I find combat to be pretty intuitive to write, but only because I have a lot of practice - and tend to create as many potential outcomes as I can, which means not only do I write a lot of combat encounters, I also tend to write a lot of outcomes to combat encounters.
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I’m definitely in the “has trouble with fight scenes” camp. They tend to tire me out, as I complained in the previous support thread, and I feel the end result of often sub-par. Maybe not bad, but definitely lacking a certain punch that my other scenes usually have.
I’m not entirely sure why that is. Maybe it’s an issue with my current project—I included a fairly wide selection of weapons, which not only results in a lot of *if statements but also makes it hard to “visualize” any given fight scene. In my next game, I’ll just have the player choose between five kinds of sword and be done of it. I’ll definitely include Jians and Falchions, any other suggestions?
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Personally, I’m of the opinion if you provide too many options for something like weapons, you’re either going to end up with cosmetic differences which don’t feel meaningfully impactful, or will find yourself writing so many iterations of the same combat to account for each one that you end up writing tens of thousands of words worth of fighting for a single skirmish.
If fight scenes aren’t your strength, I’d advise paring down to as few potentially consequential variables as you can, because the more variables you add, the more each fight scene is going to require.
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I love writing and reading fight scenes—they’re simply exhilarating. The thrill, the anticipation, and the outcome keep the reader on the edge of their seat. A well-crafted fight scene not only breaks monotony but can serve as a turning point for the entire game. It’s also one of the best opportunities for creating branching paths and exploring different outcomes in interactive fiction.
Fights aren’t just action—they’re moments of high stakes and character development, where choices truly matter. Whether it’s a duel, a battle of wits, or a desperate struggle for survival, fight scenes bring energy and depth to any story. They’re simply awesome.
But don’t you think that things like that makes the players feel that their choices are meaningful or that they have more influence on the game?
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I actually think the precise opposite.
I think offering fewer choices and options which deliver more and deeper consequences will be more likely to make players feel like the choices they make actually matter when it comes to affecting the characters and setting around them.
Given the choice of giving the player the option of six weapons which only change a few words in the same fight scene, or writing two entirely different fight scenes with entirely different dynamics to take into account the choice of one of two or three weapons, I will always take the latter course of action.
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I feel like this is a bad idea because it’s definitely going to increase the amount of work and visualization that goes into any given fight scene because those sword types are all so different. A scene written with a jian in mind isn’t really going to work with a rapier or a falchion.
I feel like this kind of approach has three real outcomes. Extremely generic fight scenes where everything is vague so you can ignore the sword differences, awkward fight scenes that have me lunging with my falchion like it’s a rapier, or the author having to basically write five different fight scenes to account for the weapon differences.
I’d much rather just get a choice between two weapons and have that choice be more impactful.
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I agree. Make the choice “tank,” “stealth,” or “magic,” and you might get people replaying to see how the fights play out with a totally different combat style. But I’d bet that very, very few people will replay the game just to see how the fights go with a spear rather than a dagger.
There’s definitely a place for “texture” choices that make the world feel a little more adapted to the player-- but I’d suggest that place is where the author doesn’t need much more than a ${variable} or occasional multireplace to remind the player of that choice. Hair color. Favorite drink. Alibi.
If you can foresee that giving a particular choice is going to require writing substantially different versions of multiple scenes throughout the game – e.g. combat scenes, love scenes, escape scenes, depending on genre – I’d advise that you should only include it if (a) you think people will actually replay the game for it and/or (b) you love wriitng that kind of variation yourself. Weapon choice will fall into the sour spot for most people.
I should be clear that this is not advice I’ve consistently followed myself. 
But unless you want like me to have a decades-spanning project, you might want to follow a “less is more” rule of thumb.
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I’ve written more consistently in this month than November. That is to say, every day (ignoring the fact that on some days, it was past midnight when I wrote my daily words so technically I missed those days but if I haven’t gone to sleep yet then I’m still counting it as “today” even if it’s technically “tomorrow”). The absolute lack of pressure from a five-word quota does wonders, it seems. Especially helps when I don’t actually know what is supposed to happen next in the scene, then I can treat it like that game where you only add a few words to a story and then the next person has to add a few words, then the next person, so on, except the next person is still just me. But yeah, I can just make stuff up, and then it’s tomorrow-me’s problem for where it’s gonna go from there. At least I’m getting words down. Plus, since five words is so few, I tend to surpass it in order to form coherent sentences—so future me won’t be too lost. I’m thinking I could probably use this strategy for reading again, too. Eventually.
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You could also tire yourself and offer said 6 swords and make each fight unique based on the weapons traits. Though that will rapidly increase your word cpunt for every fight scene. Doubly so if its common and quadruple so if the fight as a whole changes based on the weapon rather than a few words.
Ive personally opted for the aforementioned “Tank, magic, stealth” path. Three completely distinct ways of going about a situation based on preference with their own benefits and downsides.
Of course I couldnt just settle for something simple and reasonable so I still managed to turn that into 6 separate scenes by adding the extra variable of whether the player intends to kill or not.
Thankfully I’m in the camp of combat being easy to write as I can find my self just continously writing 5 thousand words in a single day during said variations. But I wouldn’t really suggest doing that unless you have the will and the story has a heavy action focus.
Something like honor bound wouldn’t be as well served with so much action variety versus say, fallen hero.
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I really need to get faster when beta-reading…
I doubt the quality of feedback I provide gets markedly better, from me taking days upon days to get through a game.
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You really don’t need to. Beta reading a game is a lot of work, and that it’s in its beta stages means it’s (almost) at release length already. It tends to take me weeks to beta read a game, and I’m one of those people who stick to a single playthrough. If you’re doing multiple playthroughs it makes sense that the amount of time needed for it goes up as well.
Reading for fun and relaxation is a lot easier. You don’t have to stop to take notes, check the dictionary, discuss segments that leave you conflicted with friends or rubber-duckying it in other ways, and, if there is no save system, to replay it to get back to the place you left off last time if there is no save system in place.
You’re doing people a favor by doing this, especially if the only reward is usually the satisfaction if having done it. Don’t burn yourself out. It’s okay to take your time or to let other (real-life) issues and/or self-care take priority.
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I guess I’m just feeling pressure, from disappointing experiences of giving feedback last minute, or having to bow out after initially accepting, or (in case of official betas) having big updates come out when I’m 3/4 through a playthrough and resetting my progress.
And I don’t know, it seems like some people can give feedback very quickly?
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Reminds me of when I was testing Community College Heroes. I really tried, but the game really wasn’t the kind of thing I’d enjoyed despite how enthusiastic other people’s reviews of it were, so I ended up leaving with an apology to the author after muddling through the first playthrough. The feeling sucks, but it’s really no-one’s fault. What it says on the tin/game blurb doesn’t always match up with how the game actually is, and that someone else really enjoys a game is no guarantee that you are going to.
That sucks. At least you can label your feedback up to that point as ‘feedback from before the xth update’ so that the author will know that not all of it will still reflect the most recent state of the game, but it might still be valuable because not everything mentioned might have been addressed in the update.
Some, yes. Though it does make me wonder if they make notes of an entire playthrough and then post it like I would do, or if they send in feedback per chapter or other shorter increments. Also, having days off and timezones affect this as well. If a beta is posted at some US standard time, chances are that even on a day off I’ll be behind the US testers by an hour or twelve just from that. It’s not really worth speculating about, because unless you’re the person receiving the feedback you’re never going to know.
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Giving feedback is not a race. It is not a competition. It is something I don’t like at all from the modern forum. Testers and people giving feedback are more focused on looking good and more clever than the rest. Then I feel sincerity has abandoned the building with texts more cooked than Ign reviews.
I can’t giving feedback on anything except 4 people sadly now 3.
less blah blah blah buttering padding and more pointing to real flaws and issues even if aren’t posh
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How… How are we doing this? Still in this thread, or in a new thread, or…?
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I made a thread for it In memoriam I thought it was better to not cause havoc in this thread.
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While pointing out bugs, typos, and potential issues is of the utmost importance, I don’t see pointing out things people liked as buttering or padding, honestly. I think it’s important for an author to know what parts people like as well as those they don’t.
I also think it’s great that people have different approaches to giving feedback. Mara, your direct approach is fine—I’m not suggesting you change it at all, just saying it’s helpful to also have people who report on the parts they particularly enjoyed, especially when you’re in beta testing and receiving a lot of feedback at once. If it’s all about mistakes or issues to fix, it can be disheartening for the author.
@Cecilia_Rosewood I think bowing out if a game isn’t for you is 100% the right thing to do. I DNF so many books (and some games, too). I simply don’t have time to struggle with things I don’t enjoy. Life is too short for that.
@The_Lady_Luck Any feedback you’re able to give, at whatever pace you’re able to set for yourself, is always appreciated. I hope you know how much authors value your time and thoughtful feedback, and hope you can take a deep breath and let go of that feeling of pressure. Some games are really long, too! So there’s that element, and not everyone can sit and play for hours to power through a beta pass. Just do you. Whatever contribution you make is a worthy one.
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@The_Lady_Luck just to second what @Cecilia_Rosewood and @leiatalon said - any pace is good, and there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of about taking time to playtest. I personally find playtesting intense: it’s completely different to playing for fun. (And even when I play for fun, I often play slowly!)
And seconding this too. Having gone through beta testing pretty recently, this is correct - it’s very likely that one tester will see things that need fixing that another hasn’t, and will certainly have a helpful alternative perspectives too 
The other thing I meant to mention is that today is my second day coding the first chapter of Project Amble 
it’s really fun, and interesting stretching myself in different directions. (One of the things I’m excited about is tracking the player’s items to use or trade… I’m looking forward to giving players the chance to use the stuff they’re carrying at dramatic moments…)
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Oof, okay, a bit late but I’ve always wanted to partake in these threads, and thought to myself, why not, can’t be anxious forever😅 jeesh being anxious is tiring sometimes. Okay so It’s time I try to challenge myself and see how far I can get, regardless of external factors. But I want to start very small.
So there’s 3 scenes I want to actually complete for my prologue rewrite, but I want to start small.
First one is a 1v30 fight scene.
Second one is basically an old scene I sort of skipped because I felt stuck. But it helped skipping it because for some reason I managed to cover a lot of things these past 3 days, especially yesterday when I took a day off. So now I sort of feel… Able, to go back to it.
Third one is the final 1v1 scene.
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Working steadily on the next case. A redux of a previously written one that I felt no longer fits the tone and writing standard of the project. Will be about regret. Demoralized due to lack of feedback. Would rather shout in own ear than void.
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