Informative /cyoag/ pastebin
Post your builds. Criticize. Praise. Make good OC. Be excellent to one another.
Links
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CYOA repositories
- Allsync
- https://cyoa.allsync.com/s/owWor64yLTngDk3
- Contains almost all CYOAs. The "CYOA Creators, Authors" subdirectory has the most CYOAs, the other subdirectories are for CYOAs by uncertain authors. On /cyoag/, the admin is known as MegaMan or AllsyncAnon, and sometimes responds to these names. On Reddit, the admin's account is /u/NoahBodee. Goes temporarily down sometimes.
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cyoa_archive
- Allsync
-
CYOA communities
- 4chan
- /cyoag/
- https://boards.4chan.org/tg/cyoag
- "Choose Your Own Adventure General". For SFW CYOAs. The main CYOA community: most non-trivial CYOAs are authored by posters from here. Dislikes interactive CYOAs. Often drowned in shitposting.
- Archives: https://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/cyoag/type/op/
- /mcyoag/
- https://boards.4chan.org/tg/mcyoag
- "Multiplayer Choose Your Own Adventure General". For multiplayer builds and writeups using SFW CYOAs. Few CYOAs are authored by posters from here, but it has a lot of builds and build-related posting. By now, the anons here are a largely seperate group from the /cyoag/ anons.
- Archives: https://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/mcyoag/type/op/
- /cyoar/
- https://boards.4chan.org/trash/cyoar
- The thread title is inconsistent, usually contains at least one of "cyoar", "refuge" or "refugee". Older threads don't have a title, but have "CYOA refuge thread" in the content of OP. For lewd CYOAs. Be-the-girl CYOAs dominate the general. /cyoar/ is a much smaller community than /cyoag/. When /cyoag/ speaks of "/trash/", they mean this general.
- Archives:
- /twgg/
- https://boards.4chan.org/tg/twgg
- "TowerGirls CYOA General". For the Towergirls CYOA. No real overlap with the rest of CYOA community? A nearly dead general that refuses to die.
- Archives: https://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/twgg/type/op/
- Jumpchain
- https://boards.4chan.org/tg/jumpchain
- "Jumpchain CYOA Thread". For Jumpchain CYOAs, which involve going through many CYOAs set in different franchise settings sequentially to empower the PC. PDF CYOAs only. No real overlap with the rest of CYOA community?
- Archives: https://desuarchive.org/tg/search/subject/jumpchain/type/op/
- /cyoag/
- Reddit
- /r/makeyourchoice/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/makeyourchoice/
- The main subreddit for SFW CYOAs. Prefers short and simple CYOAs with no setting, like pill pickers. Has more readers but fewer authors than /cyoag/. Beware: when a /r/makeyourchoice/ thread title credits an author, it is often mistaken. Moderators reign, and sometimes delete CYOAs and posts for whimsical reasons. When /cyoag/ speaks of "Reddit", they usually mean this subreddit.
- /r/nsfwcyoa/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/nsfwcyoa/
- The main subreddit for lewd CYOAs. Most interactive CYOAs are authored by posters from here. /r/nsfwcyoa/ is a larger community than /r/makeyourchoice/, in contrast to 4chan where the lewd general is the smaller one.
- /r/JumpChain/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/JumpChain/
- For Jumpchain CYOAs. PDFs only, like on 4chan's Jumpchain general.
- /r/InteractiveCYOA/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/InteractiveCYOA/
- A small subreddit for interactive CYOAs.
- /r/6Perks/
- https://old.reddit.com/r/6Perks/
- A small subreddit for small text CYOAs about picking between 6 perks.
- /r/makeyourchoice/
- Discord
- llama's Discord
- https://discord.gg/Cwm8nCM
- "/CYOA/". Related to /cyoag/. An old server. "run by a dicktator [...] Basically one commie and his pals," says Sandnigger.
- SDA's Discord
- https://discord.gg/72QNY4Y
- "CYOA". Related to /cyoag/. Split off from the above to escape llama. "retarded, dead," says Sandnigger.
- /r/makeyourchoice/ Discord
- https://discord.gg/M3sbCY2
- "makeyourchoice". Redditors.
- /r/nsfwcyoa/ Discord
- https://discord.gg/nVfxqbr
- "NSFWCYOA". Lewd. Redditors.
- llama's Discord
- Questionable Questing
- https://forum.questionablequesting.com/
- Mostly for lewd CYOAs. Viewing the CYOA threads requires login with an account, which needs to be approved by admin. Some notable products: Savestate's CYOAs, Minimorrigu's CYOAs, Rule 34 Economy.
- The Korean CYOA community
- https://arca.live/b/cyoa
- For both SFW and lewd CYOAs. In Korean. They author CYOAs too, including some interactive CYOAs. They've translated some English CYOAs to Korean and some Korean CYOAs to English.
- Spacebattles
- https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/general-cyoa-thread.315809/
- For SFW CYOAs. Very low activity these days.
- 4chan
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Websites of some authors
- 3_tankista
- Beri
- Cruxador
- Divine Trials Anon
- Eternal Anon
- Highlander
- Liminal
- My Computer Anon
- Sandnigger
- Savestate
- Stellinearized
- Spadesy
- Strife
- Tokhaar Gol
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Misc
- The previous /cyoag/ pastebin
- https://pastebin.com/wETipqYw
- Full of dead links.
- Some musings by SDA
- The previous /cyoag/ pastebin
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.
- Image CYOA
-
CYOA-authoring resources
- Software
- Image editors
- Photoshop
- The best. Takes some effort to learn. Costs money, so some procure it illegally.
- GIMP
- https://www.gimp.org/
- The free and open-source competitor to Photoshop. Many find the GUI unintuitive.
- Paint.net
- https://www.getpaint.net/
- Free but not open-source.
- MS Paint
- Simple and limited. Most move on to more advanced tools.
- Photoshop
- Software specifically for CYOAs
- CYOA Studio
- https://quantencomputer.github.io/cyoastudio/
- A program for making image CYOAs with simple layouts. Requires no design experience.
- Interactive CYOA Creator
- https://intcyoacreator.onrender.com/
- A program for making interactive CYOAs. Still very popular, but the original dev left. Hasn't been updated since 2021. Sometimes image CYOAs are made with this too, but they tend to look bad.
- Interactive CYOA Creator Plus
- https://hikawasisters.neocities.org/ICCPlus/
- An updated version of Interactive CYOA Creator, by a new developer.
- CYOA Studio
- Image editors
- Images
- Fonts
- Software
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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.