Devlog #5 – The Library of Forking Paths
There’s a specific feeling you get when writing is going really well. It doesn’t feel like you’re inventing a story from scratch. It feels like you’re uncovering something that was already there.
Jorge Luis Borges wrote about a "Library of Babel". This is an imaginary place where the shelves contain every possible book. Most are gibberish, but if you look hard enough, you can find anything. Somewhere in those stacks is the true story of your life, the history of the future, and the perfect explanation of the universe.
In that library, you don’t write a story. You find it.
When we started mapping out our sample project, we wanted to capture that feeling of discovery.
The Address System
Usually, visual novels rely on branching paths. You make a choice, and the story splits.
In that kind of world, the question "What else could happen?" has a limited answer. The answer is: "Only what the developer decided to write." The possibilities are fixed, and you can exhaust them. Once you’ve seen every ending, the world stops growing.
For this anthology, we wanted "What else?" to feel different.
We didn't want a flowchart; we wanted a landscape. We wanted a system where the empty spaces are just as real as the filled ones.
As I touched on in the first devlog, the experience begins with a Tarot spread. You draw five cards.
The order and orientation of these cards become a unique Story Address. When the cards are dealt, you're looking up a specific location in a vast narrative landscape.
The Empty House
But in a landscape this massive, most locations are unexplored.
So, what happens if you dial in coordinates for a story that doesn't exist yet?
You arrive at the address, but the lights are out. The lot is empty.
In a normal experience, this would be an error. In this anthology, it’s an invitation.
"No fate has been written here yet. Would you like to write it?"
If you accept, you become the architect of that specific timeline. You aren't just writing "fan fiction." You're filling a void in the geometry of the world. You're claiming that coordinate in the library and building a home there.
That address isn't empty anymore. The next reader who draws those five cards will find your story waiting for them.
A Geometric Memory
This system turns the project into something more than just a collection of short stories. It becomes a collaborative labyrinth.
Because the Future-Person (FP) is the constant 5th card, she exists in every story. But she's shaped by the four cards that came before her.
- In one address, she's the tragedy you can't prevent.
- In another, she's the hope you didn't expect.
- In yet another, she's a mystery you never solve.
The MC is wandering through infinite variations. The reader is searching for the story that resonates with them. And you, the writer, are providing the answer to a specific question posed by the cards.
The Engine vs. The Story
We built a labyrinth because that’s what we like to geek out about. But Inkweaver didn't demand this structure.
The Tarot logic, the address system, the story rules—that isn’t the engine. That’s just the story we chose to tell.
We built Inkweaver on the promise that it will support your vision, whatever that might be.
We created this sample story to prove we could keep that promise. We pushed the engine into weird, non-linear territory specifically to show you that it wouldn't break.
If Inkweaver can handle a collaborative, infinite library, it can handle your world too.
Outside the Walls
We’ve spent this series inviting you into our "Library of Forking Paths." But while the Library is infinite on the inside, it still has walls. The story you want to tell may live outside those walls.
We invite you to come in, explore, and write a fate with us. But eventually, we hope you step outside the library entirely.
We’ve shown you how we built our world. When you're ready, we want to see how you build yours.