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Mar 13

2015

The Hero of Kendrickstone: Rescue a city held hostage by an evil wizard!

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (1)

The Hero of Kendrickstone

We’re proud to announce that The Hero of Kendrickstone, 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 during launch week.

Can a wanna-be hero like you rescue the city of Kendrickstone, held hostage by an evil wizard and his troop of black-clad soldiers? Face down fierce foes with spell, sword, or silver tongue. Outwit cunning rivals, cement your fledgling reputation, and maybe, just maybe, make enough money to pay your rent!

“The Hero of Kendrickstone” is an epic 240,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Paul Wang, 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.

Step into the shoes of a fledgling adventurer in a world full of magic and mystery! Master physical combat, magic, stealth, or diplomacy. Choose to befriend–or betray–sorcerers and knights, bandits and baronesses.

Will you spend the last of your silver on a bed for the night, or potions for your next adventure? Will you spend your evenings studying ancient secrets, or prize-fighting for extra coin? Will you seek a mentor to help hone your skills, or strike out on your own? Will you prove to be a paragon of compassion, or a callous mercenary? Will you die forgotten and un-mourned, or will you become the Hero of Kendrickstone?

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 extraordinary performance of Choice of Robots, which landed on Steam’s front page in January, Valve has allowed us to ship a handful of additional games. 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 a third 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 The Hero of Kendrickstone. 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.

Mar 13

2015

New Hosted Game! “The Volunteer Firefighter”

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (2)

There’s a new game in our Hosted Games program ready for you to play!

The Volunteer Firefighter

An action-packed firefighting game, filled with humor, heartache, adventure, and romance! Fight fires! Save lives! Do you have what it takes to be a hero?

The Volunteer Firefighter is an epic 130,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Stefanie Handshaw, 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.

  • Walk in boots of a volunteer firefighter!
  • Immerse yourself in more than 120,000 words of dramatic adventure, humor, romance, and heartache.
  • Be a member of either the Truck Company or Engine Company.
  • Experience realistic firefighting scenarios.
  • Make life-and-death decisions to determine the course of the game.
  • Fight fires, rescue victims, and save the day!
  • Play as male, female, or choose not to conform to binary gender roles.
  • Opt for a gay or straight romance.
  • Maybe adopt a cat!

Stefanie 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 we’ll publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

Feb 20

2015

Two New Hosted Games: “The Lost Heir” and “Seven Bullets”

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (3)

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

The Lost Heir: The Fall of Daria

The Lost Heir: The Fall of Daria — Take back the throne that was rightfully yours!

When demon-summoning usurpers assassinate the king and queen, the right of rulership falls to you, their only child. Develop your own unique prince or princess, discovering a world of fantasy, magic, mystery, and adventure.

The Lost Heir: The Fall of Daria is an epic 145,000-word interactive fantasy novel—the first of a trilogy—by Mike Walter, author of Life of a Mobster, Life of a Wizard, and Paradox Factor, where your choices control the story. The game is entirely text-based–without graphics or sound effects–and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Develop your own unique prince or princess, for good or evil! Become a noble knight, a greedy thief, an evil priest, a nature-loving druid, a charming bard, a deadly assassin, a wise monk, a well-traveled ranger, a martial cleric, a kind priest, a brutal thug, a steadfast guard, a powerful wizard or any combination you choose.

Your highness, the kingdom of Daria awaits you!

  • Play as male or female, gay or straight.
  • Pursue love interests, make friends, or be a loner.
  • Uncover the mysteries of demon summoning.
  • Uncover and collect legendary magical items and treasure.

Seven Bullets

Seven Bullets for iOS — Action-packed assassin adventure!

In Seven Bullets, by Cloud Buchholz, you’re a skilled assassin ready to retire, but before you can call it quits, the Boss kidnaps your little sister, and now you need to use your arsenal of deadly skills to get her back.

Will you make the choices that bring her home safely? Or will you get caught in a web of intrigue, assassins, and deadly combat? Only you can decide how this story ends…Do you have what it takes to survive?

  • 260k words
  • 470+ unique choices
  • 80+ endings
  • 35 Achievements

You can read Seven Bullets for free on Cloud’s website. If you enjoy the story, please support the author and purchase a copy on iOS or Android, or as an eBook on Amazon, iBooks, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, or itch.io.

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.

Feb 04

2015

“Eerie Estate Agent” is now “For Rent: Haunted House” and it’s free on iOS

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (0)

For Rent: Haunted House

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.

Jan 30

2015

SLAMMED! on Steam, with new endings!

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (3)

SLAMMED!

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!

Jan 30

2015

New Hosted Game! Lords of Aswick

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (2)

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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.

Jan 19

2015

Writing Interactive Fiction in Six Steps

Posted by: Staff | Comments (2)

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

The Last Monster Master
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.

Dec 31

2014

Two New Hosted Games: “Somme Trench” and “Silent Gear”

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (5)

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?

Somme Trench

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

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.

Dec 22

2014

The Last Monster Master: Will your monsters save the world, or destroy it?

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (1)

The Last Monster Master

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.

Dec 22

2014

“Psy High” is now available on Steam

Posted by: Dan Fabulich | Comments (1)

Psy High

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!

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