Serum: An Interactive Novel.
This is my first app, and it is something I have been working on for a while, in between writing my novels. I wanted to create something people could use to enjoy some of my writing in a different way, and I am quite happy with the result. It has been a massive learning experience, and I have enjoyed problem solving my way through the entire process.
Completely free to play – No ads, no in app purchases. Serum is a text-based interactive science fiction novel, set in L.B.Speller’s Human Jurisdiction Universe. Requiring no knowledge of of the novels, Serum is a great introduction to the Human Jurisdiction for new readers, or a fascinating expansion for existing fans.
Over 75,000 words in length, with 47 possible endings, there are many different stories to tell – some only a couple of choices in length, others far longer. Simply read the text given and select how to proceed from the options provided.
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I almost never install apps featured here but this one made me curious.
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Really kind of you to say 
I hope you are not disappointed.
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Maybe you can tell something about the programming technics you used to make it work?
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I would say 80% of the work was actually writing the text for the game - a lot more tricky than writing a normal novel! Once that was done the actual logic for the game was relatively simple, although I had a bit of trouble getting a list from a CSV, although it was resolved after a bit of head scratching (ended up not using the list from csv function, instead splitting the text (I switched the commas for the ~ symbol in my source text and used that to split). Most of the actual Thunkable work involved getting the layout how i liked it. I wanted to follow material design guidelines as far as was possible, but didn’t want to reply on too many extensions to get it. The material style cards were made with a simple gradient image which I ‘stretched’ to fit at the top and bottom of the cards. I originally used multiple screens but that ended up being a nightmare when using the back button or closing the app, so in the end I just had one main arrangement for each ‘screen’ (the menu screen and the game screen) and just switched the visibility. Much much easier once I did that lol
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Had a couple of reviews (350 downloads in 3 days, not sure if that is good or bad lol) One review asked for a night mode, so I am going to try to implement that in the next few days. Yay, I get to do a bit more thunking, lol.
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Nice app… and good trick to make the material cards looks clean.
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So I have added the night mode, and I am quite happy with the result. I am so glad I was organised when originally making the app and set each colour as a variable, so it was really easy to change the whole theme at the press of a button just by making it change a few variables, rather than having to go through every single element one at a time.
Awesome. I have a question. Which component did you use to make card shape ?
Thanks. All I did was create normal vertical arrangements (with other arrangements inside as needed) set the colour to the card background colour, and then created a tiny square jpg of a shadow gradient which I could turn stretch to fit underneath the card.
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Can you share the jpg file? It will help me to learn more about that.
Sure. I will do it tomorrow when I am back near my pc.
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this is great!!! do you have it as iOS version?
Thanks. Unfortunately I had already started working on the old android only thunkable and didn’t have the time to convert it to the new platform. I intend to make another story to go with it, so will probably create a new app on the new platform to contain both stories. Will be a while though (writing 75,000 word stories is not a quick job, lol)
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Why do I keep on Dying with every choice I make? Is that how it’s suppose to be?
Lol, there are some choices which do not lead to death,
. But in keeping with the tone of my novels on which this story is based, there are also a great many ways to die too.
kudos to you…keep it up…we hope to see a video of how you made the app! keep thunking
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Thanks @Jake_Efeni . Around 7000 downloads and 4.6 rating from 119 reviews, so people seem to like it 
when did you uploaded on play store…
