The Shortcut Game System

 

 The Shortcut Game System

A flexible game engine for the Today Widget


The Shortcut Game System (SGS) is a game engine that runs in the background of an iPhone using Apple's built-in Shortcuts app. It is designed to be instantly accessible to the player from a widget on their home screen or "Today" view, and does not requiring opening the Shortcuts app to run. Nor does it require any non-stock apps to function.

The system is also designed to be flexible. Shortcuts is not designed as a programming language, and so there are limitations on what SGS can have built-in. However, that also makes it easily customizable for any particular game. There will be different versions of SGS that enable different gaming experiences for players. The first version, SGS-A, is designed to run as a text adventure where the player selects their actions through a menu. A future version will take advantage of iOS 14's ability to enter text without opening the app, and another will use a streamlined menu selection to build a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style interface. If Shortcuts is ever given the ability to show pictures to the user, that would also present an opportunity for enhanced gameplay.

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