The use of simulations for training has achieved mainstream status. While they span a range from high-fidelity simulators with specialized hardware to those with simple branching interactions, the latter are fast gaining in popularity given their capacity to provide experiential learning at a relatively low cost. As they become commonplace, there will be a drive towards increasing simulation complexity. To date, many of these branching simulations are implemented using hyperlinks and other content navigation mechanisms. Very little state information is maintained explicitly, if any. Instead, state information is embedded within the navigational structure. Although this is adequate for simple simulations and has the advantage of intuitive authoring, this representation does not scale easily as the need for complexity rises. An alternative is a representation where simulation states are explicitly maintained and used to drive the simulation. This is employed by all high-end simulations. The challenge is to provide a way to create state-based simulations development platform that is also intuitive in terms of authoring, and does not increase the cost of content significantly. In this paper, we will describe an approach that facilitates state-based simulations while also providing ease of authoring. We will also discuss the costs and benefits of both state-based and alternate representations.