Marshall Digital Humanities

Use technology (like video games) to ask and answer questions about the world.

Interactive Fiction

Follow along at tinyurl.com/buildgame

Genre of text-based games in which players shape the story by making choices.

Tips for Writing Interactive Fiction

Before you start writing, think about 1) what story you want to tell and 2) what choices you'll give your players so that they can help make the story unfold.

Decide where you want the story to begin and end. Do you want multiple endings? Do you want all paths to lead to the same ending?

Think about how the appearance of the story relates to the theme or message of the story. Any effects you build into the game should be there for a reason. The appearance and mechanics of your story should fit the theme or message.

Make Your Own Game with Twine

1. Click "Use it online" on the yellow sticky note in the upper right corner.

2. Click "Skip" (or "Tell Me More" and click through the options) to get to the story page.

7. If you want to give your player options, use brackets more than once--that way your player has multiple choices. For example, your story could contain the following:

You wake up. What do you want to do first? [[Brush your teeth]] or [[eat breakfast]]?

The text above would create two new passages: one titled "Brush your teeth" and another titled "eat breakfast."

8. What if you want to give false choice? You can control the paths of your players. For example, you could make both "Brush your teeth" and "eat breakfast" lead to the same passage. Here's how:

You wake up. What do you want to do first? [[Brush your teeth]] or [[eat breakfast->Brush your teeth]]?

See what I did there? Both choices lead to the same passage, titled "Brush your teeth." However, it will appear that the player is making a choice, since both "Brush your teeth" and "eat breakfast" will be listed as options.

Want to Do More? Check Out My Sample Code.

Sample code will help you change your story's background color, font, and font size. You can also add effects to the text in individual passages.

To use the sample code, download it via the link above and then open a new tab, go to twinery.org, and upload this code by selecting "Import From File."

Want more help?

There are a ton of useful Twine video tutorials. Check out some of them below.

Done?

Click on the title of your project in the lower left-hand corner and select "Publish to File." If you want to keep your game, email it to yourself. If you want to share it with others, post it on a shared site like itch.io.

If you want to talk more about building games and Digital Humanities at Marshall, email Dr. Kristen Lillvis at dh@marshall.edu.

Thanks for Building a Game with Me!