The early stages of working on building a ScreenFree Interactive Fiction Platform

Technical Development Development Systems
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A Journey in ScreenFree Interactive Fiction

Here is a small intro…

I’m SkyCaptain Robyn, and I’m creating Protagonists, a ScreenFree entertainment platform, with Forgotten Skies an Open World AudioMMORPG as its first experience. The platform will eventually allow anyone to create and distribute content on it.

What I’m building:

Forgotten Skies is an audio-first interactive RPG. It’s designed for AirPods and a Bluetooth ring controller, voice commands will also be eventually supported.

The platform uses voice overs and narrative design tools to create branching stories where your choices matter. I’m preparing a demo to validate whether people actually want this kind of experience, the idea is to turn commutes and routine moments into adventures.

Why I’m sharing this:

I’m treating this venture with radical transparency. No promises, no hype, just documenting what works, what fails, and what I learn building something this ambitious. I want this community to see the real journey: the funding pitches, the technical challenges, the market validation, the creative compromises.

Where I am now:

  • Developing technical architecture and exploring partnerships

  • Building advisor relationships

  • Refining pitch materials and business model

  • Working on team formation

  • Validating assumptions about how people actually want to interact with audio content

What I’d love from this community:

Your perspectives on interactive audio fiction, your skepticism about what I’m attempting, connections to people exploring similar space, and honest feedback as I share progress.

I’m not here to sell anything, I’m here to share a journey. Whether Protagonists succeeds or fails, I want the IF community to learn from what happens.

More updates to come. Thanks for reading.

SkyCaptain Robyn

PS: Latest update on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MtM55qY6qY

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Thanks for posting. I’ll check out your YouTube channel for sure. Good luck!

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Sounds interesting. The cheap ring controllers have up/select/down, which is all you need for choice selection. Assuming everything is TTS. And choices can be only few words to make it quicker.

Sounds like it’s predominantly a mobile app to be played on the go. Which would work nicely.

Best of luck.

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Yes, we are developing a set of tools (content production, backend, content ingestion, story engine, audio engine, frontend and controller integration) :slight_smile: lot of work

Thank you for posting your thoughts

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Very cool thanks going to check this out

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Is there some existing system you could adapt? Rather than build everything, perhaps just the audio system? The controller probably sends button codes which could be easy to detect.

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Yes, we have already solved all the parts regarding the controller. We will support 4 different types of inputs. We also have a partner for optional hardware for those who want custom/customizable controllers.

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For content production, we will progressively support different tools. We are going to support Articy Draft first, but we plan to allow people to use their favorite tools eventually like Twine, Ink, Arcweave, etc. It’s on the roadmap.

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Our Discord channel