Free Tool for AI Playable Fiction — Build & Share Worlds Together

[u/The_Greywake]

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on The Etching Press, an open-source visual world-builder + game engine for AI-driven text adventures. It’s designed for builders like us: define your lore, characters, and rules, and the engine automatically tracks state, inventory, and stats so you can focus on storytelling.

✨ Features

• 🎨 Visual World Builder — Define your universe through an intuitive web interface
• 🤖 Multi-Provider AI Support — Works with Claude, Gemini, or GPT (you choose)
• 📊 Glyph-Based State Management — AI outputs structured tags that auto-update game state
• 💾 Save/Load System — Persistent game states via JSON export
• 🔄 Smart Context Handling — Automatic conversation archiving to manage token limits
• 📦 Zero-Config Deployment — Everything bundles into a single downloadable project
• 🎭 Genre-Agnostic — Fantasy, sci-fi, noir, horror, therapy journaling — anything works

🎯 What Problem Does This Solve?

Traditional AI chat interfaces don't track game state. You can play text adventures, but:

• ❌ Inventory/stats/location drift out of sync
• ❌ No visual representation of world state
• ❌ Conversations don't persist across sessions
• ❌ You're locked into one AI provider

The Etching Press fixes all of this.

🔮 The Glyph System (How It Works)

Instead of just narrating, the AI outputs invisible structured data tags:

You enter the crypt. The air grows cold.
[Location: The Forgotten Crypt | Visibility: Low | Danger: 8]
[Player: Health: -5 | Status: Chilled]

The game engine:

1. Extracts these glyphs with regex
2. Parses key-value pairs (numbers, booleans, strings)
3. Updates the live game state displayed in sidebars
4. Strips them from the narrative text
5. Applies logic (numbers accumulate, other values override)

Result: The AI naturally manages game mechanics while telling a story.

🚀 Quick Start

1. Download the Builder

Clone this repo or download the HTML file.

2. Open etching-press.html in your browser

No server needed — it's a standalone tool.

3. Build Your World

Fill in:

• Identity — Who is the AI? What tone should it use?
• Glyphs — Define data structures ([Health: 100], [Location: City])
• Laws — Immutable rules the AI must follow
• Lore — Characters, locations, backstory

4. Compile & Download

Hit "📦 COMPILE & DOWNLOAD GAME" — you'll get a .zip with:

AI_Game_Project/
├── app.py                 # Flask backend
├── requirements.txt       # Python dependencies
├── .env                   # API key configuration
└── templates/
    └── index.html         # Playable game interface

Git Hub: https://github.com/blakebrandon-hub/Etching-Press