Touch of Terror app - discussion

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TouchOfTerror

Member
Dec 12, 2018
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So I thought I'd get things underway with this, I'm interested in all views whether you know of and have used these apps or if you're a full-on Luddite and a little wary of this newfangled storytelling stuff and even if you're a little cynical of the technique.
The current popular apps are Tap and Yarn, amongst others, on iOS and Android. I'm one of those many. many people who feel they have a book 'in them' but never find the time or (in my case) pluck up the courage to commit to it. I've been involved in media for some time and have written for magazine publications (techy based and non-fiction) as well as illustrations and also programming.
As my list of will-they-ever-be-written story ideas amassed I decided I had to make a move. I have a couple of ideas that I wanted to put to the visual novel market (interactive stories) and it went from there. Then I came up with a photo-based story that I just wanted to get out there, except it was less of a visual novel idea and more like a journal. I'm a big fan of the old found-footage story (though it needs resting maybe:culpability:) and wanted to follow this route, though with a fresh approach. At some stage I read about Tap and how well it was going down and it all clicked.
Basically, almost my entire catalogue of half-baked but interesting story ideas could be put to a text-based messenger-sim style. Exciting times, as these ideas were perfectly adaptable to this style, all my locked-up ideas could see the light of day!

Here's the thing; I tried Tap and Yarn and others and realised they weren't quite the platform for me. Two things stood out..one was the monetisation system. Having worked with apps before, this is no fun. Set price/In App Purchasing/Freemium...it's very hit and miss. Even worse (for me) was that these text-story apps were subscription only. A brief look through the reviews showed this wasn't too popular with users. So...I'll write my own! Jack of all trades/master of none turns out to be quite handy.

The apps I tried were ok but I wanted to go a step further so I planned a message-simulator with some extras mostly not seen in the other apps, namely simulated image download, subtle sound effects and (a work in progress) Store. This way you can select a story from your 'shelf' like a book.
Still working on how this will supply/sell the stories but I plan to have free stories too, and a system of pushing indie authors with promotion, which really what I want to make it all about.
I'll leave this here and hope to see some views and opinions, there's a ton more of stuff I've left out so feel free to ask Q's and make suggestions...I'd also like to ask you to have a think...do you have a small grain of a story that's maybe a little stuck that you could adapt to this technique? I'd love to feature guest writers who could write a short-ish, scary, quirky little tale for Touch of Terror.

Thanks for listening!

cgb
 

TouchOfTerror

Member
Dec 12, 2018
6
56
59
@ GNTLGNT what a vehicle! Should be the star in any Christine re-makes:a24:

Just been putting together a small website, using Weebly for now to test the waters as I'm thinking of putting the demo of Touch of Terror (ToT) onto it as a browser-based app. That way everyone can get a look.
Going to try to get it up and running, with the first story, for Xmas Eve...what better time for a scare:ghost::ghost:
 

TouchOfTerror

Member
Dec 12, 2018
6
56
59
Been away a while...over a year it seems! I got so busy with other stuff that I've barely read anything much less worked on my vaunted project, after determining to log in here Xmas 2019 I lost my password and gave up again...so now, password stored securely, I'm back and I'm resolute in posting more. And in pushing indie horror, for those involved in such things.
To that end I now have my browser app up and running, and looking for authors/would-be-authors with a just a nugget of a story, and also horror artists as my indie-horror-hub (now titled SMS) has a text-msg story reader (and Editor on the way) and an interactive gallery for viewing the user-submitted dark arts.
I'll hopefully reveal more as I settle back in, but the app is aimed at the indie community and is free, and is all about promotion.

Hope it can generate some interest amongst you horror readers and creative types, lovbe to hear from you.