DISCUSSION : Stories that use the Point System

Community Episode Fan Community
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I am not asking for help or guidance. I want to join in a conversation that talks about stories that use the ‘point system’. I am not asking what stories that have them. Here are some base questions but (most) anything related to the topic works.

  1. What do you think authors starting using the point system?
  2. What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
  3. Have you used the point system in your story?
  4. Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?

Personality Point System

  1. Do you like to be informed by a readerMessage or an overlay that your personality (charm… sneak… etc…) has increased / decreased? (Please Explain, not just Vote… yall would hurt my feeling :frowning: )
  • readerMessage
  • Overlay

0 voters

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1. What do you think authors starting using the point system?
I think it’s a great addition to a story! It shows that a story is advanced and that choices matter. Especially when an overlay/readermessage alerts the reader if they’ve gained or lost something.

2. What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
I’ve seen them used for relationship and skill levels.

3. Have you used the point system in your story?
Yes, I am heavily using a point system for my story.

4. Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?
I think they are! More and more authors are willing to go out of their way to make different endings and storylines to make an enjoyable reading experience.
I guess the only other thing “hipper” than the point system is the tappable overlays.

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1. What do you think authors starting using the point system?
I think it makes stories more interesting because it shows how choices matter and the readers would have to make well-thought-through decisions.

2. What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
Relationship points between the MC and different characters.

3. Have you used the point system in your story?
Yes, I used it once in a training scene where if they get all of them right, they’ll be able to use this in the future to defend themselves.

4. Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?
Personally, I think it’s great. It shows how much effort was put into the story. Not really sure if it’s the “hip” thing though, I’d say overlays are “hip” because they’re fun lol, and I’ve seen a lot of
arm overlays circulating around.

Personality Point System

1. Do you like to be informed by a readerMessage or an overlay that your personality (charm… sneak… etc…) has increased / decreased? (Please Explain, not just Vote… yall would hurt my feeling :frowning: )
I’d say the readerMessage, it’s obvious when you see it and it’s clear + it’ll be easier for you to code. If you’re going for overlays, you’ll need to upload a lot of overlays unless you’re just doing just + charm, + sneak etc.

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1. What do you think authors starting using the point system?
I love it. You can do so many cool things with the point system.
2. What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
Unlocking scenes and interactions, and boosting relationships.
3. Have you used the point system in your story?
Yes.
4. Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?
No, they’re not. I’ve liked a lot of stories that used the point system for a while, many of which don’t even tell you they’re using it (which is my personal fave).

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Because it’s easier than using gains (for most people… For some reason I find gains easier) and it’s a pretty simple way to make choices matter.

The most common way has to be relationship points. But I’ve also seen skill/survival points used or even seen it in mini games.

I’ve used it in only one story. I find gains easier, like I said, so I don’t use the point system too much. But I used it when I revamped this one of my stories that only had one ending (and it was a bad ending lol), so points help me add another 2 endings (a kinda good one and another bad one muahaha)

Hmmm… Maybe? I have noticed the overlay trend has become popular of reflecting your points (Villain Rehab, Maternal Instincts, Songbird), but whether that means points are the new trend, idk.

I want to know this too. I personally prefer not to be informed at all, bur I feel like I’m a minority here.
Out of readerMessage and overlay, I’d say overlay.

  1. Because it shows how extra the author was.
  2. Because the overlay can sometimes be more helpful in telling you what you’re working towards that a readerMessage.
  3. Because losing points in the readerMessage hurts my feelings! So impersonal. Like way to make me feel bad about my choices.
    readerMessage Your relationship with the author has now decreased because you don’t want to know when you’ve made the wrong choice and don’t like when I remind you of it -1
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I find gains using easier too, actually. I am too unorganized and forgetful to use a point system, so I’m always in awe of authors who use it.

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Hahaha :laughing: I feel like points are supposed to be easier, because it’s only numbers whereas gains you need to remember what you’ve named each gain, but I lose track of how many opportunities I’ve given to get points in the first place. Plus, gains makes it handy to reference particular choices

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  1. I think authors started using the point system because that way it’s an addition of choices that make an impact rather than a single choice.
  2. As mentioned above, Relationship points…
  3. Internal giggling : Well, I use it for damage, health, critical hit, dodge rate, poison, rounds stunned . takes a deep breath burn damage, mini games, relationships, money, amount of a certain item someone has and probably more I can’t think of lol.
  4. I def think it’s getting more trendy, but I agree with above that tappables are pretty hip right now as well.

I like readerMessages … but I think if the overlay was appealing to the eyes I’d pick overlay lol

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What made you choose to add point system in your story ? :3

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You make a good point, overlays would be more work to upload: Do you think overlays to let you know your points have increased / decreased if they were easier to create / upload?

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If I personalty found out my choices did matter I would flip out because usually I pick that one-silly choice. Why do you like to not be told that there is a change in the your ‘points’?

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After seeing your reasons for using overlays, I kinda want to use overlays for my stories now xD Since you do not like being told that you are loosing points, can you think of a way that lets readers know that they are loosing points?

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Because when I’m told, I don’t act authentically. I especially am okay with it when it affects relationships, because I am NOT perfect and sometimes I do rash things, and Idk. I suppose I’m a bit of a masochist, I go “Well, I deserved that for being petty or XYZ.”

And it makes it that much more rewarding (for me), when I benefit from my choices cause then I’m like oh yay, that was good.

I don’t like knowing, as weird as it is. :joy:

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Why do you think authors starting using the point system?
As a way to make choices matter and to make readers feel like their decisions have an impact. It’s also easier than tracking multiple gains (depending on what your goal for the story is). For example, in one of my stories you can pick up detective points based on your choices. These determine your endings (it’s out of 25 points). Gains change the way your story progresses and certain gains do affect the endings, but it’s the points that break it down. It’s much easier than having to just rely on gains!

What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
Improving relationships between characters.

Have you used the point system in your story?
Yes. I have it in four stories. In some stories, I have multiple point “streams”.
I sometimes use points to determine the endings, sometimes gains and quite often I actually use a combination of the two.

Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?
Nah, it’s all about the stories with tappable overlays and/or timed choices :rofl:
I guess I don’t see the point system as a “new” thing as I’ve been incorporating it for over a year and a half.

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They’re really easy to create in my opinion, it’s just that you’d have to make a lot like “Justine +” “Justine -“ “Lucas +” etc…
This one time, I had to make overlays for someone and I had to make around 30 overlays in total, NOT A GOOD EXPERIENCE.

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All I can think of is just having a (small) negative outcome that sort of shows that you might have lost points like… A love interest or friend saying “I don’t trust you enough” and then it would go to the next scene and you’d carry on and there’d be more opportunities to gain points… So I guess basically what happens in a featured story when you don’t spend 20 gems on a dress :wink:

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1. What do you think authors starting using the point system?
Well, the app is marketed as “You choose, you play” kind of vibes. So the question would be, why didn’t they use it before? :nerd_face:

2. What’s a common way you’ve seen stories use the point system?
Relationships. And I really like this because it gives me the right to do whatever I want. Multiple Endings are used as well but I haven’t seen it too much. Only in J. Miley stories tbh

3. Have you used the point system in your story?
Yes…It was a very complicated one…You would pick a choice and it would lead to another then another then another… I’m glad that story is too mature to publish. :crazy_face:

4. Do you think point-system stories are the new ‘hip’ thing? If not, what is?
Yes! Especially since Episode started publishing the new stories with sexuality choices. I mean, they knew how to do it and they put it to work. So I guess everyone will slowly adapt.

Do you like to be informed by a readerMessage or an overlay that your personality (charm… sneak… etc…) has increased / decreased?
I’m gonna give you a full answer about both your overall question and readerMessages with examples. (Maybe you can open a thread for readerMessages as well?)

I was going to pick readerMessage… but then I realized how much of a pain it is. For now, you cannot control how much time it displays, so thats a pretty big advantage. Keep in mind.

I’ve used readerMessages to alert the readers of their personalities/relationships. I think what I did was good, but I’ve seen a lot community stories use the readerMessage so frequently that…I actually don’t feel like I’m playing the story?

Like, I get it. You want to put in some author notes. But doing it constantly is just irritating that I even quit the story… You use it so much that it overlaps and I have to slowly wait for it end before I can understand anything. And the longer you write, smaller the font is! Stop!!! I can’t even read it!!!

My advice on readerMessages:

  • Do not use for language translations. It overlaps. Use like this:
   NARRATOR

Hey, [NAME]! insert dialogues in another languages that I cant even say hi in it (And then put the translation like this. Trust me, so much better. Don’t forget to put parentheses so it doesn’t overlap + hurt the reader’s eyes. Please.

  • Do not use for Comedic effect. Don’t. DO NOT.

  • Explanation over than 2 sentences. Use narration with the name “AUTHOR/AUTHOR’S NOTE”

Other than that… you’re free to do whatever you want. You don’t have to listen to my advice, but the overlays look cooler and readerMessage can be a bit pain. Still, you’re free to do whatever you want!!

TIP FOR LANGUAGES IN STORIES:

After writing a few sentences in the other language, switch it to English and notify the reader with "The conversation is still in insert language. It is even cleaner.

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I’m actually a huge fan of the point system though I’ve never had the courage to try and add it to my own stories.
I think it makes the story more realistic and you become much more aware of how you have to act around others. Plus, I think it gives the story more depth. Like, if you say something and then your relationship with someone becomes either better or worse, you know that it was because of some specific thing you said or did and I believe it gives you a better way of understanding the other characters’ values and beliefs.

As for your last question about whether we prefer readerMessage or overlays, I picked readerMessages. I haven’t seen people use overlays instead so I guess that’s actually why I picked it. Also, I think the readerMessage is good because it’s kind of subtle but not so subtle that you wouldn’t notice it. And since it looks weird if you put in too much text, I believe most people just make whatever they want to say short (Like, if your relation to someone has become better, then maybe it says “Name +1”).

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I wanted to use the points system to challenge myself. I’ve never really incorporated the point system as heavily as I do now so I took it as a chance to practice different types of advanced directing. :sweat_smile:

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@Cam, @AnnieAEpisode, @GSG.episode, @Stargazer54, @EpisodeShadow, @sofia2, @KatieI, @Episode.vel, @ParisN, @Turtle_Cat, @ThatRandomPerson, @HumanBean, @Unique_911, @MoreTeaMustBeSpilled

many tears ;-; as yall voted but did not discuss D:

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