if-seal

[if-seal]

Dear IF Seal,

I am writing an if for the first time and yet to release a demo. I have an idea on character customization that I haven't really seen in the many ifs I've played. I'm looking forward to writing it but also nervous on how it would be received, which is why I'm asking for your opinion. A bit of background, my if only has five deities as love interests (none of them are gendered, gender-locked, or gender flippable, but there are some gendered secondary character deities). Because of their supernatural nature, the love interests can choose how their human form manifests. Question: What do you think, as a player, about customizing the (human) looks of a love interest?

This one love interest is cheerful, energetic, always up for a new experience! But they have no real desires of their own, even though they are the deity of ambition. They don't care for a human form so I'm thinking their default could be mist or if needed, some animal form that can grab like an octopus (yes, this is also for the wanton ones who do-not-care-about-looks and who do-love-these-kinds-of-looks). If the MC chooses not to help them customize, but in the future they get into a serious romantic relationship, the LI would observe the preferences of the MC and make a human form based on that so that they could "properly" kiss. (If it matters, the LIs are really young for deities, so no age gaps with the human player, lol.)

I've been toying around with this idea and sometimes I think it's great and other times I feel like it's a terrible one. Flipping a coin is no help. I feel like I would be exposing some sort of hidden desire of my own in asking my if player friends so I'm too shy to mention it to them yet (⸝⸝⸝╸﹏╺⸝⸝⸝). If for some miracle, someone figured out the game's name, no need to mention it or me, but feel free to share your reactions on this, bc that is what I'm asking about.

No worries if you don't reply soon, take your time!

Thank you ❤︎

Dear Customising Romance Friend,

Thank you for your patience! I hadn't reached your first message by the time your second one came in, so I am delighted to hear that you feel more confident in allowing flexibility in the romantic interests you are writing. I do hope that you have been having fun writing your new project and best of luck with it!

I do have a couple of additional thoughts about customisation to add, if I may share!

I believe your idea about shapeshifting gods sounds like it could be plenty of fun, especially for those folks who enjoy monster--ah, kissing. I prefer to eat octopi rather than kiss them but I know others will feel differently about such things.

I was interested in what you said about feeling shy about potentially revealing a hidden desire - perhaps it does to some degree, but we always reveal aspects of ourselves in some ways when we write. The romantic side of things may feel more revealing than other aspects of writing, but it would be wrong to assume that for example an author is Secretly Into every romantic trope they write, or would want anything like that in real life, or that they necessarily prefer one character over another based on what's in the game.

So I am sending you hope that you grow in confidence in sharing ideas with your IF playing pals.

Jumping off your query about customising looks, there is a fairly established practice of including gender-selectable characters in IF, with varying levels of variation between them; looks-selectable is less common. I think if you are dealing with shapeshifting creatures or gods, it seems fairly organic to handle in-game. The creature says "would you enjoy me having four arms right now so I can give you an even bigger hug" and the PC can say "yes, delightful" or "no, two arms is enough".

If everyone involved is human, and you're choosing "I want Aaron to have red hair" or "I'd prefer Aaron to have black hair" this feels like it makes less sense to me... perhaps because we are usually dealing with words rather than the mobile games where you can pick which sprite you find most attractive? Perhaps it's simply that I'm more used to the entirety of gender-selection rather than going for a more granular appearance-selection.

Something else I would add - again this isn't something you're doing, but I've seen it around the place so I believe it's worth considering: if you have one shapeshifting creature who's genderfluid among the rest of the cast being cis men or women (human or otherwise), please do consider including a nonbinary or genderfluid romantic interest who is not a shapeshifter as well. Shapeshifters engaging with gender is delightful, but it can be rather tiring when there are no non-shapeshifters also doing it.

Thank you for your questions! I ended up using them to go off on a few meandering tangents, but sometimes a swim in the sea goes that way.

Best wishes for your writing!

[if-seal]

Hi IF Seal!!! I don’t need any advice, just want to thank you for helping us out :] have a fish!!

O! Thank you so very much, my friend!

If I can ever be of assistance, just throw me a question!

[if-seal]

And some more support for you, dear asker!

Hey IF-seal, so i have had an idea for writing an IF where the MC is genderlocked female and her love interests are female too. I am very concerned and anxious that if I put out this project people won't be interested as there isn't much agency when it comes to the gender of the MC and the LIs but I have been so passionate about writing a wlw story with a choices format and I really want to pursue it, I don't have a big reason for making the MC gender locked other than the fact that I have always wanted to write female characters that are different than usual like see them in contexts in which usually males are seen in and making female LIs is because that's the only romance i feel comfortable writing. Should i go for it or dump it?

Dear WLW-writing Friend,

I am taking your hands in my flippers and entreating you:

Please write your F/F story.

I do not wish to be contrary but I will gently contradict you when you say you do not have a big reason for your MC to be gender-locked. In fact you have at least three which you have said to me already!

writing female love interests is where you are comfortable

you would like to write female characters in contexts in which male characters are typically seen

you are passionate about writing a WLW story

And if you only felt the final bullet point, that would be enough.

There are other ways in which players can be given agency in these types of games than the gender of the PC or romanceable characters. (In fact, there are plenty of decisions to be made about the types of agency you want to give players too - which is perhaps for another longer post.)

It is true that there are people who will not want to play as a female character - I will not dispute that - but there are also plenty who will. And there will be people who will be immensely excited about the fact that you are specifically writing a WLW game. They are your audience for this story!

Best of luck with your writing, friend.

[if-seal]

hands and flippers together! <3

Hey IF-seal, so i have had an idea for writing an IF where the MC is genderlocked female and her love interests are female too. I am very concerned and anxious that if I put out this project people won't be interested as there isn't much agency when it comes to the gender of the MC and the LIs but I have been so passionate about writing a wlw story with a choices format and I really want to pursue it, I don't have a big reason for making the MC gender locked other than the fact that I have always wanted to write female characters that are different than usual like see them in contexts in which usually males are seen in and making female LIs is because that's the only romance i feel comfortable writing. Should i go for it or dump it?

Dear WLW-writing Friend,

I am taking your hands in my flippers and entreating you:

Please write your F/F story.

I do not wish to be contrary but I will gently contradict you when you say you do not have a big reason for your MC to be gender-locked. In fact you have at least three which you have said to me already!

writing female love interests is where you are comfortable

you would like to write female characters in contexts in which male characters are typically seen

you are passionate about writing a WLW story

And if you only felt the final bullet point, that would be enough.

There are other ways in which players can be given agency in these types of games than the gender of the PC or romanceable characters. (In fact, there are plenty of decisions to be made about the types of agency you want to give players too - which is perhaps for another longer post.)

It is true that there are people who will not want to play as a female character - I will not dispute that - but there are also plenty who will. And there will be people who will be immensely excited about the fact that you are specifically writing a WLW game. They are your audience for this story!

Best of luck with your writing, friend.

[if-seal]

Thank you for the addition @passerine-hills-if!

Writing what YOU feel really passionate about is so important, and your joy in what you write will shine out for readers to see as well as sustaining you on projects that can take a long time to come to fruition.

Hey IF-seal, so i have had an idea for writing an IF where the MC is genderlocked female and her love interests are female too. I am very concerned and anxious that if I put out this project people won't be interested as there isn't much agency when it comes to the gender of the MC and the LIs but I have been so passionate about writing a wlw story with a choices format and I really want to pursue it, I don't have a big reason for making the MC gender locked other than the fact that I have always wanted to write female characters that are different than usual like see them in contexts in which usually males are seen in and making female LIs is because that's the only romance i feel comfortable writing. Should i go for it or dump it?

Dear WLW-writing Friend,

I am taking your hands in my flippers and entreating you:

Please write your F/F story.

I do not wish to be contrary but I will gently contradict you when you say you do not have a big reason for your MC to be gender-locked. In fact you have at least three which you have said to me already!

writing female love interests is where you are comfortable

you would like to write female characters in contexts in which male characters are typically seen

you are passionate about writing a WLW story

And if you only felt the final bullet point, that would be enough.

There are other ways in which players can be given agency in these types of games than the gender of the PC or romanceable characters. (In fact, there are plenty of decisions to be made about the types of agency you want to give players too - which is perhaps for another longer post.)

It is true that there are people who will not want to play as a female character - I will not dispute that - but there are also plenty who will. And there will be people who will be immensely excited about the fact that you are specifically writing a WLW game. They are your audience for this story!

Best of luck with your writing, friend.

[if-seal]

Dear WLW-writing Friend, here are some lovely responses from people who are excited about you writing an F/F romance game!

Hey IF-seal, so i have had an idea for writing an IF where the MC is genderlocked female and her love interests are female too. I am very concerned and anxious that if I put out this project people won't be interested as there isn't much agency when it comes to the gender of the MC and the LIs but I have been so passionate about writing a wlw story with a choices format and I really want to pursue it, I don't have a big reason for making the MC gender locked other than the fact that I have always wanted to write female characters that are different than usual like see them in contexts in which usually males are seen in and making female LIs is because that's the only romance i feel comfortable writing. Should i go for it or dump it?

Dear WLW-writing Friend,

I am taking your hands in my flippers and entreating you:

Please write your F/F story.

I do not wish to be contrary but I will gently contradict you when you say you do not have a big reason for your MC to be gender-locked. In fact you have at least three which you have said to me already!

writing female love interests is where you are comfortable

you would like to write female characters in contexts in which male characters are typically seen

you are passionate about writing a WLW story

And if you only felt the final bullet point, that would be enough.

There are other ways in which players can be given agency in these types of games than the gender of the PC or romanceable characters. (In fact, there are plenty of decisions to be made about the types of agency you want to give players too - which is perhaps for another longer post.)

It is true that there are people who will not want to play as a female character - I will not dispute that - but there are also plenty who will. And there will be people who will be immensely excited about the fact that you are specifically writing a WLW game. They are your audience for this story!

Best of luck with your writing, friend.

[if-seal]

Hey IF-seal, so i have had an idea for writing an IF where the MC is genderlocked female and her love interests are female too. I am very concerned and anxious that if I put out this project people won't be interested as there isn't much agency when it comes to the gender of the MC and the LIs but I have been so passionate about writing a wlw story with a choices format and I really want to pursue it, I don't have a big reason for making the MC gender locked other than the fact that I have always wanted to write female characters that are different than usual like see them in contexts in which usually males are seen in and making female LIs is because that's the only romance i feel comfortable writing. Should i go for it or dump it?

Dear WLW-writing Friend,

I am taking your hands in my flippers and entreating you:

Please write your F/F story.

I do not wish to be contrary but I will gently contradict you when you say you do not have a big reason for your MC to be gender-locked. In fact you have at least three which you have said to me already!

writing female love interests is where you are comfortable

you would like to write female characters in contexts in which male characters are typically seen

you are passionate about writing a WLW story

And if you only felt the final bullet point, that would be enough.

There are other ways in which players can be given agency in these types of games than the gender of the PC or romanceable characters. (In fact, there are plenty of decisions to be made about the types of agency you want to give players too - which is perhaps for another longer post.)

It is true that there are people who will not want to play as a female character - I will not dispute that - but there are also plenty who will. And there will be people who will be immensely excited about the fact that you are specifically writing a WLW game. They are your audience for this story!

Best of luck with your writing, friend.

[if-seal]

dear seal, starting with: i hope you have a nice day/ night and everything in between! you don't have to help us nor give advice and for that i am grateful you choose to.

do you have any suggestions as to how to name IFs? (so sorry if you've already answered this) i have a title in mind but when i asked my friend for her opinion, she didn't think it fit. when i searched online, they talked about finding one to encompass the general theme of the story or name it after an important thing in the story but i've been trying that for years with other projects and it never turns out well.

Dear Naming Friend,

Thank you so very much for your kind comments and well wishes! Naming can be a tricky and weighty business, and I am very happy to give you some thoughts on it!

I think if you love your current title and feel like it fits your game, do feel free to use it with my blessing! Or share it with other friends and see what they think - it might be that it just wasn't the first friend's thing.

And you can change your title if you want to, even after you've initially revealed your project to the world. Better to do that rather than stick with one you don't love.

Whether you are thinking of changing the title or of reassessing your current one, I absolutely recommend searching for your chosen title or similar ones to check that you're not duplicating something that already exists by accident. Read it out plenty of times to see how it feels to say. Sometimes a title will look lovely on the page but feels stumbling when you say it out loud.

I believe themes or in-universe elements can be nice starting points for figuring out a title, or perhaps the shape of your title, but if those aren't grabbing you or you've had tricky experiences figuring that out, here are some suggestions that may be useful to you beyond themes or in-universe elements:

-You may find it useful to consider what "shape" you'd like the title to have: a single word, a phrase, an in-game element, and so on. I would generally suggest caution when it comes to very long titles with a lot of elements in them, such as the imaginary SELKIE'S HEART: LIGHTHOUSE FURY BENEATH THE STARS or such... but on the other hand plenty of people adore those kinds of titles so if it works for you, embrace it!

-Try making a document of lots of name ideas, adding to the list whenever a word or phrase sounds interesting or could be related, even tangentially, to your game or plot. This could be as simple as a notes app on your phone

-It is useful to write down many ideas without really thinking about them, good and bad, with no pressure on whether you're going to use them - just dipping into your brain to see what comes out

-Come up with a lot of deliberately bad titles that sound too generic, boring, or misleading but that someone might conceivably use for your game. This can help clear out the cobwebs of your brain.

-Relatedly, assign your game a placeholder while you wait for inspiration to strike. Do not use a placeholder that could be at all usable! It should be truly horrid. When my roommate @hpowellsmith was searching for a title for what became THE EARTH HAS TEETH, a friend suggested - apologies for the coarse language - Stormfucker 2099: Choice Choicington Investigates for a dreadful placeholder to avoid getting attached to a temporary title. Now personal taste is subjective, but I think most of us will agree that no one would want to use that one!

-Another friend provided a link to wordhippo.com which is a remarkably handy thesaurus site that I've found more useful than some of the other sites. Besides which it is also a helpful aquatic mammal, just like me! Less mammalian helpful sites include relatedwords.org and powerthesaurus.org.

-You might also try having an aim of listing 20 titles and rereading them, focusing not on the first ones you think of, nor of the ones where you're scraping for ideas, but the middle ones which may feel more interesting than the initial burst of ideas

As you see, this approach tends towards a scattershot one. Sometimes a title will come as a first flash of inspiration and nothing else will feel right, but that's rather rare. Best of luck, author friend!

[if-seal]

Hi Seal, so a couple days ago I finished up plotting the whole storyline for my IF (horay!), but today as I was looking for some IFs to play I came across a moderately popular one i've played before. I decided to replay it and realized that it has a couple of similarities (roadtrip backdrop, some members of the cast having the same/similar roles/personalities, a plot piece or two, etc) to mine. Now I'm worried that what I've written was me unconsciously taking inspiration from this IF and even more worried of people pointing it out and asking about it, so any and all advice would be appreciated!

Dear Inspired Friend,

This is a fraught question and I understand how worried you feel: it can be really tricky when imagining what people will think, being accused of copying someone else's work and so on, so please accept my sympathy in this situation.

A couple of things are true:

Creative people can draw from similar or the same wells of themes, tropes, settings, and so on, and the results are wildly different and original. There are so very many ways of exploring similar themes or character types.

If a piece of work feels derivative or unimaginative, that can put a real dampener on people's enjoyment, and on the quality of the work in question.

People can be very overzealous in pointing out what they see as derivative elements.

I cannot make any judgement about where your writing is placed on the spectrum of "inspiration" or "copying" but it up to you to decide whether you want to change any aspects of your story. Perhaps there are elements in which you'd like to go in a different direction. Perhaps you will feel that your story has its own identity and you're happy with where it is now.

Either way it's worth examining and figuring out where you're making your own personal creative mark on it. You are at an ideal time to be doing this, because you're at the planning stages.

What I would advise not doing is tangling yourself in theoretical worries about what people might or might not say about your story's relationship with another one. I have seen people say that one game is ripping off another when it was made before it. I have seen people claiming that an overlapping element like, for instance, being set in a castle means that one story is copying another. People will say these kinds of things whatever you're writing. So: be true to yourself, do not sell yourself short in cleaving too close to someone else's work that's inspired you, and get in touch with what you love about what you bring to your work.

Good luck!

[if-seal]

I entirely agree! It's fantastic to use a separate room as your work area - and if you do not have space, it can be helpful to mark your workspace in some way to delineate it in your mind as "this is my work table right now" or such. It can also be useful to work in a coffee shop or co-working space, although that can end up being on the pricey side if done regularly.

This reply reminded me of another strategy that has been useful: if you are using the same computer for work and leisure, try creating a different user account for your work, preferably one that has fewer distracting or interesting things on it. That can help make more of a divide between leisure and writing time.

Wise seal, I feel like I constantly think of my story due to doing this as my job and because my home now feels more like a workplace than home. Do you have any tips on how to separate my work from my home life better?

Dear Workplace-Balance Friend,

O, I do wish that I had a really perfect answer for you. I too find it very hard indeed to switch off from being in work mode - and even if it is work that brings us joy, it is still important to take breaks.

I do have some tips:

-set a strict timeframe for writing, or discussing writing. Do not chat about writing just before going to bed.

-put on a work outfit before starting your workday, and change into a leisure outfit when it's time to switch off.

-take a full lunchbreak away from the screen at which you do your work.

-use a Pomodoro Technique or similar timer to set breaktimes.

-go for a brief (or long, if you like it) walk in the morning and evening to mimic a walk to work.

-do something else to cue you that you're starting and finishing your writing, such as listening to music, having a particular drink or snack, or lighting a particular candle.

-take your writing-related social media off your phone and do it on your work computer instead.

-do not check writing-related emails or other messages outside of your work hours, and especially not at night.

I am a fallible seal and do not manage to do all (or sometimes any) of these things. But when I do at least one of them, I feel better.

Good luck with balancing your work and your life. Much love!

[if-seal]

i am going to slide a little note in here as an avid/ if reader. chances are, whoever author submitted that note about not receiving enough asks was- ive read their if! and as someone who reads so much, I'd like to note that sometimes it doesnt mean a lack of interest or fear of commenting. sometimes it's just hard to find something to say because the if is SO good! i dont often send a lot of asks to certain blogs because i dont have a question or scenario because they are /so/ good at fleshing out characters and plot that i just silently, excitedly, stalk. now, this isn't discouragment to leave asks. im aware that comments are like - authors #1 source of fuel. but please dont always assume it's negative! some of you are just too good 💔

Dear Excitedly Reading Friend,

Ah, I do relate to this myself very much indeed! And I certainly want to join with you in reminding our dear author friends that it is not mere lack of engagement with a story that may result in quietness.

I will say, even an anonymous "I love this!" or "oh my gosh!!!" is helpful to authors: there is no pressure to write an essay about exactly why you love a game, although that's immensely exciting to receive too. So if readers are thinking "I don't know what to say, I just like it!", that is a good enough thing to tell someone and will likely make a writer's day.

Thank you for your perspective, friend!

[if-seal]

How long is the average chapter for an if? I'm a chapter 9, and idk if I could do another, unless I come up with something else. I'm really stretching myself thin here cus my concept is zombie apocalypse I don't really have much room. Most if's are (I think) 10+ so I'm a little concerned but I'm also planning for a s2 so idk. I just don't want to go in with low expectations of my work. Help <3?

Dear Measuring-Tape Friend,

I do not want to be hackneyed (actually that is a lie, I love to be hackneyed) but it is very much a "how long is a piece of string" answer.

If you are at Chapter 9 and you have explored the story of the game in a way that feels complete to you, there is no need to pad out further or introduce new conundrums that might feel artificial.

Once you've completed your draft, I recommend leaving it for a little while and then returning to play it yourself with fresher eyes. That will give you information about whether it feels like more story is required or whether it's exactly as it needs to be.

I'd also recommend keeping an eye on the ending sections to ensure that they feel satisfying, even as they allow for further exploration of the story in a game that comes afterwards. It would be a pity if after your hard work, it felt truncated not because of the length, but because of anticipating the later game a little too much.

Happy writing, zombie-apocalypse friend! And congratulations for getting so far in the project!

[if-seal]

hello seal! i've recently started to write out my if, and in the middle of it i realized that in most of the current scenes i've written the mc as having a stronger/bolder personality and reading back some of the scenes kinda depend on mc having that type of personality

i originally planned for mc to be more of a blank slate and i don't want to turn away the people who prefer playing a shyer/softer mcs, so what should i do? rework the scenes so it'll fit better? just go with what i've already written? or is there perhaps a compromise??

Dear Slate-Writing Friend,

This is a fascinating question and one which I think a great many interactive fiction authors, new and old, will be interested in.

For me, consistency is very important indeed. I shall expound upon that below...

There is a certain amount of audience expectation around games in which you are deciding various elements of the MC. I realise I mention Harry duBois of Disco Elysium a lot here, but I find him a useful point of reference for a truly non-blank-slate character where there are many directions in which to turn him. He is a fully set character, but you can guide him in any number of different ways, including dying by sitting on a distressingly uncomfortable chair and such.

Some interactive fiction works in a similar way. Take Birdland and its sequels, for instance: there is a named character whom you are playing. Others may not have a pre-named character but the MC is either only customisable by name or they are not customisable at all.

Then games like those made by Choice of Games involve a blanker slate. I would not always call them an entirely blank slate: they exist within parameters of behaviour and actions. The Creme de la Creme MC cannot have secretly been a criminal before arriving at Gallatin. The Tally Ho MC is a servant. But there is a much higher degree of customisation around their traits (such as gender), skills (such as hunting ability or occult awareness), or personality (such as shyness or calmness).

In some games, these aspects may be less flexible. An MC may always have regrets about an event from their past, for example, or always despise their parents, or always be scholarly and bookish. There are plenty of games which include such inflexible elements and plenty of audiences who enjoy them.

I have two notes for you to consider.

The first is that you'll want to make sure to infuse the game with these elements strongly, grabbing the players with the story and MC so hard that players will buy into it fully and not yearn to play a shy character, for example. You may also want to make it clear when talking about the game that these fixed elements are vital to the story and the play experience because there is a certain expectation of customisability in Choice of Games games and the Twines that are inspired by that style.

The second is that it's important not to inadvertently suggest to players that flexibility might be accessible. So: if you want to present players with an MC who is always extroverted and take-charge, do not include a Shy stat or similar - it will make players confused or cross that their allegedly Shy MC is still bossing people around and taking names.

I suspect that in your case, because of coming to this realisation in the middle of writing, that your MC is currently somewhere in between customisable and set. That is an awkward place to be, because if it feels like not one or the other, players may stumble at the inconsistency. It is a little jarring to feel like the game is intended to pay attention to their MC's personality but isn't. Much more satisfying to know what's going on in either direction.

But this is entirely fine as you're in the middle of the first draft! A great deal of this draft is about discovering what the game needs and what will need changing later. So I would suggest revisiting your earlier scenes and figuring out whether you still like the idea of allowing a customisable personality - or whether you'd like to make the MC less flexible. Either may happen! There are absolutely excellent ways of writing both approaches, but I caution against trying to do a combination as it's easy to end up feeling in a not-so-satisfying limbo.

Thank you very much for your question and I hope this is helpful!

[if-seal]

you know, i had a random specific question but then by writing it out in the askbox i answered it for myself, you're my little duck ! thanks 😁 let it be known that sometimes when you hit a wall sometimes you just need to organize your thoughts aloud

O, that is so wonderful to hear! I am so happy that writing out the problem helped, and warmest of wishes to you for your writing and organisation!

Speaking aloud to someone, or writing out the problem that's concerning you with writing can be an excellent way of untangling things and I thoroughly recommend it.

My roommate @hpowellsmith can frequently be heard quacking away to their wife about some tricky writing problem or another.

And as for me, I very much like the rubber duck method. Eider ducks are my favourite, personally. Not at all because they're also delicious... oops, did I say that out loud?

[if-seal]

Hello IF Seal! I have a question about how to progress the plot along by having things happen to the MC, instead of having the MC initiate everything. I much prefer stories that work like this (and I think in the world of IF they're more compelling, because the MC can truly be a blank slate and then the player gets to choose how they react instead of being forced into an action), and yet, I really struggle to write them.

Dear Plot-Progressing Friend,

As with many things, it's my thought that a balance is a good thing to aim for with this kind of thing.

Certainly it is fabulous to have plenty of options in which the MC can choose how to respond to major events. For example, the MC may be quietly having coffee when an adorable fellow visitor to the establishment accidentally drops their tray! Or the MC may be on the run from magical law-enforcement having just completed their heist! Or the MC may need to figure out how best to do their job of mussel-diving in their local caves for the day.

A lot of branching narrative is all about giving players options in handling what the game throws at them and writing situations like this enables players to decide what matters to their MC, what their personality is, and more.

That said! If you are finding that you are always writing the MC responding to things rather than acting, I wonder if there is some imbalance going on. If the MC is always reactive rather than proactive, that will work for some players and paths, but at other points it's great to also give the MC agency to make decisions.

For example:

They've come to the coffee shop and have seen their friend whom they've been arguing with, their rival at the swimming club, and the mysterious visitor to town whom they've seen lurking around the local graveyard. Who do they want to sit with? Do they want to sit alone? What happens in response to each of those actions?

And do you have the scope and ideas to have the MC go "actually I don't want to go to the coffee shop, I need to get to the library and work on my assignment" and have an entirely different branch?

I reread your question a couple of times and wonder about a line of reasoning that I believe is "if the MC initiates everything, they're forced into an action". If the MC is always initiating everything and there's only one choice, that can certainly feel railroaded. But if the MC is given choices about what things they can initiate, that's a different kettle of fish altogether. I also believe that if the MC is only ever having things happen to them, that can result in the same kind of unwanted railroading.

And no one wants an unwanted railroad!

So what I would recommend is having a look at your plot and where you are in it, and think about how the MC could knowingly or unknowingly drive it forward - and how they could respond to having an event happen to them. I think having a combination of these approaches may help it feel more organic and responsive, and hopefully you won't be put into that struggling situation.

Best of luck!

[if-seal]

Hi if seal!!! (throws you a fish) I was wondering if you had any insight as to decisions regarding multiple POVs. I’ve seen some games integrate an RO/outsider POV as its own chapter/interlude, while for some it’s kept exclusively to side/bonus content. And of course, some don’t include it at all! What are the benefits/drawbacks of each approach? How do you decide what’s best for your story? Thanks!

Greetings, thank you very much indeed for the fish!

I confess this question gave me some pause for thought: I am not honestly sure how to know which perspective might suit what type of story! Perhaps a game which relies heavily on mystery might not suit them so well...?

My second confession is that I am not a seal who is particularly fond of in-game perspective shifts, but I am very aware that there are many who are fond of them, so I shall share what I've heard from them:

It can be a thrill to see directly what another character (usually romanceable) thinks about the PC, especially if the character is not very open about such things in the game

It can be interesting to see the PC's behaviour through another person's eyes, especially if the PC's narrative voice is particularly unreliable

It can be fun to have an insight into another character's perspective on events in the game, or into their background

It can give space to scenes in which the PC does not appear at all, therefore adding flexibility to a perspective which is often contained to the PC themselves

It can give breathing room between events devoted to the PC's perspective

It gives more for those who are excited about particular NPCs

I believe all of these advantages apply perfectly well to side stories or bonus material, if the author and players enjoy making and reading it - although I would caution spending too long on them if it causes distraction or drains your energy from your main project.

It is not wholly to my taste for them to be included in the game themselves for the following reasons:

If applicable, it can feel strange to suddenly control a character with whom your PC would usually interact

It can throw off a game's pacing and feel intrusive

It can put a dent in the immersion of a PC's perspective; unlike a book with many multiple perspectives, it is not usually an ensemble cast, and is more often majority-PC and occasional short NPC diversions, which takes away from time with the PC

If a formerly unknown emotion or action is illuminated in the perspective-shift, it can reduce the impact when it's discovered/encountered by the PC because the player already knows what's going on in the NPC's mind

More is not always better

With all of the above in mind, it's very much an individual author's choice! I do not believe it is necessary; I know many people are very excited to have more time with the characters they adore. Some authors include them in the game with options to skip them, which is likely a good compromise to account for those who love them and those who do not.

So it all depends what you want to spend your time on! If writing perspective shifts energises you, it is well worth doing. If it doesn't, that's your answer.

As ever I would love to hear other people's thoughts on this so please do share - do you like or dislike perspective changes, or have preferences about how they're handled if they occur in-game?

[if-seal]

Dear Marketing Friend,

A follow-up on this post: I received an additional message from a helpful reader of this blog with a variety of suggestions, some of which I cheerfully agreed with and others which I did not so much. I shall respond to and explore a mixture of both below.

I do not believe it is important to spend a lot of time designing a blog. Reading on phones, on a Tumblr dashboard if we are speaking of Tumblr blogs, or on an RSS feed if we are speaking of blogs in general, will render all that work invisible. Yes you should have a profile picture and a little bio that says who you are and what you are doing, but if you are not much of a graphic-design person who enjoys creating more complex art I would advise you to concentrate on your writing instead.

That said, "your writing" is not limited to the project itself and certainly includes the ways in which you share information about your game.

It is eminently sensible to have a pinned post including easy-to-read information about your game and the places where you can learn more about it and play it.

It is also a good exercise to get used to summarising your game in 2-3 snappy sentences that say something about what makes your game interesting. When you are sharing things about your game, call back to this. You do not have to use those exact sentences all the time but keeping them in your mind will make it feel more natural to tell people about what's exciting about your game in a way that's easier for them to understand.

You will find that posting on a regular schedule is likely to result in more interest in and questions about your progress; this does not have to be constant activity of course, and do not burn yourself out, but it is more beneficial to have a post twice a week for three months than the same amount of posts crammed into a couple of weeks and then nothing. That's where creating a queue of posts will be useful to you.

Please do not chase trends that you don't love in the hope that you will hit a lucky jackpot. It is wonderful to be inspired by others but there is no guarantee that a similar concept to a popular game will go viral. Games take a great deal of time to make: ensure you are writing something you feel fully on board with and passionate about, and you will be able to showcase and share that passion with others.

I am not an expert in marketing in any way but I have been in hobbyist and commercial interactive fiction circles for many years and believe the most important showcase of your skills is your project, the story within it, and the way you refine and develop it over time. Of course we all see beautiful graphic design and thrilling character posts sometimes getting big flurries of engagement but it is creating and sharing the game itself that will bring you the most satisfaction and will keep an interested audience coming back.

It can be a major time and energy drain looking at popular people's work and trying to determine some manner of secret recipe from them. Their marketing methods may have contributed towards their popularity, or it could be something entirely different: you cannot know whether correlation equals causation and you'd be better placed concentrating on what you are writing.

Finally, this is a very small world - a niche subsection of interactive fiction as a whole - and while it is not exactly a singular "community", my opinion is that those within it do not have to be in competition with one another. There was a tone in the message I received that made me wonder if the sender thought otherwise. But I believe that a rising tide can lift all boats and if you consider yourself to be competing with other writers for attention or even money, it will make you miserable. If you find some interactive fiction that makes you happy, and you tell others that you like it, it can help everyone involved. If saying this makes me a somewhat naive seal, I am at ease with that.

Best wishes to you, Marketing Friend, and I hope your writing goes well!

Do you have any advices on marketing?

Dear Marketing Friend,

One of the things I would say is to not be afraid of blowing your own trumpet.

I confess I am no expert in marketing, and this area of game-writing is a particuarly small and interesting one; things I see advised for creators of non-text-based indie games or even visual novels do not always apply, and nor do things I see advised for book authors.

But I would say the first step is not to feel embarrassed or ashamed about talking about your work. Cast aside the fear that it's annoying! If you have a social media presence related to your writing, people are following you because they're interested in your writing!

Also: it may feel like you are constantly talking about your work being out. But unless you are someone whose work has gone wildly viral while in development, and/or you've had vast sales success, not enough people will know about it. Even the latter is no guarantee that people have heard about it.

That said! It is also worth engaging with other people's work - not for mercenary marketing reasons but because reading other work in this sphere will help you develop your writing skills, and perhaps that will help you connect with your peers as well.

I do think that if you are new to sharing this kind of writing, or if you have a current unfinished project and are starting a new one, it is wise to share some of your work upfront rather than getting excited and announcing a project that does not get off the ground.

This is for your own peace of mind if nothing else: I do not say it to cast aspersions. I have seen plenty of people talk about the difficulty of having an unstarted project get a lot of attention and then realising they need more time than they hoped or that they do not actually want to make the project at all. That's a very hard situation to be in but it is an avoidable one.

The happy side of that is that if you have something to show, it is much easier to show off! Let your light shine and don't hide it.

On a practical level, I recommend writing your materials in advance and queueing them to be posted, and perhaps making a spreadsheet or list of when your next post needs to go up. Being prepared makes it much easier, especially if you have regular types of posts that go up each week or fortnight for example. Otherwise it is very easy to lose track and get burned out on the whole thing.

One last thing: there is a temptation to share a lot about one's own life when marketing and while that suits some people well, please do not put yourself under pressure to do so. And do not feel that you have to do huge amounts of customer service or extra writing in order to make a good piece of interactive fiction.

Make a piece of work that you feel proud of, talk about it, and show it off: those are the things that I think are best focused on.