About KathaaVerse
KathaaVerse turns books and films into text adventures you play by making choices. The name joins kathaa (कथा), story in Sanskrit and Hindi, to verse, as in universe: a story you can walk into.
What it is
Pick a title from the library, or name any book or film yourself. Choose how far the story may bend: Canon keeps its shape, Creative lets your choices re-plot the chapters ahead, and Remix puts genre, cast and ending in play. Then an AI storyteller writes the adventure one scene at a time, around what you do.
Underneath, the game keeps a plan of chapters and milestones and remembers who and what you have met, so a long run holds together and arrives at an ending instead of drifting. Choose a story.
Who made it
KathaaVerse is created by Karthikeshwar: the idea, the game design, the AI engine, the interface and the words, end to end. It is a one-person project.
On Hacker News
In July 2025 the launch post, Show HN: I built an AI that turns any book into a text adventure game
, reached #1 on Show HN and #5 on the Hacker News front page. It closed at 280 points and 111 comments.
Read the discussion on Hacker News
Screenshots taken on the day, on the way up, so their counts are lower than the final ones. Hacker News is run by Y Combinator; neither is affiliated with KathaaVerse.