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We’re proud to announce that Teahouse of the Gods, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 29% off until Nov 30th!

Harness the energy of life itself to empower your body, control your environment, even delve deep into the mysteries of the mind! Will you use your newfound powers to maintain the balance of the universe, or will corruption stain your soul?

Teahouse of the Gods is a 250,000-word interactive novel by Naca Rat. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

After one night at “The Teahouse” on Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan, China, you wake with the ability to perceive and manipulate spiritual energy, known as qi. Now, you can see gods and monsters that ordinary people can’t, and you can unlock extraordinary powers.

On the path of the body, you can run faster, jump higher, and punch harder. On the path of the mind, you can create glamours and illusions that change people’s perceptions of reality. And on the path of the environment, you can reach out to the world around you, from blades of grass, to the smallest teacup, to Mount Qingcheng itself.

Under the guidance of gods and animal spirits, you can perceive a sickness slowly poisoning the mountain and its inhabitants. When an ancient enemy returns to the mountain with vengeance in mind, will you be ready to join the fight? The mysteries of Mount Qingcheng are beckoning you.

• Play as male, female, or nonbinary; gay, straight, bi, asexual, or poly.
• Explore a mountain village in China that’s as timeless as myth, yet as modern as a trending hashtag on TikTok.
• Discover the secrets of your past life. Do they still have the power to shape your destiny?
• Rekindle an ancient romance, explore the possibilities with a long-lost friend, or charm a local mogul/memelord.
• Specialize in the body, mind, or environment path as you learn to control spiritual energy, or develop your skills in all three.
• Befriend a Romanian expat, a musical prodigy, a panda spirit, and a busy mother.
• Help a local resort owner plan a summer festival. (You’re here to learn the hospitality industry, remember?)
• Eat. Eat vegetarian, kosher, halal, or try everything: gourmet delicacies, spicy local fare, street food, and dishes from around the world …and beyond.

Thousands of years later, you’re home at last.

We hope you enjoy playing Teahouse of the Gods. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

Harness the energy of life itself to empower your body, control your environment, even delve deep into the mysteries of the mind! Will you use your newfound powers to maintain the balance of the universe, or will corruption stain your soul? Teahouse of the Gods is a 250,000-word interactive novel by Naca Rat. I sat down with the author to talk about their upcoming game and its unique features.

Teahouse of the Gods releases on Wednesday, November 23rd. You can play the first four chapters for free, today.

What drew you to interactive fiction?

People have spent millennia telling stories. As a storyteller, I must ask myself—is nothing new under the sun? What can I do that hasn’t been done?

Technology presents opportunities to tell stories that no one has been able to tell before. I intend to tell it well, so I write interactive fiction to better understand the new possibilities of our times.

Tell us a little about your background in games and this game.

I make games to try and tell stories. My previous games—and other storytelling efforts—have been interested in feminism, generational trauma, and mortality. And pandas.

This project was an exercise in world-building. I imagine a reader exploring different choices as if walking different trails in a forest. Each path reveals a little more of the story’s world. Alongside the wonder of discovering a new world, I hope each new path modifies readers’ perspective on the truth, right and wrong, and how the world works—both in this story, and all around us.

There’s so much to like about this game, but one thing that really sets it apart is your inclusion of Mandarin for players who are familiar or fluent in Mandarin. How did that come about?

As a writer, multilingualism resolves the frustration of “oh, there is an elegant Mandarin expression for this, but my current project is in English 🙁

More importantly, beyond convenience and novelty, multilingualism is a part of representation. Language (or Google Translate) opens possibilities for how we interact with the world. As a multilingual reader, there is another world inside my mind with which a single-language story does not engage. I wanted to read a story that speaks to my full experience of the world, so I wrote it.

What was your favorite part of the story to write?

Xingtu’s dialogue is revealing despite their evasiveness. The way they use Mandarin hints at their geographical origin, gender identity, and communities of online discourse, for example. The revealing-opaque duality is fun to write.

Xingtu’s also fun. It’s exhilarating to make problems go away (or make problems for others) by throwing money. That’s what makes Xingtu powerful—that they not only have disproportionate influence over the world, but can also make such power feel appealing.

What are you working on next?

I’m finishing a traditional novel about two kids from Kentucky who fall into another world. If my and my team’s availability permits, I’d also like to wrap development on our clicker/farm-sim/interactive-fiction-game, Sugarcane Empire.

Belle-de-Nuit: Point-du-Jour, the latest in our “Heart’s Choice” line of multiple-choice interactive romance novels, is now available for iOS and Android in the “Heart’s Choice” app. You can also download it on Steam, or enjoy it on our website.

Return to the Belle-de-Nuit in this sequel to the 2021 swashbuckling hit! New content now available as an in-app purchase!

Both Belle-de-Nuit and Point-du-Jour are both 25% off until November 24th!

Belle-de-Nuit: Point-du-Jour is a 125,000-word interactive romance novel by Rebecca Zahabi, author of “Never Date Werewolves,” and “Belle de Nuit.” It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

In Point-du-Jour, new challenges and new loves are at hand, and both new and old friends need your help. Amaryllis’s kindly old friend Armand has died and left her his estate, but his nephew Mauplaisant, is challenging the will. A duelist himself, he is ready to see you dead or worse, defeated. He may prove a stout foe to both you and Amaryllis. Keeping things even more complicated, your brother comes to town and promptly falls for your frenemy Sebastian’s sister! And what will your brother think of the glittering Parisian nightlife? What will happen to Armand’s estate? And can you best Mauplaisant before he ruins your next date?

And what of the lovely Yasmina? A new employee at the Belle, well…you may have caught her eye as well. Will you help her adjust to her new life in Paris, or will the bustle and hustle prove too much for her?

Either way, you’re still the top duelist at the Belle-de-Nuit!

We hope you enjoy playing Belle-de-Nuit: Point-du-Jour. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

We’re proud to announce that Skystrike: Wings of Justice, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 25% off until November 17th!

Take to the skies! With the swift wings and keen senses of a falcon, can you save your city from the RatKing’s army of minions?

Skystrike: Wings of Justice is a 350,000 word interactive novel by E. Chris Ambrose. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

As the hero Skystrike, you use your falcon powers to keep your city safe while maintaining your secret identity and evading government forces desperate to harness your powers for war.

Now, there’s a new threat in town: a charismatic villain known as the RatKing, who has been recruiting a massive army of merciless minions. He must be more than an ordinary crime boss – why else would the animals in town be acting so strangely? And why else would the Bureau of Unlikely Occurrences be on the case?

You’ll need to fly fast and think faster – or just hit harder – if you’re going to have a chance of defeating this villain! Dance at glamorous galas, thwart attacks on the city’s infrastructure, infiltrate top-secret labs, and try to keep your secret identity secret.

You’ll even come face to face with the RatKing himself! When you do, you just might learn the secret truth behind his rise to power–or, you might succumb to his charisma and become a minion yourself…

All you know for sure is, if you can’t convince the government to help, you must escape them in time to stop the RatKing from carrying out his secret plan. Or will Skystrike be grounded forever?

• Play as male, female, or non-binary; gay, straight, bi, or asexual/aromantic.
• Choose your origin story and secret lair: a super-science lab, an ancestral manor, a cliffside hideout, or a museum full of ancient artifacts!
• Romance your shy gentle neighbor, a bold adventurous cop, a stylish insightful blogger, or your bright efficient co-worker.
• Fight off the RatKing’s ever-growing army and thwart their nefarious plans!
• Soar high with the powers of a bird of prey: sharp senses, nimble wings, and powerful muscles. Or, rely on human charm and ingenuity to win over your enemies.
• Fly under the media’s radar, or make headlines with your bold exploits!
• Evade the agents of the Bureau of Unlikely Occurrences, or work with them to bring down the RatKing for good!

We hope you enjoy playing Skystrike: Wings of Justice. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

Take to the skies! With the swift wings and keen senses of a falcon, can you save your city from the RatKing’s army of minions? As the hero Skystrike, you use your falcon powers to keep your city safe while maintaining your secret identity and evading government forces desperate to harness your powers for war. Skystrike: Wings of Justice is a 350,000 word interactive novel by E. Chris Ambrose. I sat down with the author to discuss the game and the challenges of writing hero stories. Skystrike: Wings of Justice releases this Thursday, November 10th. 

I think this your first time writing interactive fiction, but you’re a pretty prolific novelist! Tell me about your other published work.

As E. C. Ambrose, I’m the author of a number of historical fantasy novels, like the Dark Apostle series about medieval surgery, beginning with ELISHA BARBER, and my 2022 release, DRAKEMASTER, an epic quest across medieval China to stop a clockwork doomsday device. I also write the Bone Guard archaeological thrillers (“if Indiana Jones had served in Special Forces”), starting with THE MONGOL’S COFFIN.

I’m notorious for not being very kind to my heroes. At one point during the final testing process my CoG editor noted that the game had too many deaths (an issue since averted, I promise!) and that was the most on-brand criticism I’ve ever received. Which is also why SKYSTRIKE has an acheivement for an interesting death…

And since much of that is in the genre of fantasy, what led you to write a powered-hero type game? 

My brand is knowledge-inspired adventure fiction—so the adventure’s always been a big part of writing for me. I’m a fan of superheroes in general, and also a student of what makes someone in real life step up in a heroic way. This game gave me the chance to play with hero tropes while flying off in pursuit of justice!

I actually did a bunch of research while developing the concept, including reading up on gamer psychology, going to the comic store for some recent titles, and, of course, watching a lot of super hero movies.

What was the most surprising thing about writing a ChoiceScript game?

The emphasis on romance, even in a game that’s not fundamentally romantic. I enjoy building character relationships, but I hadn’t expected romance to be an added draw for this kind of game. I had to make sure you can get the jump on crime, and woo your love interest as well—Skystrike is one busy character!

Did you have a favorite NPC you enjoyed writing most?

Developing the antagonist was super fun, especially because I conceived of him as the inverse of one of my novel series protagonists. I also have a soft-spot for Officer Chau, your high school buddy who’s now serving on the local police force. Chau is a joker who’s not afraid to get emotional, so I enjoyed coming up with quips and moments for Chau and Skystrike, trying to capture that old-friends feel.

What are you working on next?

I’m drafting the fifth in my Bone Guard series, but my next published work will be a science fiction novel aimed at young adults or the young at heart—A WRECK OF DRAGONS could be described as “Pacific Rim” meets “How to Train Your Dragon.” Dragons, giant robots, teen protagonists—it’s a blast! And it comes out in February, 2023.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

You’re a clever but nearly friendless owl on the verge of losing everything you’ve struggled so hard to earn. With ruthless vulture creditors on your tail, you must track down a missing client whose case can save your career. But when your investigation takes a horrific turn, can you avoid becoming a deranged bird’s next victim? It’s 40% off until November 10th!

Talon City: Death from Above is a 135,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Eric Moser. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

The Wards of Talon City, nine in all, sprawl as far as a bird can see. Thousands of trees house thousands of citizens, from the lowliest hummingbirds to the most magnificent eagles. Towering cottonwoods, oaks and spruces teem with life. And death.

Trapped in the middle of the city’s hierarchy, you face challenges at every turn. The eagles don’t respect you. The prey birds don’t trust you. You’re deep in debt, and now your most valuable client is nowhere to be found. Can even the cleverest owl prevail in such a desperate situation?

• Play as male, female, or non-binary.
• Approach challenges by relying on your Wings, Beak, Ears, Talons, or Heart.
• Face death on three different occasions!
• Is your relationship with your best friend platonic or is romance on the horizon?
• Will you befriend your assistant or treat her only as a lacky?
• Are you sincere or disingenuous? Disheveled or tidy? Build your character through the decisions you make.
• Will you be a merciful owl, or will you be driven by vengeance?
• Do you prefer a more relaxing playing experience? Play on “Easy” Mode.
• Do you prefer a stressful challenge? “Preposterous” Mode might be for you.
• 20 Achievements to pursue!

Can you survive the perils of Talon City?

Eric developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

Play as Cinderella or her prince in a new twist on an old tale. You can usurp the throne, tear down the monarchy with a bloody revolution, and do just about anything you want to change this fairytale world you only think you know. It’s 33% off until November 10th!

Explore a fantasy world filled with intrigue, danger, humor and magic while you navigate your royal role by continuing where the original story ended. Will you choose to take on the role of Cinderella, the classic character whose journey from peasant to princess is as fast as it is unexpected? Or perhaps you will experience life as her prince, a man born into power and privilege trying to find his way both in love and life outside of his father’s shadow? This is the first of many choices that could lead you to find love, win control of a country, or even alter reality itself!

The Day After Ever After is a 207,000 word interactive medieval fantasy novel by Matt Simpson, author of The Parenting Simulator, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

• Choose between Cinderella and the prince as your main character: each has a set of three romantic interests unique to their playthrough.
• Customize the name for your character and their spouse through a list of preset options, or create your own!
• Lead armies, navigate the complex relationships of a royal court, and seize every opportunity you can to make your mark in this fantastical world!
• Finally give that snooty stepmother her comeuppance by framing her for treason!
• Uncover numerous endings that range from comedic to shocking: will you end up in a noose for mocking the king once too often, resist temptation and find a new life as a demonhunter, or defy natural law and rule for centuries? These and dozens more possibilities await you.
• Unlock fifty achievements to commemorate everything from warping reality to eating an endangered species!
• Live in the aftermath of a world where wishes come true!

Matt developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.

We’re proud to announce that A Crown of Sorcery and Steel, the latest in our popular “Choice of Games” line of multiple-choice interactive-fiction games, is now available for Steam, Android, and on iOS in the “Choice of Games” app.

It’s 33% off until November 2nd!

Will you overthrow the queen and her clockwork iron army, or join her as a spy? The relics you recover from the elven dungeon will change the course of history!

A Crown of Sorcery and Steel is a 450,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Josh Labelle. It’s entirely text-based, without graphics or sound effects, and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

For centuries, the kingdom of Kanda has been at war with Queen Nidana and her infernal clockwork machines. Each day, further reaches of the kingdom fall under her boot, overwhelmed by her enchanted army of iron constructs.

You’re an adventurer, caught in the middle of a war that began before you were born. Perhaps you’re an elf from the Sanctuaries to the west, which the queen’s machines long ago burned to the ground. Maybe you come from Ridgebank, one of the last human strongholds. Wherever you’re from, now you make your living helping people, plundering dungeons, or following the coin wherever it leads you.

It’s not long before you’re invited to join the resistance, recovering ancient elven artifacts from the sunken elven library. These artifacts could turn the tide of war, defeating the dark empress, or crushing the resistance. But will you lead the resistance to glory, or ally with the queen and snuff it out?

• Play as male, female, nonbinary; gay, straight, bi, asexual, or poly. Or choose among the genders of the elven, dwarven, and orc cultures.
• Explore the realm as a human, elf, dwarf, or orc, with four distinct backgrounds that change your adventure.
• Wield a sword, master magic, or disarm traps as you travel Kanda, a fantasy kingdom struggling against a brutal occupation.
• Battle side by side with a party of fighters, spellslingers, and rogues.
• Broker peace between the human cities and the dwarven mining colonies, or side with the dwarves and take control of the mountains.
• Delve lost ruins to uncover ancient elven artifacts, and restore the elves to their former glory… or sell the artifacts off to the highest bidders.
• Navigate palace intrigue in the orc empire, and decide who should take the throne.
• Turn against the resistance and become the queen’s best-loved spy to experience another side of the story.
• Romance a human resistance leader, an elven Scribe, a dwarven bard, an exiled orc prince, a halfling thief… or the dark queen herself.

Will you unite the realm and end the queen’s reign of terror, or rule by her side?

We hope you enjoy playing A Crown of Sorcery and Steel. We encourage you to tell your friends about it, and recommend the game on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and other sites. Don’t forget: our initial download rate determines our ranking on the App Store. The more times you download in the first week, the better our games will rank.

Will you overthrow the queen and her clockwork iron army, or join her as a spy? The relics you recover from the elven dungeon will change the course of history! A Crown of Sorcery and Steel is a 450,000-word interactive fantasy novel by Josh Labelle. I sat down with Josh to talk about his experiences writing the game. A Crown of Sorcery and Steel releases this Thursday, October 27th. You can play the first three chapters today, for free.

This is a really interesting fantasy setting. Tell me about this world and how you dreamed it up.

The goal with A Crown of Sorcery and Steel was to give players the feeling of being part of an epic tabletop campaign. In keeping with that, I wanted to include common and recognizable fantasy characters and tropes, but try to go a little deeper or complicate things wherever I could.

I started out by drawing a map and creating a timeline to figure out where each culture of Kanda would live and what conflicts would naturally spring from that. I picked themes and motifs for each culture — from the seafaring humans to the mosaics of the orcs — to help figure out who they were, deep down. I was also very conscious of the pitfalls of fantasy worlds like this — from racial essentialism to making monoliths out of the various cultures of the land — so I tried to make it so that each culture in Kanda has its own internal divisions too.

So, for example, not every dwarf in Kanda agrees with the Artificers’ Guild. There are orcs who are fiercely loyal to the royal family and some who feel neglected by them and would love to see them fall. There are elves who hold on to the old ways and elves who would rather move on from them. And as for humans… well, they’re hopefully at least as complicated as real humans.

It was great fun to draw out all of those struggles and imagine how they might have played out over a couple of thousand years. It also made it easier for me to create and sympathize with the queen. Though she goes about it the wrong way, she’s ultimately someone who wants to put a stop to all that fighting, and there is a nobility to that… if you can get past the fact that she’s trying to do it with a colossal army of metal monstrosities.

This is your first title with Choice of Games, but not your first foray into interactive fiction or game design, right?

I’ve been creating interactive fiction for about five years now. In 2020, my Twine game Tavern Crawler tied for first place in IFComp, the annual interactive fiction competition. Tavern Crawler shares many themes and is loosely set in the same world as A Crown of Sorcery and Steel, but it has much lower stakes and a slightly more comedic tone.

I also work professionally as a narrative designer, though the games I work on at my day jobs (Disney Dreamlight Valley, Kim Kardashian Hollywood, Originals: Interactive Stories) have regrettably had far fewer dragons than my interactive fiction work.

What did you find most interesting about the process of writing a ChoiceScript game and the mechanics of one of our games?

The most interesting challenge was the sheer volume of choices required for a game like this. Keeping them from becoming repetitive was always a balance.

In terms of just sheer fun, after spending so much time working in the games industry where scope and art budget are always considerations, it was great to work on a game where the only limit was the ability to describe something in words. It was amazing to be able to write “An army of a thousand humans, orcs, and elven spellcasters clashes with an army of a thousand metal men” and not have to worry about someone having to create rigs, vfx, and animations for all that.

Did you have a favorite NPC in Crown of Sorcery and Steel?

All of the characters had their charms and their challenges. Vid’s sassiness and ego were fun to write, but keeping him dimensional and relatable could be a challenge. Anattho is a fundamentally good man who’s being pushed past his limits and making bad decisions, but keeping him from becoming either boring on one side or unlikeable on the other was a constant balance.

But the character that I came to appreciate writing the most was Khattya, the elven scribe. Khattya’s struggles with her religious beliefs and her values, what to keep and what to abandon, ended up feeling very relevant. Even as the writer, I would sometimes struggle with what choices to pick for Khattya when I was testing the game.

One thing that I’ve really loved is hearing completely opposite opinions about each character from different beta readers. I hope that means that they’re complex and engaging enough to draw out different opinions, and that different playthroughs might lead to different perspectives on each of them.

What else would you like our readers to know about this game?

This is a game where the choices you make early on will really shape your experience. A human player may have a very different perspective on the War of the Wilds than an elf player will. Siding with the queen will be quite a different experience from being dedicated to her destruction from the beginning.

At the same time, players should know that in Kanda, where you come from does not decide your destiny. Your stats are not bound by whether you’re an elf, dwarf, human, or orc. I’m excited to see heroes set out from a dwarven enclave and become a hero among the orcs, for example.

I also wanted to thank everyone who helped with beta testing and providing copyedits for this book. Everyone who reached out with feedback made this book at least a little bit better, and I appreciated it so much.

What are you working on next?

Right now, I’m focused on my busy day job working on a game in early access, but I do have a side project in the early stages where you play as a tabloid reporter in a world of superheroes. I’m hoping to dedicate more time to that soon.

Hosted Games has a new game for you to play!

After finding yourself trapped in another dimension, you and your friends must fight for survival and defeat the monsters that lurk in the shadows. Make sure to grab a weapon as your quiet Halloween night turns into an adventure out of this world! It’s 33% off until October 12th!

The Midnight Saga: The Monster is a thrilling 355,000 word interactive fantasy horror novel by C.C. Hill, where your choices control the story. The game is text-based, with artwork to show key moments of the story, fantastical creatures, and a variety of monsters that you will meet along your journey.

Halloween, trick-or-treat, spooky décor, and all the candy you can eat. That’s the plan for the night before you head home to babysit your niece and nephew, but things don’t always turn out as planned. Whisked away from your own timeline, you need to fight monsters before you can return home. While you’re at it, collect weapons or craft additional ones, eat your favorite candy, and learn the real story behind a spooky children’s tale. Uncover the meaning of your birthmark, and above all else, discover your destiny.

• Play as Cis, Trans, or Non-binary; gay, straight, bi, ace, aromantic, or poly.
• Fully customized your character. (You can even name specific body parts for optional steamy scenes)
• Enjoy family time and bonding with your niece and nephew: you get to pick how they address you throughout the entire game.
• Make friends, fall in love, or just watch them fall flat on their faces as they run for their lives.
• Fight terrifying monsters, go on patrols, explore a new dimension, collect items, and encounter fantastical creatures.
• Wreck monsters! Or leave them for dead.
• Unlock a secret scene by not dying in a single playthrough.
• Pick out one of the three endings that change in major ways depending on the actions you take and the relationships you build.

The shadows have red eyes and sharp fangs! And you? Will your weapon last?

C.C. developed this game using ChoiceScript, a simple programming language for writing multiple-choice interactive novels like these. Writing games with ChoiceScript is easy and fun, even for authors with no programming experience. Write your own game and Hosted Games will publish it for you, giving you a share of the revenue your game produces.