Everyone is Happy

For my own reference and for anyone who finds it helpful, I'm providing a short list of links I'm finding helpful in planning and writing my game.

What's prompted this is that I'm currently working on one of the most complex early events in "Everyone", the first time Connie (potentially) encounters Lance, Mimette and Elaine. While the conversation should be fairly short to play through, it's a pain in the neck to write because of what it needs to take account of: Does Connie already know Lance is playing the Game? If so, how did she find out? Does she know his Caste and Career assignment? Has she encountered Verity? If so, what choices did she make in their encounter? Has she investigated the photo?

And then there's the choices she can make in this event...

Some of these choices affect the plot, then or later in the game. Some merely affect flavour. But it's important to me that the player choices, even if it's just the decision of what order to do things, are reflected in conversations.

And it's also important to me that if the player wants to skip all this talking and exploring and looking at things, they can do that, too. So this encounter might not even happen in a play through. :|

A note on resources: Twine, while intended as an interactive fiction engine in itself, is an absolutely invaluable and free) way to plot and imagine branching dialogues and plots without getting confused. I wish wish wish I'd started using it earlier. Preferably from the start, but definitely before I embarked on this event.

Now, the list:

By the numbers: how to write a long interactive novel that doesn't suck--aggressive merging and delayed branching.

Writing branching game conversations the easy way – approach from my indie game--planning and narrative beats.

New challenges in writing meaningful game dialogue--further considerations to above

Developing meaningful character arcs in branching narratives--recontextualization.

The storytelling secrets of Virtue's Last Reward--letting the needs of the story and interpersonal conflict create characters rather than vice versa

Teletheory: grammatology in the age of video--post structuralism :| Not immediately helpful, but does affect how I think of non-linear writing.

Also, Rules for writing interesting choices in multiple choice games--what it says on the box

In the final article, I REALLY disagree with with the "fake choices" bit.

Example: "Choice of Romance" has way too many fake choices. There's nothing like agonising over a choice only to look at the code and realise that, no matter what you chose, NOTHING changes. For instance, you get the exact same text and no stat or event changes depending on whether you go to the tournament dressed sexily to please the monarch, practically to compete, or attractively but modestly, despite the fact that there are stats for reputation and relationship for the monarch already in the game.

That kind of fake interactivity leaves me feeling cheated and irritated. Even if the only change is flavour text, there should be some result from asking the player to make a choice, even if it's only a change in flavour text.