CYOA "The Adventures of Phoebe McGee"

[katz]

Handling items in a satisfying way is difficult. In adventure games, though, there’s an expectation that all items do something important. Many adventure games start you with no items and end you with no items, while in between requiring you to pick up every item and then use it somewhere else. Not that it’s the only way to plot a game by any stretch, but it can feel like a letdown if all that happens is “Maize tells you something.”

There’s an additional problem with having items trigger Maize’s conversation cues: It can make her seem like she’s withholding information. This is a common problem in fiction, I find, especially fantasy: Good writing should spread out the exposition, but if one character knows so much important stuff, why doesn’t she just say so?

Gads, to do CYOA well someone has to know how to write fiction in small segments that can then be arranged and modified by variables and scripts to become a satisfying outcome. That’s a tall order, to do the writing and the programming, like a lineman in football who can do ballet. Hard to be good at both.

I know! I actually was introduced to Inform (which is why I’m here) out of a TVTropes conversation about whether it was possible to write really good interactive fiction, or whether the varied and conflicting requirements mean that every story will be a compromise.

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

@katz

I know! I actually was introduced to Inform (which is why I’m here) out of a TVTropes conversation about whether it was possible to write really good interactive fiction, or whether the varied and conflicting requirements mean that every story will be a compromise.

Sounds interesting – do you have a link to the conversation?

casmith, if it’s any consolation, I think some linemen do study ballet – helps with the footwork.

[casmith]

Matt,

I think some linemen do study ballet – helps with the footwork.

How about the reverse? Could learning to be lineman help a ballet dancer? That would make an interesting movie.

Well, maybe not a lineman. More likely a nimble safety.

Katz

Good writing should spread out the exposition, but if one character knows so much important stuff, why doesn’t she just say so?

So true. One way to solve this problem is for the primary character to introduce new information in the conversation. Now that I feel more comfortable with what CYS can do for a conversation, I think I can make them more realistic. I also need to move secondary characters around more. Looking forward to trying.

Emily Short has some interesting insights in some of her articles about conversation at emshort.wordpress.com/how-to-pla … versation/. I am going to search for more of her work on this issue.

Chuck

[IF_noob]

@casmith

One of the great liabilities of creating at chooseyourstory.com is in the editing after creating.

I wasn’t following the discussion, but I would like to know who created this site, because I was looking through CYOA sites a few years ago, and most of them are affiliated with the “Choose Your Own Adventure Books” Website (network of sites dedicated to the classic book series).

Another series of books (floppy rather than hard cover) took off from that idea, called “Choose Your Own Path”.
This one is in multiple choice format, rather than a linear loop.