Like Sleep Is Death, in your browser

In 2010 Jason Rohrer made Sleep Is Death (Geisterfahrer), a storytelling game for two: one person runs the world and everyone in it, the other plays the hero, and the turn passes every thirty seconds. TickTale is a new game built on that idea, for the browser.

Play a 2-minute scene · Watch a film

What carries over

• Two seats: the Controller sets the stage and speaks for every character but one; the Player is the hero.
• Short turns: the Player walks, says one line and does one thing; the Controller answers.
• Thirty-second turns if you like: the Live clock gives 30 seconds, a minute or two minutes.
• Every story plays back as a flipbook film.

What is different

• Nothing to install: it runs in a browser tab, on a computer or a phone. No download, no hosting, no ports to open.
• Stakes when you want them: in Sleep Is Death every outcome is the Controller’s word; TickTale adds optional walls the hero must find a way round, verdicts (Yes, Yes but…, No and…), two dice rolled by the server when something is at risk, and clocks and hearts the Controller keeps on stage. All of it shows in the film.
• Live or slow: a Relaxed clock gives a day per turn with a reminder; Open has no clock at all.
• Ready-made pixel art in several styles; Stagehands can paint their own.
• Films to share as a link, a video or a GIF, and a Repertory of films to watch.
• Invite a friend with a ticket link, or find a partner on the Call Board.
• Seven languages, ratings, and lines and veils.

What it costs

Free to play. Players never pay. An optional Stagehand plan lets you run as many stories as you like, paint your own art and use every art pack. No AI writes, draws or plays.

Not the original

TickTale is not made by Jason Rohrer and is not Sleep Is Death; it is a different game inspired by it. The original is at sleepisdeath.net.