Netflix launches interactive kids' content

Decades old role-playing book phenomenon makes its way on screen

The Netflix logo is is shown on an ipad in Encinitas, California in this file photo taken April 19,2013. Netflix Inc's quarterly profit more than doubled, boosted by the addition of 1.12 million custShow more

Many readers may have fond memories of the Choose Your Own Adventure or Fighting Fantasy series of books from their childhood.

The books closed the gap between literature and the role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, which were hugely popular in the 1980s, encouraging youngsters to read, while at the same time introducing an element of interactivity and decision making to the world of reading.

The "Gamebook" phenomena as we know it could reasonably be traced to 1976, with the publication of Edward Packard's Sugarcane Island, the first in the popular Choose Your Own Adventure series, although earlier contenders include 1945's Treasure Hunt by an otherwise unknown Alan George, which allowed readers to choose different endings to certain sections.

The genre really took off following the 1982 publication of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first in the Fighting Fantasy series from the British founders of the Games Workshop chain, Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. This book would introduce roleplaying elements such as diceplay and character abilities to the genre, and would ultimately run to well over 100 books during the genre's heyday.

The phenomena's popularity has faded since its 1980s peak, though reprints of many books from various early series have continued throughout the 20th century, while Jackson has promised to publish a new Fighting Fantasy novel, Port of Peril, to mark the series' 35th anniversary in August of this year.

Now, however, Netflix is looking to revive the concept, if not the printed format, of Gamebooks with what we could perhaps christen as 'Game TV'. The streaming platform's first interactive "branching" narrative show Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale has already launched globally, putting Netflix subscribers in charge of how the story unfolds, while its second, Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile, is to launch on July 14.

Carla Engelbrecht, director of product innovation at Netflix, says: "Content creators have a desire to tell non-linear stories like these, and Netflix provides the freedom to roam, try new things and do their best work. Being an internet-based company enables us to innovate new formats, deliver at scale to millions of members all over the world on multiple device types and, most importantly, learn from it."

For the time being, Netflix's interactive shows are aimed at kids: "The children's programming space was a natural place for us to start, since kids are eager to 'play' with their favourite characters and already inclined to tap, touch and swipe at screens. They also talk to their screens, as though the characters can hear them. Now, that conversation can be two-way. It's really about finding the right stories - and storytellers - that can tell these complex narratives and bring them to life in a compelling way," says Engelbrecht.

If the kids' shows prove a success, it would hardly be a surprise to see Netflix expand the concept into more grown up territory – after all, generations of kids who grew up on the Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy books are now adult Netflix subscribers, and just writing this story has already given me a nostalgic yearning for flicking through well-thumbed pages while rolling dice and killing trolls.