Program 03 · By Matilda Sales
The Whole Story.
A media-literacy game told through comic panels that dramatize the impact of blindly following misinformation and spreading rumors. A user sees a claim online, or a rumor at school, and decides how to handle the situation. The child gets to play out the full scenario to understand the extent of their choices, then is given the chance to relive the scenario and make new ones.
It's a beta preview, not a polished release. All five scenarios are playable end to end. Matilda is still refining a few panels, voiceover is not in yet, and the Endings Gallery is being expanded. If something feels off, the feedback form is open and we would love to hear from you.
I The shape
Five scenarios. Twenty-one endings.
Each session opens on a comic panel. A kid sees something online, or hears something at school, or gets a text from a friend. The reader picks what the kid does next. The story responds. Choices route to different scenes, and every scene routes, eventually, to one of twenty-one endings.
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i.
Branching comicFive scenarios
Five storylines, each a different shape of online claim kids actually face. The Poisoned Pie (an unverified internet headline). The Viral Health Scare (a parody post with 48,000 shares). The Whisper Network (a schoolyard rumor that nobody can trace). The Too-Good-to-Be-True Giveaway (a scam dressed as a celebrity giveaway). The Broken Telephone Video (a clip taken out of context).
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ii.
Visible branchingThe comic strip grows
Each scenario opens on a panel and the player makes a choice. The chosen panel slides into a strip that stays visible on screen, then the next panel appears, then the next. By the end you can see the whole storyline laid out as one continuous comic. Tap any past decision point to rewind and try a different path — the strip rebranches and you can compare endings side by side.
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iii.
Good · Mixed · BadTwenty-one endings, three types
Every choice routes you, eventually, to one of twenty-one endings. Each is sorted into one of three outcome types: Good (you checked, you traced, the truth got through), Mixed (you corrected after the fact — better than nothing), and Bad (the rumor or scam won). Panel colors shift with the emotional weight of the scene, so you can feel the story moving toward its ending before you read the words.
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iv.
Replay loopThe Endings Gallery
A back-of-the-book index of every ending you have reached. The first playthrough opens a few. The second opens more. The kid who fills in all twenty-one has, by definition, tried every shape of good and bad choice in every scenario. Replay is the loop, not a chore.
II What kids learn
The lesson is the story.
Story Game teaches the same lateral-reading and source-evaluation habits as the rest of OnLit, but the skills are delivered as plot, not pedagogy. Nobody in the game says “check the source.” The reader just picks “check the source” and watches what happens next.
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Highest-leverage habitLateral reading, in narrative
Lateral reading is woven into the game's comics: reaching the ideal outcome means choosing the panels where the character pauses to check a second source. Kids learn the habit by feeling its payoff inside a story they care about.
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Branching = stakesChoices have consequences
Twenty-one endings, not one. Sharing a rumor without checking lands you in a different scene than checking first. The branching is the lesson: in real life, what you do with what you read actually matters, and the gap between the wise call and the harmful one is usually one small choice.
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Reread & reconsiderThe reread instinct
The Endings Gallery rewards going back. A kid who replays a scenario to try a different choice is, in the small, practicing the exact skill we want in the large: rereading, reconsidering, asking whether your first read was right. The collection mechanic is a cover for the cognitive one.