I find it really unfortunate that the majority of the stories on this site do not have any choices in them. Of the ones that do, i find people also dont use any of the conditions or scores features available to them. It would be nice to see that because can really turn a regular story into something almost like a videogame with earlier choices perhaps affecting the course of the story much further down the line, something that adds replay value. Just my two cents.
Unfortunately building such stories is time-consuming, requires intense attention to detail, can generally only be done by creating the entire story and all relevant variables before it is published, and, worst of all: wasn't possible until about two years ago, which is AFTER slightly more than 50% of the stories we presently have were created. However, if you enjoy a challenge, may I suggest trying to do so yourself? If you succeed, you will be quite well received.
yeah, the trouble is that you do have to plan very far ahead for that to work. I have played with doing it but the thing is that no matter what you do you end up with a constantly expanding workload per chapter as you need to write more and more to cover previous choices. You can employ the old Mortons Fork to thin it out every now and then but you have to be careful how you do that. If you do it badly people will get annoyed that earlier choices ended up not meaning anything(For an example of how NOT to do this see the third season of the Walking Dead Adventure Game) It's just simple maths, even at the lowest level of say each choice creating two paths you only have to go five choices down the line before it becomes insane.(1>2>4>8>16)
I see what you mean. My main story is like that but i think i found a few ways of combating the endlessly expanding outcomes you mention. Firstly you can have the same chapter for a range of choices ie 5 choices merge into 2 actual outcomes, offer false choices where 2 different options result in the same outcome, or thirdly close off certain choices with game over scenarios. At least that's what i think will work so far, could be wrong.
What you are describing is basically a Mortons fork(seemingly different choices that have the same outcome) and as I said you can do that but if you lean on it too much then it becomes a problem. There is also simply the problem of actually having meaningful choices. You can give tons of options but have them mostly be meaningless(The sub-genre of "Character Building" stories on here are a good example of that) which can give the illusion of having more control than you really have. However readers/players are quick to pick up on the kinds of choices that "matter" and the kind that don't. So another way to do it is only to have choices at points where you are going to make a big change. However even then you can run into the problem of doubling up on things. Say you have a scene where a character is going to live or die. In one they live and the other they die but you may find that most of the events that follow don't change a whole bunch but now you need to have two threads going to support both of the choices. Since most people are doing this for fun they are unlikly to want to go to the hassle of having to double up on writing for this. Again it just comes down to having to deal with more work. I have done some writing for a video game and one of the things I was asked to write was simply variants of a greeting with a character. The greeting would change based on how far along things where. That is relatively easy but even though each one was maybe only five lines long it still ended up being close to 1000 words. I'm not saying that you couldn't have that level of detail in a story but at that point you run into the problem of keeping yourself motivated. When each chapter is taking hours and hours to write it becomes easy to be sapped of a desire to continue writing.
I think the workload won't increase constantly, though it will definitely be much more work than doing a linear or slightly branched. This is true if you don't use Conditional Branches. Using Conditional Branches, not every choice would be relevant in the next chapters, so a lot of the chapters could be "similar". Though it is still important that you run a golden thread through your story and don't allow the reader to walk from your tropical island to Siberia. It might be a good idea to collaborate on game mode stories as you can spread the workload and keep each other motivated.
I've tried my dead level best to make certain the choices in my story I am a True Fan! The Game have repercussions but it is very hard. One of the things is keeping up with the Variable scores. It is can be very hard to keep the different scores straight as the paths diverge more and more.
You could advertise your forum thread in a separate chapter of your story (Like "Writer's notes" or sth) Additionally, you could be more specific in your forum thread. e.g. some people could be intimidated by the thought of using game mode syntax. So it could be like planning the raw chapter draft together, then the other writer creates a draft chapter (to give the actual writer the credit) and sends you snippets of the chapter content. Then you do the game mode syntax around it and publish it. Though... I guess it's not really easy to find contributors.
To add on to what has been said, I write for some CYOA games. The biggest issue with this is that your writing has a tendency to lose forward momentum when you add a million choices and outcomes. If you go to write a story about a young man trying to sleep with five different girls and start it at a college party, then you can wind up writing 15 chapters to cover all the permutations of that - but the guy is still at the party. You just keep going sideways and the plot never really advances.
I haven't really invested the time to fully understand the means and ways of using scoring or looping chapters within CHYOA, and that's my own fault. On the other hand, I've been spending that time writing, and all the paths in my big story are unique, not to toot my own horn. (TOOT!) There's a quirk- and a bit of a pet peeve- in modern video games, that for all the "choice" seemingly available, even in "open-world" or "immersive sim" games, players are often ultimately thrust back into bottlenecks, especially where plot is concerned. Creating an experience of convincing depth often comes at the cost of creating content that the player may never see, and that's anathema to big, budget-minded productions. Where opening up a plot is an hour's work for a writer- who may not even have to consult with co-conspirators, let alone a budget and PR office- I don't feel I have a good justification for not offering in CHYOA what is too frequently absent in other genres. That breadth is one of the unique strengths of this particular format, and I feel it would be a mistake not to take advantage of it.
I invite everyone who is at least slightly interested in BDSM to contribute to my story https://chyoa.com/story/The-Invitation.9867 which uses "rooms" and encounters where you can wander from A to B and have little adventures that either change your stats, let you find stuff or are just little nice stories. It's easy to collaborate. There's even a Google Doc that lists all (well, not yet all, but a lot) changes to the variables. I can hand out the link to those interested. It's a very open story, you can go dominant or submissive or just fall in love and explore. And it's one useful example how to handle conditions and branches, I think.
You are right, but I disagree slightly: There are a few ways to create meaningful choices. One is to introduce a set of character stats (not too many) that actually play a role in the story and can and will be changed often while playing. If you include a set of encounters, each of those giving options on how to react, and each reaction prompting your stats to change, than you can make the reader arrive at a point where he is forced to take turn A by having stat X raised to +5 or to take turn B by having stat Y raised to +5. Or by having found item Z earlier. I started two stories with variables so far, and while both function differently, the setup in both stories was similar: There is an "exposition" which basically lets you freely decide what to do and building up stats, finding things, defining your character. The important thing is to limit that. You should have broadly a hand full of outcomes on what the character looks in the end, otherwise, yes, you are branching too wide. But contrary to a simple "character building", when the player arrives at this point, he actually already had a lot of fun (hopefully), has read a lot of text, and could tie his char built to real choices in real situations. The second part, broadly, would be the main plot, where you make the reader lie in the bed he's made for himself by choosing earlier: Paths are opened or closed based on earlier decisions. Not all of them (because that would spoil the fun too much), but still a lot. The reader, in my opinion, will not feel railroaded, as long as he can clearly understand how a certain development is clearly based on his decisions. Thing is: You don't have to branch off too much here, because you still have those "handful of choices" from the beginning. You stick to those. You simply play through different events and encounters and adventures. Of course, you can open and add small mini-paths based on variables. The third part would be the finale. That one can branch off widely again, because each ending can be a real ending and you don't have to bother anymore. That way, you have both: Real choices, but a range of paths that is manageable. Even better: If you work together on such a story, each author can take care on a specific path of choices, adding little touches here and there, while still cooperating on the main plot. Best way is to find branches which do have an impact, but won't pop up and influence every second (like life and death). So you can still go one main path, but slightly branching off from time to time to come back afterwards. That way, the reader will still experience different things, but the work is manageable.
My rule of thumb is: Give the reader at least two options. That feels like a choice. Don't give him 5 choices, if you don't have to. So start with the party, start with one girl (or two), and then give him a few limited choices on how to behave - and don't branch off into tiny little things like "Do you want oral sex first or a handjob first or a kiss first...?" And then finish the party, move to the next day and move the plot forward. It's possible. The beauty of this: If you are working together (and communicating), another writer can add a third girl at the party, without being bored, because for him it's completely new. People take care of new paths. The important thing is to branch them back into the main path and then move on together from there.
