We would huddle together, sharing stories around food and drink while tossing bones around. We weren’t cavemen, but what went on every half-hour during our middleschool lunch was decidedly archaic. Instead of gameboys or LAN parties, my group of geeky friends and I would bring out the tomes and character sheets. I knew every stat adjustment for every race in the player’s handbook, what levels fighters would get their bonus feats, and what ‘ambidextrous’...

Have you ever solved a puzzle, a riddle or problem and felt clever for doing so? Imagine that sensation at the end of a suspense-filled narrative, an epic series of mental exercises more enjoyable and page-turning than any logic puzzle. Murders are inherently dramatic—but shroud it in mystery and revenge and misplaced rage and you have something else entirely! Way before interactive fiction was a thing, authors were engaging readers and forcing them to...

The second and final part of the method centers on scripting and testing. By the time I get to this stage the story and branches are written. But the writing—and particularly the editing—will continue a while longer as I finally see the game come to life. It’s always a good feeling to see the result of months of hard work! Scripting Choicescript is a high-level programming language which feels in many ways like a...

The writing, editing and scripting process for Samurai of Hyuga went mostly the same way Fatehaven’s did. Choose-your-own-adventures require a unique blend of creative and logical thinking, and a decent one is going to take a serious amount of time. When approaching any quality project with the intent to finish it, a method is required. You don’t have to get it from a book and you definitely don’t have to get it from me,...

For all you min-maxing 100%’ers out there, here’s a guide to help get those tricky achievements. It’s impossible to get them all during a single play-through, so there’s no need to stress over them too much. I made many of these achievements to motivate players to pick less popular choices, as well as rewarding them for paying attention. Warning: spoilers ahead! Best Dumplings in Yamato In chapter 1, Kin Oyama asks a request from...

Samurai of Hyuga has been released! Check out it’s page here! At the risk of getting introspective, I want to go into why I created SoH in the first place. My main hope and goal is that it feels unlike any interactive story you’ve played before. I want it to hit you deeper and touch depths nothing in this genre has quite been able to reach. I threw out a few conventions and put...

Every choice a player makes (aside from obviously incorrect ones) should be justified by you as an author in some way. Whether it’s an “ah, of course!” or even just a figurative pat on the back–letting them know they made a good choice is always a good thing. Don’t just do what the player wants to do, make them feel good for doing it! Think of what ideas were going through their head, their...