I wanted some advice or other ideas on how i can better organize the story iv been working on for my game. For example, when your writing your story do you just write while you code or write a draft script first, and if u do write draft of the story first how do you organize the branch off of decisions while writing? Just trying to get a better method then i currently use. Iv mostly have gotten stuck when a big decision comes into play. For example Hitting a point where the player picks something that changes the direction of the whole game.
Unless you’re at the end of the game, don’t allow for choices that change the entire direction of the game. Keep the game fairly linear so that all of the choices point a similar way. You’ll find it a lot easier to keep track of the game. And once you’re finished, if you really want that game-changing choice you can go back and write it. But for now try and stick to branches that don’t have a drastic effect
The blog actually has a bunch of really interesting articles on the subject. I’d suggest reading through the really old posts on game design. Game Design Archive - Choice of Games LLC
Vignette Structure as a Means of Controlling Branching - Choice of Games LLC in particular.
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Personally for me, I first of all make a vague storyline for a certain chapter, then move on to write a normal story which i turn into a game after revising. It has kind of worked for me and it is a quite enjoyable way of writing without getting confused. I’ve not had a lot of experience with writing but you can quickly try and see if it works for you.
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Thank you both for the good tips. Ill give your suggestions a try. I cant wait to see what ill create.
Good luck, you can almost always ask me to give you some feedback on the game, it’s winter and i’ve got no life at home, i’ll be looking forwards to your game.
Thanks I might take you up on that offer. Iv got alot of work before then but the title is Rome a Gladiator story. Ill post my progress soon and thank you for the support 
Oh, that actually seems really exciting, hopefully you make a good one. Most of the roman, games have been closed off short and it is one of my favorite genre.
You can try this program I just released. (Currently Windows only…)
Check out the screenshots, it’s really easy to see where all the branches go and modify them. Plus, it writes the choicescript code for you so you can focus on writing the story (:
Good luck on your project!
So this is me trying to write down what I think is good advice when you try to make a game in CoG and I hope you have good advice back for me. (but I have only been using it for what, 3 weeks)
General speaking I think that this should help.
.1. plan globally your story. So, one or two lines with the major events for each chapter, just so you have a general direction to fall back to.
.2. Don’t use an enormous cast of people. I dislike it when character after character is introduced. Just a few well thought out characters should be enough.
.3. keep a small log of the details you have given about your characters. I thought of this just a little while back, but it really helps me. Just write down the motivation from your character, any good and bad traits they might have. And write down the appearance you have given in the game so far. Just to make sure you don’t talk about different eye color all of a sudden.
.4. I don’t really use the temp option in coding and have read that other don’t do it that much either. What I do is write a small comment about where I use the variables. Just a simple, chapter one followed by which ones I use.
Personal things. In my game (check the demo, the 6th legion, yeah self-promotion) I try to keep things realistically in order to get people invested in the story which means.
.5. Do your research. I find it actually really fun. Learned a lot about things I had no idea and you can see how people who know something about the subject write about it. Had to read a lot about hunting, and if people like what they write about they can give you just that little bit more detail you need.
.6. Difference between the gender you pick. Not that I have made a big difference, the general line is still the same. But just the interaction with the other important characters should have some difference in it. To make the choice to play the other gender worthwhile. After all, why else would you give the choice.
.7. Background is important. I try to give all four of the different backgrounds a special option in every chapter. Of course, I am only at chapter 1 so not sure if I can make it all the way, but will try.
.8. because you are writing a game in which choices are the important factor you might get stuck because you have to keep track of many different variations that you don’t know where to start writing. What helps me is just write down in a short overview of everything possible scenario so you know what to do.
Think of something like.
Wounded
Not wounded
Took advice
Didn’t take advice.
Just seeing it like that makes it a lot clearer, at least for me.
Hope that my tips help.
Now my hidden agenda for writing this. My greatest problem at the moment.
Namely stats. Certain things happen in the story if you have a certain amount of points. So 5 points in strength and you win, less and you lose.
But is there a good way of keeping track how many points you can have at a given time. And how much below the maximum should I stay to keep it realistic. After all, there is a good chance people will choose 4 strength and 1 smarts or something like that. (hope my question is clear.)
Hope that someone reacts and thanks for reading.