and meanwhile there are all these other great adventures getting tons done with fewer panels.
I like to be a little more detailed in my approach, so my updates are usually big no matter what, but I feel like an adventure with that many panels might intimidate new readers.

I'm not sure which is more important, or if it's even the same answer for every adventure, but keep mind that while an increase in panels may scare off readers looking for newer adventures, it may also encourage readers who want something to really get into. It can also give a good impression of you being attached to the adventure since you're willing to do so much, so they may be more able to expect you to stick with it.

OK, so the next animation for my adventure will probably be done pretty soon, but after that, I wanted to follow up with a large amount of panels as a kind of "intermission", however, due to the nature of these panels (I'll have to do some harder drawing mainly), this might take longer then the animation.

Do you think I should post the animation then the panels later (maybe even the panels in a few posts inbetween) or wait till their all done?

These are all great tips. For people who didnt read it, the most important where probably:

Have a conclusion planned
Give up on those plans easily
Listen to fan theories and use them to improve your story
Dont try to make things perfect, they dont need to be
Reach a conclusion if your gonna give up. Even a bad one means it had worth.

One thing i'de like to add personally that people seem to struggle with is critisism. I think its important to keep in mind that critism doesnt mean somethings bad, i mean tolkein spent way to long describing unimportant details, and homestuck had a mediicre at best ending. That said their still considered fantastic. So keep in mind that you shouldnt give up just because of a bad point. That said, you should be keeping things in mind and trying to improve. Critique said my characters are a too quirk based, so im trying to improve on that and move the story to a place that improves that. I personally felt that things where getting a little redundant and silly, so im making it into a plot point. Etc. Dont let criticism make you feel bad, people only criticize because they want you to improve.

So, after reading through the entire thread, and having most of my questions answered in earlier conversations (although it HAS made me feel rather insecure about how I did the intro to my 'venture, but oh well, too late now.) The one thing that hasn't been covered that is sort of eating away at me is this; what about text based fanventures?

A little background might help slightly. The idea for Omegasplit (would link, but I'm on mobile) started out as an idea meant to be done with imagery, but I decided I might as well just start, 1 because I can't art and really shouldn't try and coerce someone else into doing it for me and 2 it is absurdly hard to find people interested enough in these kinds of things to stay motivated enough to do things like provide panels.
So ultimately I just started up and decided that if someone is willing to do art I'll leave it out there that an artist would be welcome and in the meantime just do my thing.

I suppose I just sort of rambled there, but the point is, is there anything special I should keep in mind when working with a text-oriented format?

Text adventures eh:

As much as possible, show rather than tell.
The thief stole the book.
The suspicious man picked up the book and ran away.

Try to get the most out of your words. Your words should be dense and short to maximize reading speed and information conveyed. But don't overdo it.

I'd contrast this by saying what actually kills sBurbventures is less copying Homestuck, and more not understanding it's strengths and weaknesses. Plenty of them I've read in the past have had interesting concepts, but they either spend too long pre-game and lose steam before they get there, or they start in media res too late in the game to give things like God Tier ascension the proper payoff. They often rely too heavily upon drama that isn't yet earned, or simply retread Homestuck's steps without adding much original substance in their intros. They either don't make their equivalent to Act 1 able to stand on it's own merits, or they just want to jump straight to their Act 5 and end up with information overload. Honestly, if you played it straight I think you could do a damn fine sBurbventure focused on simply completing the game, as long as you don't dive into the endgame to start off or make your beginning an uninteresting rehash. Reuse Homestucks ideas all you want if you're gonna do a sBurbventure, but try to keep in mind the flow of events from a new reader who has already read Homestuck's perspective. Is this the proper time to have your characters fondly regard posters in their room, or is this really the point where you want to offload another character on the reader? Have we gone too long without a gag, or are we spending too much time dawdling? Will the reader care enough about the character by now to get the reaction to their death that you're looking for or not? How much buildup is enough, and how much is too much or too little?


As far as the Consorts go, I think they could be easily be added to without raising too many eyebrows, especially if you're also adding your own Classpects. I might suggest switching them all out or sticking with just the confirmed four if you were doing it more with strictly established ideas, but I think it's up to you as the author to decide which feels best in context of your adventure. Just remember that everything you add is another thing to have to keep track of going forward.

I never planned to copy Homestuck entirely or go for a regular "hey let's win Sburb Sverb normally" type adventure; SR is currently seeming like the latter, but will deviate quite a bit from this in the future. I do have ideas to keep it interesting in the meantime, though - adding new mechanics, twisting around and even overlapping some of the existing ones, unique Medium entry setups. Personally, I think the best way to handle an adventure is to start with a "regular" Sburb session, then add something else to it - something going wrong, a unique outside force, stuff like that, but of course not taking too many ideas from Homestuck, and while still having a bit of a focus on the session itself. I always felt Lands were a bit underexplored, even in Homestuck.


I definitely agree a lot of Sburbventures suffer from pacing issues. I think each character should have a decent amount of time to be introduced and acquainted with the reader, instead of rushing to introduce everyone and their sprite and their god tier title and their Land and their dream moon all as soon as possible; as a reader, that makes the adventure overwhelming and its characters almost impossible to remember. I also have a bit of a pet peeve when Lands become introduced, then are immediately referred to by acronyms and only acronyms. "What even is a LOCAF."

Personally, I think the biggest reason behind pacing issues is from authors becoming too excited to reveal all their cool plans - like the twist of who dies, or what sort of unique powers a character will gain upon god tier ascension, or some crazy sprite shenanigan. I think it's easy for such plans to make current parts of the story seem "boring" in comparison. My advice to authors struggling with this idea anxiousness is to compensate by finding ways to make earlier situations more interesting, rather than skipping to the planned future scenarios. Have fun with the characters, play around with pre/early-game setups, try to appreciate each moment for what it is, maybe even hint at your plans without revealing too much about them.

Just think of it from a reader perspective - keeping things like god tier titles or important plot points a mystery for a long time before revealing them gives them a lot more impact than suddenly skipping to and revealing it all, right? Mystery is one of the biggest things that made Homestuck so great, after all. Also, try to make the characters themselves interesting - they're the most important part of any story, at least in my opinion. And interesting characters usually lead to interesting scenarios, too.

Anyway, thanks for the responses regarding consorts. I think I'll take the time to make them unique, after all. I just wasn't sure if fanmade consorts were a thing that irked people or not, but I still stand by my decision to include fan classpects despite knowing those bother some people, so I guess it was somewhat silly of me to ask about consorts, hehe.

I actually had that same idea while typing my last post. :p

It sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe divide it up into "sections," too. With character advice, Sburbventure-specific advice, pacing advice, etc.

Though I'm not sure about it being locked. Maybe it could be an open thread, where people could add onto it if they want or ask specific advice regarding their own adventures? With only the best-regarded advice being edited into the main "index" post.