It’s something that a few authors have chosen to incorporate, but it’s still far from a standard feature.
I always get the impression that authors do this to force MCs away from having strong personalities and to make it extremely hard to get some flavors of text. Not sure why, but I don’t care for it. Once I’ve developed the foundation of my MCs, I take great care in making sure they make choices that fit that foundation, which is difficult when stats bounce back and forth so easily. If you don’t code dive and make the “right” choices, the MC ends up being bipolar because the author wants to keep the traits around the middle.
Same here. It’d save me time spent code diving. For some games that I like replaying a lot, I just download the chapters and run the code locally and remove almost all of the personality stat changes. And alter whatever I want so I get the game I want. Takes time, but it’s a great way to learn how to code CoG games and I get a more enjoyable experience. The most fun I’ve had doing this is with a game where I added a new stat to move toward a relationship with LIs faster, though it ends up becoming a very different game. 
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I don’t speak for others but I’m not motivated by keeping people in the middle at all 
In fact, for me if a PC is in the middle it’s trickiest to manage writing-wise because they’re more likely to bounce between, say 48% Extroverted and act shy, then soon afterwards 51% Extroverted and be super outgoing - which obviously gets jarring!
I liked doing the cheats and guides for Creme and Blood Money, and there will be some in Royal Affairs too. (I haven’t actually used the cheats in Cakes and Ale but I enjoyed the author notes and guides!) But yeah it’s not a standard thing and for some authors it doesn’t gel with their design approaches, which is understandable!
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I really need to check out your games. There’s a lot we seem to mesh on, which bodes well for me liking your writing! Plus, I love cheats and guides–saves me time code diving.
I always hear good things about Creme, it’s just the whole “back in school” thing made me steer clear (same thing with the Keeper series). I may have to suck it up and develop a teeny bopper MC…
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Créme de la créme is nothing like those ‘Highschool’ dramas at all. Hell, it doesn’t even feel like your traditional school with Lockers and bell ringing.
Its a Magical School! With Wands, and Magic, and Familiars!..no wait…that’s Harrpy Potter crap.
Créme de la créme is…sofisticated School. Think learning Etiquette, Theatre and Debating, with a mystery at it center and parental pressures on your back. And a sexy Carson to carry your luggage, and a Blaze-in-the-butt to ruin your fun.
Go Play it!
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Ah that’s so kind 
If you check out the demo it’s very representative of the tone so you can get a sense of whether the school setting feels right. Totally understandable if not! (Blood Money’s about adults and is very different - and if neither gel for you, the thing I make next is going to be about adults too!)
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Ooh, does that mean you’ve officially decided? 
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Not officially at this stage (I say, bet-hedgingly), but all the concepts I’ve been looking at recently have adult protagonists with varyingly wide age-bracket choices for the PC (eg in one the PC can be 20s/30s/40s, one you can be early/mid/late 20s, etc). I wanted to move away from teen protagonists and romances, for the next thing at least 
I like the idea of implementing varied difficulty levels. I feel that’s something I’d use as a player, whereas for some reason I tend to feel a bit nervous about changing my stats - I don’t know why. It might be nice to put a little “well done” note on the stats page if someone reaches the final chapter having done the whole game on an intensive difficulty or something like that! And maybe a “story mode” where the PC can win most challenges without trying, but can maintain their stat spread so they feel the stats represent their character.
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No need to change stats if you can just pass checks. In that case, a story mode would be an art of cheating without cheating and save everyone time.
I am thinking what you would do is just have an added “or (storymode = true)” to your checks in order to allow an auto pass for story mode. But that still would be work intensive, since you’d have to copy paste it everywhere, but it wouldn’t be overly so perhaps.
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adrao
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I haven’t read all the posts in this thread, but as one of the authors here who implements both difficulty levels and chest codes, I’ll add some of my thoughts on this.
When I write my games I think of them in “normal” difficulty with no cheats. That’s the game for me, and I encourage people to play it that way.
But, who am I to tell people how they should like their games?
Anybody who just wants to enjoy the story, play in supereasy. Sure some stats will still affect things but you’ll surely succeed. You found the game too easy? Can you best it in impossible level? (I can’t, but some readers can).
You want to play superman? The game was not intended to be played that way… But if that is what the reader enjoys, who am I to detract? (Just place a big warning that the game might missbehave… Most readers understand this and enjoy it!)
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This makes me think of Skyrim, when they had the bug that caused the ratings of armor and weapons to increase exponentially if you did it a certain way. I did that and could jump off mountains and survive. It was hilarious watching my MC fall for 15-30 seconds, hit the ground, and keep walking. She kept one-hit killing everything (even things she didn’t mean to kill). It was fun laughing at how ridiculous it became (like killing a dragon before it landed, when it was supposed to be a long fight!).
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Tbh I wish games gave cheat codes like Breach: The Archangel Job and Unnatural, I hope other authors will follow their example. Bcs sometimes I have trouble playing the game because of stats
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How you do that for apk file version, i know how to mod for web version choice of game like dashingdon but for apk i dont know how to change the code
Personally I love cheat menus.
Sometimes I want to enjoy a game without worrying about stats, other times I want to play a character a certain way.
For example in Creme de La Creme I was able to play a complete butt kisser and perfect future son in law to Lady Renaldt (sp?).
In another play through I was able to play my character as a complete loner who the Professors took pity on.
I really enjoyed being able to think outside the box and create really unique and interesting MCs.
And it helped me to imagine how the story might continue after it ended. Like what would happen if Lady Renaldt’s child found out about my MC their fiancé working with her mother in keeping the mines operating and taking bribes.
I totally understand why some authors might be against cheat menus for whatever reason.
And for me it’s not a deal breaker if a story doesn’t have a cheat menu. I’m going to still purchase the story.
But if I purchase a story and it has cheats for a couple dollars more, I’m definitely purchasing the cheats and grinning like a kid in a candy store thinking of all the different ways I can play my MC
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I really don’t enjoy the idea of cheat menu’s myself, I think that having guides as supplemental material would be more than enough for me. I guess, the more I think about it the less I enjoy it in concept.
Cheat Menus really degrade my own self-control, and I end up playing way less of games when they have a way for me to avoid having to actively think about the choices I make. It is the same reason that I don’t like code diving before reading something, it takes away from my experience by drawing me away from the central narrative.
I only think this is an issue to begin with where stories have a lot of those “If you have 60% more selflessness or more you have this new choice you don’t get otherwise, and without making that choice you are locked out of the best ending.” Having cheat modes introduces incongruity between the character you build and the story being told, I don’t know, it doesn’t vibe with me I suppose.
Exceptt it’s optional. If you end up using an optional feature you don’t like in the first place, it’s on you. Meanwhile, why not play the game your way, and add cheats for others to play their way? It’s not as if either way disappears. You can only win in my opinion.
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I think for me; I won’t include a “cheat menu” because that might cheat the reader out of the story that they have been crafting for themselves. The stats in FHR is more about crafting the story for an MC with those stats than serving as a tool to “win” the game and overcome challenges (with a few exceptions). I don’t mind that people go in and change the stats themselves or view the secret stats, and I had a character builder at the start of Retribution that let you set stats, but it’s not really something suited to the story I am telling. High stats are not always good, and I feel that part of the story and community is people trying to figure out what’s under the hood of things.
In short: I think I am more worried about writing a story that works well and is fun with any stats, so you never really have to look at the stat screen (unless you want to change your swear word of choice).
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So glad you mentioned that…
But I have been dying to know, why the word ‘Shit’ isn’t on the list? 
