I know that gene.sis is already working on a ton of features based on variables but there is one that is missing and that I would really like to have. The possibility to make chapters invisible when you don't fulfill the conditions and game mode is active. That way a reader can arrive at a point and select the only answer and go on his way without knowing about the other choices available if he had done something else earlier.
I would also like to have this. Though I would prefer to have both options and let the story owner decide if the inaccessible chapters would rather be spoilers or teasers.
It would be the best but if it's one or the other I'd rather have them invisible, you can always tease in the body of the chapters. "Or maybe you could try to.... "
I second this. I have the problem that one of my chapter's intended titles is a spoiler for another chapter. If readers choose to do path 1 first I don't want them seeing the option they get at the end of path 2. And since readers have to make choices based on the titles it's less than ideal to use a vague title that doesn't spoil. I'll also agree that having the option as a choice per chapter would be ideal as you might want grayed out options for other purposes.
I think having to check a checkbox on every chapter you need this option on is preferable over disabling functionality. If it's a story option you can never have both functions in one story which would clearly be aggravating if you need it for your story. Maybe a better solution to get what you want would be an option to have the checkbox on by default. That way you can still disable the functionality if you need to, but don't have to check the checkbox every time.
Then it should be rather "on", "off" and "choose per chapter". I think, in most cases "on" or "off" will fit the need of the story.
However: "most" is not the same as "all": we shouldn't sacrifice the ideal solution on the altar of convenience.
I would like to plead for a global default option of "on" or "off" instead with the option always available per chapter. Otherwise if you choose the "choose per chapter" option as suggested by you there is no way to determine what the default should be. Also changing things afterwards from the non-default option(ex. "off" when "choose per chapter defaults to "on") to "choose per chapter" would be a nightmare as you'd have to change every single chapter by hand to your preferred default. In my system you'd have one checkbox extra per chapter and one global option to set the default of that checkbox. Changing the global option will only affect newly created chapters as it only affects the default setting of new chapters not a hidden global variable. This leaves all options open, but reduces work to a minimum as you'll only have to change a setting when deviating from the default.
Using a global option to set a chapter default only would result in the same situation if you want to change the current chapter settings to "on" or "off". This would also apply to all chapters of existing game stories.
If this is a big enough concern it should require a separate function. So one function that sets the default as a global setting and one that allows mass changing. Or maybe it's possible to combine the two into one. Have something like "Disabled Chapter Visibility - On, Off, Variable(Default On), Variable(Default Off)" The one thing this would require is a big warning label that indicates changing to "On" or "Off" will make changes to all chapters.
If it would be really necessary I would prefer the following configuration: Story option: - On (all inaccessible chapters are visible) -> chapter option is ignored and not shown - Off (all inaccessible chapters are hidden) -> chapter option is ignored and not shown - Default On (all inaccessible chapters without different chapter option are visible) -> chapter option is applied and shown - Default Off (all inaccessible chapters without different chapter option are hidden) -> chapter option is applied and shown Chapter option: - Default (takes the story option default) - Visible (overwrites the story option default) - Hidden (overwrites the story option default) I would avoid mass changing whenever possible. One (or two) imprudent click and you have a glorious mess.
This part of your suggestion would be consistent behavior to the current variable / condition setup, where you can set a variable to visible / invisible when you first use it, and then each chapter when you use it, you can either leave it at the current (default) value, or change it.
This is exactly what I had in mind. But the first two options of your "Story option" section mass change by default if chapters have any setting other than "Default". You could keep the "Visible" and "Hidden" chapter settings as stored hidden values and restore them if the "Story option" is changed back to "Default On/Off", but that could be confusing if it is changed back a while into the future. It also prevents these hidden variables from being corrected without changing the "Story option" setting back. It's a though cookie. Either you allow mass changing through the first two "story options" or you allow hidden variables that could create confusion and problems in the future.
With that approach, no story option would change a chapter option. If you create a chapter, the default setting would be "Default" and you could change it by choosing visible or hidden. If the story option is set to "On" or "Off", the chapter options are not shown and "Default" would be saved with each chapter. Let's say, you have a story with "Default Off" and different chapter settings. You change to story option "On" which would make all chapter answers visible as the set chapter options aren't used. If you change to "Default On" or "Default Off" later, the still existing chapter options are used. (in case of "Default Off" everything would be the same as in the beginning.) So there would be no mass-changing at all.
That's what I meant with "stored hidden values". The two potential issues with this are: If you change back to "Default On" or "Default Off" long after you made the transition to "On" or "Off" it could be really confusing as you might not remember which chapters had special settings. This is especially true for stories with multiple contributors. After you change to "On" or "Off" there is no way to change the hidden chapter settings. Now I'm not saying these issues are worse than allowing mass changing, but they are something to be acknowledged and considered.
Unless, as per the normal restrictions on the game mode content these settings don't apply when not in game mode...
