Twine, an open-source tool for creating interactive, non-linear stories
Description: Twine is a free, open-source story-telling tool. It is designed for creating interactive, non-linear stories, and text-based games, often referred to as "Choose Your Own Adventure" narratives, where users can choose between several options for the story to go forward. It employs a simple visual editor where users create interconnected "passages" (story chunks) that link together via double brackets [[like this]]. While the fundamental use requires no coding, the tool is powerful enough to be made more complex. Stories can be played directly in a web browser and published as a single HTML file for easy sharing or offline use. Twine is free to use in a browser version or as a downloadable app.
Evaluation: Twine is useful for promoting creative writing. Its core strengths are that it is free and open-source, together with its visually intuitive interface that allows users to easily visualize the complex branching structure of their narratives. A drawback is that it requires some time to understand how it works and to get familiarized with it. However, there are several good tutorials
online.
Cost: Free.
Respect for privacy
Privacy evaluations indicate how a tool handles personal data collection, storage, and sharing, including GDPR compliance and security measures, among others. The ICT-REV team provides them for informational purposes, reflecting our best understanding at the time of review, but assumes no legal responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of these evaluations and encourages users to conduct their own assessments: Very high. Twine does not require users to sign up or have an account, so it does not collect personal information or track user activity. It does not include tracking like Google Analytics or the usage of cookies or tracking technologies. When users create stories using the browser version, their data (the stories and passages) is stored locally in the browser’s storage, not on Twinery's servers; the user is therefore responsible for saving and protecting their published HTML files. Although Twine does not provide a formal privacy policy, its guiding principles are in line with the GDPR. See more here.
Type Of Interaction:
Individual work,
Presenting (e.g. lecturing, storytelling),
Skills:
Writing,
Content:
You supply,
Usability and tech notes ▼
Time efficiency
Time needed to learn how to use a tool and its time-saving potential: Medium; it takes some time to get familiarized with Twine.
Interface language(s)
The number of languages in which the tool is currently available/adaptable to: English.
Saving work for future use
Can work be saved for future use?: Yes. Work is saved locally in the browser's storage when using the online version, or can be published to a single HTML file and re-imported later.
Any other relevant information:
- Installation required?: Not for the browser version; yes for the app.
- Compatibility/ Operating System: Any operating system; Linux, macOS, Windows.