Real-time interactive fiction
Stories that text you back.
Mobile games told entirely through messages — they unfold over real hours and days, and reach you through notifications even when the app is closed.
The games
A growing collection of real-time narratives. One available now, more on the way.
FreeQuarantièmes
A single-handed sailor loses her mast in the Roaring Forties. You have a few minutes per satellite window to keep her alive.
$1.99Préau
A convict — innocent? — reaches a wrong number from a smuggled phone, weeks before his retrial. That number is yours.
$1.99Nivôse
The grid is down across the country in deep winter. A 17-year-old walks home through the dark — and his phone battery is the timer.
$1.99Parhélie
Forgotten in an Arctic evacuation, a glaciologist watches a second sun rise. You help her understand what it means before the cold does.
$1.99Velume
In his grandfather's darkroom, Sacha develops old film in real time. Each photo reveals a little more of a family secret. You're his only contact before dawn.
The format
What is real-time interactive fiction?
Our games are text adventures told through messages, in the tradition of Lifeline: a character reaches out to you, their story unfolds in real time, and your replies decide what happens next. Sometimes hours pass between messages — because on their side, hours really do pass. It is fiction that lives in your notifications, somewhere between a novel, a game and a conversation.
Our guide to the best games like Lifeline
Behind the studio
Made by Leonel Ngoya (LN)
Software developer and Awwwards Young Jury from Cameroon, building beautiful, intuitive products — and now real-time interactive fiction.
More about me