Welcome to SURVIVE: The Island – Where Every Choice Matters

Andrea	Andrew	Boon	Bryan
Chelsea	Chris	Cowin	Emily
Graham	Ian	Jill	Jim
Jordan	Jordanna	Kate	Lauren
Mayo	Mayoli	Michelle	Mike
Paul	Peter	Rosendo	Sara M
Sara R	Travis	Tyfanna

Chapter 1: Awakenings
Chapter 2: Into the Unknown
Chapter 3: Your Storm
Chapter 4: The Dark Beckoning
Chapter 5: As Night Falls
Chapter 6: Surrender Comes Softly
Chapter 7: The Cost of Survival
Chapter 8: When the Island Calls Your Name
Chapter 9: Domination
Chapter 10: You Don’t Belong Here
Chapter 11: All That Was Taken
Chapter 12: The Quiet Between Breaths
Chapter 13: Crossfire
Chapter 14: The Answers You Wanted

From the creator of Survivor Hamilton comes an online, immersive ‘choose your own adventure‘ game like no other. You wake up on a mysterious island, with no memory of how you got there. The sand is hot, the jungle teems with unknown threats, and survival is anything but guaranteed.

Each week, you’ll face a pivotal decision. Do you explore the treacherous caves for shelter? Forge alliances with other stranded players? Or risk everything in a selfish bid to find a way off the island? Your choices will shape your journey – but beware: the wrong move might seal your fate, ending your game. Do you have what it takes to survive?

The adventure begins Wednesday, January 1st, 2025. Will you rise as a survivor or become a cautionary tale?

How will SURVIVE: The Island work?

SURVIVE: The Island is a competitive and/or cooperative “choose your own adventure” style experience, which should bring back memories of the CYOA books we used to read as kids. However, there are a few key differences.

1. Rather than a solo story for one person only, SURVIVE: The Island is designed to be experienced by many individual players at the same time. Your choices will be your own, but they will be made in the context of everyone else’s choices. This means that some players may decide to “stick with” their friends, following the story alongside the players they trust the most. Conversely, there may be group decisions (eg. should one or more players enter a dark cave, and who should go first?) which could come down to a majority vote.

2. While CYOA books ultimately came down to reading along until you reached either a “good” or a “bad” ending, SURVIVE: The Island’s story will evolve based on the decisions you are making individually, and as a group. The potential “endings” are limited only by our combined creativity and imagination.

3. Not only will your choices matter, but the reason WHY you choose a specific path will also be taken into account by integrating these details into your unique part of the weekly and season-long story. To accomplish these immersive personal details, along with your choice I’ll be asking you to provide a sentence or two about your reasoning and motivation behind it.

4. Since multiple people are playing at the same time, there isn’t one single “ending” to SURVIVE: The Island – every player will have their own unique conclusion to the story. The challenge for each player is not only achieving a “winning conclusion” to the game; because first, you’ll need to get to the end without being eliminated early. But your story is your story, as is your ending; some endings will simply happen before others.

What is the goal of SURVIVE: The Island?

The goal of SURVIVE: The Island is to have fun! The CYOA books meant a lot to me as a kid, because the immersion of the story evolving to me choices fully pulled me in. I’ve always wanted to attempt a collaborative CYOA experience so I could integrate the unpredictability and randomness of multiple people shifting the story at the same time. It wasn’t until AI tools were accessible to me that this idea could fully take shape. It’s not going to be perfect, but trust me that what I want most is for this experience to be as enjoyable for you as it will be for me.

No really, what is the goal of SURVIVE: The Island?

The secondary goal of SURVIVE: The Island is to get off said island. Play as yourself, or play as a version of yourself you always wanted to be (or was scared to be). But remember that the story will begin with you stranded on a mysterious island; and while that may seem like the perfect escape from reality for some of us, you’ll probably want to get home at some point. Only a few players will ultimately reach this story’s conclusion, and it’s theoretically possible that no players will escape their fate – so enjoy your (unique) ride.

Can you give me an example of the SURVIVE: The Island?

Yes, but let’s imagine a different setting.

You stand in the crumbling foyer of the haunted mansion, three ominous doors before you. The air crackles with tension, and every decision feels like it could be your last. What do you do?

• Enter the basement: You descend into the darkness and discover an old chest filled with candles, matches, and a weathered map of the house. This valuable find will aid you in navigating future challenges.
• Open the grand double doors: The ornate room beyond glows faintly, but as you step inside, the door slams shut behind you. The chilling air saps your strength, and you lose a critical item you were carrying.
• Approach the scratched door: You cautiously enter, but a monstrous shadow lunges from the darkness. Your scream is cut short. Your game ends here.

Every choice matters. Will your progress continue, will you be stalled by a negative consequence, or will your game even survive to see another week?

How much effort will SURVIVE: The Island be for me?

Your weekly experience will most likely be a simple one. Each week on Wednesdays, starting on January 1st, 2025, I’ll post a “chapter” of SURVIVE: The Island here on survivorhamilton.ca. You can read the story (keeping an eye out for your own name), and discover what choice you’re faced with. Players will all start with the same initial choice, but from there your paths with diverge, merge, then diverge again and again throughout the story.

This is where the effort level for some players may exceed others. Knowing how intense past seasons of Survivor Hamilton were, and how “all-in” some players get, I fully expect strategy to be employed, alliances to be made, and a healthy dose of both collaboration and fierce competition. While you’ll still only need to read a weekly post and make a single decision, and play for as long as you’re able.

I expect the game to run for a minimum 3 months, but depending on your overall story progress and how much you’re all enjoying the experience, we could extend to a maximum of 5-6 months. Remember that 5 months would only equate to 20 decisions, but I feel that the complexity of branching narratives for you as a player, and me as the puppet game master, will make a weekly post more achievable.

You’re not just tricking us into playing a secret game of Survivor Hamilton are you?

While this would be a juicy twist, I promise I am not. Indeed, there are many people asking when Survivor Hamilton is coming back, there’s an equal/greater number of former SH players that have promised themselves (or a loved one) that they’ll never play Survivor Hamilton again. This is why I’m creating SURVIVE: The Island. My initial objective is to combine the decision making and teamwork of SH with a narrative adventure similar to a “choose your own adventure” book.

I hope that this time around, players put off by the tribal dynamics SH, or cut off from SH by their families will actually invite their judgemental loved ones to play along and experience the story. I’m also striving to deliver choices that could be made as an individual, as a team, or by a rogue group of deviants hoping to get to the end of the game by standing on the backs of their island companions.

Just go with it, put in the time you feel comfortable with, and enjoy SURVIVE: The Island for what it will be – an adventure unique to you.