Work Text:
Welcome! This is the first interactive fic created using SIFL. SIFL (Simple Interactive Fiction/Fic Language) is a language and compiler I created to write interactive fiction compatible with AO3! This is my contribution to the HTML Tryhards 2026 event.
SIFL is free and open source, and will soon be available for anyone to use! Currently the compiler is strapped together with duct tape and exposed wires, but I'm working on getting it together.
This work is a sort of teaser to show of what SIFL is capable of. I hope you enjoy!
If you want to see what SIFL looks like before it's compiled, check out this.
Note: when you click the enter button there will be a rounded button at the top of the fic, whenever this happens simply click it and keep clicking until the fic comes back.
Main Room
You find yourself in a small room. The walls are clad in wood siding, almost like a sauna. There's a box in the center of the room, and a door.
You push the door, you pull it, you feel around its edges. Nothing indicates that it is capable of opening. It has no handle or hinges, but it appears to be a door.
You leave through the door.
It's a small box affixed to the floor. It feels like it can turn.
Which direction will you turn it?
You turn the box left.
You turn the box right.
The box opens, revealing a button inside.
View the panel at the bottom of the screen to continue.
Confirm
You decide to not press the button. Nothing happens.
You press the button, and the door cracks open.
Hallway
You're now in a long hallway. At the end of the hallway is another mysterious door without a knob or hinges. One one side of the wall is a series of colored buttons, on the other is a plaque.
There are several buttons, each a different color. There is a green, white, and red button.
Continue...
Confirm
The door opens.
Nothing happens
The plaque has some text on it, then a grid of flags with the name of the corresponding country under each flag.
"Travelling abroad? Remember to visit our locations all across the Americas!"
The flag grid includes:
🇨🇦 Canada, 🇺🇸 United States, 🇲🇽 Mexico
🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda, 🇨🇺 Cuba, 🇩🇲 Dominica, 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic, 🇭🇹 Haiti, 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago
🇧🇿 Belize, 🇨🇷 Costa Rica, 🇵🇦 Panama, 🇨🇱 Chile, 🇬🇾 Guyana, 🇵🇾 Paraguay, 🇵🇪 Peru, 🇸🇷 Suriname
"We are also considering expanding to 🇨🇭 Switzerland and 🇩🇰 Denmark!"
Sanctum
The door opens to a massive circular room. It feels ancient and holy. Stained glass windows cast dazzling light in the center, colored and refracted in beautiful patterns.
In the center of the room is an altar. It is a receptacle, an object is clearly meant to be placed inside.
There are two doors on either side of the room.
A beam of light shoots from the left room into the right.
You place the gem inside the receptacle. As you lower it down, flashes of light sparkle through it. The facets illuminate alternately, as if it were spinning in the sunlight.
You finally drop the gem entirely into the receptacle and it shines brightly. Your eyes have difficulty adjusting, the room becomes pure brilliance.
Dark room
A narrow hallway takes you into a dimly lit, dusty room. There are many cabinets and chests which line the walls and form rows along the room's length.
A beam of light illuminates a small section of the wall. In the spot of light is a key dangling from a hook.
You rummage through the cabinets.
Continue...
Confirm
Continue...
Confirm
Bright room
The room is very bright. Light flows freely from a bay of windows high up the walls.
In the center of the room is a short column. Its purpose is unclear.
A mirror is held in a column. Its face reflects a narrow beam of light through the door and into the main sanctum.
There is a massive ornate chest under the windows. A massive lock dangles from it.
The chest is wooden, made of heavy panels restricted by thick beams of wood. The panels have reliefs of wilderness scenes: deer frolicking through the forests, children picking mushrooms as mice scurry by, a knighting under a lone tree in the plains.
Its lock is weighty. All around the lock are carved flourishes which have been laid with gold leaf.
You open the chest. Inside are several objects.
Continue...
Confirm
The column is short, as if it had been cut in half. The top is just beneath your chin. On the top is what appears to be a rest, as would be used for a book. The rest is angled.
You place the mirror on the rest. You feel some resistance.
Continue...
Confirm
You adjust the mirror, which snaps into the rest. As soon as it snaps in place, a beam of light shoots from it and through the door.
Congratulations!
You have won the game! I know, it was short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.
Making the compiler was quite involved, but now that I have a working proof of concept I intend to clean it up and release it for others to use.
While this fic is short, there's really no limit to the scale of what can be made with the language. There are some limitations, everything is driven by user interaction, and variables are all booleans. Other than that, though, the sky's the limit!
If you enjoyed this little experiment, I'd greatly appreciate a kudos! It helps me gauge interest for this tool. I also appreciate comments, and will try to answer any questions about the tool.