This sounds super fun, although I have to admit I can’t think of any ideas that don’t make the lack of reactivity part of the plot.
I’ve already started on one because I had a flash of inspiration, but I don’t know if it’s honestly going to flow well and since I thought this might help me regain my muse. It’s about being a defense attorney and the game is set during a trial. I’m trying to do this whole thing without customised replies, quite hard but good so far.
I am also hoping that I won’t get overboard and have this become too long, since I have the tendency to do that, so we’ll see how this goes~
@Jasonstevanhill Would that sort of game be worth more than one playthrough though? I suppose it would be desirable for a writer if they could create a game in that style.
@Dolphinzgirl Make lack of reactivity part of the plot then. 
I think I did it in Julia Caesar where it wouldn’t matter what you did Nero would just continue to ignore you and monologue. That was intended to be a character trait though and something to increase the player’s annoyance/frustration with him.
@Andymwhy Heh, you’ve done the impossible and made Mr Bean sound funny to me. I’d be interested to see how that could be implemented in a scene.
I suppose, it’s like a child, when they show a painting to their parent, it doesn’t matter how good or bad it is they’ll always say it’s wonderful, and so artistic. Perhaps an art collector will find these ‘amazing’ paintings and decide to sell them. Even if they start making pictures that are deliberately awful, the critics might go all Emperor’s New Clothes and keep raving about how wonderful they are and it doesn’t matter how hard the artist yells “you’ve got it wrong, it doesn’t mean anything, it’s just the painting of a cow” they’ll continue to say that the cow represents fertility or something. Hmmm.
@Random Keep it short! You can do it. I’d love to see what you come up with. I think that being a defense attorney is a great concept.
@FairyGodfeather A game consisting only of *fake_choices would have replayability if it uses variables.
*temp vara false
*temp varb false
*temp varc false
*fake_choice
#blahblahblah
*set vara true
#blehblehbleh
*set varb true
#bleh
*set varc true
*if (vara)
text 1
*fake_choice
#option a1
#option a2
#option a3
*if (varb)
text 2
*fake_choice
#option b1
#option b2
#option b3
*if (varc)
text 3
*fake_choice
#option c1
#option c2
#option c3
I never used a *fake_choice before, but I believe this is possible with them. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
In my opinion, making a very short game this way would be very easy, but making a longer game would quickly get quite tedious.
@DSeg Yep.
However I’m looking for a game consisting solely of faux-choices, or phony-choices, which have absolutely no impact code-side. No variables, no gotos, no ifs, and preferably no reaction text. Just the text of the choice itself and the player’s imagination.
Of course if you wanted to cheat you could always throw in the random command which might increase the replayability but I think that could be unsatisfying and would be on the edge of cheating.
This is possible and I believe a lot of writers here use them in this way. However, @FairyGodFeather is asking if we could make a story without variables - a linear story that reads differently because of your choices, even though the words don’t change.
EWdit: Ninja’d by FairyGodFeather - second time today
Do you mean something like this?
The three heavy oak doors loom over you.
*fake_choice
#The left door looks like a good place to start.
#The centre door looks perfect.
#The right door looks like the right one.
Stepping through the door you find yourself in another room with three metal doors.
*fake_choice
#The left looks right.
#The centre is my best bet.
#The right can't be wrong.
This time the door leads to freedom and there was much rejoicing...
@FairyGodfeather I know what you are looking for, but you asked Jason if a game using only *fake_choice would have replay value so I came up with a quick piece of code as an example to answer your question since I am bad at explaining things.
I think, even without variables, replayability can be achieved by nesting the choices.
What @Nocturnal_Stillness presented is what I’m doing right now, really. No variables, no nothing, just a clean slate with only *fake_choices.
@Dseg Oh I understand what you mean.
@Nocturnal_Stillness Yep!
@FairyGodfeather This sounds fun and might try to make something. How long/short should the project be? How many choices do you reccomend?
It’s up to you. I’d say short is good though, unless you desperately want to write something that’s longer. It’s just to see if we can wring the most out of faux-choices.
I think I’ll give this a whirl, it sounds fun!
A question; are simple codes to break the text (I.E *page_break and *line_break) allowed alongside the fake choices? I already have the story finished (its short) but it’s got those commands in it to make it neater.
I have written something, but I’m not sure how to post with Dropbox. Mind you it’s just the beginning but it’s something.
YAY!!! I want to see what you’ve done @trollhunterthethird. I’m off for Xmas though otherwise I’d explain.
@Aquos_Boost Sure, that’s just formatting. Feel free to use as much of that as you like.
Ok, then I just need to drop it into the dropbox 
(For a jolly time of year, it sure has a morbid theme)
The man points a gun at your head.
"Do you want to die?"
*fake_choice
----#Yes
----#No
He shoots you. You are dead.
*ending
Well, that’s my go!
1 Like
Love it, @Redgrave. Elegant and simplistic :b