itch.io

Maybe this would have made things too easy, but I kept hoping I'd come across a command like "LABEL [filename] <text>" so that I could include my file synopses inside the game itself. Then again—I still would have needed my external notes for my character-specific timelines, so it's not like it would have saved me any effort. Phenomenal game, regardless!

People have been using ROT-13 to encode spoiler discussion on usenet since the 1980s; in the 90s, the rec.arts.int-fiction and rec.games.int-fiction usenet groups were major vectors for the proliferation of hobbyist interactive fiction. That practice continued uninterrupted in places like ifMUD and the int-fiction forums.

Per Andrew Plotkin's blog entry on the game, they used the Sugarcube plug-in for Twine as the starting point, so you're essentially correct!

Hmm. If you must, you must.

That's a fair point! Who can say whether historians may have let the spirit of nationalism introduce some contradictory elements into their portrayal of the national character? Without direct access to more of Valdaran history's primary sources, all I can do is speculate. Thanks for playing!