How does the *fake_choice command actually work?

Game Development ChoiceScript Help
1

This might be a dumb question, but still. :relaxed:

2

Pretty much the same as the *choice command. You just donā€™t have to end every option with a *goto or *finish. Unlike with the *choice command it tends to mess up when the options are combined with things like *selectable_if or *hide_reuse though.

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3

To expand of @Cecilia_Rosewoodā€™s words

From what I know, it allows the author to make a choice branch that converges back right after.

At the end of a typical *choice command, youā€™d need a *goto or *finish command afterward.
Whereas for the *fake_choice command, you donā€™t.

For example, this is choice:

*choice
    #choice1
        Text here
        *goto label1
    #choice2
        Text here
        *goto label2

And this is fake_choice:

*fake_choice
    #choiceA
        Text here
        *goto labelA
    #choiceB
        Text here
    #choiceC
        Text here
Text for B and C here.

Doing this for a normal *choice command would cause an error.

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4

why is it called ā€œfake choiceā€ does choice not matter?

5

Good question. I think that when it was first implemented most of the options that were available for a regular choice option didnā€™t work. Thatā€™s a long time ago though. Now itā€™s pretty close to a regular choice option. The amount of meaning and impact the choice actually has will mainly depend on the writer, not on the mechanics behind it. (Like wether you use a choice or a fake_choice command.)

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6

*fake_choice was originally unable to be used with any significant code (e.g. *set would throw up and error), but has since been changed to be used with most things.

It is noteworthy that *fake_choice still does break unexpectedly sometimes. (e.g. Nesting *fake_choices break).

(Personally I still heavily recommend using a normal *choice as good practice if thereā€™s any significant complexity.)

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7

But fake choices are my favoriteā€¦ :slight_smile: I guess that is a good practice.

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8

I agree
Fake choices are immensely useful. I find them much smoother and less involved. Particularly when dealing with choices that donā€™t necessarily change direction of the story but rather the ā€˜feelā€™.

Edit: but the title ā€œfake choiceā€ is kind of misleading.

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9

I use fake_choice almost exclusively in my CS coding :grimacing:

Maybe itā€™s laziness, maybe itā€™sā€¦ laziness. See? I couldnā€™t even be bothered to look up a synonym.

But seriously, fake_choice lets you drop a line or two in for a response, assign a variable maybe, and continue on with the story. It honestly takes the burden off of branching the story onto a whole new path while still allowing the reader to have some (hopefully meaningful) input.

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10

I never use fake_choice, but when I started writing with CS it did very little and a few of us held it in scorn, more of a cheep way to add filler to s story. Of course itā€™s useful now a days but still have a hard time bring myself to write with it LOL.

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