You can do what @ViIsBae did on The Bureau, then: make it a side story readable from the game menu, which unlocks at the appropriate point of the game.
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I definitely relate to overthinking!
Iām sure you can use the line, or include something like that exchange, in the main game or repurpose it in some way. Waste not want not!
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This is, unfortunately, a poor way to make up for the part of the population that does not think at all. 
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This is random, but I played Mass Effect 1 for the first time recently and felt like I couldnāt wrap my head around all the (de)colonial themes and sci-fi & military fiction genre traditions the game played around in. One rabbit hole dive later, I re-discovered Google Scholar and devoured David Callahanās āDonāt Fear the Reapers, Fear Multiculturalism: Canadian Contexts and Ethnic Elisions in Mass Effectā and Christopher B Pattersonās āRole-playing the Multiculturalist Umpire.ā While I had to look up words and remember how to read an academic article (college was awhile ago lol), these works got me thinking more deeply how Iām weaving theme into The Witchās Necklace and the intersection of gameplay and narrative. The articles arenāt necessarily meant to improve an indie game devās craft, but they were excellent fuel for the creative fire.
I cold-searched romance games and Dr. Brierley-Beareās āRepresentations of Optional Romance in AAA Role-playing Games: Love, Lust and Limerenceā PhD dissertation popped up. Itās like 250+ pages and I really, really want to read it. 
Iām lucky enough that my local library does have video game development craft books too. Those will be more pointedly helpful. Searching Google Scholar feels more like splashing paint on a wall, but hey: paintās paint. I thought Iād share.
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This is exactly what I was going to recommend. Like Hannah said, I personally find POV switches in a 1st/2nd person game to be exceedingly jarring and capable of ruining immersion.
Adding the short stories to the game in the form of optional content in the menu is the perfect solution. It means more people will find and read it, and it leaves it optional, so it doesnāt lead to jarring situations for the player/reader.
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Exciting news! Tomorrow, Iāll be reading an excerpt from Their Majestiesā Pleasure for the British Fantasy Society. This will be the first time theyāve had a reading from an interactive fiction novel!
Iām humbled and pleased to be sharing a virtual stage with some accomplished authors, and to represent IF as a whole at this event.
My reading is scheduled for Saturday 13th April 2024 at 5:05ā5:15pm (UK time).
You can check out bios of the other authors doing readings on the BFS website and get a ticket if youād like to attend. Perhaps, once the event is finished, Iāll post the excerpt on the TMP forum thread.
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Heck yeah it is! That is amazing! Iām so happy for you!!
That is absolutely incredible. Making history!
Break a legš
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Amazing! Best of luck to you!
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Thatās absolutely fantastic! Congratulations and good luck!
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Thatās amazing!! Congrats and tell us how it goes! 
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I definitely will!
Thank you all for celebrating with me and all the kind words! 
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Here it is, the end of the second week, and I was able to complete most of the UX elements. All the parts that make the Codex are done, all the stat structure and displays including the directories and submenus are completed, and I even completed the end-game report and feedback questionnaire.
Next week will be dedicated to a bunch of testing and getting the game ready for a small pre-beta feedback run, I hope to have in select readersā hands starting on May 1st.
Others have already discussed your particular case, but I wanted to say that I have experienced writing side-arcs that grew beyond the intended scope I had for them. So, you are not alone.
When this happens, I evaluate whether I can incorporate bits and pieces in a better and more organic manner into the main story-arc, or if it is better to set aside the material for use in a new, different story sometime later.
My ācut materialā file for Patchwerks is 30,000 words now, which is enough material for a couple of stand-alone short stories, something to keep for the future, whether that is DLC material or Patreon material.
My first experience with the Mass Effect universe was Mass Effect 2 (still have the cd-roms somewhere) and when I tried to go back to play Mass Effect 1, I had a hard time enjoying it.
It is interesting that you deep-dive into this. I tend to let my intuition and āsixth-senseā conduct the weaving of theme, narrative and gameplay.
Huzzah!
Iād enjoy this a lot. I hope you end up posting it.
Iāll see everyone on the 15th with an excerpt.
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Finished C1 of Dance of the Night. It is a complete chapter, it works, the code works, the stats are working, there are even some stranger bits and bobs in there.
There are a few decisions I have made with inclusions that I am not 100% about. I decided to make it possible to be widowed (adding an actual spouse would be far too complex for the story) and have a child in the world - if you want.
Iāve also added a non-binary option for character gen; wasnāt really a recognised thing in the 18th century, but then this is not an 18th century simulator (if it were, dressing would take an hour and Iād be writing about bad breath every other line). It did make the (possible) crossdressing scene a little tricky, but ultimately I figured out how to code it.
Now off to work on other projects a bit while I reset my brain, so I can give this another look-over later and see if I can spot areas for obvious improvement.
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Congrats on the chapter completion, thatās great!
I have heard very good things about the book Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam which may be of interest re: trans people in various historical periods. (I havenāt read all of it myself, though I should get round to it given how many times I recommend it, heh.)
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Finally, I finished and posted Chapter Two of Meteoric. This chapter is 10k words, and you start to meet all the main characters and get into the meat of the plot
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Update: The reading went well! I was nervous and had to remind myself to breathe, but it was super fun to be involved and people were intrigued by the idea of interactive fiction. I put in a plug for HC/CoG so hopefully there will be some curious readers and writers headed this way. 
So far this weekend, in addition to the reading, Iāve applied for the SFWA and joined the British Fantasy Society (Iām from British Columbia so that counts right?) to connect with more fantasy writers and readers. Hopefully I can get some actual writing in, too. 
Hereās a link to the excerpt from the TMP forum thread:
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@leiatalon great job, well done! Iām glad it went well.
@Samuel_H_Young thatās awesome! I always enjoy the feeling of settling into a game once youāre past the initial bit.
I have a number of wolves battling within me currently while I muse to myself about future projects. This always happens as I start to reach towards the end of a game:
- one wolf wants to make a sexy boat-vacation romp*
- one wants to make a dark-fantasy Medieval-ish oathsworn warlock simulator (sexy too, but also very violent and with various magic stuff going on)**
- one wants to make a Creme-series university game***
Meanwhile Honor Bound is slowly getting closer to finished and thereās another potential thing in the pipeline, which are my main priorities. At some point, though, I will need to decide whether to do another Creme series game next - that well has so many ideas to draw from**** that I could do anything there, itās just a question of whether Iād like a changeā¦
Not to mention the fact that by the time it comes around to officially start something, Iāll probably have a whole other lot of ideas that Iām into even more than these ones! (This is part of why I usually recommend working on one thing at a time, haha)
*stakes undecided: wolf is unsure whether this would be pure romp, adventure-romp, or more danger
**youāre the servant of a living god; romancing your fellow knights is blasphemy, butā¦ delicious blasphemy
***for which I have a pretty solid idea but which needs some work (as do all of these to be fair)
****including the sexy boat idea, which could be a short Creme-series game or in another setting
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If you do this, you MUST call it A Little Death on the Nile
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Thank you!
Iām a fantasy lover through-and-through, so Iād vote this one, but follow your bliss! Iām right there with you as I ponder a bunch of ideas while trying to wrap up my current project.
That made me giggle. But what if the boat is on the ocean? Or a lake?
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The Lovissey (or The Odyssexy, but that doesnāt sound as close to the original, even though itās WRITTEN less differently, aināt phonetics fun?)
Still Waters Run Sexy
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