Tools for Building Branching Scenarios
When would you use Twine, Storyline, Rise, or other tools for building branching scenarios? It depends on the project and goals.
When would you use Twine instead of Storyline or other tools for building branching scenarios? An attendee at one of my recent presentations asked me why I’d bother creating something in Twine rather than just storyboarding directly in Storyline, especially if I was using character images. Whether I would use Twine, Storyline, Rise, or something else depends on the project and the goals.
Strengths of different tools
Twine
- Creating the branching structure: Twine is strongest at creating the branching structure and writing the decision paths. If the branching is significant, or the scenario is long, I can build the initial prototype in maybe half the time it would take in Storyline.
- Revising the structure: Twine is best for revising the branching structure. Being able to drag and drop the passages to organize particular parts of the branching makes it much easier to see what’s happening. It’s also easier to see when a revision would break the structure and figure out how to fix it. I talk about revising branching structure in a past post.
- Responsive output: Twine creates a responsive output (it’s HTML). With the sidebar hidden, it works well even on a small phone.
- Free: Twine is a free, open source tool. You can download it or use the browser-based version.
Storyline
- Animation and Media: Storyline is great for timed animation, special effects, and controlling exactly what each slide will look like. It’s also much easier to do audio in Storyline.
- SCORM: Storyline makes SCORM output easy.
Rise
- Easy to build: The Rise scenario block is easy and fast. As long as you’re happy with the layout in Rise, it’s fast to create sometthing
- Responsive: Like everything in Rise, it’s responsive.
Google Forms
- Collect data: Because it’s a survey tool, Google Forms automatically collects data on responses and provides charts. Without requiring an LMS or even login, you can build and share a branching scenario that collects data.
- Free: Google Forms is a free tool, and many educators are already familiar with it.
Combining tools for building branching scenarios
My typical workflow has been to use a combination of Twine and Storyline. I write and prototype in Twine. It’s fast, and it provides a functional, text-only prototype quickly to aid the revision process.
Once most of the structural revisions are done, then I migrate the content to Storyline. That means I’m doing a second build of everything. I’m trying to eliminate that repeated effort from my process by experimenting with visual design in Twine. If I can get Twine to be polished enough, I can remove that whole rebuilding process for many projects.
Examples for when to choose each tool
Simple conversation: Rise
For a simple 2-person conversation simulation without extensive branching, I might use the Rise scenario block. It’s fast. The big drawback is that you can’t see the structure at all. Without any visual of the flowchart, you have to either have a simple structure or track the structure in a tool like Twine or Miro.
Try the Rise conversation example.
Complex animation or media: Storyline
For more complex visuals or animation, like simulating text messages, I use Storyline. Maybe I could come up with a way to replicate this in Twine, but it would honestly be hours of work. It’s much smarter to build in Storyline for this version. (Yes, I’ve used this same basic scenario and text a couple of different ways.)
Collect data: Google Forms
If I wanted to collect data on every choice learners make in a scenario, without needing an LMS, Google Forms is a good choice. This could even be an option for a quick prototype to see if your distractors were plausible or to see if the question difficulty is appropriate.
I personally probably wouldn’t use it otherwise, since I have other tools available, but it’s a good option for people with limited budgets or who are already using a lot of Google tools (like many teachers and higher ed instructors).
Learn how to create a branching scenario in Google Forms.
Chat simulation: Twine
For a simple chat simulation, I would use Twine and not rebuild it in Storyline. Twine with the Trialogue format would be much faster than anything in Storyline. I built this whole chat simulation with 50 passages in 2 hours.
Extensive branching: Twine
For more extensive branching, I would at least plan everything in Twine first. For example, I did a project last year that ended up with over 70 slides. I could have planned it in Storyline, but building the links across that many decision points would have been clunky in Storyline. Twine lets me drag and drop all the passages so I can clearly see the bottlenecks and branches, as in the image below.
However, I did eventually build the project above in Storyline after the Twine prototype was reviewed and revised. If I was doing it again now, with the recent improvements to Twine, I’d probably keep it in Twine instead of building it all a second time in Storyline.
Other tools
BranchTrack, H5P, iSpring, Yo Scenario, and other tools also have the ability to create branching scenarios. I just haven’t used them enough to clearly compare them with other tools.
Same scenario, different tools
If you didn’t click through to the examples above, you may not have noticed that I have built the same basic writing feedback scenario in several different tools. The content isn’t exactly the same, but you can see how different a scenario can feel or function by building it in a different tool.
i ‘d like to understand how google forms is defined as a branch scenario tool
It’s clearly not designed for branching scenarios, but you can use it that way by saying that when a specific choice is made, you jump to a different question. I have an example and step-by-step directions here: https://www.christytuckerlearning.com/build-a-branching-scenario-in-google-forms/
Hi Christy, Thank you for all your great content on scenarios. I was wondering if you’ve tried out https://www.yoscenario.com for building scenarios. There is a demo piece on their site that’s called the Andy Dufrayne case, which seems very well made and I’m hoping this is a tool I can add to my tool box.
I’ve not spent enough time on it as yet and would appreciate any feedback on it if you’ve checked it out.
Great question, Anita! I bookmarked Yoscenario about 2 years ago, but I’ve never actually tried it. At the time, it was on a freemium model, but it looks like now it’s a “free but give us money if you want” model. I’ll put it on my list to check out, and I’ll update my post to add that to the list of other tools.
Have you tried it at all? How is it going so far?