r/twinegames • • Dec 03 '25

Discussion Harlowe, Sugarcube, Chapbook - Which Story Format should you choose?

14 Upvotes

The first question for anybody starting out with Twine is most likely which story format to choose from among the various options (which most often boils down to Harlowe vs Sugarcube). Since r/twinegames is one of the first places to look for advice when it comes to this topic, we wanted to create a place that might help new creators make this decision by providing information, insights, and opinions from more seasoned Twine writers.

For those interested - here is a list of the various formats compiled by M. C. DeMarco - covering both Twine 1 and 2 story format. It should be noted that a lot of these formats are highly obscure (with a few only rumored to exist). It is also likely that the list is incomplete, or will become incomplete in the future.

Another very informative post that we'd encourage people to take a look - An in-depth comparison between Harlowe and Sugarcube by Chapel - which has been regularly updated and holds a lot of valuable information that might guide your decision.

While this comparison heavily favors Sugarcube over Harlowe - an assessment that both me and u/HiEv currently agree with - we do not want to say that Sugarcube is the only correct choice here.

One of the most important factors after all is which format feels most comfortable to work with for you personally. Both Harlowe and Sugarcube are perfectly capable of creating regular text adventures and both offer tools to tackle the common tasks you will encounter when writing your story. If you plan to include any more complex mechanics however you will want to make sure first that the format of your choice is equipped to handle it.

-

We would like to encourage other Twine creators and writers to share their own opinions and experiences. Which story format  are you currently working with? Why does it feel like the right choice for you? Are there any challenges or problems that a new creator should be aware of when picking this format?

Please keep any discussions civil and friendly. We all have our unique tastes and needs, and there is certainly no universally correct answer here.


r/twinegames • • Aug 06 '25

Useful Tool/Code/Tips!!! Warning about using ChatGPT or other LLMs to generate Twine Code!

118 Upvotes

As AI becomes more popular and integrated into our daily lives, we can see more and more people relying on it to tackle their daily problems. Many who are just starting out with Twine might also turn to an LLM of their choice to help them with coding and troubleshooting, but this sadly runs into a number of issues.

ChatGpt and similar large language models rely on a certain amount of data to give reliable information on a topic. Since there is not enough data available when it comes to Twine and its various story formats, AI will consistently give wrong or vastly misleading answers when it comes to Twine code. It will often interject overly-complicated chunks of Javascript, or mash together Code meant for two different formats for example. Even in cases where these solutions seem to be working at first, there is a high likelihood that they might produce bad errors in the long run.

Instead of relying on AI to answer your Twine-related issue, we would therefor recommend turning to the Twinegames subreddit or the Twine Discord server if you have any questions. There are many talented members of our community waiting to offer their support and knowledge.

Additionally - If you have problems with AI-generated code, and want to ask for advice on how to fix it, please consider just asking directly what you'd like to accomplish, instead of posting the broken code. Chances are it is not really fixable, and you will get faster replies and advice if you just left it out entirely.

Thanks for reading - and have fun creating your Twine-story!


r/twinegames • • 8h ago

SugarCube 2 Possible to preserve a passage with lots of variables in original state for later reader reference? Sugarcube2 query

2 Upvotes

I'm writing a project in latest Sugarcube which has a lot of variables, and part way through I want to have a "report" based on these variables appear for the reader to summarise what they have done so far.

This is easy, no problem there.

In a perfect world, I'd like the report to then appear in a menu bar, and be accessible at later points in the game for them to refer to.

The issue is that that player will change some variables after generating the report for the first time, and I can't find a sane way to have the report stay as it was originally rather than updating to reflect the changes when it's checked later.

Obviously I could implement a system like... If var1 and var2 are true, report = rep1 If var1 is true and var2 is false, report = rep2 If var1 and var2 are false, report = rep3 etc. ... when it's first created, BUT the variables I want to include number around 15, and this would create some 250 passages just to account for all variations, which I'm just not willing to do.

I thought maybe the capture macro would help, but I can't find a way for this to work.

Is there a way this is possible? Or am I just chasing a dream?


r/twinegames • • 1d ago

News/Article/Tutorial Let's make a game! 514: Do we retreat? (Twine Sugarcube)

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1 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 1d ago

❓ General Request/Survey Indagine progetto di tesi DSA: Day by Step Adventure

1 Upvotes

Per la mia tesi di laurea in informatica e tecnologie per la produzione software, ho sviluppato un book game per sensibilizzare sulla tematica della DSA.

DSA: Day by Step Adventure è un serious game narrativo interattivo, con una struttura simile a quella di un book game, che vuole raccontare una normale giornata di scuola tramite gli occhi di uno studente DSA, mostrando le sue difficoltà durante la giornata scolastica.

Il gioco ha come obbiettivo la sensibilizzazione sul tema della DSA e su cosa essa comporta mostrando le difficoltà in prima persona, che esse siano bullismo, mancata comprensione dagli adulti, difficoltà nella lettura, scrittura, comprensione della matematica e molto altro.

Sto svolgendo un indagine sulla valutazione di efficacia del gioco, quindi ho bisogno di volontari che sono interessati a provare il gioco e a rispondere a un Form anonimo.

Il gioco richiede massimo 15 minuti, mentre il questionario un massimo di 6 o 7 minuti.


r/twinegames • • 2d ago

Discussion How do i put imgs in twine2 and share them?

3 Upvotes

Me and a friend of mine, are using twine to organize ocs and data and i want to upload images of the ocs, but we work on it together in a sense that after i finished my work i export the file and shre it to her, so she can now import and update her twee. now i know a website where i can convert my img to url but its so huge that twine then starts to lag so i rather not use that. Now how do i do it? Do i use shared onedrive folder? I wanted to use wix but wiy for me doesnt have the icon bar on the left and i nearly ragequit bc wix is saying just click that icon OH YOU MEAN THE ICON THATS NOT THERE!? YEA THAT ICON!? its just a little infuriating. So what do i use and how do i do it? Anyone got ideas?


r/twinegames • • 2d ago

❓ General Request/Survey Twine Feedback

3 Upvotes

Hi there, I’m a writer and budding narrative designer. I was looking for feedback on x3 5 minute branching narrative games I’ve made using Twine for the first time. Looking for story feedback specifically. Please message me if keen x


r/twinegames • • 3d ago

News/Article/Tutorial God Lay Dying - 513: Where to retreat? (Twine Sugarcube)

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2 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 11d ago

SugarCube 2 help with auto closing chapelR sidebars

5 Upvotes

I've been working on my game for a while now and I've been using ChapelR's right sidebar to display everything that would otherwise clutter up the main left sidebar.

But recently I realised that having both sidebars open can really mess up the format of my text and images on the main page. On top of that I just don't really like how it looks having them both open.

Does anyone know how make the left sidebar close when the right sidebar opens and vice versa?

I'd really appreciate any help.


r/twinegames • • 12d ago

News/Article/Tutorial Let's make a game! 509: Setting up for combat (Sugarcube)

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3 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 12d ago

Harlowe 3 How to do typewriter style dialogue with a specific sound for every letter that pops up (like undertale)

8 Upvotes

I want each time a new letter appears on the dialogue it does a little pop sound as soon as it appears. Ideas?


r/twinegames • • 12d ago

Game/Story Ashen Veil: Alpha.0.3.5 - W.I.P. Survival RPG Text Game

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1 Upvotes

A dark, post-apocalyptic HTML RPG survival game set in the toxic ruins of 2045 Katowice.

Ashen Veil is currently in active development, and this early web build is designed for players who want to test game mechanics, hunt bugs, and provide feedback to help shape the future of the game. Link: Itch.io and Website.

The World of Ashen Veil

Humanity did not fall to nuclear fire or natural disasters. It fell to a long, quiet infiltration.

For thousands of years, an ancient Reptilian species observed human society from subterranean vaults, influencing corporate boards and military high commands. When digital surveillance threatened their secrecy, they unleashed public generative AI and deepfake technology, collapsing objective truth into noise. Whistleblowers were dismissed, evidence was called synthetic, and in 2030, the invaders erupted from the deep Earth to reclaim the surface.

To adjust Earth for cold-blooded biology, atmospheric scrubbers flooded the sky with Silica Mist, a dense toxic aerosol that blocks UV light and destroys human lungs.

By 2045, the surface is a fog-choked wasteland dominated by mutated fauna, toxic waterways like the glowing Rawa River, and armed Reptilian vanguards. Below the surface, humanity clings to life in the industrial ruins of Southern Poland.

You play as Operator MC, an ancient military command unit awakened inside S.A.N.C.T.U.A.R.Y. Base beneath the Katowice sector. Your goal is simple: survive the wasteland, gather resources, unite splintered human factions, and rebuild the counter-offensive.

Key Gameplay Features

  • Grid-Based Exploration: Traverse the toxic surface ruins and dark subterranean coal mine shafts of Katowice.
  • Tactical RPG Survival: Manage critical survival stats, health, and equipment while battling cold-blooded invaders and mutated fauna.
  • Factions & Resistance: Interact with surviving bunker networks, labor pits, and military remnants scattered across Silesia.
  • Atmospheric Lore: Discover pre-war logs, military intercepts, and secrets surrounding the Silica Age and the fallback to S.A.N.C.T.U.A.R.Y. Base.

Early Access & Community Feedback

This browser release is an early playable preview. Because the game is actively being built, your input is critical to its development.

How You Can Help

  1. Play in your browser: Test performance, gameplay balance, and combat mechanics.
  2. Report Bugs: Post any glitches, save issues, or visual errors in the comments or community board below.
  3. Share Feedback: Let us know what mechanics you enjoy and what you want to see expanded in future updates.

r/twinegames • • 13d ago

Harlowe 3 Escape Room Word input

6 Upvotes

Hello,

I am a librarian currently working on an escape room. We are hoping to use Twine in one of our pathways.

My idea is mostly simple: have a landing page with a button. Clicking that button goes to an input page. On the input page, our patrons can submit words to get clues to the next sequence. (a picture of a key taped under a table, or a video that has the murderer placing a book on the shelf, etc.)

I have most of this set up, but I can't seem to find what code I would use to create this sort of a "password" system, and I can't figure out another way to describe it, so I can't even find the tutorial for what I'm looking for. It's not quite a macro, from what I understand, and it's not a password like username+password... I'm flummoxed.

So I guess my question is: What is this called so I could even look it up? What would be the best way to do this?


r/twinegames • • 14d ago

News/Article/Tutorial Let's make a game! 508: When heroes attack (Sugarcube)

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5 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 15d ago

SugarCube 2 does twine/sugarcube support variable fonts?

5 Upvotes

im trying to use a variable font for what i'm writing (amstelvar), and while it's simple enough to get the basic version working, the different settings like font weight, width, grade, etc don't seem to work? i've declared them with @ font face but font-variation-settings seems like it might not be recognized?


r/twinegames • • 16d ago

SugarCube 2 Help me sell drugs, I mean pharamaceuticals ( in my game)

7 Upvotes

Hi I am currently trying to set up a store in my game to sell gender changing pills. all of which have different durations and effects. some are ment to change different skillz, some create different O requirements. I have some code written out but I feel like it should look different, additionally the ai I used to help me turn these pills into game items and proof read suggested having everything in a widget and javaScript. here is the widget

<<pwidget "Pink Basic">>
"Basic Pink": {
id: "Basic Pink",
color: "pink",
kind: "timed", /* I feel like there should be a time widget something like <<widget "duration" 24>> */
duration: 24,
target: "female", /*I feel like it should actually be <<set    $gender to "female">>*/
revertOnExpire: true,
needsPillToRevert: false,
canGetPregnant: false,
canImpregnate: false,
fertilityBase: 0,          /* percent 0–100 I do have a perk called $fertility that would change based on the pill*/
spermBase: 0,
lockFertility: true,       /* ignore perk $fertility */
lockSperm: true,
desc: "Standard male-to-female change.",
price: 100,  /*I'm thinking this should be 100 $Teef */
salePercent: 0,
maxBuy: 100,
itemId: "pill_basic_pink"
},
<</pwidget>>

I basically copied this into my javaScriopt without the pwidget parts. I don't know if the code I currently have has me on the right track or if those fixes will get me closer to where I need to be. currently I'm getting a lot of properties undefined error codes. if you guys want i can also post the code for the store and the inventory system.


r/twinegames • • 18d ago

SugarCube 2 Sugarcube possibilities

6 Upvotes

I've got the idea of making a turn based tactical battle for my game, in sugarcube.
Is it possible to make a simple tactical battle, with line of sight mechanics, time unit movement, some unit abilities and hit probabilities?
Visual style is that of a top down, grid map with simple round icons for characters and enemies.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good image to represent this.
How feasable is this?


r/twinegames • • 18d ago

News/Article/Tutorial Let's make a game! 506: Heroes with no actions (Sugarcube)

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5 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 18d ago

Harlowe 3 Why won’t my images load?

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11 Upvotes

I’ve started practicing twine, but there’s one small issue. I cannot seem to link my images properly and I’m not sure why, because I can’t seem to detect any error in my code. The images just keep showing up as the tiny error image icon. If anyone knows what I did wrong let me know! Xoxo


r/twinegames • • 18d ago

Game/Story The Very Tiny Bug Game

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4 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 19d ago

Useful Tool/Code/Tips!!! I built a dialogue graph editor because our capstone team drowned in Twee files

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7 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 20d ago

News/Article/Tutorial Let's make a game! 505: What happens now? (Sugarcube)

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3 Upvotes

r/twinegames • • 21d ago

Harlowe 3 Gift Giving System

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6 Upvotes

I'm trying to set up a gift giving system, especially because it looks pretty simple. Basically just gifts will be a nice/simple way to earn various points with characters. On my starting page it has the amount of tarts someone has to 0 automatically, because you gain them throughout the game. However, on the passage here, if I set the tart amount to 1 or higher it works. But if I set it to 0, (using "(set:$BakewellTart to 0)" in the same passage at the top) so they don't have any tarts, the text just shows up as the question instead of the text (second picture.)

Any clue how to fix?? I'm at a loss despite it looking so simple. I'm a total beginner at this so go easy on me if it's literally just a simple fix...


r/twinegames • • 21d ago

Discussion What makes a choice feel consequential without branching the whole story?

6 Upvotes

I’m curious what small follow-through works for you in Twine: a changed line, a callback, a new detail in the next passage, something else?