Category: Linear (variant) · Audience: Intermediate (uses story state)

What this shows

The player repeats the same base loop — here, a single morning — but each iteration adds knowledge that changes what is possible next time. The structure is technically a loop, yet it is experienced as forward progress.

How it works

• Reset increments s.loop and sends the player back to Start, replaying the same dawn.
• Knowledge persists across loops in s.knows. Learning about the bridge (from the old woman or by watching it fall) sets s.knows.bridge = true.
• Start checks that flag with <% if (s.knows.bridge) { %> and only then offers the loop-breaking action, “Warn the merchant.”
• Repetition is the content, not a grind around it. The craft is making the nth loop feel different enough to justify itself — which here means new options unlocking as you learn.

Using this in your own story

1. Route the end of each loop back to the start and bump a loop counter.
2. Store durable knowledge in window.story.state so it survives the reset.
3. Gate new choices behind what the player has learned, so later loops open up.

Full source

:: StoryData
{
	"ifid":"94A2D645-1745-47B0-AC96-C51EAEE6DA85"
}

:: StoryTitle
Loop and Grow Structure

:: UserScript[script]
window.story.state.loop = window.story.state.loop || 1;
window.story.state.knows = window.story.state.knows || {};

:: Start
**Loop <%= s.loop %>**

The village square at dawn — the same morning, again.

<% if (s.knows.bridge) { %>
You remember what happens at noon. This time you can act on it.

[[Warn the merchant before noon->Merchant]]
<% } %>

[[Ask the old woman about the bridge->OldWoman]]
[[Wait by the bridge until noon->Bridge]]

:: OldWoman
"The bridge?" she says. "It always falls at noon. Always has."

<% s.knows.bridge = true; %>

[[Let the day reset->Reset]]

:: Bridge
At noon the old bridge groans and collapses. You learn its timing the hard way.

<% s.knows.bridge = true; %>

[[Let the day reset->Reset]]

:: Merchant
Because you knew, you warn the merchant in time. Her cart crosses early and safely — something that never happened in any loop before.

[[The loop finally breaks->Ending]]

:: Reset
<% s.loop++; %>

Night falls and you wake to the same dawn — but you carry what you learned into the next loop.

[[Live the day again->Start]]

:: Ending
One piece of knowledge, carried across loops, changed the only thing that mattered. The morning lets you go.

**The End**

[[Loop again->Start]]

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