---
title: Start writing Interactive Fiction in two minutes
---

.row
  .col-sm-12
    %h1 2-minute tutorial
    %p
      You can write your first piece of interactive fiction in just two minutes, after you've installed
      Twee2. Just follow the steps below. When you're ready to move on to more-complicated adventures,
      see the
      = succeed '.' do
        %a{href: 'documentation.html'} full documentation

.row
  .col-xs-8
    %h2 1. Install Twee2
    %p
      If you haven't
      %a{href: 'install.html'} installed Twee2
      yet, do that first.
  .col-xs-4
    %a.btn.btn-primary.btn-lg{role: 'button', href: 'install.html'}
      %span.glyphicon.glyphicon-cloud-download{aria: { hidden: true }}
      Install Twee2

.row
  .col-sm-6
    %h2 2. Open your text editor
    %p
      You can write code in any text editor: your computer will almost-certainly already have one installed.
      On Windows, you can use Notepad. On MacOS, TextEdit is available (be sure to select "Make Plain Text"
      from the Format menu). On Linux, you might use GEdit, Kate, Emacs, Vim, Pico, or something else entirely.
    %p
      If you have a favourite text editor, you can use that: personally, I like
      = succeed ',' do
        %a{href: 'https://www.sublimetext.com'} Sublime Text
      which is available for a variety of platforms and supports
      = succeed '.' do
        %a{href: 'https://github.com/monospaced/sublime-twee'} source code highlighting for Twee2
  .col-sm-6{style: 'margin-bottom: 2em'}
    %img.center-block.img-responsive{src: 'images/notepad.png', alt: 'Notepad for Windows'}

.row
  .col-sm-6
    %h2 3. Write some code
    %p
      To begin with, copy-paste the code
      %span.visible-xs-inline below
      %span.hidden-xs on the right
      into your text editor (or
      %a{href: 'escape-from-earth.tw2'} download it here
      \- you might need to right-click and select "Save as...").
      Later, you can experiment with changing this file.
    %p
      Notice that the file is broken up into several
      = succeed ',' do
        %em passages
      each of which is preceeded by a title - the titles each begin with two colons (::).
      Two of the passages in this code are special. The
      %code ::StoryTitle
      passage contains the name of our story and by convention it appears at or near the top
      of the file. The
      %code ::Start
      passage is
      %em usually
      the one that the player reads first, when they play your game.
    %p
      Save your file as
      = succeed '.' do
        %code escape-from-earth.tw2
      You can use any file extension you like, but conventionally Twee2 files have a
      %code .tw2
      suffix to differentiate them from other types of files. If you're using Notepad for
      Windows, you might need to select "All files" from the "Save as Type" drop-down while
      saving, or else Windows will put
      %code .txt
      on the end of the filename.
    %p
      To compile your code, open a command prompt or terminal in the same directory as your code file, and run:
    %p
      %pre
        twee2 build escape-from-earth.tw2 escape-from-earth.html
    %p
      Twee2 will compile a HTML output file based on the code. Open this HTML file in your preferred web browser
      e.g. by double-clicking on it, and you can play your new story. Or
      %a{href: 'escape-from-earth.html'} play it online
      to discover what you might expect to see.
    %p
      This short story is a very simple adventure. It might be easiest to describe in terms of a flowchart:
    %p
      %img{src: 'images/escape-from-earth.png', class: 'img-responsive', alt: 'Flowchart showing the seven possible endings to Escape From Earth.'}
    %p
      In each passage, the player may click a link to be taken to a different passage. Links appear in the code
      as some text, an arrow
      = surround '(', '),' do
        %code ->
      and the name of the passage that the player will be taken to upon clicking it. So the code
      %code [[Read the book->Read Book]]
      would show the text "Read the book" to the player, and if they click it they'll be taken to the passage that
      begins with
      = succeed '.' do
        %code ::Read Book
      You can use Markdown formatting to style your text. Note the asterisks around the words "THE END" in
      = succeed ':' do
        %em Escape from Earth
      these make that text appear in bold.

  .col-sm-6
    %pre= File::read 'source/escape-from-earth.tw2'

.row
  .col-sm-12
    %h2 4. Start playing!
    %p
      You now know enough to start making simple 'choose your own adventure'-type stories with Twee2.
      For more-detailed information, see
      = succeed '.' do
        %a{href: 'documentation.html'} the full documentation