Meaningful choices while reducing branching

How I Try to Create Meaningful Options in Visual Novels with Reduced Branching

This is article synthesizes what I've learned about efficiently creating a compact story with engaging decisions! 

These are the main types of choices (my own terminology) that I often see offered in visual novels:
1) Branching
  - Hard branching (does not fold back into the main story)
  - Soft branching (folds back into the main story)
2) Linearly progresses the story (other options generally end in immediate failure)
3) Stat manipulation
4) Information/World building
5) Chitchat (0 impact on the game)

My Goal and Style

There is no best way to offer specific choices to different players, only trade offs. My personal goal is first and foremost to tell an immersive story that engages the player. To do this I utilize Hard branching, Soft branching, Information/World building, and Chitchat as the main types of choices I provide to players. I do not use stat manipulation in my games because I feel like it gamifies the story and breaks immersion.

Branching

When I hard branch, it's not solely to provide different game experiences. I don't want a lackluster branching experience tacked onto the main plot, I prefer to have things tightly interwoven. I use branching early on in the game to show players an alternate reality and information that could not be revealed to them at that time during the main plot or other branches. I use branching later on in the game to create multiple endings for players so they can choose how they want the ending to play out given how they feel about the characters. Which branch is selected may be comprised of various decisions throughout the game, it's my style to delay the fork as late as possible so I can provide a higher quality experience for the game as a whole.

Soft Branching

When I soft branch, it's mainly to keep players on their toes and show that their decisions do matter. If all decisions were branching, it would take too long to develop. If all decisions were meaningless, it would be too boring. Usually I tend to make it ambiguous while subtly hinting to the player that certain decisions are branching. I find it good to reward players for being thoughtful with their decisions and keep them on their toes.

Information / World building

I like to create worlds where a lot of information is kept off screen of the main route. Maybe it's subtle, maybe it's implied, maybe it's completely hidden from the player. The informative choices, such as inquiries or different responding with different topics of interest, allow the world to develop more each play through. This also allows character's personalities to continue to develop within the same branch on multiple play throughs.

Chit Chat

Chit Chat dialogues are choices I define as having literally zero impact on the game. They do not set flags and do not change anything besides your own response. Many people claim to hate these dialogue choices and in fact, some people opt to eliminate them entirely. I like it because it allows you to create a personality for your main character that's in the hands of the player. Maybe your character is a bit goofier, maybe they're a bit of a dick. The subtle interactions you choose in these moments give you more control over who exactly the player feels their character is. 

Also, it helps to  give the player more agency over the game as a whole. It makes them feel like they're actively a part of what's happening in the game, not just a bystander reading and watching a slide show. The more options a player has to make, the more it gives them the illusion of control of the game (as long as there are meaningful actions you can take).

Examples

All of these blend together to create a deeper experience as the user gains expectations based off of the types of choices I present.

Situation 1:
A non-major character in the game is harassing you and you're given the decision.
"How should I respond to him?"

- Be nice to him
- Be mean to him

It's not immediately obvious whether or not this has an impact on the game. A conservative player may do what they think is the 'correct' decision. Some players may not even notice. But the more the game is filled with Information and Chit Chat choices, the more the Soft Branching choices blend into the game. This creates an experience where the player isn't simply choosing actions to play out the game - they're immersed in making fun choices and ending up with the consequences of their actions.

Situation 2:
You're texting the heroine of the game and you're given the following options to respond playfully:
- ❤️
- 🤝
- 🥳

This is a non-branching decision that allows the user to choose how they want to portray the way they interact with the heroine. However, the heart is slightly misleading -- it can be taken as a subtle suggestion to the player that this choice may possibly be important. Creating this kind of mind game of expectation with the player I think really creates a larger pay off when you do see your choices have impact. This is a scientifically based strategy - when the payoff of an action is uncertain, it tends yields higher dopamine release when it pays off.

Situation 3:
You're listening to a lonely old man talk who is droning on and on. His dialogue is extremely length and boring.
- "Continue listening"
- "Leave while you can"

This is a fun way to add world building to a story. If players subscribe to the idea of Chekhov's gun, then they may assume that there is some payout in listening to the old man. If there isn't some payout, they may feel cheated or annoyed, which is not unlike the real situation - which makes it humorous (at least to me, the writer).

In my case, this is a delayed soft branch triggered later on in the story. So while the player may initially feel cheated or annoyed, or glad to have gotten out of the scenario, they're later shown that their impulsiveness or patience in the game did have consequences. This creates an interesting combination of the feelings the player has while playing genuinely impacting their decision making in the game and also makes them carefully speculate over future decisions.

Additionally, I use this flag as one of many that get aggregated to trigger a hard branch. This is the closest I've gotten to 'stat manipulation'. If you said the wrong thing to too many people to the point of being a prick, the story would hard branch towards a certain route.

Thank you for reading! If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, please let me know in the comments.