Minkmin

Developer & UI Designer Creating immersive frameworks for interactive fiction Itch.io | Ko-fi

[minkminn]

[~] CYBER_SHELL: A Sandbox Framework for Twine

Hi everyone! I’m Minkmin. I’ve been obsessing over creating a clean, immersive sci-fi interface for Twine, and I’ve finally released it!

Most Twine games feel very "text-heavy," so I wanted to build something that feels like a real terminal/OS. CYBER_SHELL handles all the hard technical stuff so you can focus on the story.

Features included:

Time & Economy: Integrated widgets for time passage and currency.

Inventory: Fully functional system for items & World Upgrades.

Responsive UI: A mobile-friendly cyberpunk-themed CSS.

User Guide: Documentation on how to implement every widget.

I'm a new dev, and I'd love it if you'd try out the demo and share your thoughts on the UI!

Check the Demo: [LINK]

[minkminn]

CYBER_SHELL | v1.2 is out!

This update is all about performance. In the previous update I've optimized NPC logic, including location loops, to prevent freezing in passages with multiple active NPCs.

Now I restructured how the template stores data — static config objects like NPC schedules, definitions, and item prices have been moved out of SugarCube's history cycle into the setup object. Saves are now significantly lighter.

What's new:

Config migrated to setup (upgrades, buildings, NPCs, prices, ranks)

Widget arguments updated from deprecated $args to _args

CSS typography variables added

¡ Saves from v1.1 and earlier are no longer compatible !

Check it out: [Link]

[minkminn]

Rethinking State Performance in Twine/Sugarcube

While I've been satisfied with CYBER_SHELL's performance, I've been thinking a lot about how scalability would work on bigger projects built on the template.

Currently my main concern is that, whenever I want to track NPC's accross the map the loop <<for>> runs through EVERY SINGLE NPC on the schedule list. This is unnecessary and may make the game laggy if you have like, 10 characters in a single passage, or if you have a visual map that tracks every character's location. That is why I added <<break>> inside the loop, so it stops once it reaches the npc schedule it was looking for, but does it solve things? NOPE.

The tendency is that as the game progresses, the $variables inside the widgets will make save files get huge and drop performance if we are talking about a big sandbox world. So I came upon this life-saving post on reddit.

It states that for Sugarcube 2, while we have temporary _variables that are cleared upon passage transitions and are not stored in a game's history, we also have setup.variables that persist across passage transitions, but are not stored in the game's history. This might solve problems not only for widget tracking the npcs location but for any widgets using $variables to call static data.

This might not be the perfect solution but it doesn't really hurt to try, I'll come back if I find a more reasonable answer. Have you ever run into similar issues on your projects? I'd love to hear more thoughts about it.

[minkminn]

[Tutorial] Turning CSS elements into Assets

Hey devs!

Ever found a perfect CSS shape or a UI code snippet but needed it as a static asset for your game engine without losing quality? Converting code logic into visual assets can be a game-changer!

Follow these quick steps to bridge the gap between web styling and asset creation using Affinity Designer (or any vector tool):

Render your CSS element in a clean browser window.

Use "Element to SVG", an export extension or simply inspect the element and copy the SVG code.

Import the SVG. Add Outer Glows and Layer Effects to give it that 'tactical cyberpunk' feel.

Polish it! Remove unnecessary layers and break the shape down into corners and side-bars so you can stretch them later in-engine.

One thing to watch out for: when you convert a CSS panel to SVG, you can't just stretch it infinitely in your game engine, or the borders will look weird.

In my HYPER Pack, I designed a variety of shapes—from small status chips to large HUD frames. Instead of stretching one file, you compose your UI by layering these high-fidelity elements. It keeps the lines crisp and the 'cyber' look consistent across your whole project.

If you’re a dev looking for matching, minimalist visuals check it out!

[Get HYPER Pack on Itch.io]

[minkminn]

CYBER_SHELL | Devlog #1 is out!

I’ve just updated the template with UI fixes and a peek behind the scenes at how everything is organized. As a student creator, I’m obsessed with making this as clean and user-friendly as possible!

What’s new:

UI responsiveness fixes.

Organized Config passages for NPCs & Quests.

User Guide details.

Check it out: [Link]