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Interactive Fiction/Twine Games - Play in Your Browser! Read Words! Sex! Aliens!
TychoCelchuuu
PIGEONRegistered User regular
PIGEONRegistered User regular
Introduction: What is Interactive Fiction?
So I've never been huge into interactive fiction mostly because text parsers (typing "look at mailbox" into Zork, for instance) disagree with my sensibilities. There are other kinds of interactive fiction though, like Choose Your Own Adventure books, and we have some games that are similar, like Digital: A Love Story or Analogue: A Hate Story. I like those.
What is Twine?
Twine is a program for making these kinds of things and since it's easy people have made a lot of awesome games that I've gotten into lately. Instead of making threads for all my favorites though, I figured one megathread would probably be more convenient. If you want to make individual threads for any of these games to talk about them, though, go right ahead.
This is a really great article about Twine and it taps into a lot of the reasons that I think I like so many of these games. The list of Twine games that I linked above, at TwineHub, is also a good resource. But if you don't want to become some sort of Twineologist, you have this thread, where I will list and describe and review games to save you time.
****DISCLAIMER****
Twine is kind of a new phenomenon and IF is much deeper than Twine games. But I don't play a ton of games or a ton of IF games so this is just a list of stuff I like and that I think you might like.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY this list reflects my own tastes. Even the stuff that isn't listed as "Tycho's Choice" is still something I found interesting enough to click on and play through. I like things with certain sensibilities - you might like other stuff. Don't assume that my little megathread here is everything that IF has to offer. Now, to the games:
Tycho's Choice: The Cream of the Crop
These are some of my favorite games.
Not Tycho's Choice: Other IF Games
For various reasons I didn't like these as much. They are still good if you ask me, but not "holy shit how did this stuff exist without me knowing" good. In other words I still recommend playing them all.
Maybe You Will Like Them
Not a huge fan of these games but maybe you will be.
Add your own! Talk about them! From the "Tycho's Choice" category, Cry$tal Warrior Ke$ha, Queer Pirate Plane, and »——-?——-> are super short, so go play them and tell me what you think! I haven't covered any non-Twine games but if you want to talk about those too, go right ahead.
So I've never been huge into interactive fiction mostly because text parsers (typing "look at mailbox" into Zork, for instance) disagree with my sensibilities. There are other kinds of interactive fiction though, like Choose Your Own Adventure books, and we have some games that are similar, like Digital: A Love Story or Analogue: A Hate Story. I like those.
What is Twine?
Twine is a program for making these kinds of things and since it's easy people have made a lot of awesome games that I've gotten into lately. Instead of making threads for all my favorites though, I figured one megathread would probably be more convenient. If you want to make individual threads for any of these games to talk about them, though, go right ahead.
This is a really great article about Twine and it taps into a lot of the reasons that I think I like so many of these games. The list of Twine games that I linked above, at TwineHub, is also a good resource. But if you don't want to become some sort of Twineologist, you have this thread, where I will list and describe and review games to save you time.
****DISCLAIMER****
Twine is kind of a new phenomenon and IF is much deeper than Twine games. But I don't play a ton of games or a ton of IF games so this is just a list of stuff I like and that I think you might like.
EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY this list reflects my own tastes. Even the stuff that isn't listed as "Tycho's Choice" is still something I found interesting enough to click on and play through. I like things with certain sensibilities - you might like other stuff. Don't assume that my little megathread here is everything that IF has to offer. Now, to the games:
Tycho's Choice: The Cream of the Crop
These are some of my favorite games.
- howling dogs - This is the game that got me into IF after years of having tried out text parser games every once in a while and saying "eh not really feeling it." This one is a science fiction story about being in some kind of holding cell/laboratory/prison/whatever. An article about it with spoilers marked pretty well.
- Cry$tal Warrior Ke$ha - You are Ke$ha.
- Queer Pirate Plane - A story about an airplane.
- Myriad - You're late for class!
- »——-?——-> - A story about an arrow.
- Hero Room - Kind of your typical fantasy hero quest story.
- Even Cowgirls Bleed - Head off to San Francisco to become a cowgirl.
Not Tycho's Choice: Other IF Games
For various reasons I didn't like these as much. They are still good if you ask me, but not "holy shit how did this stuff exist without me knowing" good. In other words I still recommend playing them all.
- The Message - Hard sci-fi.
- Rat Chaos - An odd space station.
- Calories - A sort of "day in the life" story.
- M A S T A B A S N O O P Y - A meditation on the Peanuts comic strip, in a way.
- Choose Your Own Anna Anthropy Interview - It's an interview with someone who makes games BUT IT IS A GAME TOO OH MY GOD.
- Absent Heroes: Choose Your Own Inteview II - I guess technically it's a sequel to the above, right?
Maybe You Will Like Them
Not a huge fan of these games but maybe you will be.
- The Temple - Pretty much Indiana Jones.
- Encyclopedia Fuckme and the Case of the Vanishing Entree - I mean it's kind of hard not to play this one with a title like that, right?
- Arsonsaurus - You are a dinosaur who wants to burn things.
- Brooklyn Trash King - A story (or fable or something) about social media, Kickstarter, and so on.
- Arcadia: A Pastoral Tale - A peaceful sort of story.
Add your own! Talk about them! From the "Tycho's Choice" category, Cry$tal Warrior Ke$ha, Queer Pirate Plane, and »——-?——-> are super short, so go play them and tell me what you think! I haven't covered any non-Twine games but if you want to talk about those too, go right ahead.
TychoCelchuuu on
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This phrase conjures up so much pathos I can't even
Just a note, that's game's actually called Cry$tal Warrior Ke$ha. Sugarcane is the name of a Twine stylesheet that's used as the default title for Twine games, so it shows up a lot when the author couldn't be bothered / couldn't figure out how / forgot to set a custom title.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game (with that awesome Douglas Adams writting) and Anchorhead (Lovecraftian horror) are required mentions in any IF thread, no matter if they work or not on Twine (I have no idea.)
EDIT: Now with hot linking action!
This is for everyone who might make the terrible decision not to play this game based on you being Ke$ha:
Minor spoiler:
Slightly larger spoiler if you can't figure out the minor spoiler:
Larger spoiler if you are still having trouble:
Make sure to read the warning before playing.
A tear was shed. I was slightly worried that the story was going to inevitably end in some terrible suicide, but I'm glad that you do have the option to fight and sort yourself out.
Sorry- now amended.
Shorn Face which I somehow left out of this thread originally but which is really great.
Cove of Flies
How to Speak Atlantean
I'm surprised Twine has opened up the doors as much as it has. I used it to put together a game for my fiancé some months back and found the experience surprisingly similar to flat out coding, albeit with significantly fewer brackets and braces. It's impressive that lowering that barrier to creation at all has brought in so many new artists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5LfQOnpQOO4
http://choosatron.com/
I like the way the way the friend who linked it described it: "Twine games play out in receipt form, poor decisions preserved forever."
No, really, it's a lot of fun.
Feel good story of the aeon.
um
am i doing something wrong or is it 3 clicks long?