The Demo Is Now Live On Itch.io!!!!

Welcome to The Rosebush

Welcome! We’re very happy to announce the preliminary launch of The Rosebush, a new online magazine for interactive fiction theory and criticism. The purpose of this preliminary launch is to let the interactive fiction community know that we exist, and to invite submissions. We hope to begin publishing early this summer, perhaps in June.

Learn more below, or you can also read this post on our website.

What is The Rosebush?

The Rosebush will be a free online magazine dedicated to publishing longer form articles about interactive fiction. The interactive fiction community already has well-established channels for reviews of individual games, and several people have well-read blogs, but we’ve been lacking a good platform for in-depth analyses, theory articles, discussions of craft, interviews, historical pieces, and so on. The Rosebush aims to be this platform. It will publish substantial articles that increase our understanding of interactive fiction, from individual works to design patterns, community structures and historical trends. The intended audience consists of both players and authors of IF.

What is the scope of the magazine?

Interactive fiction is a term with many uses. The focus of The Rosebush lies on digital works in which a player interacts with a pre-written story where text is the main medium. In particular, The Rosebush will publish about both parser-based and choice-based interactive fiction. While tabletop role playing games, computer role playing games, visual novels, and choose-your-own-adventure books are also interactive fictions in a sense of that term, they are not our primary topic.

Most of the organisers of The Rosebush come from the communities around the Interactive Fiction Competition, the Spring Thing, the IFDB, and so on; but we explicitly also intend to publish about the works of adjacent communities, such as the ChoiceScript community and the retro text adventure community.

What is the magazine looking for?

Articles! See the submissions page for the detailed call for articles. It is possible to either submit a pitch, which we will check to see whether the topic is suitable for The Rosebush, or an article. Links to submission forms can also be found on the submissions page.

What does The Rosebush offer authors?

Most importantly, a place for disseminating your articles. The Rosebush will maintain its website and ensure that all articles are also stored on the IF Archive, the best guarantee for perpetual availability in the current world of interactive fiction. In addition, the editorial team will work with you on your article, which can range from simple spelling/grammar editing to more substantial ideas and feedback on improving your piece.

The Rosebush is an entirely volunteer effort. There are no plans to offer a monetary compensation to authors of articles.

Who are we?

The editorial team currently consists of:

Aster Fialla (se/er)

Benjamin Slade (he/they)

Daniel Stelzer (they/them)

Drew Cook (he/him)

Josh Grams (he/him)

Kiana Lee (she/her)

Lisa Fox (she/her)

Mike Preston (he/him)

Mike Russo (he/him)

Victor Gijsbers (he/him)

Zee (they/them)

people are always like “are you a morning person or a night person” and I’m just like buddy I’m barely even a person

ATTOLLO 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

Hello, everyone!! I'm very pleased to announce the upcoming 2nd year anniversary of Attollo come September 10th. 2 years is a long time, but I'm incredibly delighted (and a bit shocked still, to be honest) to have come this far!

As a thank you to everyone for the support I have received so far with the game, I am eager to announce two things that will be released this day:

A miniature lore book of Attollo that you can download and read (light and dark modes will be accessible). This will include a little authors note on the story by yours truly and then a breakdown of the City, the major cast, the secondary cast, and other characters that you will meet along the way. This is also an excellent introduction to the game if you're on the fence about it! Tips about the game may be included as well.

Original works. These will consist of posts throughout the day discussing what Attollo was BEFORE it became Attollo and was simply known as 'Mammon'. With this, characters first editions will be discussed and contrasted to their current forms, including notes on how the changes came to be.

I look forward to September 10th, and thank you all in advanced for your support!

(P.S—check out The Nameless by @parkerlyn and the amazing 2 year anniversary event that's being hosted there as well, also taking place September 10th!)

When I tell you I am SO excited to romance Jost😩 My commander's about to lose it for this angry snake lady. She wants to stab me? Totally Acceptable!! Where would you like to hit first, take your PICK madame! You like to write and document your travels?? Ohoho excuse me while I PURCHASE EVERY NICE JOURNAL IN PRYTHIAN.🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️ Darlin has a big storm coming for her in the shape of a 👏🏼 very👏🏼 huggable👏🏼 and👏🏼 loving 👏🏼 Gorgon Commander Thank You Very Much

Every Jost romancer has this energy and I can't even pretend I'm any different when I'm the exact same in any IF that is not my own 😔 Scary women with hidden, soft depths are a universal weakness. And they do deserve a bit of stabbing... as a treat <3

The Golden Rose: Book One is OUT NOW!!!

“As the artist mourns his fortune

So the Dynasty falls to crumble,

And the two branches snatch asunder”

You are a recent member of The White Company, a mercenary guild on the far side of the law. Your job consists of hunting artifacts and roaming ruins that the Church has forbidden to mention. One of your expeditions, however, leads you down a path that is much deeper than you ever anticipated.

“The Golden Rose: Book One” is a thrilling 1.2-million-word interactive fantasy novel by Ana Ventura, where your choices control the story. It’s entirely text-based—without graphics or sound effects—and fueled by the vast, unstoppable power of your imagination.

Juggle friendships, new alliances, and flames of romance in this epic adventure that will take you to an Europe where History took a different turn.

Play as male or female; straight, gay, or bisexual.

Find romance, friendship, or rivalry with a cast of colorful characters.

Hunt down the thief that stole your forbidden maps!

Fight against bandits and city guards while trying to stray away from the all-seeing Eyes of the Church.

Explore ancient ruins and the cobble-stoned streets of the medieval city of Tarragona. Step into a grand cathedral, a sprawling market, a multicolored harbor, the dark gates of the city, or an aqueduct that no one dares to come close to.

Bond with a stubborn old horse.

Choose to ally with a street urchin or the feral captain of the Guard.

Uncover what is true in a world where denial reigns supreme.

Start to unravel your own mysterious past.

Immerse yourself in a world rich with characters, story, and lore.

Do you believe in Destiny?

- - - 

The Golden Rose: Book One is out for you to play!

You can find it at the links below:

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1892950/The_Golden_Rose_Book_One/

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.hostedgames.goldenrose1&hl=pt_PT&gl=US

App Store Omnibus: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hosted-games/id1302297731

Choice of Games: https://www.choiceofgames.com/user-contributed/golden-rose-book-one/

- - - 

I hope you enjoy it! 🌹

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Today’s bad joke is that I’m back from the grim beyond and have updated Mind Blind’s public demo with the rewritten version and Chapter 9 (mostly because a lot has changed and the old version bothered me). I’m almost finished writing the game, which has 20 chapters total (also over 20 endings if you include all the variations, because I have no self-control).

That being said, it’s still April Fool’s Day, so this link has a 50/50 chance of being a Rick Roll. Maybe I didn’t actually update the demo. Maybe I’m just evil.

Click here to find out: Mind Blind Demo Update?

In my defense your honor I had really good music on and it made me want to do something evil

If Baiae is underwater then pour one out for Apulia and Venice I guess 😔🙏

Baiae is a real place, an ancient Roman settlement currently underwater, so worry not, both Venice and Apulia are alright in the Rose's world.

Baiae was known to be one of the most opulent resorts of the old empire. Here are some of its ruins. A pity we'll never see it in its former glory.

The Patreon demo has been updated with over 40k words.

In this new update, you can see what the ROs do in their free time. The said free time might include:

smutty poetry

prostitutes

plenty of cookies

Also, try to remain calm and stay alive.

Public update is coming on 19th of November. Thank you for your patience!

Nobody:

Particle Physics: “hey what if we made up words that made it read like you were having a stroke at first glance”