Choices and branches
Learning paths through this topic
Make the back button restore the story and keep dice results
A rewind button that only moves the text back leaves points and flags from the undone choice behind, and one that also replays dice lets the player reroll until it works. Here is how to rewind honestly, with a limited history and fixed outcomes.
Check that the rules posted in a rule-based horror game can all be followed
In horror where a notice lists what you must and must never do, two rules can quietly make survival impossible. This entry searches for a plan that obeys every rule, and when there is none, names the rules whose removal would make it possible.
Sacrifice a district and make the casualties add up to the whole number
A hard choice such as flooding a valley costs people, and the story says how many. Split the loss across districts by size and the numbers often come out a person short or a person over. Here is how to share it out so the report is always honest.
Catch a scene that talks about something the player never learned
When scenes can be visited in different orders, a line may refer to a secret that this player has not met yet, and the dialogue makes no sense. Here is a check that finds those scenes and prints a path on which the secret is still unknown.
Find ending score ranges that no combination of choices can reach
If endings depend on a hidden total, the numbers you gave to each answer decide which endings exist at all. This entry lists every total that can really happen and shows which endings are unreachable and which totals fall between two endings.
Let scouting decide how much the mission briefing reveals
A briefing that quotes exact enemy numbers the player never scouted ruins the point of scouting. Here is how to write one template that says "unknown", "about" or the real figure depending on what the player earned, without ever hinting at a number it hides.
Let settlers wait for housing without splitting families or waiting forever
A city that accepts every arrival ends up with people sleeping in the street, but one that turns them away loses the story. Here is how to keep a waiting line of families, house whole families only, let a small one slip past a big one, and let them leave in the end.
Show what other players chose without wrong percentages
Telling players that 62 percent made the same choice is a nice moment, until the numbers add up to 99, or the first ten players make 100 percent look meaningful. Here is how to round honestly and when to say nothing at all.
Keep a bloody battle from burying the player in farewell messages
When twenty units fall in one turn, twenty separate death messages bury the one that mattered, and a unit hit twice may be mourned twice. Here is how to merge duplicate deaths, choose who gets a line, and sum up the rest honestly.
Show real odds for a skill check and let failure move the story on
A failed persuasion roll that dead-ends the quest feels terrible, and a displayed 75 percent that is really 60 feels like a lie. Here is the exact chance of a d20 check, how to show it, and how a failure can cost something without stopping the story.
Make fast-forward stop at unread text and at every choice
Skipping is a gift on the second playthrough and a trap if it races through a new line or answers a choice for the player. Here is how to remember what has been read, where skipping must stop, and why that memory belongs to the player, not the save.
Split long dialogue into text boxes at sentence ends
A speech that does not fit the text box has to be cut somewhere, and cutting in the middle of a title or word looks broken. This entry shows how to break at sentence ends, keep short titles together, and still handle one huge sentence.