Angelina Stilson

[mrscoomich]

Okay. So I started on this custom story months ago.

It wasn't those typical ones where the player wakes up in the room not knowing what happened.
It didn't have those teleporting naked guys either.

As a little girl, I loved writing stories. I figured that ever since I started playing amnesia custom stories, maybe I could bring one of my stories into this game. Because that way people would be able to see what I have to show.

So now, 14 year old me, I started to look up tutorials on how this whole "scripting" thing work.

It was something I was never really familiar with.
It took me about one month of learning through youtube and forums on scripting the basics,
enough for me to fix my own HPL2/scripting errors.
Each day, I was proud of myself more and more.

I spent a good 2 weeks on the intro of the custom story.
Not because I had too many errors, or I just delayed it.
In fact, I worked on it from first thing on the morning up until before dinner.

It was because I wanted to make sure this custom story wasn't going to be known as the "non-serious" maps. Don't get me wrong, I love to play those.

Anyways, I kept working so hard on it. Learning something new everyday, etc.

One day, the most horrible thing (that can happen to someone who was so encouraged and put so much effort in something) happened to me.
Basically, my laptop decided to die on me.
The battery wasn't broken, nothing like that. But the computer just wouldn't start regularly.
I had to call the company, and it was fixed in about 5 days.

I was praying that all my work was still there.
Unfortunately, it was rebooted.

Everything was gone.
I may sound like someone who had no life, but it basically took off the courage and potential that I had into making this custom story.
The amount of time I decided to work on this story was up til around 4 to 6 months until I could publish it.

Not only did I lose my files, but I also lost Steam.

Meaning I had to go download that, then amnesia, and then hpl2.

I was no longer encouraged. It was a couple months until I decided to finally install Steam onto my laptop.
After that, ofcourse I installed the hpl2.

Nothing was the same again when I figured hpl2 wasn't working like the way it used to.
There was a problem with it.
I could still work with it, but it wasn't much I can accomplish with.

I haven't gotten the motivation to make this custom story no matter how much I want to do it.
It's been bothering me for a while and I sorta kinda needed to tell you guys about this.

Sorry if it wasted time. I needed to talk to somebody about it.

P.S It also really doesn't help at all when a close friend of yours discourages you all the time saying, "Yeah, that's not gonna get you anywhere in life."

, which bothers me a lot.

The custom story is called "Angelina Stilson"
for now, since I can't get motivated into doing a custom story on it, I've been writing the storyline of it on Microsoft Word(whenever I'm bored).

I'm really not sure when I'm ever gonna start over on this custom story or get a new start. Not unless I'm motivated to do it.

[Statyk]

Honestly, I know EXACTLY where you're coming from. About a month ago, maybe a bit more, I was defragmenting my laptop. It bluescreened and corrupted system files. I could not use my keyboard or mouse, so logging on was of no option. I had nothing else to do but factory reset it on startup. I 3D model and create my own custom stories, and had spent months as well on a large term story and a short immersive story, known as Nearsight. I lost EVERY custom model I made for each... Thankfully, I backed up a few models on my second hard drive, but I lost the more recent saves, so it was pointless to go back on them. I sat for a few weeks doing nothing else... A friend on here wondered what happened to Nearsight and I had to say everything was gone. But they egged me on, and I've decided to start it fresh. So far, it is in better shape and structurally built on its storyboard than before the reset. =]

So I'm here egging you on pal, don't listen to your "friend". This is something you love to do, and no one should stop you from being happy. I get it sometimes too, but I've learned to ignore them. I do what I want because it's my life, not theirs.

I say start it fresh. I was always thinking "Well, I'm not getting that map back", but honestly, the new one came out better so far. The same will probably go for you as well. With time comes experience, and with experience comes results.

---

Just remember to occasionally back your files up. if you have a second hard drive on your laptop, it could be safe there like mine was. If not, be extra safe and get an external hard drive or flash drive.

[go.go]

Just start over. The Custom Story is going to become a lot better than it ever could have become the first time because now you have learned from your earlier mistakes. You will also need a lot less time to develop the things you have already done before. Something that took one month the first time will take a maximum of one week this time, improvements included.

Fuck motivation. Who needs motivation. Just start working on the thing and motivation will come once you realize how fun it is. It won't come from just sitting around being emo about losing all your progress though. See it as a positive thing, the new custom story will be an improved version of the old one. Now start working on that thing!

[MaZiCUT]

Something like this happend to me, except it wasn't on HPL2 or anything, i just had once forgotten to save my work.... ugh fine, On Roblox, yes roblox i don't play it anymore. But basicly building was a lot of fun there for me, and making advanced and awesome stuff could take months. I just lost it and i decided to start new and fresh, it's always better with new and fresh.

[nemesis567]

Really? Can you have such a friend? You have to get used to it. Ignorance is built so much into society there's nothing you can do anymore. Just so you know, GREAT programmers/Artists/W.E have been found by these kind of mods(mostly for Source, Doom, maybe QUAKE). They are now rich(I believe you people believe this is what being successful in these terms mean) and have great lives. If you have a friend telling you otherwise, he's just showing off how ignorant he is, UNLESS he knows you can't do it(you seem to be quitting) and is just warning you to not loose time.

[Mine Turtle]

great advice from the people above; take them to heart.


now for some of my opinions. whats funny about this is the fact that your friend, whom i think isnt much older or younger than yourself, "knows" whats gonna get you somewhere in life. you get somewhere in life by doing what you love doing.
if you love writing stories, great! and if you decide to incorporate the story into a mod, and such, and afterwards get positive feedback from other users (if the mod was made correctly), it can greatly inspire one to continue; to make something even better than the past projects one has made. it also helps greatly on imagination, i might add.
countless mods of several different games have helped promote people in the game industry. Dear Esther is a great example of this (the creators are now working with FG on AAMFP, i believe), not to mention that Valve, has its staff greatly consisting of previous modders. i could go on ranting about the positive sides of doing what you love doing, but im sure you get the point.

dont lose faith in the project you lost. do some brainstorming; try to figure out an even more exciting and motivating way to incorporate your story into your mod. i know the feeling; ive been there; but there is light at the end of the tunnel, i assure you. when youre not motivated, as the people above have stated; push on through; and you'll eventually be inspired by the fact that your mod; and your ideas are finaly comming to life.

[Kman]

Honestly, fuck your friend. They don't know what's best for you, if your goal is to become a game designer or a story teller of some sort (which is what I got out of the OP), then you're taking the right steps to reaching that goal. Considering that you're 14 you're taking a lot more initiative at reaching your goals than most other people at your age are. Like it's been said here, in the end if you do decide to restart progress on your story then it'll end up better in the end. Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide to do, really sucks that you lost all that...

[mrscoomich]

You guys are really amazing. It's actually helping me a lot. I really do appreciate that!

With your support, I think I may start doing it in a few days with a fresh start(or maybe today!)
I figured if I started new, it might be a better improvement than what I did last time (like 'go.go' mentioned).

It's one thing that really kept me busy for weeks without actually getting sick of it.
It's always fun creating something of your own, am I right?

The friend I was talking about is actually my boyfriend. I don't mean to sound like a 14 year old whore that dates at a young age, but I'm really just being honest with you guys.

I do tell him a lot of times that discouraging me does not help at all..
I guess he was a bit mad that I made less time for him. But really, my world does not revolve around him alone.
You guys really helped me a lot by saying those words.

I was a bit nervous to post this thread because I was scared that people would somehow not support me.
I guess it's way different that what I expected, and I can't thank you guys enough!
If it seems that I'm being an attention seeker, I'm sorry if you took it that way, I can only blame myself.

I hope in a couple of days after I've settled in my new house( I'm moving in a week), I'd be able to start fresh.

That's really all because of you guys. I think you get my point hehe.
Again, I'd really like to thank you all, you have no idea!

Someday I'd give you something in return...
For now, I guess I'll start planting ideas for this.

Thanks, again! Soooooo much.

[Statyk]

It's no big deal really, we don't sit here waiting around and calling people attention seekers. We'll know it when we see it and usually, no one pays them any attention (or they respond quite sarcastically). I'm also sorry your boyfriend behaves that way. I'm actually surprised. Usually when a guy would find a girl that was into games, he would find it fun and exciting. Strange >>

And hey, if you want to repay us, show us your custom story when it's done! =]

[mrscoomich]

My custom story? I will But I planned to have work on it for a total of 4-6 months.