Many a person has come up with an amazing idea for an AIF oeuvre, involving hundreds of rooms and dozens of NPC's in scores of varied sexual situations, only to find after a week that it's tough to code even one or two rooms with interesting scenery. So don't plan too big. You don't need to follow every WAIF suggestion in your first game, while you're learning how to code IF, and/or to write erotica. (OK. You don't have to follow every suggestion ever. But anyway.)
You might want to try to create an NWT-like game (it doesn't have to involve Troi, or be at night) as a learning experience. You may want to release it, or you may want to let it die on your hard drive, consider it practice and then use pieces of it in a larger game. But writing a small, good game will give you the chance to hone some of your AIF-creating skills, without becoming completely depressed at the amount of work your epic sex adventure requires. It will also get you excited about how fun it is to create AIF. H_Slave writes:
Which would you cherish most: a breadbox bought from a store, a breadbox you assembled from a kit, or a breadbox you made from plans you drew with the wood cut to size by you and assembled by you? The first is an allegory of pornography. It satisfies your needs, but doesn't mean anything. The second is an allegory of playing a good AIF. You're handed the kit, and the thrill of victory is given to those who can find their way to a win. The last is an allegory of authoring an AIF. It is the joy of creation, you put what you can put and what you like into it, and ultimately give it to others for enjoyment.
AIF requires computer code, erotica, and fiction. H_Slave writes, "I don't often get the urge to simultaneously write, program, and fuck. Writing good sex scenes is a lot harder when you're juggling if-then statements." Unfortunately, though, he's an adult male, so doing the tough coding when he's not thinking about sex, "would leave approximately 6 seconds per week to perform the logic parts. I just settle for when the sex thoughts are in partial remission." But this can be seen as a good thing: no matter what mood you're in, you can always work on some part of your AIF!
There are different opinions for the way to write the game. Some suggest writing the code first, and filling in the sex scenes later. Others say that the text of the sex scenes should affect the rest of the game, so it all has to be planned together. Either way, everyone suggests that the more planning you do in the early stages, perhaps even before writing anything, the better the game will come out.
Some people have discussed AIF projects written by more than one person. For example, one can focus on the erotica, the other on the coding. This might be possible, but it hasn't happened yet. It will definitely be hard, because the coding and plot are (or at least should be) closely intertwined.
A hint system wouldn't hurt. AIF folks may be even faster than regular IF'ers in asking for walkthroughs even before a game is out. A hint system is slightly more likely to keep people happy. (Yes, the AIF audience ought to chill out. But it doesn't hurt to be nice, anyway.) Note that there are various methods of helping: you can have an NPC who gives advice to the player in many situations, or allow the player to say "hint pickle" on the input line in order to get help with certain objects in the game, or have lots of questions and answers in separate help screens.
AIF players often ask for a walk through, and sooner or later (usually sooner) a walkthrough is usually posted. This sometimes annoys authors, because a person following a walkthrough may miss a lot of the interesting side stuff. A more recent sort of walkthrough doesn't give exact directions ("s. e. lie down. lick earlobe...."), but instead gives more vague suggestions ("The queen seems to be rather open to a rendezvous, but probably can't do anything in front of her husband, right? Maybe if some important matter of state were brought to his attention, you and she could find someplace a bit more private...."). If you don't have the energy to create a whole hint system, you could consider creating such a vague walkthrough yourself. Although you should wait until after beta testing, because often the puzzles the author thinks are hard aren't the ones that the players find difficult, and vice versa. Beta testing will tell you which puzzles need hints, or possibly even changing.
If sex in your game is any more complicated than "fuck character", you should probably consider adding a verb list to the game instructions. Guess-the-verb is always annoying, but AIF players will get especially frustrated if a guess-the-verb problem is keeping them from a sex scene. Of course, sometimes players will try to apply every verb in the verb list to a problem in order to solve it, so you could always tell the player you've left some verbs out of the list. Either way, it's best to provide many synonyms for verbs, and nouns and adjectives, while you're at it. Try to account for every possible way of describing a certain action. (You won't. That's what beta testers are for. But you should still try.)
In other words, you'll have to decide how much erotic content to put in to your game, and hope that it satisfies some people (or at least that it satisfies you yourself). This guide is just trying to widen the possibilities for what that erotic content is--like erotic puzzles or diverse erotic scenes. Even if you decide to write a game with lots of sex scenes, remember that (good) erotica with lots of sex scenes often has lots of supporting material that's not sexual, both to build up character and to increase sexual tension.
Just because you don't think you are a writer, doesn't mean you can't write well. Most people can, you know. At least people who can read well enough to enjoy it. It requires concentration and attention to detail, just like coding. It really is just a matter of effort. If you have the motivation, you have what it takes to indulge it.
I'll add that most people can code, too. It may be tough at the beginning, and not everyone will be a coding genius, but AIF doesn't really require genius; it just requires concentration and attention to detail, just like writing. And remember that there are resources, human and text, that can help you.
Writing a good AIF is a long and hard (wink, wink) project. But:
Finally, let's thank the AIF authors They get no money even though they have to put a lot of work into these games, so the least we can offer them is our praise. Folks, you've made a lot of horny people happy :)
Best of luck with your project!
