When acting as a particle / When acting as a wave

Electron Dance
Counterweight 12: On Fear of Twine
“They always say words are more powerful than graphics because words require the power of your imagination to create whatever the world is. This is even better than that, there’s almost like no words. You really have to invent the scenario from what the links are telling you. […] I don’t wanna go too much into the story, ’cause really, anybody listening to this and haven’t played it really should play it.” (Joel Goodwin)

“I loved this one, this is my favorite one, and this is probably my favorite twine in general. I didn’t know I had a favorite twine until I played this.” (Eric Brasure)

Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
Some More Games from Fear of Twine
“It’s also structurally novel, though, in that there is no narrative, non-link text. Each time you make a choice, you discover its ramifications by looking at the list of choices that come up next. It therefore feels very spare, and it takes a little while for the nature of the situation to become clear.”
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Emily Short’s Interactive Storytelling
Fear of Twine, Continued
“So that’s all of them, now. Of these, I think I was most impressed by

Drosophilia, for unusual use of audio and visual effects
Zombies and Elephants, for the treatment of the racial and social aspects of the situation
When Acting As a Wave, for creating a Twine story consisting of nothing but links”

Game Bias: Criticizing Games and Media
FEAR OF TWINE: RELAX … IT’S JUST A REVIEW
“Some of these sections can be quite tedious, and the game needs more narrative branching, but the foundation for a better game is clearly here.”
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Dan Cox’s YouTube channel
Dan Cox plays When Acting as a Particle
A mute Let’s Play of the game, part of a series of similar videos of all Fear of Twine entries.
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Lost in Lualand
Fear of Twine
“You’re a lawmaker or something? I found it kind of vague and it lacked a proper payoff.”
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Average Rating: Number of Reviews: 2 Write a review

I can't give much context on this piece, because every word in this Twine is a link. Without scenery text - text to set the scene - you see the game world solely through the decisions available to you. It's like peeking through a pinhole. Even then, the author suggests a dream sequences and segments of real life, with eerie parallels. The same actions repeat themselves, but take on deeper meanings in different contexts.

The format really works for the story. Reading only the links keeps the rhythm of the writing going. Circuitous conversations are shown through cycling links; social interactions crescendo in a series of seemingly trivial choices.

When acting as a particle was created for the Fear of Twine exhibition, organised by Richard Goodness, a collation of Twine games featuring a broad variety of styles and ways of using words. It's fairly short - reminiscent of the party game where you have to guess the story by asking the storyteller only yes/no questions - and well worth a look to consider how Twine can be used differently.

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Excellent stuff. It's a quick and slippery game, and doesn't suffer from cliche or over-engineering.

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