Thanks, 3J. I appreciate that. Perhaps this is a good time to comment on my process. I took a linear story I'd written a long time ago and rewrote it to fit this medium, adding large chunks of new material in the process. I was also trying to play a bit with the conventions of CYOA, which is why I consciously chose to break a few rules--perhaps to bad effect. :) When I took the two events--singing in the cave to stay alive, and the pissing to stay alive--and split them into two different outcomes, it shortened the perceived length of time in the cave. I also wonder if with this genre readers will want more action on the part of the guys in the cave instead of being rescued by the mother--can you handle being rescued by the mother? :). At any rate, I think I lost something in the translation to CYOA from the original story and didn't make enough use of the links within this medium. Ah, well. I've never flowcharted anything like this before, so it was a fun and instructional process for me anyway!
As far as A), I wanted to play a bit with character motivation and consequences of previous choices, getting back to your relationship with Rick. I guess I'm a little disappointed that we "can't" build in a little reversal like this every once in a while.
B), yeah, I should have done more with that thread.
C), that was just a joke, and a way to split off a first bad ending. But I can see that it might have been too much of a taunt.
I hope I can break some rules here and there as I carve out my own way of approaching this genre. I read CYOA books in the 80s and loved them, but I come back to it from having read mainly literary fiction (as opposed to fantasy or other genre fiction) as an adult. Not saying that's better, just where I'm coming from.
