A Name and a World

After several months of internal development, the project received its official name: Talescape. The name combines “Tale” for storytelling and “Scape” for the sense of a world to explore. It fits both sides of the platform, a place where stories are created and a space where players can experience them. The decision followed a short internal naming process in which options like Narrascape or Scriptoria were considered but felt too technical. Talescape was short, distinct, and described exactly what the project was meant to become.

The name also introduced a clear identity for the community. Authors will be known as Bards and players as Dreamers. These terms fit the thematic structure of the platform better than generic labels such as creators and players. They describe a world where stories are performed and experienced, not just published and consumed.

Around the same time, I created the first visual elements of the brand. This included the Talescape logo and the first drafts of the mascots, Ben and Anna. They represent the two halves of the platform: Ben stands for creation, Anna for exploration. The names come from one of the first books I ever read, Ben loves Anna by Peter Härtling. I liked how familiar and human they sounded, and how naturally they fit the idea of a storyteller and a dreamer.

The first drafts of Ben and Anna were generated with AI. For now, I plan to keep using AI-generated illustrations until I can fund a professional artist to redraw them in a consistent style. Both will later appear in the editor and the app to help explain features and guide new users.