for CYOAs, mapping a game can be pretty complex, especially if you want to write up the whole game in this manner. I’ve only ever used Word to plan games, though I can’t say that it’s the best method. Still, using highlighting and indents to indicate various paths can be a pretty effective way to plan out even more complex games. Here’s one example; you can  use the example game to follow along with the mapping here:

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Welcome to an example of a choose-your-own-adventure game! There’s going to be two different examples, one with statistics and one without. Either way, are you excited about writing a choose-your-own-adventure story?

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1. Yes!

     That’s the spirit!

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2. No…

     Come now, be more optimistic.

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Did you want to see what a game looks like with statistics or without statistics?

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In this scenario, the player can choose yes or no. He gets the response underneath his answer, but either choice is followed by “Did…statistics?”

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Choices can also be nested in this manner:

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1. I’ll go east.

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2. I’ll go west.

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     1. I’ll throw the grenade.

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     2. I won’t throw the grenade.

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3. I’ll do neither of these; I’m going to stay here until I find out more of what’s going on.

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This indicates that the player will only be given the option to throw the grenade if he chooses to go west first.



To look at the Word doc that accompanies the example game, you can download the file CYOA Example.

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for text based adventures, mapping can be easy or difficult. Because play is made up of various “rooms” rather than a more linear format, planning can be based on the rooms instead of story line. If you’re working in a program like ADRIFT, making rooms is very easy and keeping track of a map is built into the user interface. Building blank rooms and then later populating them is a useful way to create a world and then develop a story or concept.