It’s not a silly question at all We are trying to create tools that allow for easy usability for even hobbyist writers. Having more that two options seemed to reduce the quality of the writing and significantly increase the workload of the writers, while for the reader it did not create much extra value.
That’s why we chose to start with just two options per choice. It’s not technical limitation and can be changed if it looks like having more is important to users, we are mainly trying to protect people from complexity for the sake of complexity and having excessive amount of work to finish writing a story.
I’m sorry you feel that way, poison_mara. My thoughts were more along the lines of guiding authors to spend time to make choices feel meaningful when there are less choices. We will look at feedback from author’s to see what is needed to make the tool better, so I’ll be sure to mark down having more choices as one of the improvement options.
Uh, I do agree that two choices per page are a bit… restraining, considering CS games and how much you can do with the engine, including stat variables. That said, this sounds like a fun exercise and if I finish a story in time I’ll make sure to send it!
Since we’re on that topic, tho, would you consider implementing something like the *input_text choicescript command? Something that allows players to input their own name/nickname as a variable that can be called later in the story? I think it would be cool to have that…
I have to say, I myself am having a blast making my story for this competition, and I really like that there are only two choices available because it means I can focus on making these two extensive and have a deeper impact on the story.
Plus, I’m linking each choice made to different ones down the line, like “If you chose 3a, you then get this branch, and in this branch if you chose 5b, then you get this branch,” and so on and so forth. You can make a fun puzzle out of it, and it still ends up very personalized, even without 5 choices per time.
It’s very rewarding and not as exhausting as writing 5 different variations where the most a reader will get to see is one or two different paragraphs maximum. At least for short stories, that is. If someone is planning to write a behemoth, then things change, but for this size, I really like the 2 choices format.
Can’t wait to submit my story, and thanks for the opportunity!
I’m actually glad to know that someone else wants to make extensive use of this feature. That’s how I planned to go about things as well but I was unsure if I’d be just making a bunch of work for the programmers, so I sort of wanted confirmation that it was okay.
Also, it sounds like you’re doing great with your story! I myself want to make something for this because the minimum length is so short (come on, I can write 6000 thousand words! I know I can) but I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on in RL so no idea if I’ll be able to get it done in time for the contest.
@Myrtle I mean, in the example of the short story, it looked like we can do it, so I’m taking the idea and running with it.
I’m also using Twine to see how it’ll turn up in game format, and it’s looking good! I’m also lucky in the sense that I already had a story ready, and now I’m converting it to IF and adding branches and different endings. I LOVE IF, IT’S SO MUCH FUN I wish you luck with your own writing! You can do it!
We are trying to create tools that allow for easy usability for even hobbyist writers. Having more that two options seemed to reduce the quality of the writing and significantly increase the workload of the writers, while for the reader it did not create much extra value.
That’s how I planned to go about things as well but I was unsure if I’d be just making a bunch of work for the programmers, so I sort of wanted confirmation that it was okay. 
I myself want to make something for this because the minimum length is so short (come on, I can write 6000 thousand words! I know I can) but I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on in RL so no idea if I’ll be able to get it done in time for the contest. 
I wish you luck with your own writing! You can do it! 