The demo version for the sequel is here! Samurai of Hyuga Book 2 is the blood-pumping sequel to the interactive tale you already know. Return to the land of silk and steel, where fantasy and reality clash and tough choices await you at every turn. Good thing you’re still the toughest ronin around. This demo contains the first four chapters of the story. They are part of the second book in an epic series,...

Effortless attention. Complete immersion while pursuing a task. Working at your highest level without even knowing it. Sounds like a superpower, but it’s just psychology. Flow is a state of mind any musician, writer, athlete or programmer can enter. There are a hundred names for it: being in ‘the zone’, ‘wired in’, or just plain ‘absorbed’. You know you’ve been there when you look at the clock and hours have flown by. As I...

Creating a climatic and final resolution to which all readers will be satisfied is an impossible task. But–as luck would have it–the series-writer needn’t truly worry of that until his or her last book. Even so, the reader must be gratified and thrilled for something that teases them for the next one. A cliffhanger is one way, and is how the first book in the Samurai of Hyuga series ended. What does a good,...

Samurai of Hyuga Book 2 There will be a sequel to Samurai of Hyuga! I am pleased to say that it is a much-anticipated one, from all the great replies and reviews SoH has gotten. Thank you for all the kind words, they mean a lot to me! It is great to see so many people get wrapped up into the world of Hyuga, the characters and the drama. I was unsure how interactive-fiction...

We would huddle together, sharing stories around food and drink while tossing bones around. We weren’t cavemen, but what went on every half-hour during our middleschool lunch was decidedly archaic. Instead of gameboys or LAN parties, my group of geeky friends and I would bring out the tomes and character sheets. I knew every stat adjustment for every race in the player’s handbook, what levels fighters would get their bonus feats, and what ‘ambidextrous’...

Have you ever solved a puzzle, a riddle or problem and felt clever for doing so? Imagine that sensation at the end of a suspense-filled narrative, an epic series of mental exercises more enjoyable and page-turning than any logic puzzle. Murders are inherently dramatic—but shroud it in mystery and revenge and misplaced rage and you have something else entirely! Way before interactive fiction was a thing, authors were engaging readers and forcing them to...

The second and final part of the method centers on scripting and testing. By the time I get to this stage the story and branches are written. But the writing—and particularly the editing—will continue a while longer as I finally see the game come to life. It’s always a good feeling to see the result of months of hard work! Scripting Choicescript is a high-level programming language which feels in many ways like a...