Interactive Fiction

This is a diagnostic tool for writers stuck in the classic interactive fiction traps: meaningless choices that all funnel to the same outcome, exponential branching that becomes impossible to write, or that awful moment when players realize their agency was an illusion. It walks you through seven failure states with concrete tests like whether choices are about values versus just navigation, and gives you actual branching techniques like foldback structures and delayed consequences. The core insight is solid: the tension between player freedom and narrative coherence is a false dilemma, you just need to design the possibility space intentionally. Most useful when you're three months into a project and the branch count is making you want to quit.