Twine is a free open-source tool created by Chris Klimas for making

interactive fiction Interactive fiction (IF) is software simulating environments in which players use text Command (computing), commands to control Player character, characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narrati ...

and

hypertext fiction Hypertext fiction is a genre of electronic literature characterized by the use of hypertext links that provide a new context for non-linearity in literature and reader interaction. The reader typically chooses links to move from one node of text to ...

in the form of

web page A web page (or webpage) is a World Wide Web, Web document that is accessed in a web browser. A website typically consists of many web pages hyperlink, linked together under a common domain name. The term "web page" is therefore a metaphor of pap ...

s. It is available on

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

, and

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

Software

Twine emphasizes the visual structure of hypertext, and does not require knowledge of a

programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

as many other game development tools do. It is regarded as a tool which can be used by anyone interested in interactive fiction and experimental games. Twine 1 generated code using ''twee''. Its frontend was derived from TiddlyWiki, with a similar but incompatible data format. Twine 2 is a browser-based application written in

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

and

Javascript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language and core technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. Ninety-nine percent of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior. Web browsers have ...

, also available as a standalone desktop app; it also supports CSS. It is currently in version 2.10.0, as of November 2024. Rather than using a fixed scripting language, Twine supports the use of different "story formats". In Twine 1, these mostly affected how a story was displayed rather than how it was written, but Twine 2 story formats combine style, semantic rules and markup conventions and are described as "dialects" of the Twine language. There are many story formats; they include Harlowe (the default format for Twine 2), SugarCube (based on the original format used by Twine 1), Snowman (which integrates JavaScript libraries into Twine) and Chapbook (a "second generation" format created and maintained by Twine creator Chris Klimas). Twine 2 also supports "proofing formats", which are designed to output Twine content in a variety of ways to allow for on-screen proofing and error checking, as well as conversion of Twine stories into other formats.

Notable works

* '' Rat Chaos'' (2012) * '' Howling Dogs'' (2012) * '' Depression Quest'' (2013) * '' Queers in Love at the End of the World'' (2013) * '' The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo'' (2014) * '' The Writer Will Do Something'' (2015) * '' The Temple of No'' (2016) * '' Arc Symphony'' (2017) * '' c ya laterrrr'' (2017) * '' You Are Jeff Bezos'' (2018)

Film

Twine was used by writer

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

in developing the interactive film '' Black Mirror: Bandersnatch''.

References

External links

* ** * * {{Portal bar, Free and open-source software Authoring systems Cross-platform free software Free game engines Free software for Linux Free software for macOS Free software for Windows Free software programmed in Python Free software programmed in TypeScript Hypertext Interactive fiction Interactive fiction engines Software using the GNU General Public License Electronic literature software