Want to write a gamebook? Then here's a reading list (2024 edition)

 Hello all! I first published the reading list back in 2017, but then realised that some people have written articles since then, so I will repost this reading list with updates every year. Here is the 2024 version.

Whassup! Here is the fruits of my labours on a little project I was working on. I wanted to collect a definitive  list of gamebook analysis that anyone who wants to write a gamebook has to read. So far, I have come up with the following blog posts and links to give you a good grounding in the art and science of gamebook writing. Enjoy!

EDIT: The links weren't working because I had pasted hyperlinks in from a Word document (!?) but I have re-inserted the links so they should all work now.

2024 update

This year, I have added a video series from Michael J. Ward, writer of the epic Destiny Quest series about writing gamebooks. I have put them at the top of the list.

Michael J. Ward

How to Write a Gamebook - YouTube

Grey Wiz

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/03/the-problem-with-gamebooks-trilogy-part.html

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/03/the-problem-with-gamebooks-trilogy-part_15.html

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/04/the-problem-with-gamebooks-trilogy-part.html

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/04/the-problem-with-gambooks-trilogy-part-4.html

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/06/the-problem-with-gamebooks-trilogy-part.html

http://blog.mysteriouspath.com/2013/07/fixing-gamebooks-6-dont-break-story.html

Andrew Drage 

http://www.thebrewin.com/blog/entry/the-brewin-guide-to-writing-better-gamebooks

Ashton Saylor 

http://www.ashtonsaylor.com/2012/08/game-design-principles.html

Ashton MacSaylor: What makes a good gamebook - Part 1: Story (ashtonsaylor.com)

Ashton MacSaylor: What makes a good gamebook - Part Two: The Game of Narrative Choices (ashtonsaylor.com)

Sam Kabo Ashwell

https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/a-bestiary-of-player-agency/

https://heterogenoustasks.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/standard-patterns-in-choice-based-games/

Jake Care 

http://jakecaregamebooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/classifying-and-rating-linearity.html

Paul Gresty

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/gamebook-design-finding-workarounds-for.html

Dave Morris

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/gamebooks-value-of-doing-it-with.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/hot-and-cold-about-interactive.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/how-do-we-make-gamebooks-pleasure-to.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/do-gamebooks-need-text.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/do-gamebooks-need-dice.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/gamebooks-where-youre-not-hero.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/does-interactive-fiction-need-randomness.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/how-many-endings-does-gamebook-need.html

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/does-interactivity- have-downside.html

Fabled Lands: Gamebooks: the value of doing it with dialogue

Richard S. Hetley

http://fabledlands.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/guest-post-richard-s-hetley-on-way-of.html

Jon Green

http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/how-to- write-adventure- gamebook-part-1.html

http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/how-to-write-adventure-gamebook-part-2.html

http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/how-to-write-adventure-gamebook-part-3.html

http://jonathangreenauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/how-to-write-adventure-gamebook-part-4.html

Heather Albano from Choice of Games 

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2010/04/sailors-are-not-dragons/

Adam Strong-Morse from Choice of Games

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2010/05/dont-start-at-the-beginning/

Dan Fubilich from Choice of Games

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2011/03/five-tactics-for-designing-games-while-depressed/

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2011/07/by-the-numbers-how-to-write-a-long-interactive-novel-that-doesnt-suck/

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2011/07/7-rules- for-designing- great-stats/

https://www.choiceofgames.com/2011/12/4-common-mistakes-in-interactive-novels/

Emily Short

https://emshort.blog/2016/04/12/beyond-branching-quality-based-and-salience-based-narrative-structures/

Peter Agapov 

Just about anything on his blog. It's all so in depth.

Lloyd of Gamebooks: Peter Agapov

Victoria Hancox

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy - Tip #1 (victoriahancox.com)

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy - Tip #2 (victoriahancox.com)

Marketing Your Gamebook: Insider Tips (victoriahancox.com)

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy - Tip #3 (victoriahancox.com)

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy Tip #4 (victoriahancox.com)

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy - Tip #5 (victoriahancox.com)

What's that they say about old dogs and new tricks? (victoriahancox.com)

Behind the Scenes on the NIGHTSHIFT (victoriahancox.com)

Choosing the right route? Interactive fiction vs gamebooks The Wandering - a (kind of) review. (victoriahancox.com)

Paulson’s Peak — A Masterclass in Gamebook Writing! (victoriahancox.com)

Choose Your Own Writing Strategy Tip #6: Putting It All Together AKA Where Do I Even Start? (victoriahancox.com)

Adam C. Mitchell

All About Newsletters (victoriahancox.com)

 Random Encounters (wraithwright.com)

Random Encounters: Exposition Tools in Solo Adventures (wraithwright.com)

Random Encounters: Locational Mapping and Timed Events (wraithwright.com)

Random Encounters: Reputations in the Solitaires Method (wraithwright.com)

Random Encounters: Loss of Continuity in Solo Gamebooks (wraithwright.com)

Curse of the Snake Queen Kickstarter

 

Dear all,

Christopher Bünte, who entered this year's Windhammer contest with his excellent entry, 

Curse of the Snake Queen, will be doing a Kickstarter for Curse of the Snake Queen on the 29th August.

Here is the Kickstarter page: The Curse of the Snake Queen – A Solo Fantasy Gamebook by Christopher Bünte — Kickstarter

You can play the entry here

Keep your eyes peeled!

Lessons from Lindenbaum 2023/2024

Hello all! I hope you are well! I am planning on doing another Lindenbaum competition this year. IT will be announced in November. 

If you would like to enter it, then I thought that I would write down some lesson's learnt from this year's excellent batch of entries. 

The lessons below are present as they were recurring themes from the judges' and players' feedback. They are something to take on board for next year's competition.

Frustration trumps everything

There were lots of cool ideas in the Lindenbaum competition. However, the trouble is that anyone has several ideas that sound cool in their heads, but, when they get out to their readers, they find that the idea wasn't as good in their head. This leads to frustration, which will cover up any good points that the idea ever had.

I am guilty of this. My most memorable example comes from my Tin Man Games entry, Asuria Awakens. 

I decided to have an encounter where the way to move on is to run from a monster. If you defeat a monster, then another turns up. If you kill that one, a third one turns up. If you kill the third one, it cycles back to the first one. This was a homage to Creature of Havoc where you can get trapped in an infinite loop where you have to fight chaos warriors one after another. However, the people who played the game did not appreciate the homage. They just got frustrated by the infinite loop.

Make your rules as simple as possible

Linking in with the theme of having a brain full of ideas, this can also extend to rules. I know that there are lots of cool rules that do cool things. 

However, remember that the gamebook is only 100 sections, maximum and it is important to ask yourself if the rule(s) will add to the playing experience. Also, rules have a cost for the player in terms of time or cognitive load from managing something or dealing with the complexity. If the rule is cool, but has very little impact for the work, it won't be seen as good.

So, even if a rule or mechanic might be amazing, you need to ask yourself whether it is necessary.

I did this with my book Rulers of the NOW. Part of the reason it took about 12 years to complete was because I wanted it to be my magnum opus and have everything I've ever thought of in it. I wanted it to have the same system as SCRAWL along with an epic story that spans the entire solar system. Part of the reason why I never managed to finish it was because it was too much. The story did not need a large system, so I stripped the game system down to simply what it needed. That made it much easier to write and also kept the focus on the themes I wanted to explore.

In a choice between working on the system and the story, work on the story

It seems that people get more impact from the gamebook experience from the story, rather than the system. So, if you feel that your gamebook is lacking something, add to the plot or create some interesting characters or some choices that are difficult from a story point of view.

For example, from this year, Operation Dead Dawn (spoiler alert) has a decision near the end where you have to choose between sacrificing one of your team to fulfil the mission or saving your team member to jepardise the mission.

I didn't intend to do an example from my writing for each lesson, but it looks like it's happening. My 2008 Windhammer competition entry used a Fighting Fantasy system and had a simple story. It did not win. In 2009, I tried to make the system as balanced and as tight as possible. The system worked, but it still didn't win. In 2010, I decided to focus on story and made an anarchic pirate themed book with a diceless, minimalist system. It won.

Proofreading matters

Some people are very good at spotting proofing errors and some people are also very bothered by proofing errors, even if they don't change the overall meaning of the text.

And then some proofing errors do change the meaning of the text, which can ruin the whole experience.

Whoops

My 2008 Windhammer entry had the player roll 1d6+9 for SKILL when I wanted it to be 1d3+9. That made the whole game too easy.

People notice what is wrong more than what is right

This is a lesson that everyone who works in news knows. If it bleeds, it leads and, working in a similar area, if there is something clearly wrong with the gamebook, it will have a bigger impact than all the right stuff you did. It reminds me of this video from The Day Today.

So make sure you playtest and proofread your entry so that there's nothing wrong with it.

Conclusion

Most of the above lessons are more about not doing things than doing things. They are about avoiding certain things.

If you make a gamebook with no proofing errors, an easy to understand system and a good story, it will probably be in the top 50% of entrants.

Lindenbaum Results 2023/2024

I am pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023/2024 Lindenbaum Prize for short gamebook fiction is Andrew Wright with Are you the Hero?

Merit awards go to Heart of Keros by David Donachie, A Slope of Pines by Per Jorner  and What Lies Beyond the Standing Stone by Jeremy Johnson.

I would like to thank everybody who participated, the authors and those dedicated readers who took the time to evaluate all the entries, and also a further thanks to those readers who provided feedback and comment to the authors.

If you intend to write feedback in a public place, please email me the address and I will link to it.

You can find the entries here: Lloyd of Gamebooks: Voting is closed for the indenbaum competition

It is no small thing to as entrants to write original gamebooks. To write a gamebook (even one that must be limited to 100 sections) requires considerable time and creative effort. It is the type of writing project that can take months to accomplish and I appreciate greatly the work done by all the authors who entered this year's competition.

Many thanks for helping make this year's competition such an excellent competition with a wide variety of gamebook genres and styles. This was the second year I ran the competition and you continued to help me make it as brilliant as it was.

I would also like to extend thanks to Peter Agapov who sponsored the competition, Tammy Badowski who donated her time and talent to the competition and Crumbly Head Games who has donated free subscriptions to GBAT for the top 3 entrants.

I would also like to thank the judges - Peter Agapov, Andrew Greene, Keith P. Phillips, Ashton Saylor, Paul Gresty and Hieronymous J. Doom for all of the time and effort they have put in to read the entries and write feedback for them.

I feel very lucky to have so many people make this competition wonderful.

Looking forward to next year!

Voting is closed for the indenbaum competition

 Hello all! 

Happy May! The beginning of this new month means that voting is now closed for the Lindenbaum competition.

The voting and feedback will be collated and the winners will be announced on May 10th.

Feedback can still be sent to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. 

Here is a link to each individual entry, in a random order:

Knighthood by Elie Merle                        The Lost Treasures of Cap'n Blouchard by Sean Loftis 

A Slope of Pines by Per Jorner                  Operation Dead Dawn by Tom Perrett                                

Heart of Keros by David Donachie            The Curse of the Snake Queen by Christopher Bunte        

Are you the Hero by Andrew Wright         What Lies Beyond the Standing Stone by Jeremy Johnson                                

Malevolence in Makivel by Tiago Filipe Costa

Voting is still ongoing for the Lindenbaum competition

                                                            

Hello everyone!

Here is a reminder that voting is still going on for the Lindenbaum competition. Voting closes on the 30th April at 5pm BST (GMT? Whatever time it is in the UK).

Votes need to be sent to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. Each voter must submit 3 books. If they submit less than 3, their votes won't count. If they submit more than 3, the first 3 will count.

Here is a link to each individual entry, in a random order:

Knighthood by Elie Merle                        The Lost Treasures of Cap'n Blouchard by Sean Loftis 

A Slope of Pines by Per Jorner                  Operation Dead Dawn by Tom Perrett                                

Heart of Keros by David Donachie            The Curse of the Snake Queen by Christopher Bunte        

Are you the Hero by Andrew Wright         What Lies Beyond the Standing Stone by Jeremy Johnson                                

Malevolence in Makivel by Tiago Filipe Costa

You can find the 9 entries in the below link, both individually and in a zip file. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ld0T8FR5gROMwmTeq3FzY3URp-Rdzy8C?usp=drive_link 

Happy gamebooking!

Voting is open for the 2023/2024 Lindenbaum competition

Hello everyone!

Edit - there is an entry I missed, so there are 9 entries this year!

Voting has now opened for the Lindenbaum competition. 

Here is a link to each individual entry, in a random order:

Operation Dead Dawn by Tom Perrett                                Heart of Keros by David Donachie

The Curse of the Snake Queen by Christopher Bunte        Knighthood by Elie Merle

Are you the Hero by Andrew Wright                                  A Slope of Pines by Per Jorner

What Lies Beyond the Standing Stone by Jeremy Johnson    

The Lost Treasures of Cap'n Blouchard by Sean Loftis 

Malevolence in Makivel by Tiago Filipe Costa

You can find the 9 entries in the below link, both individually and in a zip file. 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ld0T8FR5gROMwmTeq3FzY3URp-Rdzy8C?usp=drive_link 

Votes need to be sent to lindenbaumprize@gmail.com. Each voter must submit 3 books. If they submit less than 3, their votes won't count. If they submit more than 3, the first 3 will count.

Voting will close at 5pm GMT on the 30th April 2024.

Happy gamebooking!