Glossary

The words the rest of these docs use, and use precisely. Where two words could mean the same thing, we picked one.

Asset

An uploaded file the story references: an avatar, an environment, an animation clip, audio, an image, or a video. An asset has an author-facing name and id over an immutable content-hashed blob, so replacing one repoints the id and leaves published versions intact. Assets

Beat

One typed step in a scene's script: line, stage direction, set, choice, input, wait, or check. Not an action, a statement, or a step. Script editor

Bundle

The immutable, versioned JSON a publish produces: graph, scripts, conditions, and asset manifest. What readers actually consume. Bundle format

Cast

The project's characters, each with a stable id, display name, color, blip sound, and optional avatar. Not sprites, not actors. Cast members

Cast binding

A cast member whose identity resolves at scene entry from a variable holding another member's id. While it resolves, it is that member everywhere: name, color, avatar, blip, portrait, tokens. Cast bindings

Chapter

The writer's unit of ownership. A chapter holds scenes, and branches from another chapter arrive through its named entry points. Chapters and scenes

Check

A beat that rolls against author-stated odds and routes to a success edge or a failure edge. A choice the player does not get to make. Check

Choice

A beat presenting options to the reader. Each option routes through a graph edge or an inline body that rejoins the scene. Options may carry a condition. Choice

Compiler

What turns your story into a bundle. It doubles as the validation gate, so a story with errors does not publish. Publish and versions

Condition

An expression over variables that gates an edge or a choice option. Conditions

Cutaway

Full-screen media, an image or a video clip, shown by a stage direction over the stage. Dialogue, choices, and the HUD still render on top. It persists across beats and edges until ended or replaced. Stage directions

Edge

A connection between two scenes, optionally gated by a condition. The only way flow leaves a scene. Not a jump and not a goto. Flow view

Ending

A terminal marker on a scene: an id, a title, and optional flavor text. Play ends where no edge routes onward, and the marker says which ending that was. Endings

Environment

Set dressing positioned around the stage. It carries no marks of its own. Staging a scene

Hold

Two unrelated things share this word. In a script, a stage direction that is not marked parallel holds the script until it finishes: a cutaway until the clip ends, a move until the character arrives, an inspect until the reader puts the prop down. On a review branch, a chapter create, rename, or delete that is recorded as pending and executed only at merge. Stage directions, Runs and review

HUD widget

A readout over the stage bound to a variable: text, meter, icon counter, or list. Its visibility can be gated by a condition. HUD

Input beat

A beat that shows the reader a text field and writes their answer into a declared text variable. It rests like a choice: nothing advances until the answer is submitted. Input

Inspector

A read-only modal opened from an asset row that previews any asset kind. For avatars it exercises expressions, clips, and lipsync. It never writes anything back. Inspector

Interpolation token

A placeholder inside a line resolved at play time, from a variable ({gold}) or a cast member's current display name ({kai}). Tokens

Line

A text-bearing beat. With a speaker it is dialogue, without one it is narration. It may carry a voice asset. Line

Look

A named set of per-part tints on a cast member. Which look is active resolves from a variable at play time, so it survives saves and can gate conditions. Looks

Mark

A named position on the virtual stage: far-left, left, center, right, or far-right. Marks are identical in every environment. Staging uses marks and camera presets, never coordinates. The virtual stage

Options variable

A variable constrained to a set of choices declared on the variable itself. Single holds one choice, multiple holds a subset. Not an enum, not a select. Variables

Part

A tintable region of an avatar: hair, cloth, skin, or eye, derived from the model's material naming. A model without semantic materials exposes one whole-model part. Looks

Persistent variable

The one variable scope a new playthrough does not reset. It remembers across runs of the story, per browser and per share link. Persistent state

Portrait

A live 3D render of the speaker's head, with expression and lipsync, beside the dialogue. It covers speakers who are not on stage. Cast members

Prop

A GLB asset a stage direction places on a mark or in a cast member's hand, removes, or opens in the inspect viewer. A choice option can name one as its click target. Cleared on every scene entry. Props

Reference variable

A variable whose value is another entity's id, a cast member or an asset, authored through that entity's picker and resolved at play time. Variables

Role

A member's project-level tier: owner, editor, or viewer. Roles and invites

Run

One plan-then-execute pass by the agent on a review branch, ending awaiting review. At most one run executes per project at a time. Runs and review

Sample project

The built-in story that exercises every feature, copyable when you create a project. Templates

Save

Reader progress: bundle version, scene id, beat index, and the variable snapshot. It pins to its version, so republishing never breaks it. Player guide

Scene

A node in the story graph: a staging header plus a beat script. Not a page and not a screen. Chapters and scenes

Session

An agent thread pinned to its review branch. Your first task prompt opens it, follow-ups before merge add runs to the same branch, and merging or discarding closes it. Agents desk

Set

A beat that writes one variable: assign, add, remove, or toggle. Set

Share link

The unguessable URL a published project is played from. It always serves the latest version and is unlisted: no gallery, no reader accounts. Share links

Stage

The virtual band where cast stand and cameras aim. The stage line is invariant across environments. The virtual stage

Stage direction

A beat that changes the stage rather than the text: move or turn a character, play an animation, move the camera, change an expression, place a prop, set the light or the weather, play or stop music or sound, screen effect, or cutaway. It may run parallel to the beats that follow. Stage beats

Steering turn

A prompt sent to a session that is already running. It is consumed at the next phase boundary, where the agent revises its remaining plan or answers you. Nothing is interrupted. Steering

Story bible

The per-project document holding premise, tone, character sheets, and world facts. It is the co-writer's ground truth and the team's reference doc. Story bible

Theme

The project's chrome preset, chosen from a fixed list and carried in the bundle, so a published story renders its look without the editor. Themes

Trim

Rewinding a review branch to one of its phase checkpoints before merging. The tail phases leave the branch and their holds are voided. Tail-only by construction. Runs and review

Variable

Typed state with a scope and a required default: flag, number, text, list, options, or a reference to a cast member or asset. Every authoring surface renders it by its declared type. Variables

Wait

A beat that pauses for a duration or for a reader click. Wait

Walkthrough

The playable in-app tutorial that teaches the editor from inside a game. Walkthrough