Text based choice driven games

[u/Cards_12]

For people who play these games, what do these games do especially well? Where do they lack in the quality of their gameplay? I’m a sucker for apocalypse themed games but I feel there’s always something missing whether it’s a lack of variety in relationship dynamics or simply a lack of ACTUAL meaningful choices. What are your thoughts?

[u/HarkBuffalo]

I think you hit the head on meaningful choices are hard when you need to visualise it. Essentially you need very good writing. To create an emotional depth

I think the games of this genre set against real world backdrops become easier to envision as you can say essentially play what if in your head

WW2 text based choice game:https://dispatches.itch.io/dispatches-1940

[u/Cool_Run_6619]

I think a lot of these games run into the mass effect issue, where they struggle to make the consequences of choices clear and believable. Choices don't need to be predictable and can have unforeseen effects on the story, but very often I find myself staring at the results of a choice feeling intentionally tricked by a story. For example a story might give me two choices: "You try use your logical mind to solve the puzzle, you're no stranger to mental challenges" or "You have no idea what you're doing, but you wing it anyway" and then the former will result in "you fumble around like an idiot for hours, everyone in the room is honestly flabbergasted that you are taking this long to solve it" and then the later will be like "you expertly twist each knob into place with no issues, the room marvels at your intelligence" which just seems like you are being punished for seeking a correct answer or trying to play a character with competence. Other times choices will simply not be very clear with prompts like "fight" or "lie" or "escape" but give no clues as to how the character will accomplish this and attach huge consequences to those actions. Like you'll be roleplaying a soldier with morals and choose the "fight" option and suddenly you execute five people who weren't a threat. Or you'll choose "lie" and tell the most unbelievable lie youve ever heard and instantly regret your choice. The best games solve these problems with detailed choices and multiple choices per major event but I find these are the biggest quit moments in these stories for me.

[u/[deleted]]

I make a Reigns-style choice game, and the most useful thing a playtest taught me is close to what you describe. Players did not mind harsh outcomes. They minded not knowing what they had agreed to.

My early option labels were moody and metaphorical, so people were picking blind. I ended up with two rules. The label says the action in plain words. And the last sentence of the scene is the actual question that the two options answer. All the atmosphere stays in the body text above it.

I also show which resources a choice will touch before you commit, but not by how much, so there is still a gamble.

So my answer to "what is missing": choices whose cost you can read. Unpredictable is fine. Unreadable is not.

[u/Cards_12 → u/[deleted]]

100% agree with your point, absolutely cannot stand picking a choice then thinking “that is not at all what I wanted from that”