on writing video game conversations and choices that actually care about players

Why good dialogue choices don't need huge variations in consequences, and how your whole life has trained you to be an expert in this exact kind of narrative design

The best text-heavy games — whether full-blown Twine-style adventures, visual novels in the style of Slay the Princess, or even the extensive text panels of juggernauts like Disco Elysium and Planescape Torment — are not known just for player choices over what to do.

More often than not, we remember what we can choose to say.

To have dialogue choices in…