Wisdom, Charisma, Dexterity. Using numbers to identify our strengths and weaknesses has been around for decades in roleplaying games. Stats in interactive fiction however, is a more recent invention. The choose-your-own-adventure books of the 80s and 90s faced limitations that their current digital counterparts no longer have. And with great power comes, well, lots of choices.

With a story written in choicescript or any programming language, you can store variables and test them, create percents and output personalized descriptions like “calm and confident”, “bewildered” and “shamelessly lewd”. With so much control over what the player sees, it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out what you want in there.

Choice of Games has a wonderful article on stats here. There’s so much left up to your personal preference as a game designer, and it’s always neat to see how much two different choice games differ. I’ll go into my thought process when designing stats, what I prefer, and what stats I’m using for my upcoming game.

Stats shouldn’t trump story.
I’m as guilty as the next guy when it comes to checking my stats. As soon as a new choice of game starts up, I find myself pressing the “Show Stats” button to see what I’m in for. It’s understandable. But it’s something that shouldn’t interrupt the reader throughout the story. The idea is to get the player raptured into the interactive tale, not to send them off into an inventory sub-screen after every choice! A good stats screen is something the player looks over and nods, saying “Yeah, this reflects who I’m trying to vicariously be.”

You’re doing a better job as a writer when your player cares more about how your characters react to your choices then how your integer values do.

“VS.” stats > “0 to 100” stats
My personal goal for the player is that they enjoy their story, and are happy with how they’ve managed to personalize it to their tastes. It’s tough to do that though when the temptation of getting 100% Coolness or maxed gold coins or a Badass perk is in the way. While those can be easy, solid signs of character progression they don’t hold as much depth as other methods might.

Perhaps your tough badass has a particular soft spot for chocolates, but eating those sweets from your niece nets you -5% to your tough guy rating and you’re now butthurt over the fact that your Clint Eastwood knockoff is only getting 95% on his toughness at the end of the game. It’s a silly example, but things like these can and will detract from what really matters.

If you aren’t strong, you’re not weak—you’re crafty. If you aren’t charismatic, you aren’t dim-witted. You’re sincere and don’t mess around. This is the advantage “VS” has over “0 to 100” stats. Most folks just don’t want to play a character who is weak and stupid. So change these negatives and turn them into a different sort of positive, and you suddenly have twice as many interesting character builds available.

Personality stats are awesome.
Nothing helps writing a distinctive, non-bland protagonist more than having a distinctive, non-bland set of personality traits. Does your character have a temper, or is he/she always calm and level-headed? Is he/she a stickler for the rules or couldn’t care less?

And once you have these traits, let them loose! You don’t need to derail the story entirely into crazy-long branches. Just a sentence or two about how your character responds. Let the ends tie together, it’s the means which really build the flavor of the tale. Whether your character shakes their head in disgust or shakes their fist in rage can make all the difference in the mind of the reader.

The Stats for the Upcoming Game:
Impulsive vs. Calculated
Perverted vs. Chivalrous
Charming vs. Stoic
Drifter vs. Protective
Brutal vs. Finesse

Impulsiveness— Are your emotions on your sleeves or tucked down deep? This is a crucial trait for character action descriptions. Approaches on how your character solves things that occur in-between choices.

Pervertedness— Do you want a more raunchy adventure, or a more gallant one? This trait may seem weird, but having it serves a tremendous purpose. It allows me to put in optional material for the audiences that will enjoy it, and an easy filter for those that don’t.

Charmingness— Are you subtle and prone to flattery, or do you cut straight to the matter? This is a crucial trait for character vocal interaction descriptions. Approaches on character dialogue to other characters.

Drifterness— Are you detached or more of a guardian to those around you? This particular stat won’t make sense until you’re in the game. But it’s useful in character thoughts and concerns.

Brutalness— Are you harsh and ruthless, or savvy and polished? This can almost be seen as a “good vs evil” trait, but not really. It’s useful in adding that extra edge on how your character carries out some actions.