This might be my new favorite Podcastle episode.
First of all, Dave, you are reading Choose Your Own Adventure books all wrong.
Back in first grade I had devised the most logical way of reading them, and now, many years later I realized that I was implementing a
depth first search algorithm.
I'd read the story, and at every choice I'd stick a finger to mark the spot, then make a choice. I would follow this choice to its logical conclusion (death, do you realize how morbid those books were?) then backtrack one choice and pick the other one. And so on and so forth, going through every possible choice in the book in logical, and story-telling, order.
As for the story itself... wow.
The story by itself was great. Compelling, interesting and made for some great storytelling.
Then there was the choosing element. I found myself making the choices in my head and comparing them to the story. It became a sort of game. I would try and pick not what I would choose, but what the character in the story (yes, I know it's me) would choose.
And that is when I noticed that you could actually feel the change in the character development. When the choices became different. It's very rare that you get to see such an obvious and clear character development, and true this was a gimmick, but it was wonderful. Watching the choices go downhill, then uphill, then downhill.... each choice visibly adding a new layer to the complexity of the character....
And then there was the meta-choice issue. Simply. Brilliant. It was originally set out by showing that there really was only one choice for this character to make, and then went along and explored that element in the story itself. It makes you want to sit and and think about it, until you fully grok it.
And for those of you wondering: the one element that is in any and all sets is the
NULL element.