The different schools of recent twine-adjacent interactive fiction
This is not a taxonomy; most games (especially those entered into IFComp and the like) will have multiple inspirations from multiple schools. This is an attempt to trace some of the broad tendencies in recent twine games.
The Post-Porpentine School: Porpentine's games were characterized by a fantastical surrealism and a philosophical or literary quality, while being about very personal or intimate topics. Many have elements of horror, oppression, and/or sexuality, and complex but ambiguous worldbuilding. Settings tend toward the dystopian, and many involve the protagonists reaching out for freedom in some way. Story branching is not a priority here but it may be present, and choice mechanics are often used more for aesthetics than for story branching. They tend to be at least moderately long, 30 minutes and up. This is probably the smallest school.
Examples: Porpentine's games (obviously), Solarium, We Are the Firewall, SPY INTRIGUE, Summit, DEVOTIONALIA, Heretic's Hope, Accelerate, BLK MTN, Consciousness Hologram/Universal Hologram, Computerfriend, QueenLash
The Post-Videogames School: The "Videogames" here refers to the book Videogames for Humans, edited by Merritt Kopas, and the games in this school share many characteristics with the games in that book. Alternatively, this could be called the Zinesters school or post-Anthropy school, after the book Rise of the Videogame Zinesters by Anna Anthropy. They tend to be short, less than 15-30 minutes, and tend to drill down on one particular moment or feeling or experience, without the burden of a heavily developed plot or setting. They tend to have hypertext-style choices. Aesthetics might be emphasized or ignored. Many are about mental illness or gender or sexuality, some anecdote from the author's own experiences, a political or social point, or just a quick joke. Many were made by students or for short game jams.
Examples: Most games from the book Videogames for Humans (with the notable exception of Horse Master), Detritus, The Writer Will Do Something, Gender Dysphoria, Time Passed, End of Life Care, Winter in June, Perseids, You Are Jeff Bezos, My Gender Is a Fish, fix it, Let's Talk Alex
The Choice of Games School: Based on the Choice of Games house style, these games use delayed branching as the primary narrative structure. They have character building based on a bevy of stats, heavy character customization including names and pronouns, and many romance options of many genders. Most stories tend to be "genre" as opposed to "literary". Most games are long, more than 2 hours, and have multiple branches and endings. There is little to no concern for aesthetics.
Examples: almost every Choice of Game and most Hosted Games. Fine Felines
The Tumblr School: this school originated in the choicescript diaspora, as many creators were dissatisfied with the terms Choice of Games/Hosted Games imposed on choicescript. Like CoG, they tend to have extensive character customization and romance options, use only end-of-text cyoa-style choices as opposed to hypertext, and are usually "genre" stories. Many are influenced by visual novels and otome games. They can be somewhat more experimental with the branching structure than CoG. Aesthetics are heavily emphasized, and often include character art. These games tend to be very long, and most are still in the development process, with a culture of periodic updates. Most will probably never be "finished".
Examples: Wayfarer, Stay? (partially, also adventure-puzzle), Superstition, A Tale of Crowns, Trigaea, everything on this itch.io page, most things submitted to the interact-if game jam, A Paradox Between Worlds (somewhat)
The Adventure-Puzzle School: These games are all about the systematic mechanics. Many of these games aim at implementing text adventure/parser-like mechanics in Twine, with object-based puzzles and directional movement. Some have more abstract mechanics, or RPG-inspired mechanics, or other types of simulations. They are usually on the lengthier side, but may be short with heavy branching. Aesthetics are not a priority.
Examples: Anything by Agnieszka Trzaska, Open Sorcery, 16 Ways to Kill a Vampire, Erstwhile, Seedship (might be its own sub-school), Beneath Fenwick, Orbital Decay, Voyageur, we, the remainder (also horror)
The Flash Horror School: Alternatively, the post-Nintendo school (for The Uncle Who Works At Nintendo). Like the post-Videogames school, these games tend to be short, focusing on one moment to the exclusion of an extended plot or setting. However, these games aim more directly at the emotions of horror and are less literal/anecdotal. Many have some nods to adventure-like mechanics, with locations and movement and such, but many do not. Aesthetics are highly emphasized.
Examples: the uncle who works for nintendo, my father's long long legs, Bogeyman, a man outside (plus many other games by litrouke), Contrition, Florence, The Waiting Room, Taste of Fingers
(the below are less "schools" exactly, more like broad trends or genres. These do not have a clear lineage like the previous ones.)
The Extended Character Study School: This was a hard school to pin down for me; I had originally called it the Brendan Patrick Hennessy school. They tend to be dialogue-heavy, and choice mechanics are generally used in service of characterization. Unlike the post-Porpentine school, these games tend to have more grounded settings and situations, although supernatural elements are often present. Coming-of-age is a common theme. They usually have strongly defined protagonists without character customization (or revolve around another character), and may or may not have story branching. They are usually at least moderately long.
Examples: Hana Feels, Venus Meets Venus, Birdland/Known Unknowns, Cactus Blue Motel, Will Not Let Me Go, The Master of the Land, Lore Distance Relationship, Pageant/New Year's Eve 2019, You Are SpamZapper 3.1, The Best Man
The Gamebook-CYOA School: This is sort of a catch-all group. Many developers are driven by nostalgia for paper gamebooks or CYOA stories, seeking to emulate those elements in a digital medium. Thus, they often have a similar philosophy as Choice of Games but without the detailed character customization, romance, or extensive stats. They are usually "genre" stories with some branching, and can be any length.
Examples: Cape, Ürs, Doppeljobs, The Golden Heist, Mermaids of Ganymede, The Last Doctor, some Hosted Games
The Literary School: These are games that aspire to be literature, or are more influenced by (static) literature or film/TV than they are by video games or other interactive fiction. They have a wider variety of themes than the post-Porpentine school, and are longer and have more developed stories than the post-Videogames school. They are often linear or close enough to linear, but may have branching of some sort.
Examples: Harmonia, At King Arthur's Christmas Feast, BLK MTN,
The Narrative Sandbox School: These games try to give the player lots of things to do, often via a systematic mechanic such as location-based exploration and movement, but sometimes just via a ton of written content. Unlike the Adventure-Puzzle school, these tend to not have puzzles as such, focusing more on exploration, although they might have multiple possible goals that are more or less difficult to achieve.
Examples: Tavern Crawler, Animalia, The Master of the Land, New Year's Eve 2019
The NSFW School: To be honest, I do not have much experience with this, but I know it's kinda big, perhaps bigger than any of the other schools in terms of output.
Examples: look at the most popular interactive fiction games on itch.io with show nsfw turned on.
Other, smaller schools: lifeline-likes, lost phone-likes, dark room-likes, multiplayer games...
