Informative /cyoag/ pastebin

Post your builds. Criticize. Praise. Make good OC. Be excellent to one another.

How to make CYOAs?

  • CYOA types
    • Image CYOA
      • The most popular and recommended format. Consists of one or more image files. The file formats are PNG and JPG, or rarely animated GIFs. On 4chan (at least /tg/), the max image resolution is 10000x10000 pixels, and the max filesize is 8 MB. A good image width is 1600 px, so it fits below typical desktop display width (1920 px, as of time of writing).
    • PDF CYOA
      • The default for Jumpchain cyoas. Acceptable on /cyoag/ as well, but they tend to get less audience than image CYOAs. More rarely, these may be editable documents like Word files. Sometimes, an image CYOA with many pages is compressed to a single PDF file for ease of posting.
    • Interactive CYOA
      • These CYOAs are web pages. Essentially like image CYOAs, but with Javascript to provide interactivity (visual indication of selected options, dependencies between options, parts of CYOAs revealed only after picking certain options, point counts). Often hosted on https://neocities.org/. Sometimes, an image CYOA is converted to an interactive CYOA for ease of play. Avoided and despised on /cyoag/. Non-interactive CYOAs are sometimes called "static". Most interactive CYOAs are lewd, produced by perverts from /r/nsfwcyoa/.
    • Text CYOA
      • The text itself in a (4chan, Reddit, ...) post is the CYOA. For a small bit of low-effort fun that won't get reposted.
    • RYOA
      • "Roll Your Own Adventure". CYOAs (usually image CYOAs) that require rolling dice, either with no choices at all or in conjunction with choices. How to roll dice on /tg/: "dice+2d6" without the quotes in the email field rolls 2d6. "dice+25d1000000000000" is the max (25 10^12-sided dice). Historically 4chan post numbers were used for rolling, but now you should use /tg/'s dice feature instead.
  • CYOA-authoring resources
  • FAQ

    Q: What is a CYOA?
    A: It's like a cross between an RPG character creation system, and a game of "would you rather". A more accurate name would be "Choice Games".

    Q: What CYOA should I play first?
    A: Urban Unease (https://desu-usergeneratedcontent.xyz/tg/image/1494/35/1494352060569.jpg) by DSA is often recommended for new players.

    Q: What are CYOAs for?
    A: CYOAs are there to spark your imagination, provide escapism, and occasionally act as writing prompts. You'll get ones as simple as picking a special magical soda to drink which gives you a neat perk to live with in life, or complex ones to create your own fantasy domains with a slew of customization options. Some of the more complex CYOAs could be used to generate characters for an RPG.

    Q: Who makes CYOAs?
    A: Anyone can. There are about a thousand authors. You can try to make one yourself, it's not that difficult.

    Q: Where can I find more CYOAs?
    A: You can look through the most recently posted CYOAs in /cyoag/. If you like a CYOA, check the author's name and look up more by the same author in his Allsync folder, under "CYOA Creators, Authors". You can request a particular CYOA in the thread, and if you're lucky, someone will give it to you. If you must, you can try /r/makeyourchoice/.

    Q: I want to make a CYOA. How?
    A: You start with an idea, or crib a setting from your favorite book/game/chinese cartoon. It's usually best to start out small. Keep your big ideas in reserve until you have the skill to actualize them properly. For the tools and image sources, see the CYOA-authoring resources listed above.

    Q: Any tips?
    A: If you want your CYOA to be postable on /cyoag/, it must be below 8MB in filesize and below 10000 px in height. Try to aim for a resolution where most users will only have to scroll vertically, 1600 px could be a good width.

    PNG is the preferred format for image CYOAs due to it being a "lossless" format (the compression isn't apparent in the image quality). However, for larger and more colourful images, you might want to use the JPG format in order to fit /tg/'s 8MB file limit. Be wary that while JPG files are usually smaller than their PNG counterparts, the compression is much more noticeable in the image itself.

    /tg/ supports PDFs. You can export PDFs from some programs, or use online PDF tools like https://smallpdf.com/jpg-to-pdf to convert your images to PDF. Some people dislike PDFs. They have advantages: they're easy to upload, and don't take up a lot of space in the thread. However, they're awkward to scroll through when saved, take a while to load and process, and can cause difficulties for those on mobile devices. Typically, they downgrade the quality of your CYOA by a large amount when used to compress larger CYOAs. I would only recommend using PDFs for lengthly text-based CYOAs, as they aren't meant for fancy imagery.

    Try not to go overboard with fancy fonts; only pick really stylized fonts for titles and headers. The number one thing you must maintain in a CYOA is legibility; a basic, clean, and readable font is the best choice for body text.

    Remember this: Good design will draw people to your CYOA. Good writing, thoughtful choices, and originality will keep them reading.

Edit
Pub: 01 Nov 2024 17:48 UTC
Edit: 08 Dec 2024 19:39 UTC
Views: 6128