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Today, we released a new version of Eerie Estate Agent that renames the game For Rent: Haunted House, and makes it free to play on iOS.

For Rent: Haunted House is a hilarious interactive novel by Gavin Inglis, in which it’s your job to rent out a haunted house before your tyrannical boss has you fired. On iOS, you can play the whole game from beginning to end for free; the game is supported by advertisements. We also offer a one-time in-app purchase to disable the ads.

Anyone who purchased Eerie Estate Agent for iOS can continue to play the game without advertisements; just tap on the “Restore Purchases” link next to the “Buy It” button.

On the web and Android, we can’t offer For Rent: Haunted House for free. On the web, we don’t have any advertisements, and haven’t had any since Google banned us from their AdSense program in 2010. On Android, we have no way to “Restore Purchases” for players who purchased Eerie Estate Agent; if we converted the Android version to a free version, our existing customers would have to pay again to disable advertisements, which isn’t fair to them. We offer the first three chapters of the game on the web for free, and we charge for the rest of the game past that point.

Over time, we will continue to experiment with ways to offer our games at low prices and even for free, without chiseling our loyal customers.

We’re happy to announce that one of our bestselling games, SLAMMED! is now available on Steam for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Buy it today for 26% off the regular price!

SLAMMED! is a 275,000-word interactive professional-wrestling novel by Paolo Chikiamco; it’s the greatest text-based pro-wrestling RPG in the world.

In SLAMMED!, you’ve always dreamed of becoming pro wrestling’s biggest star…but the wrestler’s world is fraught with hardship and betrayal, in and out of the ring. Become a powerhouse, a technician, a high-flier, or focus on your promo skills. There’s more than one road to success.

But none of those roads will be easy. This is a world where your biggest fans are your harshest critics; where the front office is more dangerous than the squared circle; where friends can become enemies with a single heel turn; where, sometimes, the only way to win is to lose, spectacularly.

This is professional wrestling. And you’re about to change it, forever.

Plus, there are new endings! Paolo took the time to add in three new endings and 70 unlockable achievements. The new endings are also available now on our other platforms; existing customers can upgrade to the new version for free. (iOS users will have to wait a few days for Apple to approve the upgrade.)

We need your support to continue delivering our games on Steam. Our goal is to release our entire catalog of interactive novels on Steam. Our last game on Steam, Choice of Robots, was a tremendous hit; it was even featured on Steam’s valuable front page for a short time. We’ll need to continue to deliver outstanding results to prove that interactive fiction can be successful on Steam.

We’re asking all of our fans to follow us on Steam. Even if you don’t use Steam that much, it will be a big help if you sign up to follow us there, because the more followers we get, the better visibility we get on Steam’s curator list. (Our goal is to hit 3,000 followers for our Steam curation page; we’re about 30% of the way there!)

When you follow us, you’ll see our games and our recommended games right on your Steam home page. It’s free, and it’s a big help to us, so follow us today!

We’re proud to announce that Lords of Aswick, the latest in our Hosted Games label of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for iOS, Android, and, via the Chrome Web Store, Windows, OS X, and Linux.

In this interactive novel, follow the life of a nobleman from childhood to death. Become swept up in the affairs of a medieval realm. How long can you put them off until you have to pick a side and (hopefully) live with the consequences?

• Over 250,000 words!
• Take control of a young boy and mould him into a knight worthy of legend.
• Establish a noble house, rise from an upstart to hold a seat next to the Throne.
• Ride alongside knights, experience great battles and lead sieges.
• Even defeat may not be the end, find a new life fighting for God!

We hope you enjoy playing Lords of Aswick. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. Basically, the more times you download in the first week, the better we’ll rank.

by Ben Serviss, author of The Last Monster Master; this article originally appeared on his blog at dashjump.com.

Writing is hard. Writing interactive, multiple-choice games is harder.

Good at turning a phrase? Excellent – now turn seven of them, all equally-well written, that make sense in four different contexts, as said by three different characters. If nothing else, writing non-linear text game dialog and narrative is an exercise in constraints, creative reuse, and conviction.

There are two more games in our Hosted Games program ready for you to play!

Somme Trench: Can you survive six months on the Western Front?

You’re a fresh British infantryman at the Battle of the Somme, one of the longest, bloodiest battles of World War One. Can you survive a clash that kills almost twenty thousand of your countrymen on the first morning alone?

Somme Trench is an interactive historical military novel by Andrew J. Schaefer, 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. Schaefer previously published Planetary Quarantine under the Hosted Games label.

Your best bet might be as an airplane gunner, or a trench fighter, or even as a stretcher bearer. Firing squads, brothels and homeward-bound steamships are all in your possible future. Or you might give in to your inner demons and wind up chatting with ghosts and skeletons as though they’re your friends. Whatever path you choose, you’ll be immersed in a richly detailed, interactive historical novel that has almost as many twists and turns as there were soldiers at the Somme.

• Immerse yourself in the world of the Western Front
• Choose paths as diverse as infantryman, stretcher bearer or aircraft machine gunner
• Learn about some of the most important events of world history
• Challenge your mind
• Enjoy a richly-detailed interactive novel with countless storylines
• Solve mysteries embedded within the game

Silent Gear: Interactive sci-fi novel of survival and betrayal

Silent Gear is an interactive sci-fi thriller by Lee Yuan. Become an elite trained soldier in a grim military future world. You decide your friendship, love, war, betrayal, and above all, survival.

With the constant economic downturn and conflicts, the United States had officially lost its superpower title in the year 2032.

Russia and China have risen together and created the New Unified Communist Party (NUCP); they have dominated most of Asia and parts of Europe in terms of economy and political influence. They are the undisputed new super power.

Without the support from the United States, the ISIS terrorists seized almost all of the middle east. The oil production in Saudi Arabia and other natural resources in the region are now all under ISIS control. They renamed themselves as Holy Islamic Liberation Organization (HILO). Their massive increase of wealth has a devastating effect on all democratic nations.

In a desperate effort to maintain balance, NATO has created the Augmented Reconnaissance and Operations Corp (AROC) to counter the new threats.

The story begins on your AROC academy graduation day. This is an interactive story with elements of romance, betrayal and survival, complete with a prologue, three Episodes and multiple endings. Your choices will determine the fate of your squad as well as your own.

The game also contains 4 mini games: Greedy Banker Dice, Cho Han Bakuchi, Gunship boss battle and Mech Suit boss battle.

• Immerse in a sci-fi military world based on real life political groups
• Dozens of sound effects
• Different mini games throughout each Episodes
• Key items randomized in different locations upon each play through for replayability
• Two Boss battles that require some thinking and planning
• Survival of squad members dependent on a combination of the decisions you previously made
• Multiple endings

These authors have developed their 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 we’ll publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

We’re proud to announce that The Last Monster Master, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and, via the Chrome Web Store, Windows, OS X, and Linux.

Will your monsters save the world, or destroy it? As a Monster Master, you’ll telepathically train wild monsters to be treasure guardians, royal pets, or giant stone masons. As war breaks out with the kingdom to the north, will you train monsters to be vicious soldiers and mindless power generators?

“The Last Monster Master” is an epic 250,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Ben Serviss, 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.

How you care for your monsters will determine their fate–and yours–as the your kingdom faces a grave threat. Can you discipline your monsters with gentle compassion, or will you use cruel punishments to bring them in line? Will you lead your monsters to victory and prosperity? Or will you go down in history as the last Monster Master?

We hope you enjoy playing The Last Monster Master. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, 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.

Psy High is now available on Steam! It’s discounted to 34% off until January 2nd.

When the kids at your high school start developing psychic powers, you and your friends must team up to stop the principal from taking over the world! Psy High is an interactive teen supernatural mystery novel by Rebecca Slitt. It had a fantastic opening weekend last week, quickly becoming the #1 Paid RPG in the iOS App Store. We’re very fortunate to be able to bring Psy High to you on Steam.

We need your support to continue delivering our games on Steam. Our goal is to release our entire catalog of interactive novels on Steam. Based on the performance of Choice of the Deathless, Thieves’ Gambit: Curse of the Black Cat, and Mecha Ace, Valve has allowed us to ship Choice of Robots and Psy High. We’ll need to continue to deliver outstanding results to prove that interactive fiction can be successful on Steam.

We’re asking all of our fans to follow us on Steam. Even if you don’t use Steam that much, it will be a big help if you sign up to follow us there, because the more followers we get, the better visibility we get on Steam’s curator list. (Our goal is to hit 3,000 followers for our Steam curation page; we’re about 15% of the way there as I write this!)

When you follow us, you’ll see our games and our recommended games right on your Steam home page. It’s free, and it’s a big help to us, so follow us today!

We’re proud to announce that Choice of Robots, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire. It’s 40% off until January 2.

The robots you design will change the world! Will you show them the true meaning of love, or conquer Alaska with your robot army?

“Choice of Robots” is an epic 300,000-word interactive sci-fi novel by Kevin Gold, 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 out thirty years of your life as a brilliant robot maker, from graduate school near the present day to a future in which your robots have changed everything. Depending on your choices, your robots may be independent or obedient, clumsy or graceful, empathic or cold … and you yourself may live to an old age happily married or alone with only robots to comfort you.

Play as male or female, gay or straight, with nine characters to romance, four alternate climax chapters, and over seventy achievements to unlock.

• Build a unique robot character–you choose everything from its shape to what it calls you
• Instigate or prevent a robotic uprising
• Teach your robots to love humanity, or disdain it
• Build an artificial intelligence suitable to take control of the world’s governments
• Start a war against the United States, and win
• Marry a human or an advanced robot, and start a family

We need your support to continue delivering our games on Steam. Our goal is to release our entire catalog of interactive novels on Steam. Based on the performance of Choice of the Deathless, Thieves’ Gambit: Curse of the Black Cat, and Mecha Ace, Valve has allowed us to ship Choice of Robots plus one additional game TBD. We’ll need to continue to deliver outstanding results to prove that interactive fiction can be successful on Steam.

We’re asking all of our fans to follow us on Steam. Even if you don’t use Steam that much, it will be a big help if you sign up to follow us there, because the more followers we get, the better visibility we get on Steam’s curator list. (Our goal is to hit 3,000 followers for our Steam curation page; we’re about 12% of the way there as I write this!)

When you follow us, you’ll see our games and our recommended games right on your Steam home page. It’s free, and it’s a big help to us, so follow us today!

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

We’re proud to announce that Psy High, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and, via the Chrome Web Store, Windows, OS X, and Linux.

When the kids at your high school start developing psychic powers, you and your friends must team up to stop the principal from taking over the world!

Psy High is an interactive teen supernatural mystery novel by Rebecca Slitt, 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 as male or female; gay, straight, or bi. Will you be a jock or a brain? Popular or ignored? Use your psychic powers to help others, or to take what you want. Win a coveted scholarship, star in the Drama Club play–or lose it all and spend your senior year in juvenile detention. How much are you willing to sacrifice to get ahead in the world?

Can you solve the case? Can you save the school? And most importantly, can you find a date to the prom?

• Solve mysteries in the classic teen-detective genre with a supernatural twist
• Find your place in the cutthroat high-school social scene: be an athlete, an actor, a brain, or a rebel
• Uncover the truth about your small town and its secrets
• Instead of stopping the principal, why not steal his powers for yourself, or even join him in his plan for world domination?
• Find your one true love, or more than one! (They never talked about love triangles in trigonometry!)

We hope you enjoy playing Psy High. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, 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.

Choice of Games is proud to announce that Creatures Such as We by Lynnea Glasser is now available for free on iOS, Android, and our web site.

Creatures Such as We is a philosophical interactive romance novel 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. It’s completely free, including no in-game advertisements and no in-app purchases.

In Creatures Such as We, living on the moon is lonely, and stressful, and exhausting. Video games have always offered you an escape to a better life. The easy, happy life you wish you had. Which makes it so frustrating when the game you’ve been playing ends badly. But you have a chance to figure it out, because the next tourist group is the game’s designers. You can debate with them about art, inspire them with the beauty of outer space, get closer to any one specific designer in particular, and finally find out how to get the ending you always wanted.

• Immerse in the beautiful setting of a moon-bound tourist destination a tourist destination.
• Explore the meaning of gaming as a form of artistic expression with a cast of game designers.
• Inspire profound discussions, courage, and even love with the visiting space tourists.
• Six unique character paths, with options to be romantic or maintain strict professionalism.
• Play both your character, and the character of the game-within-a-game.
• Decide for yourself the best way to bridge the gap between game players and designers.
• Inclusive options for gender identity, orientation, race, and age.

Creatures Such as We is One of the Best Games of IFComp

Lynnea wrote Creatures Such as We in ChoiceScript as part of the 20th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (IFComp), where it took second place.

One of the beautiful things about IFComp is that people post lots and lots of online reviews for IFComp games. Leigh Alexander posted about Creatures Such as We in The Guardian. Emily Short posted a full review and highlighted it in her “top tier” (best of the competition) roundup, calling it “Well-paced and richly written.”

If you enjoy Creatures Such as We, you might also want to try another of Lynnea Glasser’s games, Coloratura, which won last year’s IFComp and won “Best Game” in the 2013 XYZZY awards. Coloratura was originally parser-based interactive fiction, where you type your actions instead of clicking on them, but Lynnea later rewrote Coloratura in Twine, which may be easier to try for those of you who are unused to parser-based games.

CoG fans would probably also enjoy a few other choice-based IF games from this year’s IFComp, including:

• AlethiCorp by Simon Christiansen, an alternate-reality web site from the future
• With Those We Love Alive by Porpentine, a game that asks you to draw on your own body with a pen or sharpie while you play
• Krypteia by Kateri, a game about lycanthropy, but also about queerness and social identity
• Missive by Joey Fu, in which a series of mysterious letters tell the story of an old love triangle that ended in murder

(IFComp is open to the general public to vote for the best games, and it was very tempting to post about it here, but, in coordination with the competition organizers, we decided not to post about IFComp on our blog or forums until the competition was over, remembering what happened when Choice of Games fans flooded the XYZZY ballot box in 2012. Now that the competition is finished, we’re more than happy to publish Creatures Such as We under our “Choice of Games” label.)