writing 'interactive fiction'

[tamaranth]

- tips and tricks? (like, how to avoid having four different choices at the foot of a page, with combined text that balances out the text in that section?)
- software to make it easier than simply creating x little HTML pages?

I have looked at Inscape, downloaded and played around with Inform and read the Wikipedia page on Interactive Fiction [these links here for my reference, not just to indicate Research] and read interesting piece on mission paths in Wing Commander (thanks, major_clanger!) but have not yet hit anything that is quite right for what I want to do. Which is basically a simple story with several 'decision points' at which different stories spin out. (Is there a technical term for this? Something vaguely quantum / alt.universe related?)

Comments

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

I know it's effectively just html pages, but isn't a wiki just what you want?

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

maybe for a longer work, but not for what's effectively a short story (or three stories plaited together). Have also thought about Java, keeping all the text as variables and building up a single page dynamically each time ... that's the sort of thing that there really should be software to facilitate!