(This is just my brain dump.)
In a good interactive fiction (IF) story, you as the player can make choices that are meaningful to the in-game story as it is told:
-
Choices are impactful (they change the story)
-
Choices change the relationship you have with other characters. This can be explicitly programmed, or it might just be role-playing (or somewhere in between).
-
Similar to above: Choices that change who the MC (main character) is.
It also changes the experience for the player (not the character):
- You decide how much of the story do you want. Do you want to take shortcuts? You can — but you might out on in-game stuff, and even have in-game consequences later.
In good IF, the bias of the author (in terms of what are “good” and “bad choices”) is ideally as small as possible. Each choice (or each path) needs to be as valid as the other.
Choices can change depending on
-
Prior choices, but ideally not directly. A prior choice would have made a change to the MC (did they get a new piece of knowledge? did they get a relevant item) that then has an impact.
-
Choices at character creation time (what clan do you belong to? what profession do you have? where did you grow up?)