E-paper interaction fiction

PerspexSphinx · 10-27-2025, 12:04 AM

Saw this on reddit…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAl4KMd3aRk&t=1s

…it’s is truly impressive.

pdurrant · 10-27-2025, 04:19 AM

The interactive fiction bit is easy. I don't know how they did the animated combat.

Cactus Chef · 10-27-2025, 09:57 AM

Really stretching the definition of what we consider "soulslike" combat...

PerspexSphinx · 10-27-2025, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The interactive fiction bit is easy.

Err… are there any example “How to’s” for making a ePub 3’s interactive?

The Old Man · 10-27-2025, 10:25 AM

Reminds me of the text adventures, interactive fiction from Infocom, Scott Adam’s.

Frogm4n · 10-27-2025, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PerspexSphinx

Err… are there any example “How to’s” for making a ePub 3’s interactive?

Not EPUB, but there is an interactive fiction client on Kindle called Gargoyle.

Frogm4n · 10-27-2025, 10:48 AM

Oh, I watched it. That's a Daylight. Meh. It's not eink. It's just over hyped RLCD.

Quoth · 10-27-2025, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PerspexSphinx

Err… are there any example “How to’s” for making a ePub 3’s interactive?

They work badly on real eink.

pdurrant · 10-27-2025, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PerspexSphinx

Err… are there any example “How to’s” for making a ePub 3’s interactive?

The interactive fiction bit is just having hyperlinks to the next page at the appropriate juncture. If you really want to insist on people revealing sentence-by-sentence, just have LOTS of pages, and each page forward reveals the next sentence, along with all the existing sentences. Personally, I'd rather just read normally to the next decision point.

Quoth · 10-27-2025, 04:05 PM

Plot your own adventure type ebook version of a paper one (without scoring) more or less works on all common Kindle reflowable formats and any epub format as long as the ereader has some method to select links.

The oldest Interactive Fiction ebook I know is Adventure 101 on Sony EBG format (mini-CD), which runs on the Sony DD1ex and later (1991!) and will run on DOS if it has a CD drive that can take a 8cm CD. The EBG disc easily pop out of the caddy. It even has graphics. A drawback of the format compared to ANY ebook reader using Flash, ever, is there is no bookmark/memory, so you have to make a note on paper and search.

The old mobi / Kf7 Kindle format even has an extra HTML mobi specific tag, not in HTML3, to block you paging forward so you have to pick one of the decision links. I've not investigated how that would be done in epub2 or epub3 that would be generally compatible.

It's more general interactive and multimedia that will fail on most eink. Amazon had a format for a while and abandoned it. There is a point at which an iOS/Android app created with a framework is more sane than interactive multimedia epub3, but an epub3 title is less likely to get orphaned without support. Apple particularly kills store listings that are not updated and older Android apps might not run on newer Android even if still in store.

Edit:
The Sony Data Discman models existed 1990 to 2000 in Japan and about 1991 to 1994 in the West. They could have had a static RAM and coin cell like some Psion models and cartridges, but didn't. Commercial NAND Flash existed from about 1988, but would not have been economical for bookmarks / CD locations.

It's a failing of almost all CD players that they are poor for Audio books compared to cassette due to having no non-volatile storage for bookmarks or last location. Most DVD/BD players have limited location memory.

In theory I could convert the EBG mini-CD of Adventure 101 to epub/mobi/azw3 etc. There is a library to read the format and you can open the file in an editor that copes with binary and see the ASCII content. The images are 1bit uncompressed, though a later format may have had more levels. One colour model existed.

rowe · 10-31-2025, 11:17 AM

The better AIs can do a pretty good job of interactive fiction on Android e-ink.

I rarely do it, as I'm only inspired to if I think of an interesting setup. It can be really fun and informative. I keep it short by ending when the AI runs out of context length in the thread (Gemini Pro is good for this).

My last setup was time travelling to 1653 and taking over England instead of Cromwell with the benefit of an ereader loaded with 2025 knowledge - influencing to avoid things like pollution, wars, losing books/art, colonisation.

ownedbycats · 10-31-2025, 11:51 PM

But can you run Doom on it?

EDIT: Guess you can.

10-27-2025, 12:04 AM	#1
PerspexSphinx Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2022 Device: Kobo Arc 7HD, Kobo Glo, Android ZTE K83	E-paper interaction fiction Saw this on reddit… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAl4KMd3aRk&t=1s …it’s is truly impressive. Last edited by pdurrant; 10-27-2025 at 04:18 AM.

10-27-2025, 04:05 PM	#10
Quoth Still reading Posts: 15,008 Karma: 111111255 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Plot your own adventure type ebook version of a paper one (without scoring) more or less works on all common Kindle reflowable formats and any epub format as long as the ereader has some method to select links. The oldest Interactive Fiction ebook I know is Adventure 101 on Sony EBG format (mini-CD), which runs on the Sony DD1ex and later (1991!) and will run on DOS if it has a CD drive that can take a 8cm CD. The EBG disc easily pop out of the caddy. It even has graphics. A drawback of the format compared to ANY ebook reader using Flash, ever, is there is no bookmark/memory, so you have to make a note on paper and search. The old mobi / Kf7 Kindle format even has an extra HTML mobi specific tag, not in HTML3, to block you paging forward so you have to pick one of the decision links. I've not investigated how that would be done in epub2 or epub3 that would be generally compatible. It's more general interactive and multimedia that will fail on most eink. Amazon had a format for a while and abandoned it. There is a point at which an iOS/Android app created with a framework is more sane than interactive multimedia epub3, but an epub3 title is less likely to get orphaned without support. Apple particularly kills store listings that are not updated and older Android apps might not run on newer Android even if still in store. Edit: The Sony Data Discman models existed 1990 to 2000 in Japan and about 1991 to 1994 in the West. They could have had a static RAM and coin cell like some Psion models and cartridges, but didn't. Commercial NAND Flash existed from about 1988, but would not have been economical for bookmarks / CD locations. It's a failing of almost all CD players that they are poor for Audio books compared to cassette due to having no non-volatile storage for bookmarks or last location. Most DVD/BD players have limited location memory. In theory I could convert the EBG mini-CD of Adventure 101 to epub/mobi/azw3 etc. There is a library to read the format and you can open the file in an editor that copes with binary and see the ASCII content. The images are 1bit uncompressed, though a later format may have had more levels. One colour model existed. Last edited by Quoth; 10-27-2025 at 04:18 PM.

10-31-2025, 11:51 PM	#12
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 11,360 Karma: 79528341 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	But can you run Doom on it? EDIT: Guess you can. Last edited by ownedbycats; 10-31-2025 at 11:54 PM.

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10-27-2025, 04:19 AM	#2
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,453 Karma: 318076944 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	The interactive fiction bit is easy. I don't know how they did the animated combat.

10-27-2025, 09:57 AM	#3
Cactus Chef Guru Posts: 682 Karma: 8196132 Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: East Coast, United States Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Clara HD, Galaxy Tab S5e, Kindle 4th Gen	Really stretching the definition of what we consider "soulslike" combat...

10-27-2025, 10:25 AM	#5
The Old Man Fanatic Posts: 569 Karma: 1560525 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Keene, New Hampshire Device: iPad Mini	Reminds me of the text adventures, interactive fiction from Infocom, Scott Adam’s.

10-27-2025, 10:48 AM	#7
Frogm4n Fanatic Posts: 511 Karma: 3579239 Join Date: Jul 2023 Device: Scribe 2022, OA2, PRS-350	Oh, I watched it. That's a Daylight. Meh. It's not eink. It's just over hyped RLCD.

10-31-2025, 11:17 AM	#11
rowe Groupie Posts: 172 Karma: 5094360 Join Date: Jul 2019 Device: Hibreak Pro, Mira, Paperlike Colour	The better AIs can do a pretty good job of interactive fiction on Android e-ink. I rarely do it, as I'm only inspired to if I think of an interesting setup. It can be really fun and informative. I keep it short by ending when the AI runs out of context length in the thread (Gemini Pro is good for this). My last setup was time travelling to 1653 and taking over England instead of Cromwell with the benefit of an ereader loaded with 2025 knowledge - influencing to avoid things like pollution, wars, losing books/art, colonisation.