Episode Ink Tutorial 2 – SIMPLE CHOICES

Hey guys! In this tutorial I’m going to be showing you how to make very simple choices in your Episode script.

This is a direct continuation of tutorial 1, so if you haven’t checked that out, please click here!

So we left off with Loca saying the following to Tenk:

LOCA (talk_handsonhips)
You scared, bub?

So let’s have Tenk say something in return:

TENK
No way I’m scared!
My avatar, Basher, will crush you!

And what I’ll do now is allow the player to choose a comeback.

So first of all, let’s write

LOCA


You have to have some form of dialogue happening before a choice, so I usually put a simple You can have any kind of dialogue you want instead of that, but that’s what works for me.

The next thing to do is to write the word choice, all in lowercase letters.

Now I can add in my first choice. Note that all choices have to be contained within quotation marks.

“Don’t make me laugh, Tenk”

Then I need to add some curly brackets. These are what contains the outcome of the choice. So it looks like this:

“Don’t make me laugh, Tenk”{

}

Make sure to put the opening curly bracket directly next to the closing quotation mark, and the closing curly bracket two lines beneath.

I can now add in a few more.

“The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego”{

}
“Lol, you noob”{

}

Okay, so all in all, here is what the whole choice should look like:


LOCA



choice
“Don’t make me laugh, Tenk”{

}
“The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego”{

}
“Lol, you noob”{

}

Now that the structure of the choice is in place, I can add in the consequences of each option. To do this, I simply fill the contents of each curly bracket enclosure.
It now ends up looking like this:
LOCA


choice
“Don’t make me laugh, Tenk”{

LOCA
Don’t make me laugh, Tenk.

TENK
I’ll be the one laughing when you lose.

}
“The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego”{

LOCA
The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego

TENK
We’ll see.

}
“Lol, you noob”{

LOCA
Lol, you noob.

}

Anything that happens after the final closing curly bracket will happen no matter what option the reader chooses, so let’s have Loca say one final thing and then leave:

LOCA
Anyway, gotta go. I just wanted to tell you you’re gonna get your butt kicked.

@LOCA exits left

I’ll also want to add in animations for every line of dialogue, so after doing that, the full script will look like this:

INT. BLACK – NIGHT
NARRATOR
Episode 1 – The Tutorial Begins

EXT. HYDRANGEA LANE – DAY

@LOCA enters from left to screen left


@TENK enters from right to screen right AND TENK is run_athletic

LOCA (talk_greet)
Hey Tenk!

TENK (talk_startled)
Whoa! Loca?
TENK (talk_shrug)
What are you doing here?

LOCA (talk_contend)
I’ve come here to challenge you to a Friction duel.

TENK (talk_afraid)
Really?!

LOCA (talk_handsonhips)
You scared, bub?

TENK (talk_repulsed)
No way I’m scared!
TENK (talk_contend)
My avatar, Basher, will crush you!

LOCA


choice
“Don’t make me laugh, Tenk”{

LOCA (laugh_guffaw)
Don’t make me laugh, Tenk.

TENK (talk_handsonhips)
I’ll be the one laughing when you lose.

}
“The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego”{

LOCA (talk_handsonhips)
The only thing that’ll be crushed is your ego

TENK (talk_arms_crossed_angry)
We’ll see.

}
“Lol, you noob”{

LOCA (talk_happy_smile)
Lol, you noob.

}

LOCA (talk_gossip)
Anyway, gotta go. I just wanted to tell you you’re gonna get your butt kicked.

@LOCA exits left

That’s it, folks! That’s the basics of a choice! If you have any questions about this at all, please do comment them down below and hopefully someone will be able to help you. Thanks for reading, and good luck writing your very first Episode story!

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