PyramidIF

ChoiceScript is a very easy language to write in. It is how all Choice of Games narratives are created. It is simple, powerful, and lets an author do more writing than coding to create an extensive choice narrative that can hinge on the powerful accumulation of stats that bend and alter the story and an individual player's game experience. Right now, CoG publication is probably one of the most accessible and visible ways for choice-IF authors to actually get a game out to the public and get paid for it. Choice of Games commissions talented authors for their featured stories that fit within their specific inclusive "house style" framework they are known for and their audience expects, but anyone can submit an "indie" spec game to be hosted by CoG as long as it complies with a certain number of minimally sensible parameters with regard to length and content. That said, writing a CS narrative that fans will want to play and shell out a few dollars for is an e...

I've long been a fan of AXMA Story Maker , a Russian-developed hypertext choice narrative engine that is very similar to Twine. I used an early version to write Devil's Food , a speed-Ectocomp entry in three hours. AXMA is now up to version 5, and despite its relative obscurity with English-speaking IF authors, there's a whole lot here to like. AXMA offers an easy alternative for those who want to write a choice-narrative, but, like me, may find Twine's nearly unlimited modifiable adaptability a little bewildering. First off, AXMA is technically a free app with a "professional version" that lists for €29.90 via PayPal (but as of this writing is marked down to €19.90, approximately $22 USD) which is not a bad deal. The free version is unlimited to use, disabling only direct HTML export (all games can be uploaded to and are hosted by AXMA's public library for online play or download). Upgrading for the one-time fee doesn't change the software, but unlo...

I can't believe I don't hear about people who use Inform 7 also using  Trizbort .  The name sounds like a Zorkian spell word, and it might as well be one for how awesome it is functionally.  It's PC only, which is one reason it took me so long to try it.  It's billed as an interactive fiction mapper, and it can produce a map based on a transcript of a game that is fed to it.  It can actually do this live if the interpreter produces the transcript on the fly during play.   I haven't actually used it like this though. What I do use it for is to lay out the general geography of my Inform projects.  Trizbort amazingly also works backwards .  I don't think this is a top-tier bullet point of the program but it should be:  An author can easily drag and drop a map in Trizbort and then have it spit out an Inform or TADS project or text to paste into one that does all the room creation and connections automatically.

There are a lot of Twine games out there, and it does a lot of cool things and is really popular. My main concern with Twine is I don't like the way the default output looks.  I know you can change it, and I know you can do all kinds of tricks, but my main goal is readability. I've discovered AXMA Storymaker , which is a whole lot like Twine, but is wrapped up in one nice package similar to Inform.  It also seems to have a lot of built in features that you have to script by hand in Twine like real-time timers and such.  I think currently you have to use a separate compiler for Twine, and AXMA has one button that quickly compiles and lets you test the story which is really nice.  Disadvantage for some: you cannot tweak the HTML in the free version, but for me that's a plus.  You do get to adjust the text and choose white, sepia, or white on black similar to an e-book reader though, and the player can change this as well. The output is much more book-like th...