Remembrance. Requiem. Rebirth. Repeat.
A (mostly) linear 500-word collection of microstories created for the 2024 Neo-Twiny Jam.

Reminisce

Ryan Veeder

Nils Fagerburg

Zach Hodgens

Joey Jones

Jason Love

Mark Marino

Carl Muckenhoupt

Caleb Wilson

Sarah Willson

The Third Quadrennial Ryan Veeder Exposition for Good Interactive Fiction is proud to present MOONDROP ISLE, a textual adventure location made in collaboration by nine interactive fiction authors.

Moondrop Isle

You Can Only Turn Left is a playful exploration of the hypnagogic state between sleeping and wakefulness. Within this liminal space, memories morph into dreams and dreams feather into reality. You, the player have to navigate these hallucinations by choosing how the character creates their sleeping patterns. Inspired by game books and guided sleep meditations, this story invites you to imagine both the mundane and the fantastic to practice the mental flexibility of an avid dreamer.

You Can Only Turn Left

A short game taking place soon after The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls.

The Little Match Girl against the Universal Sisterhood of Naughty Little Girls

DOMINO CLUB

Cecile Richard

A tale of primeval forces, unknown, uncaring, and unearthed.

The Devil's Imago

The little match girl goes on a spooky adventure with her friend (a crow).

The Little Match Girl and Her Friend, the Crow

In The Little Match Girl 4 by Hans Christian Andersen, a prince has been born, and the titular little match girl must assemble the subtitular Crown of Pearls.

The Little Match Girl 4: Crown of Pearls

The little match girl plays a magical flute.

How the Little Match Girl Met the Queen of Vampires

E. Joyce

Lady Thalia is back in London and back to her old tricks, putting up with Britain’s social elite by day so she can steal from them by night. But that doesn’t mean things are easy, what with her husband back from abroad and a new detective hot on her trail. Still, she’s not going to let those little things distract her from pulling off the heist of her career, even if she needs a bit of help to do it…

Explore London, match wits with friends and foes, and steal everything that’s not nailed down (and some things that are) in this gripping installment of the Lady Thalia series!

Lady Thalia and the Masterpiece of Moldavia

You and your sister get stuck inside of a VRMMO where if you die in-game, you die in real life.

Your goal is to get to the 100th floor and get out of the game alive.

So far the game has character customization, a party system with npcs, combat, a unique inventory system that requires the use of a wardrobe, a housing system, a cooking system, being able to take jobs and a stat points system.

The Hundredth Floor

The little match girl acquires a Colt Paterson revolver and teaches a virtue to a goblin.

How the Little Match Girl Got Her Colt Paterson Revolver, and Taught a Virtue to a Goblin

"The Snow Queen controls her servants with Shards from the Mirror of Belial," Ebenezer Scrooge explained.

The Little Match Girl 3: The Escalus Manifold

The little match girl is hired to assassinate a disgusting old man.

The Little Match Girl 2: Annus Evertens

Born to a city of wonders beyond your reach, scarcity has always been a close friend. As a courier, the city’s human infrastructure, you scale its roofworks, evade its constables, risk death every day for others’ convenience — until opportunity crosses your path, and you’re allowed to discover what you believe beyond survival.

Given a scrap of power, how do you reinvent yourself, your relationship to the city, its people? Will it allow you to maintain a companionship based on mutual struggle?

And, beneath it all, from where do the canals in this desert flow?

Prism

Amanda Walker

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall,” you say dreamily, gazing into its sparkling surface…

“You know,” replies the mirror, “I can do a lot more than just reflect fair faces. O, how I long to leap off this wall! I want to meet princesses, witches, and wolves … to win a throne and become a hero! What say you?”

Well, what say you, adventurer?

Fairest

Everyone who’s anyone summers in France - which means master thief Lady Thalia is there too, attending garden parties by day and stealing masterpieces by night. Unfortunately, this holiday is less than restful, as she crosses paths with foes both old and new. Case your targets, steal works of art, and team up with your Scotland Yard nemesis in this puzzle-based Twine game.

Lady Thalia and the Rose of Rocroi

TextSpaced is a text-based sci-fi MMORPG played in your browser, where as a captain you attempt to survive and prosper in an infinite and hostile universe. TextSpaced blends the style of more traditional text adventures with modern principles to create a game where everyone coexists in the same expansive universe which is steeped in lore and intrigue. The entire universe is organic where everything is connected to everything else, every decision you make has a cascade of repercussions for you and your faction. The sandbox nature of the game leaves you, the player, the freedom to decide at any point what to do next.

TextSpaced

Trailer

In The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, a little girl is forced to sell matches on the street in the cold of New Year's Eve.

The Little Match Girl, by Hans Christian Andersen

B.J. Best

You haven't been over since she told you a month ago that she was moving to some small town in Wisconsin. But Riley is here, and the computer is here, and that's what matters for now. "Have you played the game yet?"

"You told me to wait to play it with you about a billion times," she says.

A work of interactive fiction by B.J. Best.

And Then You Come to a House Not Unlike the Previous One

Six bees. Five bags of groceries. A four-pound dumbbell. Three sailboats. One twin.

Sting is a puzzleless parser memoir about ordinary days and unexpected interruptions.

Sting

“You? Win the Libonotus Cup?” Sammy scoffs. “I'd be impressed if your ship even makes it to the starting line tomorrow morning, let alone Portobello.”

“Aye,” you say, “me ship may have taken a beating in that last raid, but I'll bet ye 500 doubloons I can still beat you to the finish line!”

You'd better get to it, the race starts at dawn and your ship isn't exactly seaworthy at the moment.

The Libonotus Cup

Eldritch Renaissance Cake

Explore a virtual gallery of submechanophobia in a retro computing environment.

Submerged Gallery

"Magic comes with a price. But on your birthday, all your expenses are paid. Welcome to Grooverland."

Grooverland is a large parser game that takes over two hours to complete. It is based on the works of author and programmer Chandler Groover, although it does not require previous knowledge of his games to play.

Grooverland

Ever wondered what an infinitely generated world would look like? Always feel limited by the imagination of the developers? KoboldAI is the open-source alternative to AI Dungeon and NovelAI, focussing on you as the player and the AI as the Dungeon Master. With new AI models constantly being released by the community, you are always guaranteed to have a new and unique experience in the field of text-based dungeon delving.

KoboldAI

In a world of arcane mysteries, a young doctor's apprentice unravels a conspiracy most grim.

The Weight of a Soul is a mystery-horror interactive novel inspired by IF classics like Blue Lacuna and Anchorhead.

The Weight of a Soul

Navigate fraught social situations by day and pull off heists by night as Lady Thalia, the not-actually-aristocratic thief bent on making a mockery of British high society.

Lady Thalia and the Seraskier Sapphires

The fourth one in a series of anthologies of unbelievable terror, edited by Ryan Veeder.

Even Some More Tales from Castle Balderstone

frodewin

You are stranded on an unknown island and you find a mobile phone where strangers, who are more or less attentive, give you advice via instant chat.

Survival Messenger Adventure

An account of the disastrous sidewalk chalk tournament of August 27, 2011.

A Rope of Chalk

ub4q

Four cardboard boxes stacked in the centre of a bare office. You can't leave til they're all unpacked, and there's an awful lot to unpack here, including emotional baggage, academic misconduct, and a blood feud spanning centuries.

Academic Pursuits (As Opposed to Regular Pursuits)

Nick Montfort

Victorious at last, you now need to get yourself and your fleet back home. Decide as if it all depends on you, trust as if it all depends on the gods, and you will have an amazing quest...

Amazing Quest

Mark Sample

We are haunted by the houses of our childhood. How unfamiliar they are, when we return. Yet you never forget, do you? You never really forget. 
 
A Southern Gothic horror story. Remember, of all the masks we wear, it's the final one that matters.

Babyface

Arno von Borries

At some point, going back would have been inevitable anyway. And why should I not have been allowed a bit of rest? After all, no one could say I hadn't tried to run. But when you're running, you need to stop eventually, or else you risk running into people.

For a Place by the Putrid Sea

Ilmur Eggert

Isaac Newton receives a mysterious letter inviting him to investigate a new scientific phenomenon.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Lance Campbell

The only thing worse than being a village idiot is being an unemployed village idiot. Maybe it’s time to change careers. Maybe it’s time to be a knight.

Stuff of Legend

Linus Åkesson

Housework is only as dull as your imagination. Join Emma, six years old, on a playful adventure of peculiar proportions.

The Impossible Bottle

A millionaire guards a fabulous ruby in her private train car. Countless thieves have failed to steal it. But they weren't the Magpie!

The Magpie Takes the Train

The memoir of a demonic spy in the Cold War between Heaven and Hell.

Vain Empires

The first Taleframe game based on the 90s children's horror soap opera.

Crocodracula: The Beginning

You have 20 seconds to determine your fate.

Your Phone Dies in 20 Seconds

Gameplay Video

It's been over a year since you were last home, and now it's time to finally clear out those last few things, and the memories they bring back.

Moving On

The black gate at the east end of the schoolyard is closed, locked. The After School Program does not relinquish its warriors willingly.

Here is where the mud is thinnest on the ground, and in some places the painted lines of the kickball diamond are visible.

A text adventure by Ryan Veeder.

Mud Warriors

alienmelon

Mackerelmedia Fish is an ARG-like text adventure about digital archeology and friendship in unlikely places.

Mackerelmedia Fish

Carlburton Llc

Fieldwork

A gothic mystery game in which you rely on your environment to uncover the truth. Contains religious content, multiple endings, optional audio, and lots of Latin.

Domvs

Mike Spivey

With a loud "click," the door closes behind you. Finally! You are locked inside an antebellum Southern mansion, alone, wearing only a chicken costume. You've fantasized about this moment for years.

Sugarlawn is a timed treasure hunt game where the goal is to collect as much cash as possible via the valuables you pick up.

Sugarlawn

Relax at the Jewel Pond Recreation Area with Ryan Veeder as your guide.

Ryan Veeder's Authentic Fly Fishing

Jakrit

Hoping to score a discount on provisions, a traveler haggles with a merchant named Dasra.

Dasra's Cabinet

Jenni Polodna

Cragne Manor is an 'exquisite corpse' text adventure commemorating the twentieth anniversary of Michael Gentry's Anchorhead, in which each of its 84 rooms was created by a different author.

Cragne Manor

Spider Lily Studios

Offered up as sacrifice to the wolf-gods of the forest, hunted by beasts and man alike, Ella must find a way to survive. An interactive fiction/survival horror game by Els White.

To the Wolves

J. J. Guest

Alias 'The Magpie' is a parser interactive fiction game, or text adventure. There are no graphics! You play as Sir Rodney Playfair, alias the 'Magpie', typing commands to decide what he does next!

Alias 'The Magpie'

Junior Arithmancer

Ed Mead

The Warden Game is a text-adventure style game that helps players understand the contradictions of prison life in an age of mass incarceration. Designed by Ed Mead around 1987, while he was incarcerated at the Washington State Reformatory at Monroe, the game explores power in prison and how individuals exercise it.

The Warden Game

Bravemule

Two sisters, a truck driver and a housewife, fend off a Kaiju apocalypse in the Great Smoky Mountains with their mech Mama Possum.

Mama Possum

Krunchy Fried Games

Witches and Bandits and Swords (Oh My) is a mouse-only, adventure choosing graphic novel game in which you must explore dangerous forests, save your friends from a pirate conspiracy, and avoid a particularly odd barbarian who wants to do unpleasant things to your squishy innards.

Witches and Bandits and Swords (Oh My)

The plants that grow out of your bedroom walls are associated with Earth. The fairy lights strung across your kitchen are associated with Fire. Change an object's element, and the object will turn into something else.

As a research witch, elemental transformation is second nature to you. And that's just as well, because your house is malfunctioning, and you'll need to use everything you know to put it right.

Domestic Elementalism

Chandler Groover

In this castle, you'll eat or be eaten. May contain dairy, carnage, puzzles, nuts.

Eat Me

Buster Hudson

You were recently acquired by the brave Ser Leonhart and his squire to sniff out the evil shapeshifting wizard. Unfortunately, you are not a wizard sniffer (if such a thing even exists). As far as you can tell, you are an ordinary pig.

The Wizard Sniffer

Aether Interactive

Arc Symphony places you as an invader in the Usenet newsgroups of yesterday. Discover the ancient JRPG, Arc Symphony, in this meditation on fan culture and identity in the reflection of the monitor.

Arc Symphony

An accurate recounting of recent kitten-related events.

Don't Eat the Cactus

Kilian Valkhof

A short Zork inspired piece of interactive fiction played with a chatbot through Facebook Messenger.

A Messenger Adventure

Katherine Morayati

You are battle-weary. Your armor is scanty and your countenance is loathsome; you tire of the swords flicking at your neck. But you have a duty. There is nothing you can't take.

A game written by Katherine Morayati (as Amelia Pinnolla) for the 2016 Interactive Fiction Competition.

Take

Abigail Corfman

You're a vampire hunter on your night off.

You're getting a manicure, seeing a movie, and eating fast food.

But there's a vampire in this McDonalds.

If you don't do something, then in one hour it will eat the cashier.

16 Ways to Kill a Vampire at McDonalds

A text adventure game written by Phantom Williams for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

500 Apocalypses

Astrid Dalmady

A game written by Astrid Dalmady for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Cactus Blue Motel

A game written by Robin Johnson for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Detectiveland

Hanon Ondricek

As the most famous self-published Science Fiction author residing in Hillview, you are eminently qualified to judge their annual Elementary School Science Fair.

Fair

Arthur DiBianca

Your friend Mike thinks no one can infiltrate THE FACILITY, but you're going to prove him wrong. A game written by Arthur DiBianca for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Inside the Facility

Your mirror never lies. A game written by Chandler Groover for the 2016 Interactive Fiction Competition.

Mirror and Queen

A game written by Arno von Borries for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Rite of Passage

Strange Scaffold

SCREW YOU, BEAR DAD! is a game about puns, rampant drug use, learning to enjoy life despite uncertainty, and elderly women in attack helicopters.

Also - bears.

A game written by Xalavier Nelson Jr. for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

Screw You, Bear Dad

A game written by Chandler Groover for the Annual Interactive Fiction Competition.

The Queen's Menagerie

Devolver Digital

Jake Hollands

SPACEPLAN is an experimental piece of interaction based partly on a total misunderstanding of Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. Use manual clicks and the passage of time to create and launch potato-based devices and probes from your nondescript satellite orbiting a mysterious planet. Unlock the mysteries of the galaxy or just kill some time in what the astrophysics community is calling the ‘best narrative sci-fi clicker game of all times’.

Spaceplan

Launch Trailer

Someone's been bopping the field mice on the head, and only Good Fairy, Senior Detective can find out who. A parser-driven noir adventure based on the interactive fiction of Ryan Veeder.

Foo Foo

A piece of interactive fiction written by Chandler Groover, where you play the magician Morgan the Magnificent.

Three-Card Trick

C.E.J. Pacian

Ply the spaceways. Make five million credits. Buy back your twin. A space sim in the form of interactive fiction, written by C.E.J. Pacian.

Superluminal Vagrant Twin

A text adventure adaptation of Dracula, faithfully reimagining several characters and ignoring most of the original plot. Guide Jonathan Harker on a trip through Transylvania, interacting with vampires, mad scientists, zombies, annoying magpies, and moustachioed werewolves.

Uses a mobile-friendly clickable text interface.

Text Adventure Browser Games