Adapting interactive fiction for mature audiences
Date
2026
Authors
Wesson, Sterling
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Publisher
University of Victoria
Abstract
Interactive fiction has been around since the early 20th century, gaining slow but steady popularity in the 70s and 80s with TTRPG inspired fantasy stories and text based point and click games. However, in recent years the genre (specifically fully text based storytelling) has rapidly diminished in popularity due to the rise of other forms of interactive media such as video games and AI generated chat bots. Attempts to create branching pathway stories for a mature audience have largely been met with mixed reviews. Books such as Pretty Little Mistakes by Heather McElhatton or If by Nicholas Bourbaki have received praise for trying to revitalize the genre for modern day audiences, but the genre has failed to see a proper resurgence. I assert that one of the main reasons for this lack of reception from the literary audience is because these books are written with the reader's interaction in mind rather than the story itself. Experimental books which play with form and narrative such as House of Leaves are clearly able to garner a wide enough audience to be successful, so why hasn't the branching pathway style of narrative followed suit?
Learning from what has worked and what hasn't worked across both historical and contemporary interactive fiction such as Consider the Consequences!, The Adventures of You series and Black Mirror: Bandersnatch I have created an interactive short story using the digital storytelling program Twine. This story aims to create a story aimed at adults while keeping the characters, setting, storyline and plot elements realistic and grounded.
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Keywords
Interactive media, CYOA, branching pathway, gamebook, D&D, Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA)