Text Adventures

Last Modified: Dec 13, 2024

I make interactive text adventures in Inklewriter and in previous years, Twine. Twine was one of my first introductions to programming. When I was a teenager, Twine was also the first platform where I learned trans people existed, as two of my favourite Twine authors were trans, and this came up as a topic throughout their games and writing.

I love interactive text because it's such a quick way to get game ideas up and running. It was so cool to learn that Charlie Brooker used a hacked version of Twine, Scrivener, Notepad, and Final Draft to develop 'Bandersnatch', the interactive Black Mirror special. I didn't think much of the plot of Bandersnatch, to be honest, but I remember the use of form was creative and fun.

I haven't written a text game in a long time, and I would love to again, but I can't figure out what topic to do it on. I have been quite interested in Ultra Processed Foods recently, and I wanted to write a play about it, but the topic is so sprawling that I wasn't sure where to start. Perhaps a game is a better way into this topic, as I don't have to be so linear.