While making my weekly App Store rounds, I came across this newish app called Yarn. It had a pretty interesting description, boasting “thrilling, interactive stories on your device, for free. Solve puzzles, help characters make important decisions, and decide how stories end.” So I decided to go ahead and download it.
At first glance I found it pretty nice looking. The interface is clean, simple and easy to navigate. As for the content, the first thing they give you is a tutorial to look at. It reads like a story would in the app and explains the different controls a reader can use while going through the tale.
After completing the tutorial I downloaded an actual story to read. It was a piece by Astrid Dalmady titled “Arcane Intern (unpaid)”. The reader played as a book loving young adult looking for a job in the publishing field. You end up getting a job as an intern (an unpaid intern) at this strange firm that turns out to be magic.
Chapter 1
I don’t want to spoil things too much but it turns out intern life is pretty much the same for magical places as it is with mundane places. Read it and you’ll see what I mean.
Overall the story included four chapters and three different endings. I managed to get all of them. Two are pretty similar. That’s not to say I didn’t like them. I honestly enjoyed the story, it was pretty short but it had an interesting concept and storyline. It worked well with the platform as well. For example, when you’re in the magic world the bg is black and when you’re in the normal world it’s white. It’s a small detail but I found it pretty clever.
Clever.
I’m curious to see what other tricks and such are in different stories on Yarn. Stories by this author and others. If you liked playfic or choice games I really recommend checking this out. It’s like a mix of the two but with added perks such as sound and video. Right now it’s only on the apple app store but it’s coming to the google play soon.
P.S. Yarn is currently looking for story authors. So if writing is your thing you should definitely check it out.