Introducing the inklewriter

Posted on by Jon

inklewriter screenshot

One of the best things about working with interactive stories is they’re new: the ground is mostly untested, the formulas are still in their infancy, and people are having new ideas about what works all the time.

One of the hardest things about working with interactive stories is also that they’re new: it’s not always clear to see what to try next. It’s not even clear to see how to get started.

The ability to experiment is key, and we need to get more people trying things out and exploring the possibilities of interactive stories. And while we’re not a self-publishing platform - we want every inklebook we produce to be something really special! – we also know that great talent isn’t easy to find, especially when our best authors might not even know about interactive stories… yet!

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It’s all about good tools…

Posted on by Jon

Pen and inkAt inkle, we have a catchphrase. Actually, we have quite a lot of catchphrases, but the one I wanted to talk about now is “it’s all about good tools”. Because, you know, it is.

This is something we learnt the hard way in the mainstream console industry. Making something flexible and non-linear, like a game, or an interactive story, is hard. Making sure it doesn’t break, even in obscure ways, is really hard. Making it in a way that, once you’ve made it, you’ve any idea at all how it worked a month later is almost impossible.

But most importantly, making it in a way that frees you to think creatively is crucial.

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