There is quite a difference between NPCs, you know, knowing how to kiss or whatever, and them bringing up their ex every other sentence. It might be a bit harder to balance if the ex is also an NPC, but if it’s something in the background that shows they’ve dated other people before that doesn’t sound like a problem to me.
11 Likes
You could also make your MC a political leader. That’s how I ended up researching the gross domestic product of Estonia for the sake of a single paragraph of my fantasy story.
When it comes to humans, there really isn’t such a thing as “outside biology” since everything about our lives is biological by definition. Every aspect of every culture stems from biology, some effects are just less constant than others.
Which colors are considered masculine is not relevant to human survival, and so our “gendering” of colors is completely arbitrary. Pants became masculine when men started riding horses, so it’s not universal, but it doesn’t stem from random chance either. Men owning land is just one element of patriarchy, which has been almost omnipresent for most of human history due to basic dynamics of pre-industrial society.
Sometimes there is a clear reason for a thing being gendered, sometimes not, but it’s less arbitrary than you seem to imply.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Some people don’t. The author of Crown of Ashes and Flames, as I mentioned in the previous thread, was borderline harassed because one of her ROs dared to have romantic history.
That said, I never had any encounters with these people. One of ROs in Saturnine has an entire subplot dedicated to dealing with her ex-husband and, if anything, she seems to be the most well-liked of the roster. Hell, one of ROs in my newest WIP has a history of prostitution and the readers don’t seem to mind yet. Players who expect their ROs to have never kissed are just an occasionally vocal minority.
12 Likes
Hm. I guess I’ve never been super into the soulmates trope partly because it raises questions around this kind of dynamic. Great for the plot, not so much for the characters.
Good luck to us all! I hope it goes well.
7 Likes
The best part about dropping your writing project for a while is that you get so many laughs when you come back to it.
“Okay then,” Ekström says. “What’s bothering you, Repo?”
“Have you seen anything strange happening?” you ask without ceremony.
“Define strange,” Kozlov says. “I did see Leif going wild after the scent of some small beast at the central park. And he was in the human form. And fell from a tree. That looked blasted strange.”
And Connor has a dog! I had completely forgotten that Connor has a dog. What an awesome find.
“Connor,” you say. “Please tell me you haven’t really drawn the ire of Intelligence again.”
You’re sitting at a café table, Connor’s Centaurian Shepherd laying lazily at his legs. It’s a nice day; the air is slightly crispy, and there’s a slight white cover of frost on the ground, but the chair is comfortable enough, even at the outside tables. It is also a very private place to talk.
“What?” Connor says. “No! What makes you think that?”
You shake your head. “Maybe it’s just me, but they suddenly seem to be everywhere. Can’t swing a dead fish without hitting some agent or another.”
“Maybe you should stop swinging dead fish around, then,” he says, but seems worried. “We are at the central worlds, and in a military city at that. There are always more agents than near the borders, in uniform at least. I mean, their headquarters are here, for crying out loud; of course they haunt this city. It’s always difficult for me to adjust to as well, after a long trip.”
“Maybe. But really, are you trying to convince me, or yourself?”
“Repo, what’s going on?”
You think for a moment whether or not you should answer to that, then decide that yes, you should. You need to know if Connor has met some agent as well, or, at least you need to warn him so that he can watch his back; this doesn’t feel the usual buzz to you. “I got ambushed by some agent. Who claimed to be an agent. Well, who was wearing the uniform at least. I don’t know if he was legit or not, his IFF was off.” Before that encounter, you wouldn’t even have thought someone in Intelligence uniform wouldn’t be legit – you have never heard of anyone daring to fake wearing one – but, such is life.
He turns to look at you, eyeing you worriedly, but since you look unharmed, he turns his attention back to feeding cake to his dog. (Seriously, should he be doing that?) “What did he want?”
“Claimed to be hunting for Sterling.”
“What? Couldn’t he just call him? They must have some form of emergency contact. I mean, I do remember us searching for some disappeared operatives during the war, but we weren’t ambushed and blackmailed to do that, it was an official request.”
“Apparently he couldn’t. He also claimed Sterling’s lying about himself. I’m not sure if that meant he’s not really an agent, or that he’s gone AWOL, or that he’s really an IPR spy, or if this is just some elaborate prank from Guld, but there you have it. And as far as the special spy hotline goes, I have no way of knowing one way or another. But they must sometimes go radio silent and not answer the phone, that’s just common sense.” And also what Sterling said. Hmm.
You could also imagine Intelligence wouldn’t always want the fuss of making it officially known that they’ve lost a dangerous operative – there is a reason why most of the Intelligence’s work is secret, the internal affairs investigations on other military branches notwithstanding – but knowing that doesn’t really ease your nerves. And, of course, you don’t know whether that’s what’s happening here or not. It could be something completely different.
There are hungry things in the dark.
I mean, I like writing scenes like these (Sterling's an RO, although it won't kick in until later than this point) but also... these characters are joking around because they're friends, despite being exes.
You are walking past an open-air restaurant, when someone calls your name. You turn to look, seek for a moment, and see at one of the tables someone waving at you, trying to get your attention (probably the very same someone who called you… that would be logical), gesturing you to join them and their table companion. You walk closer, finally seeing them properly.
It’s Special Agent Guld. Sitting with… Sterling.
You get to them, look at Guld, then Sterling, then back at Guld; you nod them a greeting, then take a chair and sit down, even though you’re now even more confused about what is going on than you were before. Was the agent who didn’t introduce himself a fake? That would be a ridiculous risk so near their HQ. “Guld,” you say. “Sterling.”
“Fancy seeing you here, Repo,” Sterling says in a cheerful tone.
“Didn’t know you two knew each other,” you say.
“Didn’t know you two knew each other,” Guld says, curious.
“We have met,” Sterling says to her, then turns to you. “Speaking of which – I haven’t heard from you in a while, Repo. Met any strange aliens lately?”
“Strange strangers, definitely. But that’s par to the course, really,” you say.
“I bet,” Sterling says. “You’re explorers half the time.”
You wonder what you should do here. Ignoring them completely is, obviously, out of the question, now that you’re sitting in here already. However, you could get up and leave (preferably politely, you have no reason to make Guld angry – that would, actually, be quite unwise: whether you like her or not, you would like her less when she’s angry). Or you could keep talking with them; they both seem to be relaxed enough. Shouldn’t Guld of all people know if there’s something wrong with Sterling? Unless Guld is a fake, too, but that’d be just ridiculous.
“So,” Sterling startles you from your thoughts, “have you thought about what I asked?”
“Yes,” you decide your course of action. “I’ve built a map of sightings I’ve heard of, and gathered some details on their behavioral pattern. It’s… not much, admittedly, but I can send it to you.”
Sterling nods. “Sounds good, nonetheless. Anything new is important when you know nothing.”
Guld looks at him, then at you. “Don’t tell me he’s roped you into this nonsense investigation of his,” she says to you. “People don’t need more things to be worried about, not so soon after the wisps wiped the floor with us.” She turns at Sterling again and frowns. “It would be better if you dropped this wild goose chase, S. Sailors will always have ghost stories, that doesn’t mean half of them are true. And you don’t want to cause a panic. I hope.”
“O ye of little faith,” Sterling says. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Like when you crashed a Council meeting with a fleet of angry click hot on your heels?”
“That wasn’t my fault!”
“Mm-hmm. My point stands.”
“This is a real risk, Goldilocks.”
“If you say so.”
“There’s… more,” you say.
“Oh?” Sterling perks up. “Do tell.”
“There was this IS agent asking questions about you.”
“Oh, stellar,” Guld mutters. “Not again. Who?”
You describe the agent, and Sterling nods. “Hagelstad,” he spits the name out like it’s poison. “He’s never been able to get over that I’m a better spy than he is.”
Guld shakes her head, but says nothing.
“You know him, then?” you ask.
“Better than I’d care to admit,” Sterling says. “He has this weird vendetta against me. Really, it’s growing pretty old. I wish he’d stop already.”
“Maybe you should’ve handled the break-up better,” Guld mutters.
“Details,” Sterling says. “Or are you actually jealous, Goldilocks?”
“Dream on,” Guld says. “If I were, I’d be hunting him rather than bugging you.”
“Wait, you’ve bugged me?”
"That’s not – "
“So you’ll rather let him slander my good name than give me a hand? I’m hurt.”
“You’re slandering your good name all by yourself, S.”
“You wound me.” He presses his open palm at his chest. “Anyway, that’s no reason for unprofessional behaviour. I mean, you’re not hunting me.”
“Ahem,” you say.
“Right. Sorry. Old habit.” Sterling scratches his underchin.
“Right,” you say. “Anyway. He also said you’re not really NI Special Agent Sterling.”
“Wait,” Sterling says. “Really? That’s a new one.”
Guld snorts, then grabs a napkin. “Not only a new one, that’s flat out ridiculous. Of course he’s NISA Sterling, why wouldn’t he?”
“So you’re not lying about your identity?” you ask.
“Oh, you sweet summer child,” Sterling says. “Every spy lies, that’s what we do. Don’t tell me you think Guld’s real name is indeed Guld?”
“It’s not,” Guld stage-whispers to you. “It’s a codename.”
“Point is, ignore him,” Sterling says. “He’ll go away eventually.”
“Ignore him? Seriously? That’s your way of dealing with this?” Guld frowns. “No wonder he’s… how did you say it, holding a vendetta?”
“What? It’s true!”
“You, my friend, are hopeless. I have no idea how you’re capable of doing your job.” Guld shakes her head. “Wait, are you capable of doing your job?”
“Excuse me,” Sterling says. “I happen to be very good at my job. But dealing with stupid interservice rivalry shouldn’t be a part of it.”
“Uh-huh.” Guld turns again to you. “In any event, be careful, all right? You’re not prepared for these games, not by a long shot.”
“No kidding,” you mutter. This whole thing is getting even more and more strange, and you wish more than ever that you’d never had gotten mixed up in any Intelligence business at all. This is getting way too weird for you.
“I’ll look forward for that data,” Sterling says. “Don’t forget to send it.”
“Sure thing,” you say. “But I really need to get moving, I promised to see other people.”
You bid them farewell, and continue on your way; you are already late, after all. Then again, it’s not like anybody’d be surprised – no free-time plan survives contact with Bluegrass. It’s like the planet is cursed, as far as time management is considered.
One could, but I don’t like writing about politicians outside of thrillers.
10 Likes
Aw, I love the dog! (Should it be eating cake, tho??)
7 Likes
Connor’s a doctor, so it’s probably a dog-compatible cake. Or the dog is an alien who can eat human food. Or both.
6 Likes
I do this, though mostly by accident. i started out with a set of variables i thought would work, but ended up changing the wording for it in the text, but never changed the variable. so for a while just sitting here with a tracker variable called villain_track, but it just follows how many times MC tells bad lies. 
I do think this is a case of the loud minority, but that you feel the need to issue a warning as if an RO having previous relationships is a trigger feels… disheartening lol. The idea that someone is waiting around for me just to have their first kiss or ~special night~ is awful – imagine the pressure that puts you under. 
While biology does affect every aspect of human life, I should’ve specified sex-identification based biology. However, I didn’t say things like pants and colors were arbitrary, just that they were subjective and malleable to change, therefore harder to quantify empirically without taking into consideration a nature vs. nurture argument, unlike genetic-based gendering of things like average height differences and phallic vs vaginal references (and this is without getting into the existence of intersex people).
This made me chuckle. Oh, you’re fine, back to giving my dog special dog cake.
8 Likes
Hello everybody. I’m an old (rather old) hand at both parser and choice-based interactive fiction by way of TADS, Inform, Ink, and Twine, I freelance as a narrative designer and game writer, and I’ve written a handfull of novels, audiodrama serials, and TTRPG books.
I’m looking to write a CoG game or three, and I’m wondering how audience expectations and preferences compare to players/readers of other choice-based games. Is there a greater emphasis on stats? Are players more interested in relationship-building? Are games generally larger in scope with more sim aspects/character “leveling?”
In other words, what trends should I be aware of that are unique to the CoG ecosystem? I’ve played a bunch of games, now I’d like the writers’ perspectives.
Thanks!
15 Likes
Generally it seems that the most popular games are focused either on character interaction (mostly romance, and mostly at slow pace for at least one or two members) and a strong cast of them, or on a very heavy power fantasy element that is easy enough to achieve to not feel obnoxious. If there are both, it is very much preferable to having only one of it. Settings-wise, standard fantasy has hit a bit of a fatigue, but it still holds strong, but superhero games, another popular setting, are in a bit of a lull. Sci-fi, cyberpunk and mecha are rare and less popular. A very vocal set of members dislike stat-building games without any personal connection, plot or characters, and some dislike stat-building games in general, preferring a more free approach.
10 Likes
If Fantasy and Superhero games are strong but in a lull, and SF, Cyberpunk, and mecha are less popular, are there any genres/settings that are on the upswing/growing? Horror? Steampunk? Modern occult? Etc?
6 Likes
Horror I would describe as rare, although not to a degree of mecha, and I remember several games in it doing well. But they all focused on characters, not mechanics. Modern occult I haven’t seen much outside of Heart’s Choice, and steampunk seems to be largely… unused? But the one game that had it,A Study in Steampunk, I remember being both very well-received and doing well.
7 Likes
I wouldn’t quite say fantasy and superhero are in a lull, but to some extent, you can say both genres are a bit too oversaturated
6 Likes
I think there’s LESS emphasis on stats, as in, if your game is very light on stats nobody bats an eye, but if it’s too heavy it might turn off some people. But CoG’s catalogue features a healthy range of both.
As a general rule, yes, if for no other reason because more relationship-building is more content with characters people (presumably) like.
All over the place.
I will hunt you down, see if I won’t. 
8 Likes
Thanks for all the input. Like most writers I have more ideas than I have time to implement, so anything that helps me narrow down what might make a good project for a given outlet is greatly appreciated.
9 Likes
It’s interesting - because WIPs come and go at faster speeds than released games, and most of them don’t get finished, there’s an accelerated trend/inspiration cycle where people are very involved on the forum (or on Tumblr).
As well as what others have mentioned: contemporary romance/drama.
Urban fantasy/horror, fantasy in general, superheroes, and schools (magical or otherwise) are always solidly popular especially with strong relationships/romances.
The World of Darkness games are very popular, although horror lacking in player agency tends not to go down very well (and it’s therefore tricky to thread the needle of truly scary unknown horror). They’re very stat-focused and involve formalised levelling up as they’re based on the TTRPG system.
I suspect that players who aren’t interested in stats at all in these kinds of games are a minority, though a vocal one. “Stat-heavy” is in the eye of the beholder. But it’s frowned-upon for a stat failure to completely scupper a PC’s chance for success or outright kill them, especially if it’s early on.
There are some CoG style guidelines that were made public here:
They’re a bit outdated now, but they give a general sense of the way stats are usually used in CoG games (as opposed to HG or HC ones). HG ones are much less uniform, with the associated pros and cons that come with that.
12 Likes
Welcome to Choice of Games and the forum! Given your questions, you might find these posts helpful:
@Brian_Rushton played every Choice of Game in 2021 and wrote about his experiences. Very educational!
@HarrisPS posted about all the WIPs and published games in 2024, which will give you the lay of the current land, so to speak.
And finally, @hustlertwo’s “So, you made an unpopular game” post is a compassionate and insightful look on what success is made of. It also links to more number crunchy posts, if you like numbers and crunching.
Enjoy, and again, welcome!
15 Likes
For shame! For shame! My WIP closed due to lack of posting. How do I ask a moderator to open it back up?
4 Likes
I was wondering why there should be horror in player agency (the idea does tickle me fancy though), but then I realized you probably meant that horror should have player agency.
(I should get some sleep.)
3 Likes
No need, it’s open. 
5 Likes
Posts like this work. Leaders can also unlock threads, and there are plenty of those active on the writer’s support thread.
6 Likes