WELL reader, it’s been a fun ride. This will be my last post for a while. Other projects are in the pipeline that need some serious attention. However, I wanted to give a substantive post showing you how you can contribute to this medium we all love. Someone has to carry the torch for the art form, and it might as well be you.

TWINE

Twine is a free interactive narrative tool available to anyone with an Internet connection and an interest in learning light coding. It’s a powerful that I’ve used for a little bit now. If nothing else, it is a great exercise in morphing an idea into a tangible experience as you dot the workspace with squares of dialogue or action plotting the, well, plot. I can’t recommend it enough.

Choose Your Own Adventure / Gamebook Writing

This one is way less technically involved. All you need is a pencil, pad and an imagination! The winding paths are up to you and your only obstacle is writer’s block and page count, but that never stopped Mr. King.

Content Creation on YouTube

In recent years, prominent YouTubers have tried their hand at making fiction based, story driven content. YouTuber Markiplier released a horror-themed lightly interactive piece where the audience can pick from two videos to see how their choice changes the story. This, again can be an undertaking, but it is possible to acquire a cheap video editor to assist with this(DISCLAIMER: This was actually my first video editing software and helped cut my teeth for content creation).

Traditional Game Design – Unity

This will be the most difficult form of creating an interactive fiction piece, but the capabilities of Unity are functional and dynamic. There is a free version of the software, as well as a plethora of firsthand developer tutorials online (See Unity Learn playlist).

A Final Word

Other than all of that, I think my previous posts have covered just a few of the historical and contemporary forms of IF, but there are so many more out there just begging to be experienced. It is because of this medium we get to talk with one another and celebrate this fascinating form of literature just waiting to take off in popularity in the age of New Media.

Question of the day: What will be the next step for interactive fiction and what routine can you create for yourself to be the one to make that a reality?

Until next time, dear READER.