WHAT IF is an interactive story playground by wafula eliah: choose a question, read its story, then use the Ripple Engine to explore possible consequences on the first day, one year later, and generations later. Despite the name, it does not generate AI predictions. Its consequences are written by editors, with prompts inviting readers to imagine what might happen when no consequence has been supplied.
How the WHAT IF experience works
The project starts with a board of questions. A reader selects one to open its story, then moves through three time horizons: the first day, one year later, and generations later. The experience is designed to turn a speculative question into a sequence of possible effects, rather than to deliver a definitive forecast.
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Consequences, not predictions
Eliah is explicit: “The Ripple Engine does not generate AI predictions.” It draws on consequences written in Sanity. If an editor has not provided a consequence for a particular horizon, the engine prompts the reader to imagine an outcome instead. That distinction matters: the content is authored or imagined, not calculated as a forecast.
Why the stories live in a CMS
Questions and stories are managed in Sanity instead of being hard-coded into the page. According to Eliah, editors can manage each question, its slug, summary, story, image, and optional consequences for each time horizon. That structure keeps the site’s content editable while the interface presents it as an interactive exploration. Sanity describes its platform as a backend for content-driven websites and apps: Sanity.
#1 Best Overall
- Introductory standalone set to the vast Legendary landscape! All Cards will contain art from the popular What If…? TV series!
- 8 New Heros including Captain Carter, T'Challa Star-Lord, Party Thor and more!
- 4 New Masterminds! 5 New Villian Groups! 3 New Henchman groups! 4 New Schemes and 5 New Special Bystanders!
- New Keywords like Soulblind, Liberate and more!
- Players cooperate to defeat evil and can also compete for the highest score!
What went into building it
Eliah says he built WHAT IF with Nuxt and Sanity, using their command-line tools to start the projects. He began with the question board and story pages, then added the Ripple Engine to connect each story to its possible consequences.
A navigation issue changed how content loaded
During development, content did not always appear as expected while navigating between pages. Eliah reports that moving Sanity reads behind Nuxt server routes and making page loading non-blocking helped pages open promptly while content loaded. This is his account of a debugging decision, not an independently measured performance result.
Rank #2
- The adult party game where you blurt out the most ridiculous answers you can come up with to crazy What If...? scenarios
- One player reads a What If…? Scenario Card to two competing players
- They try to quickly come up with inappropriate and hilarious answers
- The group then awards a point to the best answer
- For 3-20 Players. Includes: 400 What If…? Scenarios (200 Cards)
What the project is—and is not
- It is: a web playground for exploring speculative questions through stories and consequences across time.
- It is: an editor-managed experience, with optional consequences and room for readers’ own imagination.
- It is not: an AI system that predicts what will happen, or a claim that any imagined consequence is certain.
Eliah says his next steps would be adding more thought experiments and refining the editing experience. The project’s central idea is already clear: make a question easier to explore by tracing how its imagined effects might unfold over time.
Read wafula eliah’s WHAT IF project showcase on DEV Community.
Quick Recap
Best Value
- GUESS THE PHRASE THROUGH 116db OF MUSIC – Slip on our custom-made Sorry What headphones as you lip-read wild phrases. Headphones has a built-in timer for fast-paced gameplay!
- UNPREDICTABLE AND OUTRAGEOUS GUESSES – With 100 random word cards and over 40,000 combinations, each round is filled with unexpected and hilarious phrases!
- EASY-TO-LEARN FRIENDS PARTY GAME - Simply pick your teams, put on the headphones, and let the outrageous guessing games begin! This board games for adults is the ultimate icebreaker for any friendly party, gathering or games night! Brought to you by the creators of the popular Grab the Mic game!
- WHAT'S INSIDE - Discover 100 word cards, custom headphones, charging cable, and easy-to-follow instructions that'll have you playing in no time! together for hours of fun and laughter.
Rank #4
- Number of players: 8
- Brand New in box.
- The product ships with all relevant accessories
- Package Dimensions: 6.4 L x 21.8 H x 14.0 W (centimeters)
Rank #3
- More than 1 million sold
- Making people laugh for 10 years
- All new questions and new pick-a-player cards
- Colorful cards and dry-erase board
- A sure hit for any party or family gathering
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