The Vault of Stories

The Vault of Stories is a rather unique Twine game that both entertains and educates. It was created by a professor at the University of Maryland for a course titled "INST388Q Interactive Fiction,” and describes itself as “half story-game and half instructional material.”

I am NOT a student. But I still ended up having a positive and memorable experience. Hopefully, my (rather long) review, will help you get the most out of it.

Overview
The story-gameplay portion is set in the future where the player attends the fictional Palisade Institute as a student. Fun and immersive, this part adds flair through worldbuilding and makes players feel more invested in the assigned work.

The instructional part teaches different narrative structures and genres in interactive fiction before guiding players into crafting their own Twine stories. Throughout this section are checkpoints where real-life students submit assignments for the course in exchange for assignment codes. More on that later.

Gameplay
PART I: “Story-game”
Gameplay is broken into three stages, class time at the Palisade Institute, a trek across a desert, and investigating a ruined city. While linear, plenty of interesting things occur.

Renowned for its unique blend of cutting-edge survival science and cultural heritage studies, the Institute is one of the last bastions of higher education in North America.

You begin by choosing a student avatar. Six diverse options are available and ties in with a stat system that is further shaped by your choices in the gameplay. The name and character portrait is just cosmetic. The stats, however, determine the genre and narrative structures covered in the instructional section of the game.

Later, you stumble across unfamiliar files belonging to an employee at the “Vault of Stories,” a place that supposedly collects fictional narratives. Without spoiling the details, it appears the Vault had experienced a structural failure. This led to the creation of a (Spoiler - click to show)human-A.I. (I think) entity known as the Archivist…

Now you know.
Now you see us.
Now, come find us.

…who contacts you and provides a set of GPS coordinates leading to a derelict city!

In a way, everything up to this point serves as an intro. The trip across the desert includes a sampling of some interactive fiction games, but the main action takes place in the city where the Archivist awaits with a special task. Soon after, the game then asks for an assignment code to continue playing.

To my delight, all I had to do was message the author on IFDB.

PART II: Instructional material
Once you become acquainted with the Archivist, the gameplay switches to the instructive half of The Vault of Stories. Because this game is for a college course, it’s tailored to its primary audience: students taking the class. For non-students like myself, the organization and amount of content can be overwhelming. So, I’m going to focus on what I consider to be the best of the game’s instructional content has to offer.

Initially, the game starts by providing some basic Twine tutorials that you may have seen elsewhere (note: The Vault of Stories focuses on Harlowe.) Next, are basic overviews on game engines, POV, character design, the history of interactive fiction, and more.

But the highlight is when the game teaches three narrative structures (ex. hub-and-spoke narratives) and three genres. Which three? Depends on your highest stat, though multiple playthroughs revealed that they often overlap. You are then directed to try another Twine game that demonstrates the narrative structure or genre that is being described, followed by a photo tutorial on a related technique.

For example, when learning about hub-and-spoke narrative structure, you try the game The Great Mortality before receiving a tutorial on variable tracking.

This combination of explanation, outside examples, and a visual breakdown of what to do is where the game shines as an educational tool. It may not be a complete, comprehensive guide, but it gives you a starting point and some building blocks.

Once you’ve learned about three different narrative structures and genres, the Archivist challenges you to pick one of each to create your own Twine game. Several spinners select your setting, protagonist, quest, story twist, and conclusion. In fact, these spinners have some clever ideas. This might come in handy if you ever experience writer’s block.

In submitting assignments to the teacher, you are supposedly adding your work to the Vault in-game. If you want to see how everything wraps up, do so with the assignment codes. The author will provide them by request (see the end of Gameplay PART I).

Story
While there is more story on the Archivist and the Vault, I don’t want to spoil everything. Instead, I’ll delve into my favorite part of this game: the overarching backstory as unveiled during the lecture we attend at the Institute. It outlines a moment in history called the Great Collapse… where everything changed.

Prior to the Collapse, humanity opted to address the climate crisis with technology-based solutions while countless data centers were entrusted to house ancient and modern knowledge. This all relied on vast infrastructure, functioning as a “house of cards waiting for the smallest gust of wind.”

The Collapse began when solar flares devastated electronics globally. An overreliance on automated systems brought daily life to a halt and triggered a cascade of problems. Meanwhile, climate change only worsened. Humanity plunged into a “pre-biotech reality” with diminished cultural memory and scientific knowledge. Survivors transitioned to isolated pocket communities, leaving cities behind as relics of a lost age.

Thoughts
This backstory is intriguing because it draws parallels to our world now. Like the building of data centers. The growing use of A.I. has brought questions about the amount of infrastructure needed to support and power it. And then there’s climate change…

What’s refreshing about The Vault of Stories is that it offers a vision for a future in a scenario where human civilization nearly leads to its own demise. Now, the immediate gameplay takes place in a post-Collapse world. But do we see a drab, miserable, post-apocalyptic existence? No. Civilization has found a way to flourish.

The lecture reveals that humanity gradually rebuilt in desert regions with an emphasis on working with nature rather than trying to conquer it. By pooling together different areas of knowledge and expertise, modern civilization turned its focus to the “art and science of survival.” The Institute is one such product of this philosophy.

✦ BOTE024 Symbiotic Infrastructures. Investigates how botanical systems can serve as living infrastructures for shelter, energy, and data exchange.

I would totally attend this school.

Ideally, we’ll avoid our own Great Collapse. Regardless, I’d like to think that it’s always an option to embrace the themes of adaptation and coexistence as outlined in this story.

Visuals
First off, I was pleased to see that The Vault of Stories uses a wide range of fonts, colours, and visual effects. And the art. Filled to the brim with art! Some of it gives the impression of being A.I.-generated, but that doesn’t stop it from looking really cool (if not breathtaking). I would often linger to marvel at the scenery. It brings the story to life and works well for the game’s purposes.

That said, the game tends to go overboard. Not every scene needs a visual, especially when the gameplay follows a pattern of click on link, wait two seconds for a large picture to load, scroll down to the bottom of the screen to read the text, repeat. Especially when we’re crossing the desert. Also, our meeting with the Archivist feels dominated by the gameplay showing off her hair colours. The game could tone it down without sacrificing her characterization.

Final thoughts
Reviewing and rating this game has proved to be an interesting task because its hybrid nature as both a gameplay experience and a learning tool was something I had never encountered before in a Twine game. My rating of four stars reflects the fact that I was enamored by the story presented in the first half, and was impressed with what it teaches in the second half. Overall, an ambitious and impressive effort.

It does, however, have room for improvement. Some vocab terms had broken links and the text input boxes can be fickle. (Spoiler - click to show)The answer to the interactive fiction puzzle is, “interactive fiction,” right? So why does it act like it’s the wrong answer the first time I punch it in but not the second? Also, it takes a while to reach the part that teaches narrative structures and story genre which I argue is the most informative part. And of course, some players may be turned off about having to input a code at all.

Who knows? Maybe there’s things I missed. But for now, I had a fun time and will leave things here.

You should try this game if…
-The worldbuilding and backstory in the first half interests you
-The artwork sounds appealing
-A college course Twine game piques your curiosity
-You want to learn techniques that turn a story idea into an interactive narrative (Especially this!)

Otherwise, the game might not be your style.