Today, Digitable released a cross-platform visual novel on Steam based on Anton Chekhov’s “The Lady with the Dog.” The game is available in Russian and English and features fully voiced characters, animated CG scenes, and a branching narrative system. It is also coming soon to Yandex Games, the App Store, VK, RuStore, and other platforms.
The complete original text has been preserved: by finishing the visual novel, you will effectively have read the book itself. The difference is that, through a long and painstaking generation process, we have brought its characters to life, created their voices, and added an interactive narrative system.
At key moments in the story, for example, you will be able to decide what happens next. Some choices will keep you on Chekhov’s original path, while others will lead to alternative storylines.
In addition to this pilot release, we are already working on visual adaptations of several major literary works. We plan to complete and publish them later this year on Steam, Yandex Games, VK, the App Store, Google Play, and a number of local digital stores.
Our current production catalogue includes:
“War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
“Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas
“The Odyssey” by Homer
“The Republic” by Plato
“Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Friedrich Nietzsche
Even more excitingly, our editor is now entering the final stage of testing. You can already try it as an experimental workspace, and very soon you will be able to connect it to leading AI models and tools.
The editor will let you create your own visual novels and educational materials, generate content with state-of-the-art AI models, embed the resulting experiences virtually anywhere, or even download them for offline use!
Some articles on our free educational portal already have this interactive video mode. And yes, the courses really are free: there is a huge collection of materials on programming, mathematics, logic, and online communication. No registration is required—we are simply trying to make the world a little better with courses.digitable.life.
For example, our articles on Federal Law No. 152-FZ and the foundations of programming now include an “Enable video mode” button. It launches the same visual-novel engine, but in this case it becomes an interactive learning simulator with a narrative built around the educational material.
If you would like to commission an adaptation of a particular work or support the project—all contributions go toward infrastructure and hardware—you can purchase the game on Steam, submit a request through the courses portal, or support us with a donation of any amount.
And, of course, subscribe to @digitable_blog so you do not miss anything.
Now we wait. If you know anyone at LitRes, Chitai-Gorod, or other major publishing and book platforms who might want to join us in reshaping the education and reading markets, please send them our way—my contact details are publicly available.
A visual-content revolution is coming: in any language, with any DLC, in any format, and with any combination of audio and video. There is no need to compete—join us and let us build a win-win partnership.
I am also attaching a collection of artwork from both “The Lady with the Dog” and the other adaptations currently in production. The completed story takes approximately 40 minutes to experience.
The classics are immortal.
Follow the project on Telegram at @digitable_blog, on YouTube, and at novel.digitable.life.