I know that When Life Gives You Lemons and College Tennis: Origin Story have optional alternate POV sections from some of the ROs. Choice of the Vampire’s Saint Louis Chapter has a segment from the POV of the main villain.
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Writing from different POVs is my favorite aspect of writing a game because it allows me to offer readers alternative perspectives. However, I’ve learned that not all readers enjoy reading POVs. To accommodate this, I make a note before each POV segment, giving readers the choice to skip it if they prefer.
While this approach may disrupt immersion, I haven’t received any complaints thus far. I believe people appreciate having the option to choose.
Additionally, these POV segments enrich the story without containing crucial plot points. I’ve ensured that readers who choose to skip these segments don’t miss out on the main plot of the game. However, in some cases, making the POVs unskippable, like in Wayheaven, might be necessary if that’s what you need to accomplish.
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That’s a neat way to do it. Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m making a note of all the recommendations. Cheers for that, everyone. 
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I like that way of doing it, it’s win-win for everyone!
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I… really don’t like it. It’s the definition of immersion breaks. Maybe a choice at the start to see if we want to read the POVs, in general.
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I can’t think of any CS games that do this off the top of my head. Apart from the ones mentioned that are along those lines but not quite 3 Games switches the POV character each chapter. I’m fairly sure twin souls switches between two people as well but its been a long time since I read it.
For most games I think this would be tricky to pull off (if I’m thinking what I think you’re thinking.) In more traditional books, you can sometimes get away with the reader knowing what everyone is thinking/doing because they’re outside of the story looking in (if that’s the style chosen). IF tends towards the person reading taking charge of one or more characters in the story so seeing things through a narrrower lens rather than having one main character then seeing what everyone else is doing/thinking too but not interacting with it.
I could think of something where you have cut away scenes in the 3rd person where you see the outcome of the MC’s actions. Is that more like what you’re doing? ie “you” the MC would like to date one of the NPCs. Then you see it from the NPC’s POV on how successful/unsuccessful you are currently being due to the way they are thinking about something you did to try and get their attention. So the MC does cause, and then you see effect from the other POV. In saying that, it could get a bit confusing depending on how many POV characters you’re going to have so I guess it’d have to see if it makes sense to do those switches and make the POV shifts clear.
I know Raishall was mentioned already, but I do have a 3rd person segment with less interactivity for a flashback sequence. (Being a flashback it’s more a personalised story sequence for background and context from the missing mentor’s POV. And this probably would be more similar to what you’d do with a NPC cutscene). From the feedback I’ve gotten, it seems to be people’s least liked of the 3 points of view (although it’s a very small sample size of readers who have commented their thoughts on that section so take that as you may. I’m not convinced that using alternate POV from NPCs is terribly popular in CSGs.)
@CC_Hill which game have you done this in? Looks like a decent compromise if the storypoints aren’t essential to moving the plot along 
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I was thinking of my ROs (if I make this one character RO, I’ll have the same spread my space opera project has…well, it has one more, technically, but per-playthrough count is same, since the MC takes place of one) and somehow ended up just planning ways of trolling my potential readers.
Like, making a POV switch and making it look like there’ll be multiple of them, and then making just the one. Or telling “this story has multiple PCs” and then setting a major scene in a computer shop.
I need sleep.
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brilliant
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I think I break all the rules with Patchwerks. Yet, somehow it seems to be working.
My take on PoV changes is that they will work, no matter their final form, as long as it is clear where the reader is, and the transitions are well executed.
@CC_Hill 's systems are executed well, so I feel she is able to “grease” the resistance that is sometimes found.
My heartfelt perspective is to make sure these are all done in a “frozen” moment of time and that the narrative plot arcs don’t advance as these “play out” in the game.
Perhaps enlisting specific readers here would be a boon.
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Oh, I also need to know. How many RO’s should I do? I was thinking of 3-4…
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I have anywhere from 4-7 ROs in my stories. I find this is a good balance depending on the kind of story and its length. My more complex and long stories tend to favor 5-7 ROs instead of my minimum of 4.
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That could work too.
Yes, it was Lemon.
I found that 5 can be a good balance.
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I feel like 3-4 is a good number. But if they’re set genders, then I would add a couple more. People like variety, but too much can start to take away their importance and depth
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Ah yes, February. It feels as though I’ve awoken from slumber mid day. Development slows, depression grows. The mad penman laughs. A fate well-sewn. A voice with no say. Arose a quiet sob. A million curses possess my mind, a purgatory ever growing, never kind. Needless to say I’ll be taking a hiatus. That said I’ve gotten some work done with project design for the new version of Last Shot.
My goal for this month is simple I guess. I just want to get my mental health back on track and maybe work on creating a consistent work schedule to help with that.
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Not quite, but I was more playing with the idea rather than getting clear on how I’d do it. Reading people’s comments in here and another thread, it seems like it would be much simpler (and generally more enjoyed by players) if I stick to the PC’s POV. But I’ll have a look at some of the mentioned games and think on it. Thanks for your response!
As a poet, I appreciate this kind of prose. As someone who has been down that road mentally, I’m cheering you on. Sounds like an excellent goal. 
Thank you for that! Solid advice.
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You might want to give the game Book of Hours a look, then. The prose is very similar to that, and that thing has words FOR DAYS*. The writer is the same as Cultist Simulator (which has the same type of prose, but has more time pressure which puts you in a frame of mind that is less likely to appreciate it, even though it has a pause button), which has two BAFTA nominations.
I say this because I will NEVER miss an opportunity to promote that game, my favouritest of all time…est.
BOOKS ARE THE MEMORY THAT NEVER DIES
*this is a metaphor. Not a metaphor, Book of Hours has words for hours, because Hours is what the gods are called. How many of them are there? 24, obviously. Living, anyway.
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Ultimately this is a writer comfort thing. Embrace that each one will be someone’s favorite, and that the most popular may not be your favorite. Do as many as you feel you can reasonably flesh out, more than like ~6-7 is getting into oversaturation territory. I, personally, am sitting in the 4-5 range (I have one that hasn’t been introduced yet, and one who I am still debating adding in the first place), and I doubt I could handle more than that.
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Piling onto the discussion of RO’s, I decided on 9 for my WIP because I simply wanted a story where all the characters are romanceable. 9 total characters is a fairly good amount in my opinion, but 9 ROs is A LOT. Way more than people would be interested in. But for me, it’s not meant to be a selling point. I just wanted a story where you can kiss any character you care enough to, so I made one like that. It also helps that each of these characters are OCs that I’ve written for wayyy before I knew about choicescript.
But in writing my WIP, and especially the structure I’m going for where there are RO-exclusive side stories, it’s made me realize how much work each RO requires. I knew this to a degree, but it’s different now that I’m 60k words in
4-6 seems like the golden range, at least for me. When I finish my WIP and inevitably decide on another project, I’m probably limiting the amount of ROs to that
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I think 9 ROs is a lot for you to work with. But as a potential reader, it’s very exciting! I like playing through the game multiple times, each with a different RO. So, the more ROs the more likely any given player will like more than one. Which is always a good thing.
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