Guys… i need a little help… I have a story that already is fleshed out and is 2/3 complete. But recently I discovered this amazing site and just couldnt help but to want to put my fantasy into game. But here is the thing. The story is already half written and i dont know what to do and where to start. I am thinking of go back and delete some scenes as they only belong to the protagonist. And make them optional… but i also want to finish the story like i had planned… i just dont know how the choises will be put in or if i need to start in code mode. I would really appreciate your advises guys!!
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Don’t know how helpful this will be, but before we took a shine to Choicescript, we imagined So, You’re Possessed! as either a graphic novel or book, so it can be done. For us, the biggest crucial questions were can we let go of our ownership as authors over the MC and does our story have enough room for potential deviation so the player can step in and make it their own? We had to place less emphasis on our own, subjective vision for “our” MC and open our minds to how others might want “their” characters to react in the story, if that makes sense.
So, maybe instead of deleting protagonist scenes, can you expand on them or split them up by mood or tone, so the player can control how their MC feels and reacts in them? And can you have a story finale that is satisfying for you, but that also either has enough variations in the detail or can tie everything together in a way that doesn’t make the player feel shoehorned, as if all their choices didn’t matter?
If you still feel it is the right fit, I would recommend making yourself an outline and starting to implement coding as soon as possible. The faster you can start thinking of your narrative in terms of choice and variety, the most helpful it will be.
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Choice of Games is a company/publisher that focuses on CYOA narratives. If you intend on getting your story published then you will have to follow their format and quality standards. That includes learning ChoiceScrpit as well as its coding intricacies.
Before doing anything, you need to familiarize yourself with the genre and learn what makes it special as well as how to achieve it. You’re telling a story but within that story the player should be given a moderate amount of freedom to create and develop their own characters. Things like being able to choose our own name, gender, appearance, personality, reactivity to certain events, relationships, etc. If your story is more of a novel (linear, no choices, set character) then it may not be as widely accepted due to the fact these forums are mainly focused on CYOA games.
Do keep in mind that this community hosts a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life and its expected from you to have a modicum of respect towards everyone. Its not obligatory for you to include things you’re not familiar with or comfortable talking about but if you DO include sensitive topics in your story then make sure you’ve done extensive research on them and that they’re properly labeled. Forewarnings are helpful!
Also, if any issue arises and you find yourself in a bad situation while dealing with other people, its important to know that there is NO blocking feature on these forums. If a post or reply is offensive or bothering you, and they don’t cease even though you’ve politely asked them to, flag them. Its the only way.
PS: Since this tends to happen a lot with newbies I may as well warn you - DON’T post on threads (under the WIP section) that have been inactive for more than 15 days unless you’re the author! Its against the rules.
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The only advice I can think to give is maybe to make a new protagonist. I’d say keep the protagonist you already have, but have them as a separate character from the playable character. (Personally I usually prefer stories that have more than one protagonist.) 
The reason I’d suggest this is that you probably have a very unique and fleshed out character as the protagonist with a distinct personality. It would be a shame to get rid of them, along with any of the scenes that belong to them.
People generally prefer to choose who they are as the protagonist. They like to have control over their name, gender, sexuality, personality, even sometimes their backstory. Creating a brand new character from scratch that allows the player to choose all these things might be easier than changing a character you’ve already created.
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@Colt_WB Why do you want to turn that specific story into interactive fiction?
That’s only for WIP threads. Although use your common sense for other threads.
Welcome! welcome to this amazing site (although your profile stated that you joined Sep 19th)
As a member of this amazing site, let me give you my insight regarding to the topic.
About your story… NO! Don’t delete the scenes!
You know, as this quote:[quote=“Avery_Moore, post:4, topic:24082”]
but have them as a separate character from the playable character.
[/quote]
This means that you can turn your current protagonist into one of the major NPC on your story.
Or if you’re against the idea, you can keep your protagonist and keep them as the MC. In this case, your protagonist will be a pre-determined MC (main character).
There’s nothing wrong by having a pre-deter MC. In fact, some CYOA games have pre-deter MC as the PC (primary chara). You just need to give your story some room, “how if the protagonist do this instead of that?” And taraa… there you go your story-branching.
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I dunno… after reading Fatehaven and Versus series. I just knew that i need to make something amazing like that! I had that thought for a long time, and i just dream of making others feel like i felt when i played the stories. It was a huge roller coaster of emotions and it would be great acomplishment for me to make aomeone else feel amazing!
Yeah i joined long time ago but startes using it recently:joy:
Do you think your current story will make a good interactive game? Or would you be better started something new? Would you be better finishing your story as a story?
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I do like very much my story and its consept but… i realized that what i qrite is not always what i want… like sometimes story is taking its path. And theres so much i want to put and charavters and outcomes. That it made me really think of making it interactive story.
I dunno if people will like it or no, sure some will and some not. But i think its worth the risk
Also because its only one main protagonist and she behaves like i do, i think i will need to start over and put some different options obviously… and it will make me change things too. I am still thinking about all the advises i got and i am trying to choose wisly. So changes sure will be made, and they may even change the progress of the story… so a new story will be born??
Actually i really thought about firstly finishing it… But i want it to male like series, it will be huge story so it will take me a hige amount og time. I thought about reach some point like 20 chapters, maybe 30 and start from beginning wirh choises and codes…
If you like it then you can be guaranteed that other people will enjoy it too.
There’s nothing wrong with having a protagonist that’s not a blank slate. You could keep her personality if you like, and just allow the player choices over actions.
Really? Wouldn’t that be a little restriction? Like what if player isnt sarcastic or doesnt feel like MC… isnt it a little animersive
Doesn’t matter! Some people like protagonists with personality. Write the story you want to! Your protagonist doesn’t need to be a self-insert. Plenty of them aren’t.
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One thing some people do is to give the protagonist a set of three or four personalities. That way, you can give them character, and still let the reader have a say.
Hmm… thanks gor clarifying it!!!
I thought about doimg that too. But its plenty of work but its worth it… but then shouldnt i rewrite also the scenes to fit in the MC behavior?