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Language:
English
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Published:
2026-02-17
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1,389
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
2
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10
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102

Lizardtopia

Summary:

Walking around just outside town, you discover a lizard. What do you do?

(Thanks to this tutorial on how to code a choose-your-own-adventure on AO3!)

Notes:

So way back in like. 2016 or 2017, I don't remember which semester this was, I was in a class in college called Object Oriented Programming. The final project was to create an Android app using at least one of the structures we had talked about in class. I made a lil choose-your-own-adventure using the state machine, which I maintain to this day needs to be used more often in game design. It's possibly my favorite bit of writing I've ever done? It's so funny and it's such a cute little game, it just gives me a nice lil mood bump whenever I remember it. But I have long forgotten how to get this thing onto my own phone so I can play it myself and show it to my friends and family :(. And then today I was moping about having a bunch of stuff about half-written, so I can't quite post any of it to AO3, and I remembered... Lizardtopia! So I'm resurrecting it for AO3! Have fun :)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

 

 

[STARE] Locked in intense combat, you and the lizard stare at each other for hours, neither blinking. Eventually, the lizard's will fails, and it looks away. Impressed by your skills, it offers its allegiance.

Accept. With this lizard at your side, you will be a force to be reckoned with.
Refuse. This lizard should live its own life, unburdened by human concerns.
Continue staring. You know that lizards can't talk, so you didn't even hear its speech.

 

The lizard is kinda creeped out, and scampers away quickly.

End

 

[CATCH] You attempt to catch the lizard, but it scurries off down the path before you can touch it.

Follow it. You want that lizard!
Look around. Did something startle it?
Throw something after it. How could it just leave you like this?

 

[FOLLOW] You run after the lizard, paying no attention to your surroundings. Suddenly, the lizard stops. You keep going for a few steps and stumble off the edge of a cliff!

Grab the lizard! You're close enough, and you really want a lizard!
Grab at the cliff! If you fall, you'll die!
Ask the lizard for help! Lizards are notoriously generous.

 

You grab the lizard and fall to your death. Cushioned by your body, the lizard survives. It scampers off, unconcerned.

End

 

You poke the lizard. It gets angry and bites you, then runs away while you're still recovering from the shock. Your finger is bleeding now. Poking things is a bad idea.

End

 

You offer the lizard some food and compliment its scales. It blushes and accepts the food. It is now your sworn ally.

Continue

 

 

The lizard is sorry to leave you, but understands your reasons. If lizards had tear ducts, it would be crying. You part and go your own ways, never to see each other again.

End

 

You look around and find a rock to throw. The lizard is already too far away for you to hit, so you throw the rock aimlessly away and turn to walk home, grumbling.

End

 

As you fall, you see a large root sticking out of the cliff face! You manage to grab it, halting your fall. By the time you manage to climb back up to the top of the cliff, the lizard is gone.

End

 

[ALLY] The lizard takes you to its home, which it says is called Lizardtopia. It has a large extended family and many friends, and they all pay rapt attention as your lizard tells them how it came to be your ally. Then their attention turns to you.

Try to win them over. You're not that good at speeches, but a Shakespearean monologue comes to mind...
Do some magic tricks. You don't know any real magic, but you must prove to these lizards that you're a worthy ally.
Run away. All those eyes on you make you extremely nervous.

 

[PLEAD] As you fall, you call out a desperate plea to the lizard. It hears your urgency and uses its magic to pull you back to the top of the cliff. It leaves you dangling in midair over the drop and surveys you haughtily.

Yell at the lizard to put you down! Hovering over a cliff isn't exactly fun!
Grab at the lizard! If you're holding it, it'll have to put you down!
Politely request the lizard's help. Perhaps you are currently in midair over a large drop, but being rude never pays.

 

 

You shout at the lizards. They're insulted, and lay a curse on you. You find yourself transformed into a lizard, your human mind and desires gone. Eventually, you forget that you were ever anything other than a lizard.

End

 

You escape, and the memory of those eyes surrounding you haunts your dreams for many years.

End

 

The lizard thinks you're being quite impolite. It reveals its true form - an enormous dragon! It carries you off to its lair, where it assigns you as curator of its hoard and gives you lessons in courtesy. You never see your home again - but on the bright side, you're fabulously wealthy.

End

 

The lizard sets you gently down at the top of the cliff. In thanks, you offer it your fealty. It accepts. You are now allies.

Continue

 

[PERFORM] The lizards are accomplished wizards, and are unimpressed by your sleight-of-hand "magic". They lose interest in you, leaving you and your ally to your own devices.

Leave your ally with its lizard family and go home. You're horribly embarrassed.
Ask your ally to teach you magic. You're determined to make up for this fiasco.
Take your ally to your home. You might not have impressed its family, but surely it will impress yours.

 

When you propose your plan to the lizards, they all give you weird looks. They're lizards, not conqerors, and you're a good actor, but they wouldn't follow you into battle. You find yourself suddenly back at the edge of town, and try as you might, you never find the path back to Lizardtopia.

End

 

The lizards wish you a fond farewell, and you go home. When you try to find them again a week later, you discover that the path to Lizardtopia has vanished.

End

 

You spend so much time paying such close attention to so many lizards that soon, you become a lizard yourself! You are the largest lizard, the lizard sovereign, and all your subjects are also your friends. You learn lizard magic and protect Lizardtopia fiercely for the rest of your days.

End

 

Your ally gives you a sad look. It tells you it cannot enter a human dwelling, lest its magic drain away. You offer to bring your family to Lizardtopia, and immediately find yourself at the edge of town with your ally's panicked refusal still clear in your mind. You can't find the path back, so you return home.

End

 

 

Your ally grants your wish, and you begin studying lizard magic. You can't do sleight-of-hand without opposable thumbs, but that doesn't matter. Through studious application, you become the greatest lizard wizard who ever lived, and your work allows lizards to eventually become the greatest beings on the planet.

End

 

You take your leave, promising to come back the next day. However, when you try to find the path back to Lizardtopia, you find that it has disappeared. It's just as well, really; when you tried to find information about lizard magic, all you found was scientists saying lizards don't have magic and that magic isn't even real.

End

 

I hope you enjoyed your adventure! Play again some time :)

Try again?

 

Notes:

What was your favorite ending? :)