I agree with this 100%. I used to read books constantly with no problem, but now it seems unless it’s interactive I can’t keep my attention and get bored easily.
When it comes to romance in IF I can’t live without it! Given, if the concept sounds interesting enough I will always try it out. But overall my interest doesn’t stick unless there is some sort of romance involved.
I also prefer if relationships are significant in IF. My favorite thing is getting relationship stats with every character high haha (charismatic people-pleaser here).
I don’t particularly mind set endings I suppose. But it does make re-playability less fun/exciting. Unless the journey itself is interesting and varies enough to make the book worth replaying multiple times.
I was going to say as long as there are choices, I’d consider it IF. But @Loudbeat makes a very good point. If everything (personality, relationships, events, etc.) basically stays the same after replaying, it does seem more like rereading a book.
I mean, the best example I can think of is that, let’s suppose there’s a IF in which all choices lead to the exact same outcome, maybe varying the text somehow so the choices don’t seem fake and forced. The reader would take the choices with thrill thinking and choosing carefully like if it were real consequences, even if it doesn’t matter, the reader doesn’t know.
A stupidly strong and unnecessarily violent analogy would be if someone play Russian roulette with no bullets but without them knowing. I think the reaction would be exactly the same even if there’s no real danger, again, the player doesn’t know.
As long as you believe there’s a ghost in the room you’ll try to see it somehow, and attribute things that happen to it, but that’s deviating of topic about suggestion and other things.
So yeah, replayability takes all that away, but not only because of choices but also because you already know who’s the bad guy, who could be a traitor, you know the plot, even if it changes, it might not be as exhilarate as the first time.
I find it interesting that the term non-traditional in this thread seems to be focused on the content of the stories rather than on the format!
I’d love to see more non-traditional formatting stretching the medium past its expectations. There are stories that have full-on card games programmed in. I’ve written stories that turn ChoiceScript into a text parser. And there’s one person (@choicehacker) who made a full 3D first-person perspective maze game in addition to many other projects.
A Kiss from Death has been described as “very different from most other choice games” and I found that really surprising. It can feel more like a short story collection than a novel, but I otherwise don’t stretch the format too far. Not like the Vampire Life Simulator game which goes for a non-narrative simulationist approach (not my cup of tea but still cool) or the other pieces I mentioned earlier. Trying to remember the name of the story that had all the minigames programmed in …
Anyway message me with other cool Choice games that play with the format and I’ll play them cause I’m super into it.
You should write what you want, don’t stress too much, everyone have different taste. As for me, i would not read a story without romance because i like this feature too much. The sad ending is ok, as long it not devastanting and make us feel like the journey was a waste of time. I like choice driven stories, otherwise, i would prefer to read a book. Again, these are just my personal preferences, you still should write whatever makes you happy
I agree with a lot of what’s been said, that you should write what you want to write. People will always have different preferences and expectations, but I think every format has its place. Even if it’s not the most common or commercially viable format, there are people who will enjoy it. If you’re writing something you care about and your format is the best way to realize your vision, go for it. There’s not so much a right and wrong as there is a more common and less common.
