• Q: How do I join a game after it starts?!
• A: You can't, the only way to join is as an audience member. You can vote but not write.

• Q: How do I start the game, the book isn't lighting up!
• A: You need at least two people to play the multiplayer modes, and you need three players total to play a game where someone actually "wins" the game. Two player voting doesn't work. To start the game you need to click the book that's flashing with the appropriate amount of players in the lobby.

• Q: How do I access the super secret character!
• A: Buy our zine and head to the character bio pages! It's on the last page, that is the code you need to use. Or if you purchase supporter, the character is unlocked for you. You cannot unlock the secret character via the code on mobile, it is desktop only.

• Q: Why aren't you putting out updates every week!
• A: We made this game in our spare time and it is not our full time job. Everything you see here is done after work hours.

★ GETTING STARTED! ★

• Input your name, choose an avatar, verify your age.


• Hit [start].


• Hit [create game] and input the settings for your game.


• If you are not the VIP, hit [join game] and enter the game code.


• Want to be part of the audience? Hit [join audience].


• Wait in the lobby for everyone to show up.
  


• The VIP needs to click the flashing book [the sacred tome of fanfiction] to begin! Players are locked in and cannot be added after this.

★ CHARACTER POOL SUBMISSION ★

• Write characters. These are submitted to the character pool.
  Note: if there is a same spelling duplicate, this will be blocked and you will need to choose another character.


• Hit [submit] when you’re happy with the characters you wrote.


• Characters are shuffled.
  

★ FANFIC SETUP! ★

• Pick characters to write about in your fanfic from the selection.


• You will read their story when writing is complete!


• Set the maturity rating so fellow writers know how far you are comfortable with taking this fanfic. This will display in the header as [18+] for adult language or [all ages] for a tamer experience. If you are under 18 years old, you CANNOT be in a room with stories rated 18+.


• Hit [select!] when you are happy with your choices.


• When everyone has selected, the writing phase starts!

★ STORY START! ★

• Begin writing! The header shows the story status.


• "FANFIC #:" corresponds to the order in which the player joined the lobby. If you joined second, the story you started would be "FANFIC #: 2".


• The current part of the story you are on and maturity ratings are also displayed here.


• There’s a character limit to prevent bots attacking… but you probably won’t hit it. Probably.


• There's a time limit! The time limit varies from the setting the VIP picked. Lightning is the speediest, Frantic still fast but not so fast, Brisk is a slower pace and Leisurely is the most chill. Sonic is a challenge for only the speediest of writers.


• The timer ticks down in real time, so you know exactly how many seconds you have left.


• Stumped on where to take your story next? You can make use of the prompt button when clicked. This button gives you a new fanfic trope or suggestion. This is available if optional prompts are chosen.

★ CONTINUE THAT FIC! ★

• When timer has finished "PART 1", the game will save and prepare to swap fanfics with other writers randomly.


• The fanfiction that you began will be passed on to a friend at the same time, another friend’s story will be passed to you. You now need to write the next part of the new story.


• When the timer strikes zero, another save and quick intermission takes place.


• Depending on how many parts the VIP chose on the settings page, this section can continue switching. In the basic game, there are only two switches and three parts written.

★ FINISH IT! ★

• Write the ending to another randomly shuffled fanfic! Create the most satisfying ending you can come up with to the story displayed on your screen.


• Tick tock!! Time is up! But this time, the stories are complete! A congratulations graphic will play. You did it! You finally did it!


• Here’s where you get the opportunity to read your full story to yourself (and see where the others took it) and bequeath it with the most fitting title you can. You don't have to read the whole thing at this point, you can just title it whatever.


• Woah! You have a full fanfic with a slammin’ title! Time to read!

★ READING TIME! ★

• Open up a chat app like smishcord™ or skmype™ (or... maybe you're playing in the same room??) and take turns reading your beautiful fanfics to your beautiful friends in the tone that fits your story the best.


• Now for an arbitrary voting system to see who “won” the fanfic battle based on some award categories I pulled out of my butt... but really, you’re all winners. You’re all stars.

★ BUT SOME OF US ARE MORE WINNERS... THAN OTHERS. ★

• Time to smash those react buttons! As you read the fanfics, you can react to the parts you liked the best with as many emotes as you like. The more reacts you give a part, the more points that part will be awarded. To prevent cheesing the game, you do need to react at least once to other stories in order to proceed.


• When the reading and reacting is done, we move on to the bonus round. One bonus vote category is always the same [your personal favourite], and the other bonus vote is randomly generated from a list of awards. Bonus award votes are worth points, but only the award winners will display on the leaderboard.


• To keep things fair, you cannot react for the part you wrote or give bonus points to the story you started.


• There are both fanfic winners and writer winners!


• After everyone has voted, you’ll be able to see the leaderboard and how well you did! But weren't the real points the fanfics we made along the way?

★ POST GAME ★

• On the voting results screen you can click on your fics and save them by downloading them as a text file or image. We also have a Twitter auto-filler but you need to add the image yourself as we don't have permission to do that. This export page is live for 24 hours, after that it's gone.


• We added a [GAME STATS] button so you can check out some neat tidbits about the game you just played.


• That's it!! Wanna play again?


• Oh yeah! Tell a friend about our game if you thought it was fun!!!


• Also, do you…


• Know someone who wants to write about our game? Or you ARE someone who wants to write about our game?


• Want to tell us about a bug that keeps crashing your sessions?


• Know how to make this game even better?


• Send us an email! franticfanficgame [at] gmail [dot] com.