Story Platforms
A variety of web-based story platforms are available. Different projects would be best served by different platforms - this page should help you work out which platforms is best for you. All these platforms allow you to create and play text-based stories online.
If this page seems StoryNexus-centric it's because it was compiled by Failbetter Games, and we love our platform. We encourage other platform holders to revise incorrect or incomplete information on this page!
| Platform | Best For | Toolkit1 | Collaborative Editing Tools2 | Live Editing3 | Publish To4 | Portable5 | Monetisation6 | Copyright7 | Multimedia8 | Social Play9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StoryNexus | Storylet-based games in the style of Fallen London and the Night Circus | GUI, no coding |
Yes | Yes | Web | No | Yesbased on amount of virtual currency spent in your game | Creator | No | Plannedinvite other players to competitive and co-operative stories |
| Varytale | Scene-based interactive books | GUI + coding |
Yes | No | Web (on approval) | YesJSON export - but you need a suitable engine to run it. | Plannedbased on amount of virtual currency spent in your book | Creator | No | No |
| Inklewriter | Short branching interactive stories | GUI, no coding |
No | Yes | Web | No | No | Creator | No | No |
| Choice of Games | Branching multiple-choice games | Choicescript scripting language |
No | No | iOS, Android, Kindle, Web (on approval) | YesChoiceScript is a Javascript library that runs on any web page, although it's only licensed for non-commercial use elsewhere. | YesIndividual agreements with authors. | DependsTwo kinds of contract, one where Creator has copyright, one where Publisher has copyright. | Yes | No |
| The Written World | Chapter-based story creation | GUI? | ? | ? | Web? | ? | Planned | ? | ? | No |
| Playfic | Online text adventures powered by Inform 7 | GUI + coding |
No | No | Web | YesPlayfic code is Inform 7 code - you can copy/paste it into an Inform 7 story file | No | Creator | Yeswith coding | No |
| Quest | Creating text adventures and gamebooks | GUI + coding |
No | No | Web | Plannedpossible from desktop editor, planned for web editor | no | ? | Yes | No |
| Choose your Story | Branching multiple-choice games | GUI + coding | No | No | Web | No | No | ? | No | No |
| Story Explorer | Branching multiple-choice games | GUI, no coding | No | No | Web | No | No | Creator | No | No |
| Why isn't (platform x) here? We're specifically interested in the current boom in web-based, easy-build, easy-play text platforms. So we include e.g. Playfic, a web platform based on Inform, but exclude Inform itself. (Here's a good resource on parser-based interactive fiction tools like Inform). If you think we've omitted a tool that's easy to use, easy to play and allows material to be published quickly on the web, do add it. |
page revision: 50, last edited: 10 Oct 2012 19:04