We’re Looking for Writers

At Choice of Games LLC, we’re looking for authors to write more interactive novels and multiple-choice games, in the style of Choice of the Dragon and Choice of Broadsides. Our games are like “choose a path” gamebooks, but longer, deeper, and richer.

We’ve developed a simple programming language called ChoiceScript for designing multiple-choice games. Writing games in ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience.

Getting Published

When we publish your ChoiceScript game, we’ll make it available in the following ways:

  • Our website
  • iOS app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod
  • Android app
  • Amazon Kindle Fire (“Choice of Games” label only)

Two Labels: “Hosted Games” or “Choice of Games”

Choice of Games LLC has two different labels for distributing interactive fiction. We publish some games under our premier “Choice of Games” label and other games under our “Hosted Games” label.

Anyone can publish a game under the “Hosted Games” label. If you’ve finished a multiple-choice game written in ChoiceScript, just attach your “mygame” folder to an email and send it to us at hosted-submissions@choiceofgames.com. We do require our approval for any games that we host and release, but mostly that means we check to make sure that the game will run reliably (by running our automated tests), that the game is written in clear English, that the game doesn’t infringe other people’s intellectual property (we can’t host a Harry Potter or Star Wars game), and that the game is not highly offensive. We also reserve the word “Choice” in game titles for games distributed under the “Choice of Games” label.

You’ll also need to provide your own “cover art,” suitable for various icons, splash screens, and promotional images on app stores.

Under the “Hosted Games” label, you’ll retain full IP rights on your game; your work will receive a 25% royalty on the revenue we receive from distributing your game. (This includes money from advertising, in-app purchases, direct sales where applicable, etc.)

Established authors can publish games under the “Choice of Games” label. Authors with published works to their name can apply to write and publish a game under the “Choice of Games” label.

We’re particularly interested in seeing pitches from authors with game-writing experience, but we’re also happy to see the CVs of fiction authors. At our discretion, we may invite authors who have published games under the Hosted Games label in the past to pitch subsequent games for the Choice of Games label.

If you’re interested in writing a game under the CoG label, please email us your CV to cog-submissions@choiceofgames.com; if we decide to move forward, we’ll ask you to send us some pre-pitches.

(Please do not send us a pitch before we ask for one, even if you have a really great idea. Just send us your CV.)

A pre-pitch is a proposed title and a one-paragraph description of an idea that you would like to develop into a full game. It should give us a sense of the game and why someone would want to play it. We’ll ask you to send us three or four of them. Pre-pitches allow us to see how you’re thinking about interactive narrative. It also allows us to see where your work might fit into our current schedule of projects.

If we like one of these pre-pitches, we’ll invite you to turn it into a full pitch, outlining your proposal for a multiple-choice game.

If we accept your pitch, we’ll offer you a contract, under one of the following terms:

  • 25% Royalties: We’ll pay a $2,500 advance when we accept your finished game. You’ll retain full IP rights to the story and characters in your work, granting us an exclusive license to publish your multiple-choice game electronically.
  • Work for Hire: 0% royalties; Choice of Games LLC gets the IP rights to your game. We’ll pay a total of $10,000 over a series of milestones.
    • Pitch accepted: We’ll pay $500 when we accept your pitch.
    • First chapter: We’ll pay $1,000 when we accept your first chapter.
    • 10K words: We’ll pay $1,000 after we accept 10,000 words of ChoiceScript.
    • 25K words: Well pay $1,500 after we accept 25,000 words of ChoiceScript.
    • Finished game: We’ll pay $4,000 after we accept the finished game–a minimum of roughly 50,000 words.
    • 90 days after publishing: We’ll pay $2,000 ninety days after the release, or 150 days after acceptance of the finished game, whichever is first.

(Note that this is a short, non-binding description of our contracts. Please read the full contract for the legal details.)

Other Advantages of the “Choice of Games” Label

  • We’ll provide cover art.
  • A professional proofreader will review your work.
  • We’ll make your work available on all platforms, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire.
  • We’ll advertise your work online.
  • Only CoG label games are highlighted on the choiceofgames.com home page.
  • “More apps by this developer.” On the app store, when users view “more apps by this developer,” CoG label games appear there; Hosted Games do not.

If you have questions about the submissions process, email us at submissions@choiceofgames.com. We’re looking forward to seeing your work!