Playing a Game Story

Playing a Game Story

Game Mode lets a story remember values, items, and earlier decisions while you read. Those saved values can change the chapter text, update displays, and decide which continuation choices are available.

Stories that use this feature carry a Game mode badge and can be found from Browse → Game Mode.

Start the game

Open the story's first chapter, select Game state in the story details, and choose Start Game. On a phone, the first chapter may also show a separate Start Game prompt.

Starting activates the story's initial values and the first chapter's changes. From then on, CHYOA keeps you on the current saved path and applies each chapter's conditions and changes as you move forward.

You can browse a Game Mode story without starting, but its saved values and protected paths are not active. Start the game when you want the experience the author designed.

Read the Game state panel

The Game state panel can contain:

• Variables, such as health, money, reputation, or a selected route;
• an inventory, which may use a story-specific title and icon;
• Reset Game and End Game controls.

Authors decide which values readers can see. Secret values may still affect text and choices without appearing in the panel.

When a chapter or interaction changes visible values, CHYOA briefly shows a notice. Recently changed Variables and inventory rows also receive a colored dot, so you can find them after the notice closes. When the inventory total changes without a specific visible item, the notice shows the count change and the dot marks the Inventory heading instead; a removed item appears only in the notice because it no longer has a row to mark.

Continuation choices refresh at the same time, so a newly earned item or changed value may open a path without reloading the page.

Follow conditional choices

A continuation can require a particular value, item, or earlier decision. Depending on the story setting, a choice that you cannot currently use is either:

• shown in a disabled state; or
• omitted until its condition is met.

If a direct link or Story Map entry would bypass the current game path, CHYOA returns you to the game's current chapter.

Use interactive chapter elements

A game story may contain several reader controls:

• Random Draw chooses one outcome from an author's list. Some draws also save a Text or Dropdown value in the game.
• Roll chooses a random result. Some rolls also change a saved value.
• Reveal uncovers hidden text. A reveal may also record a result in the game.
• A code lock asks for an answer before showing its content. Some allow retries, while others give the reader one attempt that ends as Unlocked or Failed. A lock may also record the correct or incorrect result in the game.
• An ordering puzzle asks the reader to arrange shuffled items. Some allow retries, while others give the reader one check that ends as Solved or Failed. A puzzle may also record the correct or incorrect result in the game.
• Action buttons perform a choice such as buying an item, changing a statistic, or recording a decision.
• Stats and meters display important values in a compact form.
• Polls collect reader votes; they are separate from your saved game state.

Some draws, rolls, actions, code locks, and ordering puzzles may be usable only once. How long an interaction lasts depends on its type and the author's settings:

• An ordinary Random Draw does not change the saved game. A repeatable result clears when the chapter reloads, while an ordinary once-only result remains for the browser session.
• A Random Draw that saves to Game State is unavailable until the game starts. Its result can immediately update visible values, inventory, and continuation choices.
• A saved once-only draw or roll stays used when you go Back. Reset Game or Start Over makes it available in the fresh game.
• A once-only action becomes available again when Back returns to the state before that action.
• A reveal can be opened and closed again. When a reveal changes Game State, opening it again does not repeat that change.
• A plain one-attempt lock remembers Unlocked or Failed only for the browser session. A plain one-check ordering puzzle similarly remembers Solved or Failed. Plain locks and ordering puzzles do not affect the saved game.
• A state-changing lock or ordering puzzle needs an active game and saves its result. Going Back past that result makes the interaction available again.

Controls may also be disabled until their condition is met. The author controls those rules, so pay attention to the button's state and any message shown after you choose it.

Go Back in an active game

Choose Back below the chapter choices to return to a recent saved game step. This also restores the values from that step, so paths can close or reopen.

Back follows recent saved game steps rather than chapter history alone. Random Draws and rolls that save to Game State, state-changing reveals, locks and ordering puzzles, actions, and Link Chapters can all create steps in addition to ordinary chapter changes. Because game history is limited, Back may not reach every earlier chapter.

Going Back past a state-changing lock or ordering-puzzle result can undo its saved change and make the interaction available again. Use Reset Game when you want a completely fresh path.

Reset, end, or resume

• Reset Game clears the current progress and begins again with the story's initial state.
• Start Over also resets an active game and returns to the first chapter.
• End Game turns Game Mode off without clearing the saved progress. Starting the game again resumes that saved path.

Reset is permanent for that game. Use Back instead when you only want to reconsider a recent decision.

Ending a game does not clear a saved once-only draw. Starting the game again resumes the same saved result; reset the game when you want a new draw.

Signed-in and guest games

You can try a public Game Mode story while signed out. Guest progress belongs to the current browser session and may not remain available later.

When you play while signed in, the current game is associated with your account so you can resume it on a later visit. Each story keeps its own separate game.

Report a Game Mode error

When an active game behaves differently from what you expected, open Chapter actions and choose Report game mode error. Describe the choice or control you used, what happened, and what you expected to happen.

To send the report, you must select Provide a copy of your Save Game to the story's owners and editors. The copy contains the current Game State and inventory, the current chapter, and the recent saved steps that make Back work. The supplied copy stays stored with the report until the story or reported chapter is permanently deleted. If you are signed in, the report also shows your username; a signed-out report is labeled as coming from a guest reader.

After the report is sent, CHYOA creates a system notification for the story's current Owner and Editors. The linked story title opens that story's Game mode reports page.

Owners and Editors can also open Game mode reports from the profile menu or Library to see one list across all Game Mode stories they currently own or edit. They select Load Save Game to open an isolated copy, inspect the values, try the chapter controls, and go Back through its recent steps. Their changes cannot alter your saved game or their own saved games. Each loaded investigation copy expires after eight hours of inactivity.

Assistant Editors, Reviewers, and Authors cannot open the reports or load their Save Games through those roles.

Use Report chapter instead when the concern is about a possible rules violation rather than how the game behaved.

If the game seems stuck

1. Confirm that Game state shows an active game rather than Start Game.
2. Check visible variables and inventory for a missing requirement.
3. Try another available branch or use Back to restore a recent state.
4. Use Reset Game if you want to discard the current path and begin again.
5. If the problem belongs to this story's Game Mode, send a Report game mode error report. For a site-wide technical problem, use Site Feedback.