I hope I didn’t lose my touch.
12 Likes
This is an interesting but alien concept to me because I always subconsciously visualise the scene as the sentences go on—the scenery, characters, and the actions going on everything. I think it is partially because irrespective of the novel being traditional, IF, or even visual, I consider the MC as not a foreign entity or character but as a version of myself—as if I myself am experiencing the story, not reading someone else experiencing it.
I know the term means something different but I call it the “Main Character Syndrome” lol; but in all honesty, it does make consuming stories very enjoyable and immersive for me, and also allows for a lot of emotional investment in the story.
11 Likes
Have to admit, I don’t care about physical character customization that much. I have a set character I always play (the opposite of myself really) and I’m happy as long as a writer’s customization options doesn’t interfere with the basics in my head.
(Hypocritically, my story does start off with a frontloaded character customization questionnaire. It’s not elegant, but I needed to know the MC’s gender and the route they choose before the story starts. So I shoved almost all the customization into the beginning.)
I find I prefer to flavour the story with MC’s talents and goals. Having a blast right now writing female MC utilizing her particular Regency talent to escape out of a third story window. Embroidery is surprisingly OP!
12 Likes
Oho, can’t wait to read that!
6 Likes
I definitely have some customisation that isn’t coming up a huge amount. I like having skintone because, kinda how Harris said, I think it’s good to signal you’re not assuming the PC is white. Height just lets you write fun little interactions. but eye and hair colour and even to an extent length are pretty hard to mention casually. ‘your [green] eyes scan their face’, ‘they run a hand through your [blonde] hair’ feels… clunky and unnatural to me in second person POV.
I do have the colours in villain juice, because one or the other of hairs/eyes can get turned white, and I wanted to have the contrast. Options for hair texture are cause I wanted to have MCs with natural types of hair have the neglect they’ve been through have a worse effect on their hair.
but I also literally just added another choice to customisation so that pronouns, gender, and gendered terms are picked separately, so… you know. Clearly I am a certain way about customisation. =P
11 Likes
Luckily I’m plotting spy fiction. 
(With superheroes. In space. But still spy fiction.)
6 Likes
When is that story of yours coming? I’m very intrigued.
No pressure though.
5 Likes
This is how I prefer to see it, as a player, if a game is going to have a physical characteristics creation section, I like having the stuff right from the beginning before the game itself even starts so I can get the worst part over with
7 Likes
When it’s done. 
But I’m plotting multiple stories (in the same world) at the same time, the ones I’m actually writing right now aren’t spy stories. Mostly. And not all are in space either.
(I have two main lines, I call them “Empires” and “Ashlands” as working titles. The fist one is space opera, the second one takes place on post-apocalyptic Earth.)
6 Likes
It’s a good thing that IF is diverse because everyone has different tastes and preferences. I enjoyed the customization in your game, by the way. It reminded me of Affairs of the Heart. I’m someone who always looks forward to physical customization.
10 Likes
Yeah I’m a sucker for extensive customization. I’m also committed to making it matter though, even if it’s not branch altering I still think it’s nice to acknowledge it.
For example, I gave my players free reign to choose tattoos and scars of any number and combination along head, arms, legs and torso. In the scene that I’m writing right now, you’re security for a fancy gala. If you have facial tattoos, people will bring it up and react to it. I think things like that are so fun!
11 Likes
Yes! I’m doing the same thing. I have a tracker for visible/non-visible tattoos, scars and piercings. If MC has enough of each, they get intimidation points, and people mention it.
11 Likes
Day one of learning coding which is basically my only goal for May. My *gotos *gotos are *gotoing. I feel pretty good about my pitiful progress anyway, however. It’s a struggle to cross a wide gap in understanding until it’s not. Gotta keep marching and this is the first time I’ve felt myself tangibly moving past the mental block of insecurity in self-teaching. Or at least facing it.
13 Likes
Honestly I think goto is no good. I only use gosub. Gosub is really easy for writers to understand—think of it as a footnote, and that all your readers immediately read the footnote before going back to the main passage.
7 Likes
I haven’t actually learned what a gosub is yet. My current knowledge base is extremely rudimentary. But when I do learn gosub, I’ll keep that in mind! 
11 Likes
It took me like, 4 years to figure out *gosub, so don’t feel bad about not mastering it on day one.
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I don’t know gosub either. I’m goto-ing all over the place. I think I know five coding commands? Maybe six.
9 Likes
Most Hosted Games authors don’t ever use gosub, and they do just fine without it.
Anyone who knows what they’re talking about should feel free to correct me on this, but the main thing I’ve seen gosub used for is to streamline the code by avoiding the inclusion of two or more chunks of identical (or nearly identical) text. If you’re not aiming for elegance and you’re worried too many small moving parts will overcomplicate things, just include the duplicate text.
How does that work? I mean, yes, it’s like a footnote, but footnotes don’t keep the main text flowing. Don’t you have to use goto to advance the actual plot?
15 Likes
Y use go sub for flavor text and or small choices that are shared by several branches like a combat scene or visiting a shop that can be repeated several times. So you go the scene or label and return to your path. It is useful for that but really is something that is not necessary
9 Likes
No need for goto! Something like this:
Nobody cares who you are, just how you fight. But someone at registration still needs to fill in a form. How do you identify?
*choice
#She/Her. I'll use the default name of Claire Fung.
*set gender "Female"
*set first_name "Claire"
*set last_name "Fung"
#She/Her. I'd like to specify my own name.
*set gender "Female"
*gosub choose_name
*finish
*label choose_name
Every fighter leaves their mark. What name will you carve into this underground world?
My first name is:
*input_text first_name
My surname is:
*input_text last_name
*return
So if they choose the default name, it finishes. If they want to input a custom name, it will go to the “choose_name” footnote, record their name, then go back to the main passage. Then it proceeds as in the other branch.
It looks like just some copy-pasting, and usually it is. But in some instances it is absolutely mandatory or the code becomes a nightmare. In my game for example, the player can train at the gym twice a month, and the game is around 15 months long. If I didn’t use gosub, then I would need to copy paste the same block 30 times! Imagine having to change something or add an additional option! And goto wouldn’t work, because it wouldn’t know where you arrived from, so it wouldn’t be able to send you back to the right place.
6 Likes