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Uncover a web of evil as an elite superspy! You might break a few rules—or a few hearts—but you won’t break cover. As Agent 180, a star secret agent, you’ve never found a problem you couldn’t solve with guns, gadgets, or a devastating quip. But after a personal tragedy sends your life off course, your next mission will test you to your very limits.

180 Files: The Aegis Project is a 184,000 word interactive spy thriller by Karelia Hall. I sat down with Karelia to talk a little about how the game went from contest winner to Choice of Games title. 180 Files: The Aegis Project releases this Thursday, July 9th.

How did 180 Files come about? What prompted you to begin writing it?

The original idea came from thinking about how the action genre and the Bond-inspired superspy genre tends to have very clearly-defined character roles. You have the good guy, the clearly evil bad guy, the sexy love interest, and so on. I thought it would be fun to play around with that, so that what the reader is expecting might not be the role that character actually has, and I wrote a short story-game based on that premise. When the contest came up I then decided to expand that into a full-sized game in order to enter. The concept changed a lot in that process. I had originally intended it to be essentially a genre parody, but as I began developing plot and characters it naturally became more serious (though I still left the crocodile pit in).

In the full game, I liked the idea of having a focus on Agent 180, the player character as a character in their own right and not just a cipher. It ties into what for me is one of the great strengths of interactive fiction, which is the feeling that you’re inviting the reader/player to help you tell this story. I’ll tell you where the character is, but you tell me how they got here, and why, and together we’ll see where they’re going next…

This was the winner of the Choice of Games contest in 2018, and now it’s being published. Can you talk a little about the process of editing the game between now and then?

One of the main changes made in the editing process was making changes to the game stats. The three original skill stats were expanded into five. To give the player some more concrete goals to aim for, some more tracking stats were added like the Coverup/Expose stat which linked into a pre-existing subplot involving a reporter investigating the same case as the player character.

I also got the chance to flesh out some parts of the game that needed it. For example, in the climax of the original game, if you’d failed some earlier checks you ended up with all sorts of exciting obstacles. But if you’d been successful all the way through then it became too easy and lost some of the tension. Now there’s a lot more happening there!

What surprised you most about that process?

It can be surprising just how much even making what seems like small changes to the game stats and structure can change things downstream. A tweak here becomes another possible branch there which then becomes a whole extra scene that’s needed to tie things back to the rest of the game.

What did you find most challenging in editing the game for publication?

The most challenging part for me was probably keeping a sense of how the game is balanced throughout. You have to be going through it with an eye to the stat options you use–have you been favouring one more than others? Is this part going to be too difficult? Is it going to be too easy, so players will likely miss out on interesting things that can happen when you fail? When the game branches, is the amount of content in each branch roughly equal? It can be especially difficult if you have great ideas for one or two options but are struggling to think of a third – sometimes that requires you to go right back to the drawing board to figure out what the scene really needs.

Do you plan to write another game?

Yes, I do have a few plans, but that’s all I’m saying for now!

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

Find your way through the haunting forest in this puzzle narrative. Is this a nightmare or reality? The trees trap all who enter. You must discover what it takes to truly be free.

It’s 33% off until July 9th!

Trees Don’t Tell is a spooky interactive puzzle novel by Taylor Zane, where your choices help you find your way through the story. It’s mostly text-based—without graphics or sound effects – and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Folk tales have spread about the forests of Shonnra Morr. Tales of were-beasts, ghosts and demons. The trees are a hotspot for the paranormal, drawing in the curious. Teens go to explore, but few dare to enter. Of the few that do, none have returned.

• Choose to play as a male or female.
• Unique action loop counter that really defines the insanity of the forest.
• Every choice you make is on you. Which way do you go? Which item do you investigate? Some lead to answers, some lead to death.
• Entire items, rooms and even characters can be left undiscovered for multiple playthroughs.
• Uncover the history kept secret by the forest.
• A beast stalks you amongst the shadows. Escape his grasp or be devoured.
• Unveil the reality of your worst nightmare.

Taylor Zane developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

We’re proud to announce that Blood Money, by Harris Powell-Smith, author of the the smash-hit Creme de la Creme, now has a brand new expansion and update–10,000 more words of expanded romance scenes!

This update is free for all customers who have already purchased the game, and for those who haven’t: get Blood Money on sale until July 2nd!

By the power of your blood, you and your ghosts will take over your crime family!

Blood Money is a 300,000-word interactive novel by Harris Powell-Smith. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

When your cousin murders the city’s most notorious crime boss–your mother–a power struggle erupts across the criminal underworld. As your sisters Octavia and Fuschia vie for control, you alone in the family possess the blood magician’s power to summon and command ghosts. They hunger for your blood; if it’s blood they want, then blood they’ll have.

Will you take over the family business? Remain loyal, go it alone, or defect to a rival gang?

• Play as male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, bi, or ace.
• Embrace your unearthly gifts and build connections with the dead, or banish ghosts to the underworld to protect the living
• Look for love, or manipulate your friends and allies; Betray those who trust you, or maintain family loyalty no matter the cost
• Fight a gang war for your family, defect to your rivals, or reject a life of crime
• Negotiate volatile family relations: resolve squabbles, fall in line as a loyal lieutenant, or sharpen your knife for backstabbing
• Influence citywide politics: exploit the Mayor’s office for your own ends, or use your connections for a greater cause

What will you sacrifice for freedom, and who will you sacrifice for power?

We’re proud to announce that Volume 2 of War of the Gods, the second part and 170,000-word thrilling conclusion of War of the Gods is now available as an in-app purchase in War of the Gods on our website, Android, and on iOS in the “Hosted Games” app.

Volumes 1 and 2 are 33% off until June 25th!

Fight the god of death on your way to godhood! Choose your path with six different characters:  warrior, assassin, mage, thief, storm rider, and beastmaster.  Destroy the death god’s minions by sword, magic, storms, or beasts.  Rise in power to eventually destroy the death god himself.  Seize your own path toward godhood.

War of the Gods is a two-part, 255,000-word interactive novel by Barbara Elzey, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

• Play a Solarian, a creature who is invulnerable by day and weak at night.
• Play the human assassin who must fight his way free from bondage.
• Play a Storm Rider, an ancient race that harnesses the power of the storm.
• Play a thief known as the Silver Fox, who must save her people from the death cultists who killed her family
• Play a Deodrin mage, a creature from an ancient race, who hurls spells to save a family from the despotic king.
• Play a human beastmaster, who is the true heir to the throne, and who gathers allies for war, both human and beasts.
• Choose your gender; romance as gay, straight or asexual, and select your physical traits.
• Find romance with different fantastical species and characters.
• Defeat the minions of death.
• Gain power toward your own rise to godhood.

We’re proud to announce that Light Years Apart, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 40% off until June 18th!

Can you and your sister outfox a galaxy-spanning AI to save your home planet? A rollicking adventure with space pirates, spies, and snarky computers.

Light Years Apart is a 230,000-word interactive sci-fi novel by Anaea Lay, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You trained at the Kempari College, an academy for super spies, fighting against the Aydan-machine interplanetary AI. Aydan-machine and its affiliated megacorp, the ICA, have monopolized control over FTL weft-drives.

You resigned from the College when your teachers ordered you to commit murder. Since then, you’ve wandered the galaxy for a decade, so long that your shipboard computer has become your surrogate parent.

But now, the ICA has blockaded Kempus, and you’re in a unique position to prevent thousands of unnecessary deaths. Will you ally with the enemy, or return to the rebels who once betrayed you?

What’s more, your hacker sister has brought your old flame back into your orbit, and the love you left behind is now mission-critical. As a former spy, you have flexible morals, but there are certain lines you won’t cross. The blockade is real, and it’s killing kids.

When your planet needs you, will you step up or storm off?

• Play as male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, bi, poly or asexual
• Unleash artful and infinite swearing
• Swap stories and strategies with your secret agent peers
• Drink yourself silly on extraterrestrial moonshine
• Team up with space pirates
• Watch a planet breed with its moon
• Smuggle two weird teenagers past an interplanetary blockade

We hope you enjoy playing Light Years Apart. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

Can you and your sister outfox a galaxy-spanning AI to save your home planet? A rollicking adventure with space pirates, spies, and snarky computers.

Light Years Apart is a 230,000-word interactive sci-fi novel by Anaea Lay, author of Gilded Rails. I sat down with Anaea to talk about the challenges and surprises in writing interactive fiction.

Light Years Apart releases this Thursday, June 11th. You can play the the first three chapters today. 

This is your second game with COG, the first being the historical management game Gilded Rails. It’s kind of amazing to see the same author tackle two such completely different settings. Tell me a little about that.

Part of it is that Gilded Rails was really far outside my normal comfort zone for setting. In the pitch and early development process I was preoccupied with what would make a cool, interesting game, and forgot that I would be the one developing it at the other end. I learned a lot from doing that, but one of the things I learned was that I definitely prefer reading history and historical settings more than I enjoy working in them.

Light Years Apart, setting-wise, is much more in my wheelhouse. It’s based on a universe I’ve written several novels in and know really well, which meant my focus on the development could hone in on mechanics and gameplay elements rather than working out setting details.

Aside from the settings, though, I think it’s pretty clear they’re the same author. Light Years Apart is more plot-forward than Gilded Rails, but the parts of GR, I think, that are strongest are the characters and how the world they’re in interacts with and shapes them. Because of when its set and the material its focusing on, there are very explicit themes around justice, oppression, and reform. All those things are still in Light Years Apart, the scope is just narrower here and the focus is more on the personal level than the society/world level. Also, I’m still sarcastic.

What drew you to tell this story?

The story in this game is actually a single POV plotline I pulled out of a novel with an ensemble cast. I wrote the novel mostly to work out the world building and firm up setting details for a universe I’d been cooking at the back of my head for a long time. The plan was to tear around the universe, having as much fun as possible, so I could figure out what did and didn’t work before getting into the seriouz bizniz ™ plot.

I was about halfway through work on Gilded Rails when I decided I wanted to adapt that into a game. I’m not much of a planner when I’m writing normally–which is probably obvious after saying I wrote a whole novel just to figure out world building–and that process does not work well for game development. Taking something where a lot of the overall arcs were well known meant I could be much more savvy about designing mechanics and stats, planning out scenes, all sorts of things that work better if you’re pragmatic up front.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to write a game full of snark and pirates and having to balance split loyalties while zipping around the universe?

There’s a lot of fun space piratey stuff in this game. What part of building this world did you most enjoy?

That’s a hard question since I basically mashed together everything I like about space opera. I definitely have a soft spot for all the sentient computers, though. How they wind up interacting with the human characters, and the tension around what even the existence of what we’re calling “strong AI” these days means for human society is a rabbit hole I am always happy to fall down. Very fundamental disagreements about the ethics and wisdom of throwing in with artificial intelligence, versus a more Luddite approach, and how that interacts with questions of exploitation and xenophobia, are the background of a lot of the conflict. There aren’t tidy answers in the game because these aren’t questions with tidy answers. But the computer on the PC’s ship, the intelligence running the pirate ship, a few others you may or may not meet in the course of playing the game, they were all fun to write. And the way they tie into those core questions made them important in ways that went beyond cracking easy jokes about human-robot relationships.

Were there things that you surprised yourself with during the writing process?

I had two big surprises working on this. The first was in working up the original outline. I mentioned above that this an adaptation of one slice of a novel with an ensemble cast. The ending of that novel is very much the product of elements from each cast member coming together. That meant I had to throw out basically that whole ending, because so much of the setup for it had no way to come over for the adaptation. If I’d kept it, it would have been a very unsatisfying deus ex machina. I’d expected a lot of change around the ending, obviously, because there were going to be a lot of different possibilities. I hadn’t expected that no version of the original ending would be feasible, but it was obvious very quickly that was the case.

The other surprise was something I didn’t expect up front at all, and didn’t have an inkling of until feedback started coming in, though it was related to the other surprise: Calvary as a setting did not work as well in the single-POV game format as it does where it gets more context and nuance. The “back-worlds” in this universe have all been set up as large scale social experiments. This is something that’s relatively common knowledge on the “civilized” worlds, but not well known elsewhere. Calvary is a place really designed to highlight the problems you get when you deliberately construct a xenophobic society just so you can see how it plays out, and stand as an indictment of the forces that are preoccupied with arguing over human-AI relationships without stopping to question how they’ve both bought into the virtue of turning whole societies into pawns. Basically all of that nuance and theme work vanished with narrowing down to a single POV. I wound up spending a lot of time on reworking the setting to remove hints and pointers to things that weren’t getting picked up or addressed in the game because of the narrower focus.

Usually when I’m revising or editing I’m adding in or refining complexity and details, not pulling them out or undermining them. It was really startling to face plant in the middle of needing to make a whole setting and society do less.

I know the working title for this game was “Sentient Domain” which captures certain elements of the story, but I also love the title “Light Years Apart.” They both seem to reveal a lot about this game.

Sentient Domain is the name of the novel this was adapted from, but that element of the world building is much more important to the ending of the novel than it wound up being for any facet of the game. It’s still important for the worldbuilding and some of the thematic routes you can pursue, but it doesn’t capture the core of the game the way a title should. Light Years Apart works for pretty much any path you take through the game, and works with the more personal, focused stakes here.

What are you working on next?

I don’t know what day of the week it is right now. I’ll figure my next project…someday.

At Choice of Games, we uphold the self-evident—yet surprisingly controversial—idea that anyone can be a hero. It should not matter if you are male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, bi, or just plain queer; cis or trans; black, white, or brown. Due to its history of structural racism, the egalitarianism that we espouse is not reality in America.

Let us be clear: Black Lives Matter.

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Ahmaud Arbery. Adama Traoré. João Pedro Matos Pinto. 

These names haunt us, as they should haunt you. And these are only a few recent victims of white supremacy and police brutality.

Over the course of the past week, police officers and other security forces have committed disproportionate, illegal, and immoral acts of violence on protesters demanding accountability for the police.

This comes at a dire time in the history of the United States, when our president, unable to acknowledge the possibility of defeat, is willing to jettison democracy in favor of his own ego. We at Choice of Games have real concerns that if these protests fail to effect change, there will not be an election in November.

We support four specific short-term demands:

1. An end to qualified immunity for law enforcement.
2. An end to the sale of military equipment to law enforcement.
3. An end to the use of tear gas and other chemical weapons.
4. The creation of a national database of law enforcement officers dismissed for misconduct, that would prevent those officers from being rehired by another department.

Yet these demands only address the symptoms; they will not cure the disease. The entire United States criminal justice system must be reimagined.

We encourage everyone that can to attend a protest—socially distanced and nonviolent. If you can’t protest, we encourage you to donate money to bail funds and other community organizations pushing for police reform; you can even stream this YouTube channel, whose advertising revenue will support bail funds and other organizations. If you can’t donate money, we ask that you donate your time by calling your elected representatives—from your city councilmembers, to your state representatives, to your Congressional representatives—and express your outrage at the conduct of police and other security personnel.

Because we believe that this moment requires more than words, Choice of Games LLC and Hosted Games LLC will each be donating $10,000 to this collective bail fund, which will split the money between more than seventy community organizations across the country.

Now is the time for all of us to be heroes.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

In this prequel to Swamp Castle and the Great Tournament, lead a medieval faction as it attempts to secure the Kingdom of Magincia. You must deal with other hostile factions and fight off barbarians to gain ruling power of the realm.

It’s 40% off until June 11th!

War for Magincia is a 200,000-word interactive novel by Philip Kempton. Set in the world of Swamp Castle and The Great Tournament, in War for Magincia you’ll experience randomly generated events and stats results each time you play, and a deep story tree with many different endings, in addition to three difficulty modes: easy, normal, or hard.

• Use diplomacy, war, or intrigue to defeat your rival factions.
• Work for the betterment of the Kingdom and people, or take all its riches for yourself.
• Send diplomats to rival factions to sue for peace or spies to cause chaos and war among your rivals.
• Train your army with a variety of unit troops. Upgrade their equipment and training.
• Choose your general and level him/her up with a variety of military maneuvers.
• Hire advisors to help in your quest to secure the Kingdom of Magincia.
• Unlock achievements and new modes of play.

Swamp Castle and Life of a Mercenary are now available on Steam and on sale! You can also enjoy The Great Tournament and The Great Tournament 2 on sale until June 11th!

Philip Kempton developed these games using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

Embark on a Victorian adventure that begins in the heart of London and takes you across the world in a race to obtain a fabled jewel with mysterious powers. Navigate the deadly river Mjaa Nto and twisted jungle paths where danger lurks beneath the surface and around every corner.

It’s 30% off until May 28!

Journey into Darkness is a challenging 50,000 word interactive fantasy novel by Jonathan Clark, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

There are eight full-size color lino-cut illustrations and six smaller handmade stamp illustrations within this text adventure.

Will you beat your rivals to the prize? Can you fight off the dangers along the way? Will you find the right path and the knowledge you need to succeed or will you succumb to the darkness?

• Play as male or female.
• Travel to exotic locations.
• Solve the puzzle of the one true path.
• Fight monsters and other horrors.
• Endure the sarcasm of your traveling companions.
• Awaken an ancient cosmic horror.

Jonathan Clark developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

Unleash your psionic powers and help your eternal lover in their quest of preventing the imminent AI apocalypse!

It’s 30% off until May 28!

AI – Aftermath is a 36,000-word interactive science fiction novel by Ivailo Daskalov, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

You must set out on a mission of saving the world from an imminent apocalypse caused by malevolent AI activity. Along the way, you’ll meet your lover, and help them choose who they are in this incarnation. Together, convince the forces of heaven and a beautiful fairy being to help you in your mission.

• Play as male or female, gay or straight.
• Rediscover your eternal love.
• Choose between his/her four aspects.
• Wield psionic powers.
• Recover from the traumas of AI wars.
• Change the timeline to a better one…or not.

Ivailo Daskalov developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.