Sections and Passages

You can write Hello World with no markup at all:

Hello, World!

You can format text using Markdown, and also use HTML.

To create interactive stories, you’ll need to add some links. There are two types of text block you can use in Squiffy:

Taking the player to a new section will deactivate all previous links, so use a new section when the player has taken some action to move the story forward.

Within a section, you can link to passages. After the player clicks a link to a passage, links to other passages in the same section will remain active.

Sections

Section names must be unique within a story. Set up a section using double square brackets, followed by a colon. To link to a section, use double square brackets.

Do you want to have the [[roast chicken]] or skip straight to [[dessert]]? [[roast chicken]]: This plate of roast chicken looks delicious. [[dessert]]: Three different flavours of ice cream - yum!

Edit example in ScratchPad →

To use different link text, put the name of the section in brackets afterwards.

This is [[how to use custom link text]](section2).

Passages

Set up a passage using single square brackets, followed by a colon. Passages can link to further passages. After the player clicks a link to a passage, that link is deactivated, so the player can only click it once. To link to a passage, use single square brackets.

Looking around the room, you can see a [TV], a [book] and a piece of [paper] with some handwriting scribbled on it. [TV]: Covered in dust and the plug is missing. [book]: It's a book of magic tricks. Maybe you should [open] it? [open]: The cover opens up to reveal the pages all glued together, with an empty key-shaped hole cut out. [paper]: "Gone out for a walk. May be a while."

Edit example in ScratchPad →

Passage links can be explored in any order - in the example above, the player might look at the book first, then look at the TV, then open the book. Only after clicking a link to another section will any remaining passage links be deactivated.

Passage names must be unique within their section.

To use different link text, put the name of the passage in brackets afterwards.

This is [how to use custom link text](passage1).