Interactive stories on Literotica

[al55]

I just discovered interactive stories are a thing on this site.

Are they hard to write? What is the software to write them like, I mean?

 

[TheLobster]

The software is called Ink. Here's the website. It's basically more or less plain text with some extra symbols for control flow. Probably easier than most programming languages; not sure how it compares to other similar software like Ren'Py.

There is a subforum here that deals with interactive stories if you want to know more or ask questions. I believe @nice90sguy dabbled in this topic, but in general I don't think many AH dwellers have.

 

[al55]

It's called Ink. Here's the website.

There is a subforum here that deals with interactive stories if you want to know more or ask questions. I believe @nice90sguy dabbled in this topic, but in general I don't think many AH dwellers have.

Thank you so much!

 

[AwkwardlySet]

You just need to understand the very basics of programming structures to create one, as most interactive stories can be written with if-else and switch-case structures only. The Lit version of such stories uses Ink. I created one such story myself, and it was very successful, I suppose. With over 100k playthroughs, it's my most "viewed" story to date, by far.

 

[Bamagan]

I just discovered interactive stories are a thing on this site.

Are they hard to write? What is the software to write them like, I mean?

As mentioned above, the coding language is pretty basic.

I wrote a very simple branching story: two options from the starting point that led to four possible endings.

There are others that are far more complex, and those probably are hard to write, at least in the sense of keeping track of all the possible variables. Among other things, you can use the code to track character traits and change the language or possible choices based on what has already happened. As I recall, you have a thing for busty mermaids. An interactive story could be composed where the main character transforms in stages: early on, she may have options that require walking or running, but as the changes progress (as recorded by the programming variables) she faces different obstacles. Likewise, language describing her breasts can be added, removed, or altered as they grow, such as using adjectives like giant or massive and so forth. Assuming that the trait ratings are affected by the route the reader chooses, certain events can happen at different paces (or not at all).

So, short answer: They can be hard to write, if you want to make them so. They don't have to be, but the less complex you make them, the more like a traditional story they're likely to be, as opposed to an interactive game, which is possibly kind of what the site was aiming for, based on the name they chose for the category (story games).

 

[Steph_McNeal]

As someone who is not a coder, I found Ink fairly easy to work with. Like @Bamagan said, the functions that allow for a basic story game are very straightforward. I you want to add more complexity to the project or create a full-blown text based game, then Ink can deliver as well.

If you want to give it a try, download Inky. It's the official editor that allows you to write the code, test your story and find bugs or mistakes, all in the same window.

The biggest challenge I experienced, was to keep track of all the branches and narratives as a project grows. The editor doesn't do that very well. There is some software that can for instance visualize the story as a flowchart, like InkExplorer. But you don''t need this to get started.

Install Inky, study some of the basics and you're good to go.

One thing to add -- and not to discourage but to manage expectations -- is that I find interactive stories a lot of work to make. Maybe I'm just slow, but it takes about ten times longer for me to finish an interactive story, compared to a regular one.
It's also ten times more fun, if you ask me. So it equals out.

So far I have just one published interactive story and a big folder full of works in progress.

 

[Writer61]

Interesting. Will add to my project queue.

 

[nice90sguy]

I believe @nice90sguy dabbled in this topic

Not just dabbled; I got pretty deep into it. I can summarise my findings as:

Ok for branching stories, inadequate for actual games.

Since I started working with it, Claude Code and Codex have improved to the point where you can enlist their help with the tech side.

This site doesn't support anything beyond plain text for story games, which is a showstopper for me, given the kind of story games I write.

 

[Britva415]

I just discovered interactive stories are a thing on this site.

Are they hard to write? What is the software to write them like, I mean?

Neverminding the software, consider this thread about why authors don't like to write them.