Branching vs. linear story with deviations

[Vegos]

The plot I'm working on could go both ways, but I'm running into a few considerations with both - and it's not the raw amount of writing needed.

For the "branching" variant, my problem is setting the pace of introducing characters to the player while giving the ones introduced later into the story an equal chance so to speak, because hopping from branch to branch is something I don't think I can handle at this point yet. I'm also not sure where to set the split; halfway through? One quarter through?

Whereas for the "deviations" variant, the problem there is that I seem to have set a few scenes in a way that your decisions affect the disposition of a couple of characters before they've been introduced to the player (in one case even the protagonist has not been acquainted with them yet), and I assume that's not a very good thing to do. Since the story is mostly told in first person, I'm not sure how common side-scenes where the protagonist isn't present should be.

[Ozitiho]

I have the same issue with my branching game. I'd like to give you an easy answer but I don't think there is one. I gave these characters some serious exposition, while making sure not to neglect the older ones. They don't need as much attention anymore as they're well introduced by this point, so I think it's okay to give the new characters a little extra attention now so that the player can make an informed decision when the branching point comes up.

I thought about doing 'deviations' too. If you haven't yet, G-Senjou no Mao and Steins;Gate do this, if I get you right. The problem is, if there's a strong true path, all other paths are inferior. This shouldn't be something you want either... To respond to your question, it's not bad leaving first person every so often to do a certain scene. One of my favorite VN's does this all the time, it's definitely not a bad thing. What IS strange to me is that your decisions at this moment affect the outcome of the story. Does that mean the player's choices affect more than just the actions of the protagonist? I'm sure that can totally work too, though.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot. When to put the branching split? It doesn't matter. I've played games where the branching point comes up early, late and even at different times for different characters. Some games even have the common branch (point before the split) change completely based on choices. I personally like for the common branch to be relatively long. But that doesn't mean the other branches need to be short, does it? I suppose it depends on where you want to put your focus. The character's unique branch or the common story?

[somestrangecircus]

You might try looking at Cinders, which occasionally switches to other characters for scenes that our main character couldn't possibly be party to. It has four main endings, but a number of variations on each depending on your choices and relationships with other characters. Just for some ideas.

[SundownKid]

Whereas for the "deviations" variant, the problem there is that I seem to have set a few scenes in a way that your decisions affect the disposition of a couple of characters before they've been introduced to the player (in one case even the protagonist has not been acquainted with them yet), and I assume that's not a very good thing to do. Since the story is mostly told in first person, I'm not sure how common side-scenes where the protagonist isn't present should be.

I use those kinds of scenes sometimes when writing. Even when the story is first person, I think they are perfectly fine to use in order to create dramatic irony ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... maticIrony ) In that case I just lose the narration and show it "as is" without explanation.

When it does have narration then it's switching character POV's.

[Krel]

I would use branching if each "branch" has a worthy story that stands on its own. If you're finding that the branch stories are quite similar, or if one branch is clearly stronger than the other, I would go with deviations.

If you don't know where to split the story, I would do it as late as possible. I think this helps the quality of the writing, not making a split where there doesn't need to be.

If you go with deviations, I don't think you necessarily need a lot of side scenes. You should be implying the effect of your decisions, and not directly telling it. I don't think setting dispositions of characters before they meet the protagonist is bad, as long as it feels like the decisions warrant that.