Importance of internal dialogues in CoG games

You know my style. I use both.

I use monologues when I want the players to relate more to the MC or want them to be more immersed with what’s happening in the story. Remember in our story, in the first scene after the MC went to the bathroom? Wherein he/she could choose to turn the lights off?

The MC said that the ceiling is beautiful, with the moon and all the stars glowing soft green? And that he/she feels sleepy.

As the reader, wasn’t it much easier for you to imagine the scene because of the MC’s monologue?

But then it didn’t detract from your choices as a player, right?


There has to be a balance.

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That’s true. There aren’t much monologues, and indeed, I feel like I was more immersed inside the story.

I believe you’d rather small choices matters, than fake choices that would accomplish nothing in the end, am I right on this point?

Thank you to everyone, your answers are of a great help, you all make excellent points :wink:

I don’t really like fake choices. Hahahaha…

Just keep on writing and develop your own style.

Check my emails by the way.

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I did, I will answer to them :wink:

That’s also why I am looking for books, I really want to improve my style. As I stopped writing for a long time, trying to get back to it is a little difficult, as I tend to be distracted by other things. :sweat:

Instead of reading guides, read actual stories.

The more interesting, the more you’ll be motivated, and the more you’ll learn.

Also use real-life experiences when you can. You’ll be able to describe the events much easier.

My background is in novel writing, and with my first game “Attack of the Clockwork Army” I did some novel-y type things very deliberately, eg the MC actually has to have a significant weakness (weak stomach, lack of ability to focus, or xenophobia). Each one CAN be overcome during the story (in different ways), or it can turn a crucial failed test into a death. (It’s really difficult to die in that game, but it can be done.)

I love opposed stats. I do have personality skill tests, eg someone who’s chosen to be honest is more likely to be trusted, or someone who has chosen to be content is more likely to succeed at a boring, repetitive task. Etc.

In both cases, there are bits of text that change depending on what the player has chosen, and there are tests for each stat. The major disadvantage of this is that in many CoG games a well-balanced character is doomed to fail. I try to alleviate that problem by having a full range of options at crucial moments - something for everyone, including the well-balanced character.

I like testing combinations of stats at the end. In “Clockwork Army” that gives players multiple ways to survive (does your skill save you, or your magic, or your best friend?) but in “Scarlet Sails” it results in a high death rate (epic pirate deaths, but still…). That kind of complexity is definitely more novel-like than game-like, which inspires both love and hate.

Fake choices are interesting. They can add a bunch of interesting depth to a character… or get people annoyed that “My choices don’t matter!”

Thank you for making me think about this some more!

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That depends on how you use them. I personally get annoyed when I make a certain choice, and then choose something different in my next playthrough only to find out that choice leads directly to the same text I read the playthrough before that. I don’t mind if the options don’t influence the stats though, as long as it at least leads to some flavored text.

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Interesting that @Cecilia_Rosewood’s take on fake choices is more negative when leading to the same text. I’ll admit I tend towards @Felicity_Banks’s approach - possibly I overuse them for additional character depth without paying the pied piper and leading [quote=“Cecilia_Rosewood, post:27, topic:16916”]
to some flavored text
[/quote]

Sometimes it’s definitely laziness :upside_down: but I also think when you have a longer narrative with some pace, and some of your ‘big decisions’ are disguised as smaller ones, it can give a fun lifelike approach - you don’t know when your butterfly wings will cause {insert horrible natural disaster here]

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Although fake choices can vary the response text, as well as set variables differently, even if the reader doesn’t notice right away.

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