Magic Scroll
A downloadable software for Windows
Magic Scroll is in early access--not all planned features are implemented. Please check the development log below for the latest updates!
Ever wanted to write your own "choose your own adventure" novel? Love interactive fiction, but want to keep it old-school?
Magic Scroll is a simple tool for writing your own interactive fiction novels--the ones where it says "If you eat the sweet roll, turn to 12; if you kill the goblin, turn to 247." Magic Scroll keeps track of the branches in your story and shows a flowchart of sections as you write.
Features
- Drag-and-drop flowchart to easily visualize paths through your gamebook
- Automatic section shuffling: randomize your book's sections while preserving instructions to the player
- RTF and plain text export: write your book in Magic Scroll, then format in your favorite word processor
Purchase
In order to download this software you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Development log
- Version 0.5 -- Find/Replace, RTF encoding fixJul 24, 2020
- Version 0.4 -- RTF export, more bugfixesJul 20, 2020
Comments
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This is a great idea and it's fairly well-implemented. However, I think it needs some work before it's worth purchasing:
- I don't know why the font looks a little bit pixelated or blurry. And small. This cannot be adjusted in any way. This is really the biggest issue. It doesn't seem to be using the same font hinting as the rest of a modern operating system.
- 2nd-biggest issue is the formatting of the plain text export. It would be better if this were exported as Markdown, or something similar where the sections were clearly demarcated. That way the output could easily be converted to HTML, ePUB, Twee, or what-have-you by search and replace. This is important if you want to turn your gamebook into an ebook or physical book. Also, section titles are not retained in export.
- It would really nice if there were keyboard shortcuts for the various actions in the program, like adding links.
Those are the biggest issues. The following would also be significant improvements:
- It would be nice if, when adding a link, we could link to a section that does not exist yet.
- When shuffling sections, the first section should never be shuffled. It should always be the first section.