Interactive Fiction

Interactive Fiction

A modern directory of harder to find Interactive Fiction and Text Adventure websites — curated across authoring tools, archives, competitions, communities, hosting platforms, and narrative game resources.

Interactive fiction online reaches far beyond a few well-known parser games and authoring systems. Some of the most valuable resources in the field live in long-running archives, community forums, review indexes, annual competitions, narrative toolkits, and publishing hubs that preserve both the history and the evolving future of text-based storytelling.

This directory is designed to make that landscape easier to navigate. Instead of flattening interactive fiction into one broad category, it organizes resources by how authors, players, critics, and learners actually use them: authoring tools for creation, archives and databases for discovery, competitions and festivals for current work, communities for support and discussion, and hosting platforms for publishing and play.

How to Use This Directory

discovery paths • text adventures • interactive narrative craft

If you want to create your own interactive stories, begin with the authoring tools section. If your interest is in discovering games, reading reviews, or tracing the history of the form, the archives and databases section is the strongest place to start. Visitors looking for current releases and seasonal discovery pathways should move into competitions and festivals, while newcomers who want help, discussion, and beginner guidance will usually get the most value from the communities and learning-resources section.

This structure matters because interactive fiction is not only a game category. It is also a writing practice, a design tradition, a literary form, a community culture, and a preservation challenge.

What Makes These Listings Worth Exploring

editorial curation • reader value • category depth

Interactive-fiction resources are not all for the same audience. Some help authors build games, some help players discover them, and others preserve competitions, archives, and the field’s history. Organizing those destinations clearly makes the category more useful to both newcomers and longtime participants.

The goal is not simply to send visitors outward. It is to help them understand why a destination is useful, how it fits the category, and what kind of value it is likely to provide before they click through.

Directory Listings

curated websites • external links • reference hubs
A Beginner's Guide to Interactive Fiction
brasslantern.org
listing
A practical starter guide for newcomers who want a clear introduction to interactive fiction, parser games, and the basics of text-adventure play.
brasslantern.org
ADRIFT
adrift.co
listing
A Windows-based interactive fiction system designed to make complex IF creation easier through menus and forms rather than heavy coding.
adrift.co
ADRIFT — Games
adrift.co
listing
A built-in game library for ADRIFT, useful for discovering playable works created with the system and exploring what the platform supports.
adrift.co
Arcweave
arcweave.com
listing
A collaborative platform for designing and publishing branching narratives, interactive experiences, and story logic.
arcweave.com
Brass Lantern
brasslantern.org
listing
A long-running beginner-friendly IF resource offering guides, reviews, history, and practical advice for players and new interactive-fiction creators.
brasslantern.org
ChoiceScript
choiceofgames.com
listing
A simple programming language for writing interactive novels and multiple-choice narrative games, with publication pathways attached.
choiceofgames.com
ChoiceScript — Publishing Your Game
choiceofgames.com
listing
A practical publishing guide for ChoiceScript authors, useful for understanding Hosted Games, self-publishing options, and release pathways for completed projects.
choiceofgames.com
IF Archive
ifarchive.org
listing
The central preservation archive for interactive fiction, including games, development tools, essays, manuals, and historical material.
ifarchive.org
IF Reviews Organization
ifreviews.org
listing
A community review site dedicated to interactive fiction games, with archived criticism and long-form reader response.
ifreviews.org
IFComp
ifcomp.org
listing
The flagship annual celebration of new text-driven interactive fiction from independent creators.
ifcomp.org
IFDB
ifdb.org
listing
The main game catalog and recommendation engine for interactive fiction, including reviews, lists, competitions, and play/download links.
ifdb.org
IFDB — Competitions
ifdb.org
listing
A useful IFDB gateway for browsing interactive-fiction competitions, awards, and event histories as discovery paths into the wider IF scene.
ifdb.org
IFWiki
ifwiki.org
listing
A wiki reference for authoring systems, theory, competitions, reviews, newcomer resources, and IF history.
ifwiki.org
IFWiki — Reviews
ifwiki.org/Reviews
listing
A useful page indexing review resources, publications, archived criticism, and commentary around interactive fiction.
ifwiki.org/Reviews
Inform 7
ganelson.github.io/inform-website
listing
A major natural-language system for creating parser-based interactive fiction, valued for literary flexibility, documentation, and long-term importance in the field.
ganelson.github.io/inform-website
ink
inklestudios.com/ink
listing
A widely used narrative scripting language for branching stories, dialogue systems, and interactive fiction built for modern game and web storytelling.
inklestudios.com/ink
inklewriter
inklestudios.com/inklewriter
listing
A free browser-based tool designed to let anyone write and publish interactive stories without heavy technical overhead.
inklestudios.com/inklewriter
Interactive Fiction Community Forum
intfiction.org
listing
The main public discussion space for interactive fiction, including authoring help, releases, reviews, competitions, and theory.
intfiction.org
Interactive Fiction Showcase
itch.io
listing
A year-long showcase jam highlighting the breadth, variety, and ongoing creativity of contemporary interactive fiction across forms and styles.
itch.io
Quest
textadventures.co.uk/quest
listing
A free text-adventure and gamebook builder designed to be approachable for new creators while still supporting substantial interactive projects.
textadventures.co.uk/quest
Ren'Py
renpy.org
listing
A free visual novel engine for telling interactive stories with words, images, sound, and player choice.
renpy.org
Spring Thing
springthing.net
listing
An annual online festival celebrating new interactive fiction of many different forms and styles.
springthing.net
TADS
tads.org
listing
A mature interactive-fiction development system with strong parser support, extensive documentation, and long-standing value for serious IF authors.
tads.org
TADS — IF Community Links
tads.org
listing
A useful gateway page connecting TADS users to community resources, reviews, guides, and wider interactive-fiction discussion.
tads.org
Text Adventures
textadventures.co.uk
listing
An active browser-based platform where creators can build, host, share, and play text adventures and interactive fiction online.
textadventures.co.uk
Twine
twinery.org
listing
An open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories in the browser, widely used for hypertext fiction and experimental narrative work.
twinery.org
XYZZY Awards
xyzzyawards.org
listing
The long-running annual awards site recognizing excellence in interactive fiction and helping readers discover standout works across many categories.
xyzzyawards.org
Yarn Spinner
yarnspinner.dev
listing
A friendly narrative toolset for planning, writing, integrating, and testing interactive dialogue and story flows.
yarnspinner.dev
Zarf's Interactive Fiction
eblong.com
listing
Andrew Plotkin’s long-standing interactive-fiction resource page, useful for tools, archives, commentary, and deeper orientation within the IF community.
eblong.com

Explore More Genre Directories

adjacent discovery • related genres

Interactive fiction overlaps with alternate-reality storytelling, science fiction, fantasy, horror, cyberpunk, and many experimental narrative forms. Explore more genre directories below for adjacent resources.