Portfolio

Amin Djaballah

Narrative DesignerInteractive Fiction WriterWorldbuilder

I'm an independent narrative designer and creative writer specializing in branching narratives, character-driven storytelling, and player choice. I created Mythmaker, an interactive fiction platform where readers shape stories through their decisions.

Visit Mythmaker Play the writing samples Résumé (PDF)

Featured project

Mythmaker

An interactive fiction platform where every story branches on the reader's decisions, and every ending they reach becomes part of a record that follows them across stories.

Role: Creator, Lead Writer & Narrative Designer
Development: 2025–Present
Platform: Web (desktop & mobile)

What I do on it

Original story writing and worldbuilding
Branching narrative design
Character dialogue and relationships
Player choices and consequences
Narrative continuity and cross-story systems
Interactive story implementation

An original engine

Mythmaker runs on an interactive fiction engine I built, with its own authoring tool. Stories are scene graphs: choices can be shown, hidden, or rerouted by what the reader has done before, and scenes can swap in alternate text when earlier decisions change how a moment should read.

Persistent player identity. Reaching an ending earns an Echo, a named, permanent record of that route. Each Echo carries one or more Traits drawn from a shared set used by every story, so a reader's record builds across the whole library. It describes what they did. It never changes what a future story lets them do.

Playable writing samples

Three stories, three different skills

Each one opens right here in Mythmaker’s own reader, the same one the site uses. No account needed. Most take 5–25 minutes for one path; every story has several endings.

Fantasy · Drama

Before the King

Play story

You were dragged before the King, accused of stealing from the treasury. You didn't do it. All you have is your words, your read of the room, and whatever nerve you can hold onto.

61 scenes
65 choices
12 distinct endings
about 3,800 words

What it shows

A throne-room hearing under pressure: the reader can deny, fight, or poke a hole in the accusation, and each stance plays out differently.
Consequences that carry forward. What you did in the throne room changes how the Guard treats you in the cell.
Small details planted early become leverage later, if the reader noticed them.

Read the full design breakdown ↓

Slice of Life

First Date

Play story

You're early, she's late. When Sofia finally arrives at the coffee shop on the plaza, you have one afternoon to answer the question every first date is secretly asking: is this going anywhere?

65 scenes
58 choices
8 distinct endings
about 3,500 words

What it shows

Subtext-driven dialogue: Sofia rarely says outright how it's going, so the reader has to read between the lines.
A hidden interest score that 26 different choices move up or down; the goodbye scene reads it and lands one of three versions of the ending.
A few lines are bad enough to end the date on the spot. And the reader can leave before she ever shows up, which is its own ending.

Slice of Life · Comedy

Never Have I Ever

Play story

Your new neighbor Sam invites you to game night with friends you've never met: Remi, Cass, and Dev. The game is Never Have I Ever, one hand, five fingers, and it turns getting-to-know-you into a sport.

53 scenes
52 choices
5 distinct endings
about 3,200 words

What it shows

Ensemble comedy: four distinct voices bouncing off each other, with the reader as the newcomer finding a place in an existing group.
The game is the mechanic. Each round the reader puts a finger down or keeps their hand up, then decides how much to admit.
What you admit is remembered. Answers from early rounds shape how later moments land, and the in-story Notes journal keeps an entry on each character, and on you, that changes with what you say.

Narrative design breakdown

Before the King

A single throne-room accusation that branches into twelve endings. At its core: when the system is rigged against you, what does your response say about you?

The central decision · no spoilers

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

The King asks this in the first scene, with the Advisor beside him laying out the case. The reader's first answer sets the stance for everything after:

Deny it. "I didn't take anything." Honest, and exactly what the Advisor expects.
Fight. Pull against the cuffs. It proves the Advisor's point, and someone in the room remembers.
Ask a question. "What time this morning?" The only answer that turns the accusation back on itself.

How choices shape the experience

Memory, not menus

Choices set flags that later scenes check. The throne room and the cell are separate acts, and the second one is written around what you did in the first.

Characters with their own reasons

The Advisor needs a culprit and never looks at you. The King wants certainty, not cruelty. The Guard didn't sign up for this. Each one responds to the reader's approach on their own terms.

Consequences you can see

Results show up in the scene itself, through how characters react, rather than in pop-ups or meters. Most endings close on a short italic line naming what the reader actually did.

Show the branching pathsSpoilers

The story's full branch structure, simplified. Every scene and ending below exists in the story; a few short connecting beats are folded together for readability.

Branch map of Before the King. The accusation splits three ways: asking about the time can win release outright (The Timeline), fighting can end in the throne room (Second Swing), and the other routes lead down to the cell. There, what you overheard, how you treat the Guard, and whether you hit him earlier decide among the other ten endings, including a final act inside the Advisor's office.

Examples from the story

A detail becomes leverage

At the end of the throne room, the Advisor whispers orders to the Guard. Readers who chose to listen hear that the Guard is being moved to the front lines. Only they get the option, in the cell, to tell him who's sending him there.

Violence is remembered

Readers who fought in the throne room and hit the Guard find him waiting in the cell: "You hit me. And now you want to talk?" Every friendly route is closed. Only the bleakest endings remain.

Kindness pays off slowly

Ask the Guard about himself instead of your case and he admits he'd rather be a carpenter. Later he comes back out of uniform: more was stolen after you were locked up, and he'd asked around after your conversation.

Same scene, different meaning

If the reader went back into the castle and found evidence, the confrontation rewrites itself around it. A ledger in his own handwriting and bags of dated gold each get their own lines.

How consequences are communicated

Nothing in the story announces a score. The Guard's tone changes, the King's patience runs out, the Advisor straightens his sleeve when he has no answer. Most endings close on a short italic coda that names the choice without judging it, and the Echo the reader earns records it:

You didn't try to use him. You just listened. He came back anyway.The Burden · Echo text

You heard it. You filed it. You carried it all the way to the moment it mattered. Then you said nothing.The Watched · Echo text

About me

I write the stories on Mythmaker and built the platform they run on, from the engine to the authoring tool.

B.A. in Communication, Public Relations concentrationFlorida Gulf Coast University, May 2026
Former Treasurer, FGCU Creative Writing Club
Marketing Assistant, Owens Kimball Construction CompanyFort Myers, FL · Sep–Dec 2024. Edited RFQs, proposals, and marketing materials for clarity and brand consistency; managed the company's social media schedule.
Intern, Deaf & Hard of Hearing CenterFort Myers, FL · Jun–Aug 2024. Wrote press releases, social media content, and newsletters with clear, audience-focused messaging; developed marketing and outreach plans.
Independent creator and writer of MythmakerWriting, narrative design, engine and tools

Contact

Let's talk

Open to narrative design, game writing, and interactive fiction roles.

amindjaballah414@gmail.com LinkedIn Résumé (PDF)