You brief the cast. TILKI runs the show.

The standard way to build a game is to program it. You write code that tells each character and thing in your game what to do. You then author every behaviour, every interaction, and every possible outcome. No matter how original it is, the world can only contain exactly what you put in.

Creating with TILKI is more like directing a film, because you’re working with a system that doesn’t need you to shape and plan every tiny element. Like a director, you give the “cast” of your game backstory, motivation, and goals. You define what the factions want, what obligations run between characters, and what the history of the world is. You set the conditions for the world to run, and then you call action.

A director’s job isn’t to write every line. Instead, a director creates the circumstances that make the lines meaningful, and that make people invested in their story.