nods My dialogues branch considerably because of that very reason. The longest is over 2k lines of text and code- although I think a good portion of that is because of sloppy coding- a lot of copy/pasted sections. At this point, I find it easier to use *fake_choice and just nest the conversation rather than move you to all kinds of various branches- but either way would work- just that *fake_choice is an amazing time-saver when it comes to conversation branching, as you can still put whatever you want nested down each choice. Sometimes what you say affects a conversation… but sometimes a conversation can end up at a certain point no matter what you say. For example, maybe the person you’re talking with suddenly blurts out a confession of love for your character down multiple different branches. At that point, I’d use a *goto and start a new label just for that part of the conversation. Just a thought that might help, RockStarPenguin.
alright thanks ;] tho I’m not sure how you are saying to use the *fake_choice for branching since in most cases *fake_choice isn’t used for branching. Only if you want to affect one line of text and then follow down to the next option. is that what you meant? I just don’t want to make the conversations seems stiff and want the reader to feel like they have the power to effect things. but like you said, one can make it so that at some point it all goes to the same place. but then I want to give options that can affect the relationship which will then affect later conversations… lol so much!
An example @RockStarPenguin
*label choice
*fake_choice
#choice1
Awesome! blah blah
*fake_choice
#choiceA
Absolutely!
*if variableA > 50
You win at life.
*if variableA < 51
You tried so hard, but fail.
#choiceB
Well, you came close.
*fake_choice
#Try again?
*goto label choice
#Give up.
#choice2
Oh, you chose something else.
#choice3
You suck at choosing!
*choice
#Fine, I'll go on an adventure to level up and prove myself!
*goto adventure
#Cry about it.
*goto faiiiiil
You eventually get on with your life.
*finishTo paste code, highlight all of the text, then click the </> preformatted text button which is next to the quote one and on the same bar as the other formatting and smilies choice.
Okay- I was trying the preformatted text option, but it wasn’t working because I hadn’t highlighted the text- that… is amazingly helpful, FairyGodfeather. Thank you so much!
Agreed that dialogue trees grow with astonishing swiftness. And almost all of my conversations are between two characters, or two characters and some static NPCs; three characters chatting? It’s a nightmare.
I love it when I can find a way to state something so that I can re-use the text, and have it mean something different in that context. Or loop back around to different dialogue options using the same reactions. Like, if a conversation has several ways that you could get someone angry, that’s when you toss it over to the “Character is Angry” dialogue and alter it with variables/if statements to suit the variations on it.
I use “if” instead of fake_choice most of the time (I don’t use fake_choice much at all) but your way works too.
It’s really nice to be able to use *fake_choice and *if in conjunction with one another in a conversation tree.
Way you put that about re-using text is wonderful. That’s what I try to do, too.
ok I see…so pretty much just saving yourself a few *goto commands to write. I used to think that it was annoying to write the *goto command all the time but now I’m used to it and don’t mind… actually I use it all the time now…even when it’s writing a small line depending on someones personality and such.
Well… it doesn’t just save writing *goto lines… it also saves you from creating a lot of *label … and gives you an outline/flowchart for how the conversation goes instead of going from *label to *label… I guess it can be done either way- having it set up in one big list just helps me personally to stay a bit more organized and reference back to what’s already been covered in the conversation. 
@Shawn_Patrick_Reed true…but then you have to make sure that after each *fake_choice, is text that will flow well ,no matter what is said before. which I feel might just confuse me 
it takes brain power either way! lol
Also, I don’t mind making a lot of *labels either… unless it’s for a big scene, I make them like this: *label a1 *label a2 … and so on. and then to b1 and 2 ect. then start over for the next scene =p it works well for what I do but in dialogue, it might get too messy.
@cvaneseltine anyway… didn’t mean to change the main topic here… I would have to agree with most everyone else. I really like to pick what my character’s personality is and how they feel about the relationships with others and how they interact with them. the question is how to pull that off well…which is what I am trying to dive into
I guess I don’t care too much about little choices that don’t effect anything such as: what my character eats. unless it changes something or brings up an interesting scene. I think what makes things important to choices, is if it makes it feel like the reader is in control of what goes on. there should be some kind of outcome of a choice and if so then I guess it doesn’t matter what that choice is. even if it is some kind of internal conflict. for example, in one of my books, i have an option where the character can either wash his dirty hands before eating or not. if not, then latter he runs into his Ex and gets embarrassed about his dirty hands.
Planescape: Torment did this to great effect, which contributed to it becoming one of my favorite games. In one early scene, for instance, the player encounters the ghost of a woman who once loved him. The ghost offers to provide information, and the player is given four dialogue options: one to end the conversation immediately, one to invite the ghost to elaborate, one to dismiss the ghost’s offer, and one to dismiss the ghost’s offer with contempt. (Here is a screenshot.)
In a later scene, a witch asks the main character a question. Some of the available answers are doubled, with the duplicate answers including compliments so the player has the option of flattering the witch. ('Nother screenshot)
These options, of course, had meaningful and potentially far-reaching consequences. I bet it wouldn’t be hard to adopt this strategy to a Choicescript game.
oh gods forgive me, i know this is very late but: taking tablets. people taking tablets or remedies to deal with their illnesses. as a mentally and chronically ill person, normalising the struggle would mean a lot. more good representation of us people would mean a lot.
i mean, i bet nonbinary option has already been said, yeah? sorry about my lateness!
Hm, yeah, good point. It would be nice to see a game where “the character takes their medication” is not a sign of some ominous impending death or mental breakdown. I would struggle to get through a day without medication, but if I take it every day, I’m fine.
EDIT: Oops, forgot ZE. That was a big thing.
@Bagelthief
That’s actually interesting as well as being something I’ve not even considered before. I remember Zombie Exodus has that mission where you go off in search of medication, but I don’t recall you ever actually needing something for yourself.
I liked that it was even mentioned, since it was realistic. It’s oh so easy for me to forget that not everybody needs to pop a bunch of pills each day just to function. I’m definitely doomed after the apocalypse comes.
Now I’m remembering all the movies and games thay make people with mental disorders to be insane.
I think the problem comes from some people thinking
Mental disorder = Insane or defective
There’s a game jam that’s run for 2 years now (and I hope this year as well!) called Asylum Jam, where participants are challenged to make horror games in 48 hours that do not involve negative mental health or medical stereotypes. It’s nice to see people raise awareness about this.
This is a really good suggestion and I sincerely appreciate that you made it!
I feel like everyone has already mentioned these, but I’ll add a vote for thought process/personality, and general appearances. It doesn’t have to be super detailed or specific, since I know that equals a TON of extra work for the writer. But some general categories and characteristics would really help make characters more relatable, something like talkativeness, sense of humor/sarcasm, sense of duty, etc. Perhaps hair/eye/skin color and physique?
Its super important for me to be able to control my characters sexuality and femininity. I find myself getting so immersed in the battle or survival stories that generally depict the lead roles in a male light even though I always select the option of female. As a female I would like to see the games written for both genders, or gender ambiguous instead of that harsh male tone I’ve come across. I like the mix of battle with love, but in these stories I’am almost always paired in the love interest of another female. I fully support the LGBT community but as a heterosexual girl, I want a heterosexual game romance. I thoroughly dislike when a game is so beautiful written and compelling but its greatest downfall is when it says I don’t have the choice of who I fictitiously fall in love with and automatically sets it as a girl on girl romance.
Also: more disabled characters. The fact that I even forgot to mention them stands as a test to how they’re shafted in video games and games in general!