Hey, sunshine, let’s break this down for you.
You don’t HAVE to use advance choices.
Let’s start with that. I’ve written stories without them before and it’s been fine. But they are there in case we want to create complex choices that have a bigger impact in the storyline. And they keep everything cleaner and better oraganized in the script.
I will be using the following example provided by the very helpful @Dara.Amarie to explain to you how to use some of these features.
Now if you notice we’re using both labels and gains here.
-The label helps section out parts of the story. It does this so we can use the goto command to navigate through this sections. In this example, it splits the storyline into two sections, one section will bring about romance with a male and in the other section it will bring up romance with a female. See, it keeps the script organized and clean. You mentioned that we can all just use the choice with brackets and just write the different versions under the choice, which is true. But it makes it a bit more messy and less compact. But that again, is completely your decision to make.
-The gains help when using the if/elif/else. Used together they push the story forward in the direction of the previous choice. And let’s say the reader made the decision of dating women. Well then in the next chapter you simply write The code again:
if (dateboys) {
goto dateboys_branch
} else {
goto dategirls_branch
}
label dateboys_branch
[story line for boy love interest goes here]
goto end_story
label dategirls_branch
[story line for girl love interest goes here]
goto end_story
label end_story
And the choice will be remembered and the MC can keep dating women since that’s her preference. If you were to just use “bracket choices” then you’d have to ask the reader to make the choice again at the beginning of every chapter. Using the gains and if/elif/else make your life a bit easier and again, keep scripts neater.
But again! You have a right to choose what coding you feel more comfortable with.
I know I went very minimalistic with this but I’m hoping the well-written example would fill in some holes. Hopefully I was helpful.