#inkle

Bogwaters Demo out now on itch.io!

A hand to hold until the end. A hand to hold because we're friends.

June 2021. The experimental Minecraft series Triple Life SMP has just aired its finale and you're obsessed with the dynamic between the Minecraft YouTubers Benbog and Mars OfTheBigWaters.

Problem? The fandom still hates shipping. Solution? Start an underground Discord server to quarantine your shipping activities. To avoid being cancelled, you'd have to scour your social media to find potential members who are secretly open to shipping.

ABOUT

Bogwaters is a free, text-based, interactive fiction browser game. The game is a parody of the Third Life SMP fandom in mid 2021 that is focused on Treebark (the romantic ship between Rendog/Martyn InTheLittleWood) and its fandom relevance.

This is a demo version (prototype) meant to test the limits and feasibility of this game.

You play as the owner of a Discord server named Bogwaters. Your goal is to invite 4 people within 7 days, from June 1 to June 7.

Full "how to play" guide can be found within the game.

This is the author's first interactive fiction game so it may be wonky. Constructive feedback is appreciated!

Word count: ~10k

Estimated play time: 30 to 45 minutes

I saw emily short's review of this game and the thing she said that struck me the most was that, like many games, they signpost Big Choices you can make that will change the story. and meanwhile there's a million small choices you're making all the time that get little to no signposting. but where other games might make the game branch at those big choices and the little choices matter very little, I haven't seen that much effect from my big choices in heaven's vault but the little choices change the flavor and dialogue and character relationships SO MUCH. and they're happening allll the time! if you only play it once you have no idea how custom your experience was. sure, if you're thorough enough you'll see all the same sights and get the same ending choices etc. but. an Aliya who stubbornly loves Elboreth and rankles against Myari and visits ancient sites in order XYZ will live a different experience from one who is grateful to Iox and trusts Myari and visits the sites in order ZYX

the fact that you're basically guaranteed to miss things accidentally and the autosaves are constant is a real pain in the ass sometimes, but if you're already planning on playing again it just means the next Aliya who you make sure doesn't miss that will get more information and feel even more different. and you're inherently rewarded for playing again because! of the persistent dictionary! and increased inscription complexity! so if you don't mind repeat performances, coming back in several hours as a new Aliya to see that thing you missed might actually feel worth it

Sometimes I really want to read a short summary of what to expect from a game with a very particular description that CATER to my OWN SPECIFIC interests, so here we go.

(click here for other videogames)

what to expect from EXPELLED!

This is part of the "Overboard!" games (now just two!: Overboard! and Expelled!) in the sense that they are narrative games about a mystery to solve, and where clues can be accumulated through multiple playthroughs

You play as Verity, a 16 years old girl at an all girls school in the 1920s. The game starts with the headmistress expelling you for throwing another student out of a window

As Overboard! the tone is more humorous than serious but there are plenty of serious themes

Verity will then narrate to her father what really happened

Like Overboard! the game as a limited time for Verity to play/replay the events: the accident happens at around 7am, and you have till 4pm to show the headmistress and the whole school that you are innocent

You can click on different locations in the school, and do differnt things (talk with characters, steal things, pickpocket, put clues into other's pockets etc.) and you can decide to frame someone, trick, lie, tell the truth, be the best girl ever or the worst girl ever, find secret etc.

The game also has an "evil" counter, the more mean, trickster-like and bossy you are the more your counter rises (and there will be certain consequences)

I won't go into details into the story, as there are a lot of surprises, just know that the game is not over once you fail once, as you restart with all your previous knowledge stored into your diary

I played more or less 6 hours and managed to solve the main mystery, but not yet some secondary ones

Some queer subtext, up to you if some love confession is romantic love or not, I decided to interpret it as such

Hello, everyone, and happy (slightly belated) start of July! With a new July comes a new season of the Interactive Fiction Competition!

From now through August 1st 2025, 11:59pm Eastern (23:59 ET), the IF Comp website will be open for authors to declare their intent to enter this year’s competition!

Final entries are due on August 28th 2025, 11:59pm Eastern, but you must register by August 1st!

If you miss it, there’s always 2026… If you register and then can’t complete your game in time, you may always back out of the competition and enter the game elsewhere or next year.

As with the previous iterations of the IFComp, authors will be allowed to participate as judges, vote, and review entries other than their own.

If you have any questions about the competition or its rules, you can contact us at [email protected]

In addition to entries, we are also accepting prizes to award contestants! If you would like to donate a prize for this year’s competition, you can email us at [email protected] — no prize is too humble or too grand.

If you would prefer to donate money, our Colossal Fundraiser will launch by August. Another announcement will be made then.

from Heaven's Vault (inkle, 2019). One is randomly shown at the start of each playthrough.