You love books. You love games. So why not combine the two? Gamebooks are a different way to tell a story, one in which the reader is part of the story, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. It’s a unique reading experience, though one that has been replaced by the visual novel. There are different ways to control the story but the formula is very simple. As you read the book the story stops and gives the player a set of choices to make. For example:
You come to a set of doors. One has a bright light coming from it. The other is dark.
If you choose the bright door, go to this page. If you choose the dark door, go to this page. If you turn around and make a sandwich, go to this page.
Your choice will affect the story. One path may end the story early, possibly with you falling into a pit of lava or just enjoying a sandwich. Another will send you down a long corridor to a magical science realm and start the adventure. It’s not always done with a direct choice by the reader, though this is the norm. I’ve read some that require a roll of the dice or a flip of a coin, and one even required you to keep stats and an inventory. I don’t have that one anymore. I don’t remember what happened to it but it was way too involved for me, like a one person tabletop RPG. I even saw it done in comic form once in a Free Comic Book Day Adventure Time comic. So how does one go about making such a story and why would I not even try?
