Writing a video game is goose egg like penning a novel. But writing a never-ending, nonlinear, text-driven video game about a hellish alternate London blimp with gothic intrigue and nigh a decade of backstory? That's a different animate being altogether.

"Novels follow protagonists, merely in Fallen London, the protagonist is the player, and they're a mystery to usa," Failbetter Games narrative director Chris Gardiner says. "While we know some things about them -- more often than not the decisions they've made in the game -- there'due south still a lot nosotros can't assume. Novels have a plot; there's no spinal plot to Fallen London, no unmarried story nosotros're telling and volition terminate. We're exploring a setting, establishing its status quo, then letting the player kick bits of it over. Novels are consummate, while Fallen London is a living game. We add new stories and events to it constantly."

Fallen London debuted as a free browser game in 2009, though back then it was chosen Echo Bazaar. It's still bachelor in browser course, but it'south also on iOS and Android, and it'south spawned a successful spinoff mobile franchise starting with Sunless Sea. Just this week, Failbetter announced it would place renewed focus on Fallen London, tying upwardly some of its stories and systems.

Fallen London is a deep choose-your-own-chance game with no moving pictures to guide players into new worlds. Instead, it's text-based, allowing fans to determine how they'll react to certain scenarios while they wander around a Victorian version of London that was pulled into an hugger-mugger dimension by a swarm of bats.

Fallen London blends Lovecraftian monsters with the eloquence of Poe and a night sense of wit that's entirely unique to the game world. Here's a taste of its tone, courtesy of Gardiner:

In that location'south a scene in a story chosen The Gift where the player ventures under the royal palace and learns what's become of Queen Victoria'due south children. The player ends up disguised as a servant at a banquet. They've been instructed to keep their dorsum to it, and under no circumstances to plow around.

In that location's a mirror in front of them. And in the mirror, fine lords and ladies are eating an elegant dinner. But the sounds y'all hear behind you lot are very unlike. Slobbering. Cracking bones. The thud of wet meat on the table. The mirror is lying. Three times we ask the player if they desire to turn around, and warn that the consequences will be terrible. Information technology'south entirely their choice. And because they're our players, they generally turn. Bless them.

Gardiner is the narrative director on Fallen London, but he isn't putting this deliciously grotesque universe together himself. The entire project is the brainchild of Alexis Kennedy, an acclaimed video-game author and designer who'south helping build the new Dragon Historic period. Kennedy founded Failbetter in 2010, every bit Fallen London was gaining a sizable cult following, and over the post-obit years, he tended to the game's story alongside a small team of writers and fans-turned-employees. He left Failbetter in 2016 on good terms, placing Fallen London in Gardiner's easily.

"His were very big shoes to fill up," Gardiner says. "Failbetter was his baby, and he was involved in every aspect of it. Even when his duties meant he didn't have much time to write content, Alexis was always the arbiter and guardian of Fallen London's lore and tone. Maintaining that tone has been a crucial priority for united states of america, and I was concerned virtually it. I'd been caput writer for a while, so the team wasn't left without a pb experienced in writing for Fallen London. And, fortunately, Alexis left us a game consisting of hundreds of thousands of words of stories, which is as comprehensive an dominance as y'all can get."

Today, the Fallen London team maintains a living certificate of every issue and arc in the game, constantly growing it as new activities are introduced. The doc is streamlined, containing only basic, pragmatic data most whatsoever particular event -- and even so, it'south 131 pages long.

"Every time we write a new story, we add to it, like the ever-expanding occult tome of a very well-organized magician who believes highlighters and Mail service-It notes are true magic," Gardiner says.

If necessary, writers can too dive directly into the game's back terminate and search for specific text or mechanical elements, though given the size of the story, this is a laborious process.

"Increasingly, we rely on the expertise of the writers," Gardiner says. "Each writer tends to become an authorization on different parts of the lore."

There are four writers working on Fallen London, including Gardiner, plus an analyst and a scattering of freelancers who fleck in every bit needed. They operate in a multistep editing loop that ensures each piece of the story fits into the overall Fallen London universe (and that it'south as eerie, romantic or agonizing as possible).

This week, Failbetter announced its renewed focus on Fallen London. The game has been on the back burner for a while every bit developers worked on Sunless Ocean and its sequel, Sunless Skies. Some of the mechanics and stories take languished in the meantime, and Gardiner says information technology'southward simply time to dust off the cobwebs and swoop dorsum into the Echo Boutique.

Throughout 2017, the Fallen London team promises to continue a few storylines, such every bit The Cheery Human and Last Constable, The Dilmun Club, A Render to the Empress' Court and the Low-cal Fingers ambition. This is on top of the game's expected stories and events, including the adjacent mayoral election, a large-calibration affair where players chose the leader of Fallen London. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Failbetter is improving its own writing tools.

"Everyone'due south been in the office at least a year, and our process is well-established and polished," Gardiner says, noting that the team has expanded to include freelancers like Emily Short. "Failbetter has grown in all other areas, too -- tech, analytics, art, production. We're at present in a place where we're able to commit dedicated resources to some things that otherwise would take missed out to higher-priority tasks."

Besides, Failbetter wants to reward veteran players who have been clamoring for these updates for a long while. "We've always seen this content as an unpaid debt, and information technology'due south fourth dimension to pay it off," he says.

Fallen London never sleeps. Since its inception in 2009, it's continued to evolve, gathering new stories, items, characters and creeps nether the city's yellowed gas lamps. Kennedy, Gardiner and Failbetter have written more than one.five million words for Fallen London so far, and they're nowhere near done.

Fallen London is the story of a metropolis, and a metropolis doesn't stop," Gardiner says. "In that location are definitely stories that will conclude, only London won't. Some players will feel a natural stopping indicate when some stories -- like the ambitions that drove them to London -- are at an stop, but the game won't forcefulness them to leave. We want players to spend as much time in Fallen London as they choose. And if they want to go out and come back, that's fine likewise. We'll always make you welcome, Delicious Friend."