Hello CoG forums! I’m CowboyHooah (I go by Tex), and this is my first topic (but not my first post!) I love Choose Your Own Adventure Stories, and have played most of the games available on the CoG website, as well as many of the more recent WIP’s. I look forward to being an active part of this great community!
Speaking of WIPs, that is what I am posting here about right now! I have decided to write my own CoG game, and would like to see if the premise I have in mind is as interesting to it’s potential audience as it is to me.
The game will be called Unspoken (not set in stone), and will be about the FBI interrorgation of a number of suspects in a recent wave of massive terrorist attacks on major US assets and population centers, the first suspect being the player. The player will then work with the FBI to interrorgate the other suspects (for a variety of reasons). The part that will make the game different, as well as the reason for the proposed name of the game, is that the answers to the answers to the questions the MC asks as the interrorgator will not always be answered through the words of the dialogue, but also through the suspect characters’ body language, environmental clues, and possibly even encoded messages that the reader themselves will search for and piece together.
For example, let’s say the player is interrorgating Robert “Bob” McDermitt, age 34. The reader must find specific cues in the text to uncover what is true, and what is not. The descriptive text will contain lots of extraneous descriptions to distract the reader from the important cues.
You walk into the gray-walled room. The cold, concrete floor squeks as you slide your shoe across the ground following your step over the large, metal doorframe. You look into the mirror, which you (and Bob, if he has seen any detective movied) know is really a pane of one-way glass that allows the agents to observe the many questionings that have taken place in this room. You notice Bob’s upper torso above the edge of the table in the mirror as you glance left, continuing to stride forward. You turn left, pull tbe chair out from under the table, and seat yourself across from Bob. You can’t help but notice the sound of his foot tapping on the concrete floor beginning from the moment you settled in your seat. Bob stares straight into your eyes, back straight, putting off an air of confidence but not arrogance. His unkempt, greasy, blonde hair falls over his eyes.
MC (By Choice): “What is your name?”
Bob’s shoulders drop slightly, and he exhales what seems to have been a long-held breath. You look into his green eyes, which dart to the left and then blink slowly as he begins to open his mouth.
“Bob,” He says, a hint of question to his voice but still assured, “Robert McDermitt.”
A simple enough question, and a true answer. What next?
Later in the interrorgation, the MC: “How old are you?”
“Do you mean how young?” laughs Bob, sliding down into his seat a little. You notice his foot is still tapping on the floor, with the same pattern. He moves to wipe the strands of hair away from his eyes. After a quiet chuckle and a brief, friendly smile in your direction, Bob’s lips move again. “I am 34,” he says, returning to his former, stoic expression. He eyes glance briefly left in the direction of a board on the wall, listing the rules that suspects brought to the room must follow for the interrorgators safety and their own. He sits back up his his seat, shoulders still relaxed, and puts his hands, clasped together as if praying, on the cold, hard table. What should you do next?
Towards the end of the interrorgation, the MC: “Did you meet with Jacob Randall on Thursday the third, last week?”
The tap of Bob’s foot continues of the floor, the rhythmic tapping almost mesmerizing. He sits up straight, recapturing your full attention. “No,” Bob says, staring straight into your eyes, his gaze unwavering. He coughs lightly, quickly moving his hand to cover his mouth. His hair falls back over his face as he continues to lightly cough, eventually regaining his composure and sitting up perfectly straight in his chair, as if a soldier sitting at attention. He continues gazing into your own gaze, almost staring. The tapping of his foot has stopped since the coughing fit began. You ponder what to do next…
The specific cue in this example is Bob’s eye movement. By asking Bob two true questions, the reader discovers that when answering a question with a true answer, Bob’s eyes go to the left. However, when asked a question the reader did not know the answer to, this did not apply. Therefore, using observation of body language (throughout more examples than would be listed on this post) the MC and reader can fairly assume that Bob is lying in his answer to the 3rd question.
In the actual product, this concept shall be much further fleshed out, and so much description whether valuable or extraneous will be present in the reading that it will likely be almost tedious to read through. This example will most likely not be used in the actual product.
What are y’alls’ thoughts on the premise and concept of this? Please let me know if anyone is interested in this idea and please share any suggestion! Thank you so much!
First Demo Update! Version 0.0.2!
Very little is actually up. First two pages is all, but criticism is wanted nonetheless! Thank you so much for those who have shown interest! You have inspired me!
UPDATE: Added difficulty level with some functionality, added more stats, reorganized coding to be less of a headache for myself to sort through
Demo Link:
https://dashingdon.com/go/1271