A returning visitor

Most scenes read the same every time. This one notices when you come back. It uses story history and no remembered values, which makes it the smallest way to give a story a sense of time.

Try it#

Try it

Restart

The porch

You stand on a porch. A rocking chair creaks in the wind, and the front door is shut.

A.Knock on the doorB.Walk around the house

The map#

How it is built#

Text that changes with each visit#

The porch has two paragraphs that only show sometimes. Each is a Shown-only-if paragraph with a story history check.

• "The chair is still rocking, but nobody is sitting in it." has the check Times a scene was visited: The porch is at least 1.
• "The curtain in the front window moves. Someone is watching you." has the same check, at least 2.

A scene counts as visited once the reader leaves it. So the first time they arrive, the count is 0 and neither paragraph shows. After one round trip it is 1, and the first paragraph appears. After two, both do. See Story history.

A choice that only appears once you have looked around#

"Try the door handle" on the porch has the check Has visited a scene: The garden is yes. Until the reader has been round the back, the choice does not exist. Once they have, they have also read that the front door's bolt is pulled back, so the choice makes sense.

There is no yes/no value for this. The story already knows the reader has been to the garden, so it did not need to be told.

Why it works#

• The porch is never a copy. It reads differently the second time, and again the third, without a single extra scene.
• The hidden choice rewards curiosity. It also shortens the story for readers who worked it out.
• It costs almost nothing to write. Two sentences and two checks change how the whole place feels.

Things to try#

• Add a third line that appears after five visits, using Choices made so far alongside the visit count.
• Make "Walk around the house" mention it if the reader has already been to the garden.
• Add a secret ending that only appears if the reader has visited the porch four times.

Make your own copy#

Next#

For numbers that fight each other, read A turn-based fight.