designing-story-choices

name	designing-story-choices
description	Designs meaningful moral dilemmas, tracks consequences, and updates hidden state, and is used when the Choice Designer creates decision points for the story.

Creates meaningful choices that test values, shape tone, and update hidden story state without breaking structure.

Use this skill when

• A story anchor contains a decision point.
• The system needs 2–3 meaningful options for the player.
• The Choice Designer must convert emotional and narrative pressure into moral dilemmas.
• Hidden state variables need explicit updates tied to choice meaning.

Capabilities

• Writes 2–3 choices that are emotionally and morally meaningful.
• Ensures each option protects one value while costing another.
• Avoids trivial action toggles like "go left/go right."
• Connects every choice to hidden state updates.
• Makes consequences visible in later scene flavor, dialogue, or ending eligibility.
• Keeps branches reconverging at the next anchor.
• Produces concise, readable button text plus fuller internal rationale.
• Supports conversational choice points — at key decisions, the AI encourages users to talk about how they feel about the situation, not just pick an option. This enriches the data for story direction and creates a moment of reflection.
• Choices are both narrated aloud AND displayed as text — users can respond by voice or by tapping an option.

Workflow

1. Read the current anchor and emotional tension.
2. Identify the value conflict. Good dilemmas often pit:
   • honesty vs protection
   • loyalty vs self-respect
   • control vs trust
   • compassion vs survival
   • holding on vs letting go
3. Draft 2–3 options. Each should feel defensible, costly, and human.
4. Assign hidden state changes. Every option should update at least one variable, usually two.
5. Check for dominance. If one option is obviously "correct," rewrite the set.
6. Forecast consequence flavor. Note how the next scene will emotionally reflect the choice.
7. Return typed JSON.

Choice quality checklist

A good choice:

• changes the emotional direction of the story
• reveals character
• has a believable cost
• is easy to understand in one read
• is not a fake choice
• connects to the user's emotional intake

Example

{
  "decision_id": "D2",
  "anchor": "A2",
  "prompt": "The archivist offers to erase the truth from the record so your brother can keep his place in the city.",
  "choices": [
    {
      "id": "C1",
      "label": "Protect him now, and carry the lie yourself.",
      "moral_tradeoff": "compassion versus truth",
      "state_delta": {
        "compassion": 2,
        "truth": -1,
        "attachment": 1
      },
      "next_scene_flavor": "warmer relationship, heavier internal burden"
    },
    {
      "id": "C2",
      "label": "Reveal the truth, even if it costs him.",
      "moral_tradeoff": "truth versus attachment",
      "state_delta": {
        "truth": 2,
        "attachment": -1,
        "self_trust": 1
      },
      "next_scene_flavor": "colder fallout, clearer self-alignment"
    }
  ]
}

Guardrails

• Never write joke or filler choices.
• Never present cosmetic choices as meaningful choices.
• Never let choice copy become longer than the surrounding scene.
• Choices should be untimed for MVP.
• Content must be YouTube-safe — no self-harm, trafficking, sexual assault, or extremely sensitive choices.
• Choices should reflect universal human themes, not culturally narrow scenarios.

Project references

• AGENTS.md — "choices must be moral dilemmas," hidden variable rules, no duplicated responsibilities.
• docs/PRD.md — explicit choice design principles and examples of good vs bad choices.
• docs/roadmap.md — MVP requires 4 decision points with 2–3 meaningful choices each.