Branching & Consequence
The technique of writing multiple passes of an event - usually a conversation or action - with the goal of creating more tailored player expression and more varied playthroughs.
Branching vs. Consequence
Branching is when player choices create different paths. Consequence is when those choices matter - when the path you took shapes what happens later.
Every choice-based videogame grapples with these: How much do choices diverge? How long do consequences echo? And crucially: how do you create the feeling of consequence when you can't actually build infinite permutations?
Meaningful Choice vs. Illusion of Choice
Meaningful choice has an actual effect on the player's character, world, or story. Illusion of choice ensures the same narrative occurs no matter what your moment-to-moment choices are.
Neither is inherently bad. Illusion of choice can let players express themselves without ballooning scope. But players resent it when they feel deceived - when a choice seems significant but leads nowhere.
What Makes Consequence Feel Real
A consequence feels real when the player believes their decisions put them where they are - even if they actually didn't. This is the designer's advantage: perception matters more than structure.
Techniques for felt consequence:
- Acknowledgment: Have the videogame recognize what the player did. An NPC mentions your earlier choice. The world shows a scar from your decision.
- Delayed Callback: Reference an early choice late in the videogame. The longer the delay, the more impactful.
- Character Reaction: Have characters respond emotionally, not just informationally. Disappointment. Gratitude. Betrayal.
- Absence: Remove something. A character who dies is gone. A path not taken is closed.
Branching Structures
Linear with Flavor: The story goes one place, but dialogue and details change based on choices.
Foldback (Bottleneck): Paths diverge, then converge at key points before diverging again. (Mass Effect)
Parallel Paths: Genuinely different routes that occasionally touch. (Silent Hill 2)
Branching Tree: Exponential divergence. Expensive, rare. (Some visual novels)
Types of Consequence
| Type | When it appears | Player experience | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Right after choice | "That affected something" | Low |
| Delayed | Hours later | "My earlier choice mattered" | Medium |
| Cumulative | Based on pattern | "Who I've been matters" | Medium |
| Cosmetic | Different details, same outcome | "I customized my experience" | Low |
| Structural | Different content entirely | "This is a different game" | High |
Key insight: Players often can't tell the difference between structural and cosmetic consequences on a single playthrough. This is your ally.
Exercise: Study Existing Videogames
Play through key sequences from:
- Fable 2 - Good/evil system with cosmetic and structural consequences
- Tales from the Borderlands - Telltale's strongest work on felt consequence
- The Walking Dead - Classic example of illusion of choice done well (and sometimes poorly)
For each: What choices did you make? What consequences followed? How much did the content actually diverge?
Why Teach This
Students often think branching narrative means creating massive branching conversations and choices. But that approach is exponential in scope - a videogame with 10 meaningful binary choices has 1,024 possible endings. That's unshippable.
Teaching branching and consequence properly prevents the "scope trap": designing systems that are theoretically interesting but practically impossible to execute. We must find smarter, more refined solutions.
Common Misconceptions
"Every choice should have entirely bespoke experiences"
Students want to make every choice lead to completely unique content. This is admirable but unsustainable. The skill is creating felt uniqueness with actual modularity.
"More branches = better narrative"
Some of the best narrative videogames (Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons) are almost entirely linear. Branching is a tool, not a virtue.
Assessment
Test understanding through analysis questions on different types of narrative branching:
- What are the strengths and shortcomings of foldback structure?
- When is illusion of choice appropriate? When is it harmful?
- Map a sequence from a published videogame: perceived branches vs. actual branches
Teaching Exercise: Minimal Viable Branch
Students design a 3-choice sequence where each choice has a consequence, but total content is limited to 5 scenes. Forces creative use of callbacks, acknowledgments, and cosmetic variation.
Warning: Make students count their nodes before building. Scope awareness is the lesson.
Genre Expectations
What players expect from branching depends heavily on genre. RPGs expect a lot of meaningful choices. Roguelikes expect high variation but accept strong modularity and repetition. Linear action videogames expect almost none.
Study the choices your genre makes. What do players of this genre expect? What conventions can you inherit, and where can you transform them?
Authored vs. Emergent Consequence
| Authored | Emergent |
|---|---|
| Designer crafted this outcome | Outcome emerged from systems |
| Predictable, polished | Surprising, rough edges |
| Limited permutations | Potentially infinite permutations |
| Story-shaped | Anecdote-shaped |
Authored: Mass Effect's loyalty missions affecting the ending
Emergent: Dwarf Fortress's fortress collapsing from a butterfly effect of decisions
Both are valuable. Authored consequence feels intentional; emergent consequence feels personal.
Key References
- Sam Barlow - Her Story, Immortality. Non-linear discovery rather than branching choices.
- Emily Short - Interactive fiction pioneer. Quality-based narrative as alternative to simple branching.
- Chris Gardiner - Failbetter Games. "Quality-based narrative" uses accumulating stats rather than branch points.
Unresolved Questions
- How do we balance player agency with authored meaning? If the player can choose anything, how does the author say anything?
- Is consequence even possible in a save/reload paradigm? Can choices "really" matter when the player can undo them?
- What's the relationship between branching and replayability? Some videogames are better experienced once.
Related
- Permissions - choices are permissions granted or withheld
- Dialogue Systems - where many branches happen
- Ludonarrative Harmony - when story and mechanics align
Glossary Terms
- Foldback Structure - branches that reconverge
- False Choice - choices without real consequence
- Quality-Based Narrative - tracking player history as stats