Congratulations on developing your IF platform! I wish you the best of luck.
The color of the quotations is #aaa; the background color is #fff white. This isn’t enough contrast. (Google’s Lighthouse penalizes this as an accessibility issue.)
I recommend using a thicker left border (it’s currently
2px; make it at least
5px, IMO) with a distinctive color, and leaving the text in black.
While you’re at it, using a white #fff background with black #000 foreground text isn’t great typography in any case. Ian Millington wrote a delightful introduction to easy CSS typography which I’ve reproduced on Github. His example uses an off-white background color #f7f4f1 and a text foreground color of #543. I’ve had good luck with rgba(0,0,0,.85), black with 15% transparency.
Also, since I’m here, I might as well copy and paste my canned advice for new IF platforms:
Most people choose an IF platform by playing a great game and saying, “I really like this game, and I would like to make another game just like it. How did the author(s) make it?” Admirers don’t seem to directly care about any of the details of the system, except that if it’s too hard for them to learn the system and finish a game, that’s a major factor in achieving true popularity.
So, when IF platforms successfully take off, they require an admirable story (not just a technology demo) to attract new authors. Historically, the first “admirable” story for each now-successful IF platform was typically either written by the platform authors themselves, or directly funded by them. (Twine’s first admirable story by Anna Anthropy is the only exception I’m aware of.)
I think you’ll either need to write something great or hire a great writer (preferably paid in advance) to launch your platform effectively.
Writing the first good game yourself is also important because there are already competitive choice-based IF platforms out there, including Twine, Ink, Inklewriter, Raconteur, and our platform, ChoiceScript.
Your platform is also in competition with authors who just want to write their own platform, like you did. Developing a work of choice-based IF is often a novice programmer’s second program, literally right after “hello world.” It’s one of the recommended projects in JavaScript for Kids for Dummies. (Chapter 16: Choose Your Own Adventure)
All in all, your website looks great, and I believe you can build the community you want to build if you’re willing to put in the work/money required to write a great game.
Complex variable calculations and check for variables and routing
Unique modifiers (random, universal checks, user input)
Achievement system
Workshop (share portion of your stories with other creators)
Changelog and versioning system
Picture pages
Read how you want (change the colors/fonts)
Save read progression
Earn achievements
Follow your favorite authors
