Stories Designer vs Twist
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Stories Designer
Create interactive, non-linear stories with branching narratives and multiple endings. Utilize an AI writing assistant for enhanced creativity and manage your projects with features like writer's notes and cloud sync.
- Intuitive story creation
- AI writing assistant
- Interactive choices
- Pre-written scenes
- Writer's notes
- Cloud sync
- Text-based RPG creation
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Stories Designer is a complete studio for interactive fiction. Write the prose, branch the paths, wire up the game mechanics, and then play the whole thing in an immersive reader — all in one app, all on your device. WRITE Chapters, pages, and a rich text editor with formatting, images, and Writer's Notes for the plan behind the plot. Page revisions let one page have several versions, so a reader who loops back finds something new. BRANCH Give any page as many choices as it needs. Point a choice at another page, a whole chapter, or a Side Quest that returns where it left off. Add several destinations and the story picks one at random, so no two playthroughs match. BUILD A GAME, NOT JUST A BOOK • Inventory: items, stats, quests, and pins the reader carries in a Backpack • Conditions: show, hide, or unlock choices based on what the reader has done • An expression language for real arithmetic and logic on stats • Shortcodes that drop live values straight into your prose • Conditional prose blocks — If / Else If / Else — so a paragraph rewrites itself SEE THE WHOLE STORY The visual Designer lays your story out as a node graph you can drag, auto-arrange, and edit in place, with full undo. The Inspector traces every path, and Debug Mode finds the dead ends, orphan pages, and broken links before a reader does. READ IT LIKE A GAME An immersive reader with bookmarks, the Backpack, per-story fonts and colors, images, background music, and video. Have the story read aloud, then answer out loud — say "go left" or "continue" and the story listens. Perfect for the car, a walk, or reading to someone. AN AI THAT ACTUALLY KNOWS YOUR STORY Bring your own API key from Anthropic (Claude), Google (Gemini), OpenAI, or xAI (Grok), or use the built-in credits. The assistant reads your pages, drafts new ones, writes options and conditions, wires up inventory, and keeps continuity — it edits your story with you rather than handing back a wall of text. Set its persona and voice per story so a horror novella and a children's tale don't sound the same. Generate illustrations, music, and narration audio to match. Every request's token use and cost is tracked in plain view. OFFLINE FIRST, YOURS ALWAYS Everything is stored on your device and everything works with no signal at all. Optional cloud sync keeps your library matched across phone, tablet, and Mac. Back up, restore, and archive whenever you like. SHARE IT Export a complete story as a single file — mechanics, media, and all — or as plain text you can edit anywhere. Import what other authors send you and read it the way they built it. BUILT WITH CARE Material 3 design that picks up your system colors, light and dark themes, large touch targets, and a layout that opens up on tablets, foldables, and desktop. An optional subscription unlocks cloud sync, online storage, and a monthly allowance of AI credits. You can skip it entirely: bring your own AI key, or use no AI at all — every authoring and reading feature works offline and unpaid. Whether you're writing a gamebook, a training scenario, a bedtime adventure, or a sprawling RPG campaign, Stories Designer gives you the whole workshop.
Twist
Engage with interactive stories where your decisions shape the narrative. Explore diverse genres from romance and fantasy to business tycoon simulations. Experience webcomics and novels brought to life with dynamic storylines and multiple endings.
- Interactive story choices
- Webnovel and webcomic integration
- Romance and love story adventures
- Business and tycoon simulations
- Dynamic storylines with multiple endings
- Community features for readers
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Dive into the world of "Twist: Interactive Novels," where your choices shape the story. This unique role-playing game blends the excitement of webnovels and webcomics with the thrill of interactive story games. Immerse Yourself in Diverse Stories: - Webnovel Wonders: Explore a library filled with captivating novels. Whether you love fantasy, mystery, or romance, our collection has it all. - Comics Come Alive: Experience your favorite webcomics in a new way. Each chapter is a journey where you're the hero. Love and Choices: - Love Story Adventures: Navigate through intricate love games. Choose your story in our interactive love chapters, where decisions impact the outcome. - Choices Matter: Every choice you make alters the path of your story. From casual encounters to critical decisions, your journey is unique. Business and Tycoon Elements: - Be a Business Mogul: Step into the shoes of a CEO, manage real estate empires, or run a bank in our business-themed stories. - Tycoon Challenges: From a money tycoon to a bank game, test your skills in our business and finance-related novels. - Idle Office Fun: Enjoy light-hearted idle office stories where you climb the corporate ladder to become a billionaire. Features: - Engaging Chapters: Each story game is filled with exciting chapters, offering a unique role-playing experience. - Dynamic Storylines: Your choices influence the direction and outcome of the story. Experience different endings based on your decisions. - Connect with Fellow Readers: Join a community of webnovel and webcomic enthusiasts. Share your story choices and discuss your favorite chapters. - Download "Twist: Interactive Novels" now and start your journey through a world of stories where you're in control. Will you find love, build a business empire, or embark on an epic adventure? The choice is yours! Subscription: Recurring billing. Cancel anytime. You can subscribe to get ads-free gameplay, no waiting time and all the chapters of the game or subscribe to access in-game banking plans for the duration of your subscription. The subscription is $49.99 yearly and $9.99 monthly, $4.99 weekly*. You'll be able to get ads-free gameplay, no waiting time and all the chapters of the game for the duration of your subscription. Payment will be charged to your iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase. Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off for at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period at the cost of the chosen package. Subscriptions may be managed by the user and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase. No cancellation of the current subscription is allowed during active subscription period. You can read our privacy policy and terms of use at https://www.hiddenlakegames.com/terms. Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication. *Prices are equal to the value that "Apple's App Store Matrix" determines is the equivalent of the subscription price in $USD. By using Hidden Lake: Interactive Games, you agree to our Terms of Use and Community Guidelines available at https://www.hiddenlakegames.com/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Stories Designer at 5.0 against Twist's 4.4. Stories Designer also leads on ads (none vs shown). Twist's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 5 weeks) and ratings volume (45 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Stories Designer sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Twist sells 8 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Stories Designer holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Twist has 45 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 100% and 100% positive.
Stories Designer ships an update every 5 weeks, Twist every 4 days. Both last shipped on November 3, 2026.
| Parameter | Stories Designer | Twist |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better | 4.4 (45 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 45 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | Every 4 days — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 106 MB | 137 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Scott Conger Design | Hidden Lake Games LLC |
Customer experience
Stories Designer
Twist
In-app purchases
Stories Designer
- Original Cloud Sync & AI$1.991 Month
- Theme Rose$0.99
- Theme Ocean$0.99
- Theme Default$1.99
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- Theme Yellow$1.99
Twist
- Premium Plan$4.997 Days
- Premium Plan$9.991 Month
- Premium Plan$49.991 Year
- Small Coins Pack$4.99
- Medium Coins Pack$9.99
- Big Coins Pack$19.99
Show 2 moreShow fewer
- Very Big Coins Pack$39.99
- Legendary Coins Pack$99.99
Questions
Is Stories Designer free?
Is Twist free?
Which has better reviews, Stories Designer or Twist?
Do Stories Designer or Twist have ads?
Which is updated more often, Stories Designer or Twist?
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