What are /r/interactivefiction's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

no mention of inform 7? i thought it was pretty much the gold standard of IF authoring tools; it's definitely what i'll be using if i ever get off my ass and actually make a game.

The idea is out there, but it's far for being feasible. The Media Lab at MIT is working on something like that, "Programming in Natural Language" is the name of the project. It's still very, very far from being functional, in spite of having very, very clever people working on it.

You may want to look at Inform 7 http://inform7.com/ which uses natural language for programming. It's the closest to what you're talking about, and it's already out there.

Inform 7 itself supports compiling your story to a webpage with a built-in Javascript interpreter. Check out section 25.11 of the I7 manual.

It's possible to play existing blorb/z8 files with Parchment as well, you can put a direct URL for your story file into http://parchment.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/zcode.html and get a link to a Parchment interpreter page that plays it.

I just installed it tonight and I'm still playing around, but this seems to let you both play and create. You're limited to TADS3 and there appears to be support for Inform 6 (not 7, the one that's more like English that so many people seem to enjoy.)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.luxlunae.fabularium

Downloader beware, and all that jazz, but it did pass the Play store verification thingie for me.

Son of Hunky Punk is about the best Android client I've found. Playing on mobile/tablet is a bit tough for me because of auto-correct -- I've never felt incredibly motivated to program in all the IF commands, so sometimes it's more frustrating than it should be to type. Someone should write an IF-focused keyboard app!

I use WinFrotz on PC. I think it's pretty old, but it works just fine.

As far as games, I've copied the game files from my old Lost Treasures of Infocom collections, most of which I've never actually played. So I'm good for quite a while. I think the most "recent" stuff I've played is still from the late 1990s... :)

If you're open to more of a choose-your-own-adventure experience, there are some good quality conversions of gamebooks out there these days, too. (Realizing that's a bit divergent from interactive fiction.)

/u/MichaelCoorlim is correct. Point-and-click are also cool but I've lost interest in them. (The very first PnC I played was Fable on PC and it was great).

Twine is probably the most accessible option, yes. If you want something that comes with an actual world model by default, Inform 7 combines the greatest flexibility with the most accessibility, and it can compile to the Glulx multimedia format.

Thanks for the responses all. Indeed, it looks like the Glulx virtual machine supports reading and writing of files specifically for allowing the programs to communicate with the outside world. This is defined in the Glk API, and Inform 7 supports its use in compiled code:

http://inform7.com/learn/man/WI_23_11.html

Since I only need to communicate once per turn, it really looks like this will work.

Both of them are programming languages. Inform has version 6 and 7 - the former is more of a programming language, the latter uses a subset of English for its programming. You can check it out here.

I found Scapple useful for plotting out a choose your own adventure story (that I still need to finish). I put my starting scene in the middle and used it to map out the paths that could spawn off from there. I also added disconnected scenes and arcs that I knew I wanted to do and then figured out how to tie them into the the main storyline. I came up with my own color and font scheme so I could mark scenes as written. The idea was to eventually wind up with a full map of my story with all the possible scene connections, with everything marked as done.

Have you tried Jonathan Green’s Ace Gamebooks? They’re good! I’ve also written a gamebook I’m quite proud of, an HG Wells adaptation ‘The Island of Doctor Moreau: An Interactive Adventure.’ It’s on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Island-Doctor-Moreau-Interactive-Adventure/dp/B093RP19V7/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1626278487&sr=8-1

If you like 19th century sci-fi in a gamebook format, you might like (:

Cool! Classic fiction is ripe for adaptation into IF. I’ve done one based on an H.G. Wells novel, the first in a trilogy. Book 1 has been well received so far. Here’s a link to the Amazon UK store if you’d like to take a look!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Doctor-Moreau-Interactive-Adventure/dp/B093RP19V7/ref=sr\_1\_2\_sspa?crid=37PT680PBQC66&dchild=1&keywords=kj+shadmand&qid=1623241596&sprefix=Kj%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnl...

I use pen and paper for mapping and section organisation, but write up the sections on Word. I find the tactility of this approach ends itself better to creativity - I feel like one of the gamebook writers from the eighties buried under piles of paper. Not the most efficient approach, but very satisfying somehow!

As for reading IF, there are the classic Fighting Fantasy books. They‘re of mixed quality, but many such as City of Thieves and Deathtrap Dungeon are stunning. Then there’s Jon Green’s Ace Gamebooks. More modern, and often based on works of classic literature. They respect the reader’s intelligence and are produced to an A1 standard.
Then there’s my debut gamebook, a re-imagining of one of H.G. Wells’ 19th century adventure classics. It‘s been selling well and garnering very positive reviews in the month or so it’s been released. Here the link to Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Doctor-Moreau-Interactive-Adventure/dp/B093RP19V7/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=KRK5QLNJBMYS&dchild=1&keywords=kj+shadmand&qid=1622807638&sprefix=Kj+%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1

Quick update - it's hopefully going to be made live very soon in the Google Play Store.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.livenovel.thehereticalnine

A8NB6X89RF8DBBKCK1SKW3M

PVMK5ENKXKUB80SDF3H60ER

CAB0ZXSUFRJZPG42MCC4BHS

4R0L9VUCYS63UCG8JLLQ9BC

4HYUQGXSW8XBXQVRG304W7W

Those are promo codes for the free in-app purchase. If they're all used up before you have a chance to use one, please comment or DM me!

Well, you can use some kind of game engine using Python. Like Ren`Py or Pyzzle or other. Also you can make the game engine for your game. This is the best way for learning.

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Python-Text-Adventure-ebook/dp/B077G8KK5C

This book is not about make IF, but you can grab some things in it.

Hello IF friends! I posted here about a month ago when I released my first IF game/android app Horror at Adesaw: Prologue. Needless to say it's been a wild ride and I've learned a lot about the development process! To make a long story short, when I first released the game and promoted here it had some major bugs which almost certainly ruined the gameplay experience.

I've furiously been working to fix all the problems since then, and I'm super happy to say as of yesterday, the final major patch was applied and we've got a fully functional, awesome, terrifying, exhilarating, <insert positive adjectives> 16,000 word interactive fiction game that is bug-free. I wanted to promote it here one more time for new members to the subreddit and to hopefully attract some people who were turned off by the bugs. The one-paragraph schtick:

"Horror at Adesaw" takes place in the basement of your parent's home on the night you get accepted into the Graduate School of Ancient and Prehistoric Studies, and the strange events that surround the school and your past. It's based on stories by Lovecraft and Poe, and my time studying in Japan (the school is based on a university in Tokyo). Prologue is the first game of an upcoming series, and the second game is currently under active development.

Get it free on Google Play now. Enjoy!

Hey there,

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First thanks for giving my game a play at all and giving me your feedback! And extra thanks for catching that bug, I'm going to fix and upload said fixed version to itch.io when I'm done writing this response.

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As for why it was written in Unity - while I am not familiar with 'Twine', it is written in Unity because it is what I am currently learning and the course that I'm following has creating a program like this as one of the early goals. Once I did so, I thought it was a lot of fun to work on, so I tried to polish it up a bit more with what little know-how I do in Unity and then get it out there for my friends and anyone else to play if they'd like.

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As to the length of the game and the choices - I think those are fair critiques. I had to try to strike a balance between keeping the scope of the project narrow so that I don't bite off more than I chew for just a hobby project as I learn Unity and it there not being old-sierra-game level deaths thrown around as I figured those would be painful. However as for just simple choices that branch the fiction more - I think you're absolutely right. If/when I do work on a piece of interactive fiction again / update this game with some more content, I think that I will definitely design the choices (and perhaps new mechanics) to better give the player a sense of agency within the fiction.

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Thanks again for playing the game, I really appreciate you taking a look at it and giving me feedback.

I've been working on a game that is pretty similar to what you are describing.

Players are confronted with various rooms, make choices asynchronously, and then it resolves based on the order and context of those decisions.

I'm actually looking to release a beta in September, but I don't really know how engaging/fun it will be. This question is encouraging that my idea is somewhat valid! Here's a link to the dev page. The wiki has some general info on the game.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dungeonsoffear/

EDIT: I would welcome anyone that wanted to beta test.

This is a screenshot of Obsidian after an hour playing Superluminal Vagrant Twin. You can copy/paste room descriptions into markdown-format and link to things you have seen or plan to look into later. It's a bit of editing work but then you've got a nice graph showing the relationships between places and people. I find it really useful when playing interactive fiction games

I really liked Aaron Reed's book Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7, which I bought in January for $35 I think, although it apparently is going for somewhat more now on Amazon. He has a lot of great advice if you can find a copy.

It would be neat if you built on the little framework, maybe put a pre-built version of it on itch.io - the more options, the better I think for people.

For inspiration on what sort of options may be good for expanding it, Choicescript may be worth a look.

I plan on using this for a few large projects going forward, but if you're interested you can play the short game prologue I used as a placeholder.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely consider it for my next project.

For this one, aside from looking for a language that seemed familiar enough to me, I also wanted to be able to easily work on this project in my free time, which for me, meant being able to work on it from my phone or tablet during spare moments.

Fabularium not only is a great collection of a bunch of different interpreters, it also includes authoring tools, with compilers for Inform 6 and TADS 3.

This made Inform 6 a good option for me. I'm able to put my code into git, and then have a repo on my desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone. So, when I'm laying in bed in the evening, I just pull down changes to my tablet, work on there, compiling and testing in Fabularium, and then push changes back.

Then, when I'm on my computer the next day, I can pull changes, recompile and test changes in both Gargoyle and frotz.

Labyrinth: The Lich Lord's Lair is no longer available due to EndGame Gaming being dissolved. A new Savage Realms Gamebooks series has just launched, and Labyrinth, along with Escape from Darkmoor Keep and the unreleased book, The Warrens of Wvanderfell, have been rereleased in one magnificent volume entitled, Balance of Fate: The Legorian Kings Saga. BOF has been beautifully remastered as a solo adventure with new game and combat mechanics plus fillustrations by Pat O'Neill and more artwork by Ilya Shkipin. You can get it by going to the following link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Balance-Fate-Legorian-Kings-Saga/dp/B09PW6FX8Z/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1I7CVOMY0BPUR&amp;keywords=balance+of+fate&amp;qid=1643931587&amp;sprefix=bala%2Caps%2C700&amp;sr=8-1

Text-based IF doesn't have a lot of commercial appeal, but the easiest potential monetary distribution route (without teaming with a publisher) would probably be to put your game on itch.io which allows you to control pricing and keep track of sales - or put a game up for free.

> IF has more writers than readers/players

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Actually I'd kind of disagree with that. The market is small, but still bigger than I expected. Distribution to get it to your audience is the main issue which means you either self publish and put a lot of work into trying to stop your game being buried in the app stores or websites, or go with a a company that already has a fanbase and accepts submissions.

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Even if the story is released for free, much like being an indie author on Amazon, you can have a fantastic story but still have problems getting it seen by people who would want to read it. If you want to self publish, there's a few platforms like amazon, steam and itch.io that could support that. If you don't mind releasing only for free CYS and Dashingdon's are examples of sites that will host your game in particular coding formats. Competitions like IFComp can be good for getting your work out there as well (although the competition can be tough.) If you want to write in twine, I've seen them turn up on itch.io, lots of indie game producers there, but I'm not sure if the market is all that big for IF on that site. You'd need to talk to someone that has been producing games for it. (I've only made one small twine program there for a game jam.)

It started out pretty good.

I did not like the way clicking on terms inside the story (not at the end, the ones inside) skipped me to another paragraph with no way of returning. Caught me off guard a few times and it feels like I'm missing out - because I have the tendency to click before I read to end. But I understand that's a stylistic choice and after a while it's fine.

The textual content is good. I like the way the story jumps on you.

It could do with a bit of polishing but that's no matter due to a good story. (I mean this by polishing)

I haven't tried them, but you can create text adventures with Quest or multiple choice games with Squiffy online with a browser. You can then share the games on the same site.

If you install Flatpak you may be able to use that to install Inform7 successfully on modern Ubuntu: flatpak install flathub com.inform7.IDE flatpak run com.inform7.IDE

A least once in the past, a dependency issue with Inform on Ubuntu was 'worked around' via flatpak.

From what I understand, you need some kind of emulation device if you want to play google app games on PC. The best option I've seen is Bluestacks, which lets you download and play google apps from the play store. Learn more about it at the Wikipedia page or download it here. I haven't personally used it though, so I can't say how good it is.

Sorry I couldn't have been more help, good luck!

Linux user here. Which distro are you using?

If you're on Debian or a derivative (Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc. -- also many non-Debian distros), Gargoyle is an excellent interpreter for many (not all) formats that's available in the standard repos. Try

sudo apt install gargoyle-free

in a terminal, or use your favorite package manager (Ubuntu software center, Mint installer, Synaptic, whatever) to install it.

Inform 7 has a Linux version that runs just fine. You can download a .deb package (or several other formats, if you're not running a Debian-based distro) from http://inform7.com/download/

Protip: you should really mention which distro you're using in Linux-related help requests. :)

Arcweave has an in-app play mode that allows you to run your project and share it with others. It does not create a standalone game—if you mean one that you can share as a file. Arcweave projects run only from its servers.

For example, try this.

I am the co-founder of Arcweave, a node-based browser-based tool to create and share game designs and interactive stories online. I would suggest giving it a try as it is very visual, easy to learn and has a free tier: You might be able to create your full interactive story yourself.

Additionally, we recently uploaded some YouTube tutorials. You can spend a few mins there first to see if it fits your needs :)

If you're wanting a graphical RPG, you might want to look into RPG-maker. It includes a good number of art assets for free.

You can make an all-text IF RPG, but IF tools generally are heavier on text and usually don't include the RPG systems you'll want directly out of the box.

Hi there, I'd never heard of Tap before, interesting! Their FAQ says they do support twine games but only Harlowe 2 and not 3, which is weird.

You know, Twine stories are just HTML so you can publish them anywhere that accepts HTML. That means if you want to you can use free hosting like Neocities to publish your Twine game. I figure there's features of Tap you like, but if you just want your game up on the internet for people to play there are other ways. Here's the Twine FAQ on places you can publish Twine games free:

http://twinery.org/wiki/#publishing_your_work

I recommend you try the excellent Interactive Fiction tool Twine. It lets non-or-barely programmers write (or just prototype) interactive stories and play them in a web browser. It's not really designed with combat in mind, but plenty of people have extended it a bit to do that. You might consider prototyping and testing your interactive stories in it. http://twinery.org

Twine. It is the easiest software to make IF with by far. It does have limitations though - most notably the end user cannot input text but must choose from a list of options given to them.

According to a 2013 source twine games work with the JAWS screen reader and Firefox "all of the time" internet explorer "some of the time" and never on google chrome.

I’ve written a gamebook that’s based on an H.G.Wells classic work of fantasy. It’s quite experimental, with an innovative shooting mechanic that supplements tried and tested Fighting Fantasy style rules. It’s been really well received so far. Feel free to take a look.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Island-Doctor-Moreau-Interactive-Adventure/dp/B093RP19V7/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=2L9SYVRVJWYUK&amp;dchild=1&amp;keywords=kj+shadmand&amp;qid=1630340425&amp;sprefix=Kj+%2Caps%2C163&amp;sr=8-1

I’ve also released a brand new sci-fi gamebook. It’s based on H.G. Wells 19th century novel The Island of Dr Moreau and allows you to explore an island of bizarre chimera! Here’s the Amazon.com link:

https://www.amazon.com/Island-Doctor-Moreau-Interactive-Adventure/dp/B093RP19V7/ref=sr\_1\_1?dchild=1&amp;keywords=Kj+shadmand&amp;qid=1621357195&amp;sr=8-1

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=callandha.app

This is an interactive text adventure story app, so you can make your own choices to alter the course of the story.I’ve orientated myself on certain other text adventure games and specifically added a lot of graphics and illustration, because that’s what I’m always missing when reading good text adventure story games and I believe it pulls the reader even deeper into the story and makes the characters more realistic.

Short overview of the story:The story is about five girls, who discover supernatural abilities like a special bond to one of the four elements. Laurel, the protagonist, also is repeatingly dreaming about a certain boy, but every time she encounters him in the dreamworld, his face looks unfocused. One day, a shady figure appears in her dreams as well, watching her from the shadows and threatening her. Laurel also encounters four other girls in the real world, who seem to have supernatural abilities just like her, though some of her friends seem closer to the darkness than Laurel might have thought at first gaze. The following days, the five girls meet up regularly and eventually find the way to a hidden school that teaches magic. But not all is as well as it seems. Laurel keeps getting into bad accidents and someday, one of her friends suddenly disappears without a trace. Is this related to the creepy shadows, that lurk around the school? Are they somehow connected to the mysterious school director? The shadows are coming… Can you keep your friends safe from them?

The whole book is parted into six parts and I’ve just released the first part and I’m already working on the second part now. A second book is planned as well.

Greetings, Callandha

Ein Hauch von Magie ist eine interaktive Text-Adventure Story-App, die vor kurzem neu auf Google Play Store erschienen ist.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=callandha.app

Für alle Fantasy-Liebhaber. Triff deine eigenen Entscheidungen. Wirst du es schaffen, dich und deine Freunde vor der drohenden Finsternis zu schützen?

Handlungsübersicht:

In diesem Spiel tauchst du ein in die Geschichte von 5 Mädchen mit übernatürlichen Fähigkeiten, die sich auf einer magischen Schule neuen Herausforderungen stellen müssen, bei der auch ihre Freundschaft aufs Spiel gesetzt wird. Denn manche deiner Freundinnen stehen den Schatten näher als es den Anschein macht. Es obliegt allein dir, das Leben deiner Freunde vor den schwarzen Flammen zu schützen. Wer ist nur dieser Junge, der dir immer in deinen Träumen begegnet und warum kannst du sein Gesicht nie deutlich sehen? Welche Geschichte verbirgt der Schulleiter, über den tausende Gerüchte kursieren?

Wechsle zwischen den Perspektiven!

Schalte besondere Szenen frei!

Lerne über 21 spannende Charaktere kennen!

Schalte alle magischen Hintergründe und Grafiken frei!

Hey I would be potentially interested in working together. I’ve been into IF for the last three years, and have two published stories with Hosted Games. My first was a sci-fi comedy, Nuclear Powered Toaster, that has sold 1,000 copies in two years. The second was The Parenting Simulator, which has done a fair bit better; about 11,500 purchases since it released 9/30/19. Currently at 50k+ downloads on Google Play (it has a free trial of the first five chapters).

Link for NPT: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hostedgames.nuclearpoweredtoaster

Parenting: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hostedgames.parentingsimulator

They’re also on iOS (in an omnibus app), Steam and Amazon.

Whether or not you end up hiring me, I would just stress that the important factor with branching is to make the player want to choose more than what they can (since that drive to see the other path is what makes a repeat player and a more passionate fan) while still keeping things from getting ridiculous to the point where you are wasting time and effort on content few will see. It’s a tough tightrope to walk but it can be done.

There's this thing on the Web that points to stuff so people can find it. I think it's called a "link."

The Eighth Continent - Google Play

Pardon my snark. I kid. It amazes me how many posts don't include a link. r/Kickstarter is the worst. There are so many posts saying "My awesome Kickstarter is about to launch!" and provide a picture but no link. Sheesh.

Not sure if this would be your cup of tea, but the sale I think lasts till tomorrow on this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.equia4.newdawn

Hey! Try my app Gloovi in Android or iOS. You can create interactive story via videos and pictures with your phone :)

I realize it might be a bit late to answer your question at this point, but personally, I love the Tap app. It has a great choice of stories that take between 1 and 5 minutes to complete. The reading time estimate is provided for most, and you can play 90% of stories for free without buying the subscription.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ec.conscientia&amp;hl=en

Over 300,000 words, 150 or so NPCs, 6 different personalities, dozens of areas, two interacting books (with 6 planned)...

In short, plenty long.

Fabularium says it supports creating Inform 6 and Tads 3 games, though I haven't tried it so I don't know how well it works.

Fabularium is a new option which supports all the terps Gargoyle does.

Try renaming it to .zblorb or .gblorb if still nothing will open the file - it's possible they didn't add support for the generic file ending.

I'm working on doing the same thing to my stories in Inform 7. right now I'm working my way through the &quot;Creating Interactive Fiction with Inform 7&quot; book my wife got me for Christmas, and once done with the sample game, will be retrofitting it into my fiction world.

I don't know about exporting it into a format that Steam could use. I'm planning to use the website export to put it on my site. There are lots of options to export the game along with an interpreter to run it.

I looked at Twine, but am just starting to learn coding. Inform uses a natural language approach- it uses a text parser to create code from natural language commands. It's a little wonky, but once you get the basics down, it's a lot of fun.

I don't think there is one atm. Supposedly Twisty will be adding Glulx support in their next update, but there's no timeline on that. The Quixe interpreter is all JavaScript, so it technically works in an Android browser, but its interface isn't really mobile-oriented.