Choose-your-own-adventure stories, of course, have a certain appeal, because the reader is not merely following the plot, but creating one. At each decision, the choice does make a difference, and that’s what makes it more realistic than a traditional linear story. It is also one of the easier formats for a first-time interactive fiction writer, as the design, decision, branch, outcome, system is easy to understand even if you don’t have a design background.
The traditional way of handling branching logic was to write it by hand: keep in mind where each branch of logic takes you to a tree of possibilities that grows with every decision. With an ai game builder, you don’t have to worry about that bookkeeping aspect . You define your branches and outcomes, and the platform takes care of the rest.
Mapping Your Branches Before You Prompt
The single most useful thing you can do before touching the platform is sketch your branch structure on paper or in a simple document, even just a bulleted list of decision points and where each choice leads. This doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, it just needs to be there before you start talking to Boo, the AI game agent, about your game because a well-defined idea helps you generate a much better initial game.
If you are more of an “adventure” type of player, and you don’t need to add many visual elements to your game at each decision point, a text adventure games format is often the best choice because you don’t have to worry about designing the art at each choice point.
Deciding How Many Endings You Actually Need
It’s easy to think that every decision is equally important, leading to dozens of different endings that don’t have as much impact as you’d like. If it has been several branches through a few decision points and a lot of really similar endings, then it’s a less satisfying experience than if it was a thorough structure with three or five distinct meaningfully different endings, reached by a few key decision points. Use the highest quality, most distinctive choices for the most important story moments.
Building the First Draft
Explain your setting, your main character’s predicament and your plan for your decision points to Boo in as detailed a manner as you feel comfortable doing. The platform generates a design document based on this structure . First,it takes time to carefully check this document . The missing branch or decision that doesn’t lead to where you want it goes is much easier to correct at this time than after all of the assets are generated.
Even branching stories can use some pacing guidance – our resource on narrative games is a good read for this – but if there is a stronger narrative through line to all the options, then it is worth reading that guide as well.
Testing Every Path, Not Just the Main One
One mistake often made when creating branching content is to test the “obvious” path extensively and only test the less-used paths lightly. This is the same for every path that a player can actually travel: if it is of poor quality (e.g. dead-end branch, rushed, unfinished), it ruins the whole experience for the player who took it, although most players will not ever encounter it. This is even more important for those adventures created via a 3d game maker online since a missed out branch can likewise mean a scene that looks unfinished as opposed to simply some thin text.
Keeping Voice Consistent Across Branches
A minor difficulty about branching fiction is keeping the style of the story the same throughout all the possible paths a player can take. It’s easy for one branch to feel more polished than another if you spend more review time on the “main” path and less on side branches. Before posting, read through all the endings one after the other to ensure that the tone and pacing of the ending remains consistent, and the voice of the character remains consistent throughout all the endings. Even if the branching logic is flawless, having inconsistent voices across the branches can make for an unfinished CYA.
Writing Choices That Feel Meaningfully Different
If it’s not really different to choose, it’s not a branching game. Provide actual information for players to consider, a tip-off on the possibility of a greater risk, a narrative pause for a character reaction, a hint of a consequence. Options that appear arbitrary, or where people have to basically take a wild guess at what they need to do, diminish the “agency” that makes this format so fun to do in the first place. Write down decision points on Boo that involve the stakes or emotions of both sides of the decision, not just the mechanics of the decision.
Publishing and Watching How People Actually Choose
Once published, your adventure can be shared via one link, and each branch is included in that one published version – there is no need to publish separate versions. When players share the game and talk about their options, listen to those that are discussed or remembered, they can provide a deeper understanding after the game and can help you identify which ones may be good to revisit for a future version. Choosing your own adventure game, as you can imagine, isn’t a one and done endeavor. The best ones will be refined as you get a glimpse of how actual players navigate the options you have created for them.
