The mechanic I hate most are opposing stats that don’t entirely make sense as opposites, that are seemingly capriciously altered by non-obvious choices, and which either limit the choices you can make or alter in unforeseeable ways the outcomes of those same choices.
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I’ve seen this more often in HG than in CoG, but I just can’t excuse grammatical errors or writing that is not immersive at all (e.g. an entire page consisting of: “you go to the room and retrieve a glass of milk” then next choice).
Typos are fine if there aren’t many. But it’s really bland writing that disappoints me. Why would you even make choices if you don’t care about your MC? 
Okay, rant over.
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I’m curious. What do you mean by voice?
Like a choice in what your character says after a few paragraphs of dialogue, or an MC personality?
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When the author only explains what the MC said instead of actually writing what was said. Like in Fatehaven. (Not saying the book is bad, quite the opposite.)
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I guess i dislike when choices require a certain stat. I always end up making a jack of all trades character and that really hurts me in the long run.
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Yeah I am with you on this. I’ve learned the hard way that summarizing the MC’s contribution to the conversations, even if nestled in choices, can seem very…sterile and inauthentic.
Personally, I much prefer writing MC dialogue, but of course some readers will then say, “My MC would never phrase things in that way,” so you open that can of worms.
Still, I’d prefer things to be “slightly off” as opposed to “dull and dry.” I can’t really think of anything worse than being dull and dry. That is like the capital offense of writing, IMO. (this being said, I relied HEAVILY on NPC-chatter in CCH1 and 2, and that definitely helped. I mean, when you have a group of people speaking, the MC will only realistically add to the conversation once in a while anyway)
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I’m curious, how would guys feel if the MC’s dialogue is written this way because they are non-verbal and only communicate through sign language? Would it still feel inauthentic/would there be a way to make it feel authentic?
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I find that writing an MC’s voice is difficult. Everyone envisions their MC differently. I rather like when my character interacts with other characters without my having to select “I say xyz”, but I also understand that the vast majority of folks on this forum feel the exact opposite.
There are two games I’m devoting a lot of time on at the moment, both of which rely heavily on intercharacter interaction. In one, I’m providing four personality options for the player - and I will have the MC speak a different way depending on each - and in the other, I’m having the MC interact entirely via “I say xyz” choices and/or nonverbally.
Both of them feel limiting as an author, but in different ways. It’s hard to strike the balance, and you’re always going to have people frustrated.
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The thing is, sign language is a real language with its own grammar and nuances.
So it’s like asking, “If someone were speaking German, would it be okay to summarize what they are saying?”
I would recommend, if everyone in the scene knows sign language, to write it as normal dialogue, and if not, to have one character be the interpreter and use spoken dialogue.
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I am deaf but I do agree with this statement. If you’re writing a deaf character that can only communicate through sign language then it has to be written as a normal conversation that one would have with a deaf person if they know sign language. The only thing that frustrates most deaf people is that we are treated differently than a normal hearing person would be treated.
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So, this is an example of how I’ve been writing it. (FYI, the MC is not deaf, they’re just non-verbal and they communicate via sign language.)
You look at Jacob in the front seat. He’s still curled into a ball and clutching his ears. The stress of having to leave unexpectedly and Mira’s puking episode seems to have stressed him out. You turn to Mira and ask how he’s doing.
“He’s doing alright, given the circumstances…” she replies softly. “You’ve helped him out.”
Is that acceptable, or would the following be more acceptable?
You look at Jacob in the front seat. He’s still curled into a ball and clutching his ears. The stress of having to leave unexpectedly and Mira’s puking episode seems to have stressed him out. You turn to Mira and ask, “How is he doing?”
“He’s doing alright, given the circumstances…” she replies softly. “You’ve helped him out.”
My only reservation with the latter is that it makes it seem like the MC is actually saying those words with their voice, which is what I don’t want the reader to think.
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If it were up to me, I’d make it clear that the MC is signing by taking out the word “ask” and replace it with “sign” and rephrase the sentence around it so it looks as if the MC is actually asking with sign language.
Edited: I feel like if the reader reaches that point in the story where we already know about the MC, it’d make more sense this way.
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I’m slightly disliking only being able to ask someone one question before having to move on to the next part of the story. I like being able to ask at least two questions or speak a little more. I understand it’s probably for reply value but that just my opinion.
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I can easily do that, but I still don’t really like that the MC has actual dialogue in quotation marks because I know some readers skim pretty quickly and might miss the “sign” beforehand, especially since it’s usually traditional verbalized speaking in the place of non-verbal signing.
When you say to rephrase the sentence so it looks like it’s being asked with sign language, what exactly do you mean?
This is the first chapter, but there are multiple instances before this one that indicate the MC communicates entirely through sign language.
Well, since sign language also has facial expressions to show emotions and deaf/non-verbal people are more likely to be taught to show emotions so the tone of what they’re signing would be expressed.
For example, I’d probably write something like this. Copying your example with a bit of the rephrasing I’m talking about here.
You look at Jacob in the front seat. He’s still curled into a ball and clutching his ears. The stress of having to leave unexpectedly and Mira’s puking episode seems to have stressed him out. You turn to Mira with a questioning look on your face and sign “How is he doing?”
Hopefully it might make it clear about what I’m trying to say about this.
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Having to go through nearly all the available options in a certain scene, because the others lead to death. I’m not against death in these games per definition, but I do think it’s often quite poorly executed. There really is no fun in having to guess what option will lead to victory (while all the others lead to dead). I understand this can be tied with the skills and whatnot, but I rather see grayed out options or less routes to death.
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I’ve seen some authors solve this problem before by using different quote marks. I.E. “spoken dialogue will look like this” and << signed dialogue will look like this >>.
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Or having a nonstandard game over that doesnt lead to having to restart from the beginning
Not exactly related to what you were talking about, but damn, I love you for mentioning Quizilla. Those wwyffs/wwffys were my childhood and felt like the best thing ever. They were actually what got me into interactive fiction. So it’s really great to meet someone who likes them just as much as I do. 
Topic: I agree with a lot of things others have mentioned, such as underdeveloped characters, choices having no real impact, and how a dark theme would be wonderful.
A pet peeve of mine is when a game makes you choose the name/appearance of any character besides the MC. I like it when games have realistic relationships and interactions between characters. In real life, you don’t get to choose the name or appearance of your friend or significant other. I feel like when a game does this, it kind of takes away from the depth of the characters. They don’t feel like their own person anymore.
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I don’t really like when a game has stat checks that are something like “If you have 70% Fighting, you manage to do such-and-such. Have a point less, and you just fail”. I think that encourages players to dump all they can into one stat and hope that they can jut pass most checks on the story, while I also doesn’t make for very fun reading. Much better, I’d say, is to put layer the results a bit: if a player has a middling stat, they can still win, but with a drawback.
That’s a minor complaint, though, since I can’t really remember many CoGs or HGs who do it 
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