I’m sorry, but are you going to also acknowledge the fact that you’re also cherry picking yourself despite the evidence I’ve gave to you of making that fact, and how you also cherry picked a single person’s opinion on here, which didn’t mean the way it meant?
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Please keep the discussion civil and on topic. The implementation of save systems and checkpoints can be found on other threads.
If you want to discuss what functionality improvements you want to see, you can always open up another thread.
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And Leah’s post was about asking for the sources, she wanted a source of “Hundreds of thousands of readers disagree with replayability issue” and you said was “my book sold well, end of discussion”
“You Will Arrive At The Gates Of Valhalla, Shiny And Chrome!”
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It feels like the conversation has started going in circles.
Some people think back buttons and save-anytime systems would improve ChoiceScript games a lot, and others see it as less of a priority; both positions are reasonable. Ultimately we are not chatting about best practice in heart surgery here and there is no need for such intensity.
It’s an interesting discussion and on a selfish level I’d like to hear more about what features people would enjoy seeing; but I’d ask that folks avoid repeating the same points they’ve already made, and please reduce the snippiness a bit.
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Your meme said I “Made it the fuck up.”
That’s not the same as simply asking for a source.
No. Because all of this spun out of me responding to one guy and then the three of you dog piling on me by taking it out of context. It’s not cherry picking to point out (over and over again) that my comment is being stripped of its original context.
It matters because it provides necessary context.
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yes, it said you made it the frick up because you didnt have any source at all! you just mentioned your sales numbers and said: “well that clearly means people are satisfied!”
thats my point! you dont have a source! you are just saying sales = people are satisfied!
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sorry this sums it up better
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Y’all are gonna get this thread locked, move on.
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Please refocus the discussion on features, both that we want CoG to work on in the future and our own preferences.
Sniping back and forth about sources and other off-topic issues should cease going forward.
Thank you all.
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There was a bit of an author-reader consensus forming around the request for a more straightforward to implement checkpoint-type save system (since released games already have them, it’s just a faff on the writer’s end)…before things got a tad out of hand.
Hope that doesn’t get lost, because it seems like an idea worth looking into further 
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In my opinion, as someone who has been playing these games for quite a long time, COG, and especially HG, has changed through the years — the current games aren’t only bigger, they’re more complex. I think authors and the company itself are becoming more ambitious and pushing the boundaries of what you can do with this genre.
The games are different, and this doesn’t mean they’re better or worse, just different. And with these differences comes the need for a different set of tools. Maybe that’s not the case for every game that comes out today, but it certainly is for some. It’s for mine, and it especially will be for it’s sequel.
One of the things I took inspiration from was the dialogue trees in Dragon Age Origins. When I play that game, I love to save right before I talk with a companion and then have fun exploring the many ways the conversation can go. Some answers can reveal parts of a character that would otherwise never come to light, and without the save in place, I would never have the chance to explore — who will realistically replay such a long game just to see the difference between choosing dialogue option 1 or 4 in a conversation happening mid-game?
I wrote my dialogues the same way — and it saddens me that certain dialogue paths won’t ever be seen by 80% of the players because really, who would replay an entire game just to risk a different answer?
I get that some games aren’t written to be played like this. I get that authors may want the weight of a choice to be felt by the reader and feel that a save system would cheapen the experience. I get that COG started with games where every single choice changed the outcome or led to different endings, but not all games are structured this way. Some are structured to be explored, and without a save system in place it… Honestly, just feels so lacking.
I know some people better at coding than I will ever be have made and shared ways to add checkpoints, but I’ve looked at them — and tried them — and I couldn’t make it work. I would always break my game one way or the other, and I’m terrified to send broken files to Hosted Games.
I would really love if my publisher had a simple and accessible way for me to incorporate that in my game. A saving system would be the dream but, lacking that, at least a checkpoint system.
Would every author want one in their game? It’s clear from this thread that the answer is no, but why rob us of that choice?
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I’d say the update is a step in the right direction, however there is still a lot of stuff we still need to go through,
And i know it is hard and not many writer would want it but maybe at least a general loadable checkpoints for the majority of IFs would be appreciated,
As an achievement hunter (no the pun with my name is not lost on me) hunting for achivement often entails me doing the same route over and over again just so that i can see a barely different route, of a character saying “the thing” that is fun but not worth a detour,
But that’s pretty much it, i know there is some drama on the post above me but honestly the only improvement i think we’d want for right now is just a save/load system or at least a better checkpoint system for the readers and an easier writing system like a quality of life improvement stuff for the writers
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I mean, A Crown of Sorcery and Steel did have that option to hide it. And uh… isn’t having options nice?
I don’t really have too strong feelings about the back button debate, but it would save time for accidental misclicks.
I desperately want one if any author’s story is heavy on stat checks. I appreciated it and enjoyed Creme de la Creme even more when that series added it. I think my enjoyment of Relics or Tin Star would be radically different without it.
This is a really good point and why I wouldn’t mind a back button either, if authors can implement it in a smooth way. I have a lot of long IFs I really love, but there’s a part of me that wants to see every little dialogue variation. I love seeing characters feeling more alive and react differently to what you say. Problem is I can’t really see myself replaying the same routes anytime soon just to see how a certain exchange goes too as when I do replay, chances are I explore something radically different. I find myself doing this as I play Baldur’s Gate 3 tbh.
Just my thoughts, and why I’d support a back button as a feature. However, I don’t want things to be a coding nightmare for an author either.
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I dunno wtf happened in the 48 hours since i last saw this thread lol but I do believe that since Dan is back and more available to upgrade Choicescript I think we will see some great changes going forward.
There are multiple ways to write a game nowadays for interactive fiction. Twine, Songbird, Ink, and more are out there with their unique features and draws. All things Choicescript can use as inspiration for improvement. This is telling us that the industry is growing (YAY), and im positive that the company will evolve in a way that will further show why this company has the mammoth’s share of the market cornered.
We just gotta give the fam some time lmao
Thank you Dan and associates who helped do the update, and I hope you guys aren’t feeling disheartened. Please look at the conversations above as evidence that people love what you have, and are passionate about it. 
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This is a reminder to myself and to hold myself accountable to get on with updating my sample code for checkpoints to be friendlier and more accessible to a broader swathe of authors when I can 
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I think the ultimate solution to this would be making a save system like dashingdon has, and giving the authors the choice in using it or not.
Having no save system because it doesnt fit how CoG wants their games to be played made sense only when this company was made up of only CoG writers and editors creative visions, now a big part of this company is made up of HG authors, who might want their games to be experienced a different way.
If CoG wanted to add a save system or a back button, they could, this company is still a multi-million dollar business, they can, and I think they should provide the authors this feature.
In the end of the day, they are taking most of HG games sales profits in exchange for publishing it, I think they shouldnt burden authors with the responsability of adding a acessibility feature that is widespread in the IF market.
I say this a someone who understand that CoG contracts are some of the best in the industry, but giving choice to authors so they can fully acomplish their vision is something that I see a progressive company like this should be doing.
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THIS!!!
Though I have to admit doing that a few times. And let me tell you, hitting the next button several times, without reading all the pages over again, just to reach that part of the game that I want is so time consuming 
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I’ve updated the basic version of my save template (not the one I did the other day with the ability to store multiple saves, yet) with some tweaks under the hood.
I’ve added some comments for greater clarity as well as links to documentation about the commands that go beyond the basics. Please let me know on that thread if it’s not working as intended, or if you have any questions, or if there’s anything I can make any clearer.
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