"Choices Matter:" Pleasant Surprises vs. Annoying Traps

[qwsaq]

[Preface: I will be mentioning two games as examples to illustrate my point. This is not a critique about either of those games as a whole. They are very different games in very different stages of their development. These are just examples that highlight the broader idea I would like to communicate.]

I have long been an advocate for exercising caution/common sense when it comes to "choices matter." As much as I agree with the platitude, a poor interpretation can lead to scope creep and a naive sense that every click should result in a completely independent storyline. But I'm not really here to talk about that aspect of the problem.
I want to talk about surprises.

Starting with an an example from Boring Days, a femdom focused role-reversal VN which is early in its development and updates at a glacial pace (which is fine as the dev is open about not having much time to work on the game). There is one particular scene I will call out as a fantastic example of what a surprise should be.

Spoiler: Fairly specific set of circumstances to trigger this

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This is a perfect example of a surprise being a nice addition to a game. It's basically an Easter egg. The core dynamics of the game haven't changed. But your relationship with some largely irrelevant side characters has. Maybe, as this game develops, there will be more scenes that reference the choice that was made, and hopefully other choices that you make. But for now this stands as a perfect example of surprise done right. I laud AntiMyx for that decision alone. And I hope he makes more like it.

Next I'll give an example from The Company. It's honestly one of the best and longest running in-development games on this site. I have praised it in the past as the gold standard for how "choices matter" should be interpreted. Linear story, changes in sandbox interactions, simple as. Westane is doing it right, and he's been at it for about ten years. Check this game out if you haven't already.
But, as I have complained and defended my complaint (spoilers in previous two links), there is one route with one character that you could easily accidentally railroad yourself on. This is, objectively, bad game design. There's nothing in-game indicating that making this particular choice would lock you out of using the game's most fundamental mechanic on this particular character. If you weren't actively keeping track of the change logs, you'd have no idea this was even remotely intended to be a route in itself. It is not only ass, but the anus between.

To tie a bow on all of this: A pleasant surprise is a scene/dynamic you weren't expecting, maybe something you'll find as you fool around with different choices. A trap is something that you expect to be a simple "see content or no" that ropes you down a path or locks you out of content you were expecting to see.

Thank you for listening to my TedTalk.

 

[Saerwen]

What I don't like is that most games have trap which are choices that matter hence it's false and games are kinetic novel/choices are meaningless. You play the game as it meant to be and choices are given to think that you can control your character.

 

[AntiMyx]

It's basically an Easter egg.

It was an Easter egg. Now it's much easier to get this scene. I'm a big fan of players getting a unique experience in their playthrough, different from other players's experience, but people are very greedy and want to get all the scenes after all.

 

[sleepingflowergirl]

I think it comes down to making the player feel like they have control over the course of the game in a meaningful way. People can tell when they choices they make aren't really affecting anything. As long as the surprise isn't too far out of left field I think it's a cool idea, just have to make sure the player doesn't get trapped into anything

 

[Doorknob22]

Choices are problematic.

1. They force the player to save at the fork and replay later. And if you many forks, that's many saves to come back to.

2. Alternatively, they force players to choose between two LIs, i.e. miss content or start managing saves as per previous bullet.

3. In case the player actually decides to choose one path and not the other and the player will not replay the choices made, that means effort down the drain, content the player will never see.

 

[Rosequake]

The thing I find most annoying is when the consequences are hidden altogether, and worse, they lock you out of a decision that it wouldn't make any sense to lock you out of in the moment. I really like Our Red String, I think it might be the best game out there, but it still annoys me how you can be propositioned by a character but locked out of saying yes to them unless you chose some random thing you didn't know about in a separate storyline. And that's my Ted Talk!

 

[Zoe Archangel]

To tie a bow on all of this: A pleasant surprise is a scene/dynamic you weren't expecting, maybe something you'll find as you fool around with different choices. A trap is something that you expect to be a simple "see content or no" that ropes you down a path or locks you out of content you were expecting to see.

I think the prevalence of "traps" as you describe is due to the unfortunate idea that if a choice doesn't lead to a new route, it "doesn't matter." I've seen VNs with choices that only alter dialogue being criticized for having "fake choices," because the story is ultimately linear. I imagine this is due to people just skipping through the story and not even noticing subtle changes in a character's attitude or interactions. Therefore, in order to not have idiots saying "ackshully this is a kinetic novel," devs are encouraged to make huge, noticeable changes with every choice.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

To tie a bow on all of this: A pleasant surprise is a scene/dynamic you weren't expecting, maybe something you'll find as you fool around with different choices. A trap is something that you expect to be a simple "see content or no" that ropes you down a path or locks you out of content you were expecting to see.

Expectation is the key concept here, not choice per se.

Yes, choices in games need to communicate outcomes and set player expectations (this is not even limited to narrative choices). The trick for narrative choices is achieving that without breaking immersion.

 

[desmosome]

I think the prevalence of "traps" as you describe is due to the unfortunate idea that if a choice doesn't lead to a new route, it "doesn't matter." I've seen VNs with choices that only alter dialogue being criticized for having "fake choices," because the story is ultimately linear. I imagine this is due to people just skipping through the story and not even noticing subtle changes in a character's attitude or interactions. Therefore, in order to not have idiots saying "ackshully this is a kinetic novel," devs are encouraged to make huge, noticeable changes with every choice.

I don't know about others, but I look at the code to determine if the choices are being tracked. Even if it's minor alterations in dialogues or references down the line, as long as your choices are being tracked, it gives the dev the ability to reference choices made. Branching and consequential payoffs are great, but it's not always feasible.

What annoys me are games that have actual fake choices. None of the choices get tracked. The game literally has no ability to determine what choices you made. And that very often leads to inconsistencies.

 

[seifukulover]

There are fake choices, that only affect a small part of the game, and then there are really fake choices that actually do not matter at all. I think of Sisters Last Day of Summer which was very annoying about the actually fake choices... There's one part where you're asked to choose to cum inside or outside, and he literally cums inside regardless of your choice. Literally every decision in that game affects at most the next few lines of dialogue and nothing else. But the game isn't tagged as a kinetic novel, so...