Story Settings

The Story Settings page is where you configure the metadata, presentation options, and administrative settings for your story.

It brings together all settings that define how the story is identified, presented in the marketplace, shared with collaborators, exported, or maintained over time.

The page is divided into collapsible sections. Each section focuses on a specific aspect of the story, such as general metadata, visual presentation, marketplace information, collaboration, or export.

Changes are saved per section, so you only need to save the part you edited.

Use this page when you want to:

• update the story title, language, or Dream Type
• define author and credit information
• customize the menu and credits screen appearance
• prepare the story for the marketplace
• classify the story with age groups, warnings, and flags
• invite collaborators and manage permissions
• create a downloadable export
• archive or delete the story when needed

The General section defines the core identity of your story.

Here you can configure:

• Title: The main name of your story. Choose a short and recognizable title, as it will appear throughout the editor and later in the marketplace.
• Language: The primary language of the story content. This helps Dreamers understand what language the story is written in and allows the marketplace to filter stories by language.
• Dream Type: The emotional archetype that best describes the overall tone of the story. Talescape uses Dream Types as its primary classification system for discovery and presentation.

This section is usually the first one you configure when creating a new story, because these values define how the project is identified across the editor and the platform.

The Credits section defines how authorship and contributions are displayed.

It contains two fields:

• Author: The public-facing author name shown with the story. This can be an individual name, a studio name, or a collective identity.
• Credits: A free-text area for acknowledgments and contributor listings. You can include writers, illustrators, composers, testers, translators, or any other collaborators you wish to credit. If you prefer to present the story under a single public identity, you can use the Author field and list detailed contributions in Credits.

Credits for used asset packs will be added automatically at the end of your credits.

The Design section controls the visual presentation of your story’s menu and credits screens. These settings influence the first impression players have before the story begins and help create a consistent visual identity.

The Theme defines the overall visual style used by the story player. It determines the color palette, typography, and general tone of menus and interface elements.

Available themes include:

• Neutral: A clean and minimal design focused on readability. This theme keeps the interface unobtrusive so the story content remains the primary focus. It works well for most genres and is a safe default choice.
• Daydream: A soft and welcoming style with warm colors and rounded typography. It is well suited for lighter stories such as romance, slice of life, or hopeful narratives.
• Echo: A reflective and literary theme that emphasizes emotional depth. Its typography and color palette create a nostalgic atmosphere that works especially well for character driven or memory focused stories.
• Vision: A modern and experimental design with a forward looking aesthetic. This theme feels slightly futuristic while remaining readable, making it suitable for science fiction, surreal experiences, or conceptual storytelling.
• Nightmare: A high contrast style designed for darker narratives. Strong visual contrast and dramatic accents help create tension and intensity without reducing readability.

Each theme includes predefined fonts and colors that shape the overall tone of the interface.

Menu Style

The Menu Style controls how the main menu is arranged on the screen. It determines the position of the title and menu options relative to the background image.

Available layouts include:

• Centered: The title and menu options are placed in the center of the screen. This layout works well for balanced compositions and keeps the interface visually symmetrical.
• Bottom: The title remains centered while the menu options appear at the bottom of the screen. This layout leaves more space for background artwork in the upper portion of the screen.
• Left: The menu panel is placed on the left side of the screen. This style creates a more structured interface and works well when the background image has visual focus on the right side.
• Right: The menu panel is positioned on the right side of the screen. This is useful when the main visual focus of the background image is on the left.

Menu and Credits Media

In addition to the layout settings, you can also customize the visual and audio elements of the menu and credits screens.

• Menu Image: Background image shown in the main menu.
• Menu Music: Background music played while the player is in the menu.
• Credits Image: Background image shown on the credits screen.
• Credits Music: Music played during the credits.

All of these elements are optional, but they can significantly improve the atmosphere and presentation of your story.

The Asset Packs section lists all asset packs currently imported into the story.

From here you can:

• review all imported asset packs
• open pack details
• attach license documentation when required

Some asset packs include usage restrictions or licensing requirements. If this applies, the interface displays a warning so you can review the license terms.

For externally licensed assets, attaching the correct license file can be required for exports or later distribution. A screenshot of your purchase is enough.

If no asset packs have been imported yet, this section will show an empty state.

The Marketplace section defines how your story appears in the public marketplace and how readers discover it. It includes the text, tags, and images that are shown on the story page and in listing views.

This section contains the written summary that introduces your story to readers.

• Description: The main summary of the story. This text appears on the story page and explains the narrative, setting, or central conflict. Maximum 1000 characters.
• Teaser: A shorter promotional summary used in compact views such as listings or previews. Maximum 255 characters.

The Description should give readers a clear idea of the story and its themes, while the Teaser should quickly communicate the premise and tone.

Tags help readers discover your story through search, filtering, and recommendation systems.

• Emotions: Up to 5 tags describing the emotional tone the story aims to evoke.
• Genres: Up to 5 tags describing the narrative style or genre of the story.
• Topics: Up to 5 tags describing themes, subject matter, or ideas explored in the story.

At least one tag is required in each category.

Using accurate tags improves discoverability and helps readers find stories that match their interests and emotional expectations.

Images define the visual presentation of your story in the marketplace.

• Thumbnail: The primary image used in listing views and story cards. Required.
• Header: A larger banner image displayed on the story page. Optional.
• Screenshots: Up to 10 images showcasing scenes, characters, or environments from the story. Required.

Strong visuals help readers quickly understand the style and atmosphere of the story before they start playing.

Configure content warnings and audience restrictions.

Age Group

• All Ages No violence or mature themes.
• Teen (13+) Mild conflict or fantasy violence.
• Mature (16+) Moderate violence or mature themes.
• Adult (18+) Strong language or intensity; no explicit sexual content.

Content Warnings

Mark any relevant themes in your story (e.g., violence, death, horror, discrimination).

AI Usage Flags

Talescape promotes transparency about the creative process. If artificial intelligence played a significant creative role in your story, you must disclose it using the AI flags below.

These flags are not required for minor or purely technical use of AI tools, such as removing backgrounds, cleaning audio, or checking grammar. They are only meant for situations where AI generated or composed original material are used in your story.

• Story: This story contains narrative text generated or heavily assisted by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if parts of your writing or dialogue were created, expanded, or rewritten using AI tools.
  • Yes: You used ChatGPT to write dialogue drafts or describe scenes, then edited them yourself.
  • No: You only used AI for proofreading, spell-checking, or grammar suggestions.
• Images: This story contains images generated by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if any visual element (character art, backgrounds, objects) was generated using AI.
  • Yes: You created character portraits or background images with Midjourney or Stable Diffusion.
  • No: You took your own photos or artwork and only used AI to remove the background or upscale the resolution.
• Voices: This story contains voice recordings generated by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if your story’s narration or character voices were produced using AI voice tools.
  • Yes: You used ElevenLabs or Play.ht to generate voice lines for your characters.
  • No: You recorded voices with a microphone and only used AI for noise reduction or volume balancing.
• Music: This story contains music generated by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if background music or soundtracks were composed or arranged by AI.
  • Yes: You used Mubert or Suno to generate ambient or background tracks.
  • No: You used licensed music from a stock library or created it manually in a digital audio workstation.
• Sound Effects: This story contains sound effects generated by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if most or all sound effects were synthesized or produced by AI.
  • Yes: You generated footstep, wind, or environmental effects using an AI sound generator.
  • No: You downloaded sound effects from a royalty-free library or recorded them yourself.
• Translation: This story contains translations generated or assisted by artificial intelligence.
  • Enable this flag if AI tools were used to translate your story into another language.
  • Yes: You translated your full story from English to Japanese using DeepL or GPT and made minor corrections afterward.
  • No: You wrote the translation manually or only used AI to suggest a few words or phrasing alternatives.

These tags appear on your story’s listing and help readers decide what to play.

The Collaborators section allows multiple creators to work on the same story.

From here you can:

• invite collaborators by searching for users
• remove collaborators
• assign editing permissions for different parts of the editor

Each permission controls access to a specific part of the story editor.

• Scenes: Create, edit, and organize scenes and their layout.
• Characters: Create and modify characters used in the story.
• Dialogues: Write and edit dialogue lines, choices, and branching conversations.
• Events: Create and modify events that control story logic and triggers.
• Items: Manage interactive items that can appear in scenes or inventories.
• Media: Upload, organize, and manage images, audio, and other media files.
• Timers: Create and modify timers used for time based mechanics.
• Variables: Create and modify variables used to track story state and player choices.
• Achievements: Create and configure achievements that can be unlocked by players.

Some permissions are fixed:

• Preview access is always enabled.
• Story Settings remain reserved for the owner.

The story owner is clearly marked and always retains full control.

If a collaborator has not yet accepted the invitation or completed account verification, the interface will indicate that state. This section also shows the current collaborator count and, if applicable, the account’s collaborator limit.

The Export section allows you to generate a downloadable archive of your story. This archive serves as a backup and ensures that stories can be preserved outside the platform if necessary.

Exports include all story data and licensed media assets used in the project. Files without valid licensing are not included.

Exports are created in the background and remain available for 4 hours. After that time the archive expires and a new export must be generated.

This system also supports Talescape’s long term preservation policies and ensures that stories can be recovered if one of the platform’s Contingency Plans is ever executed.

The Maintenance section contains administrative actions for the story.

Depending on the story’s status, you can either:

• Delete Story: Permanently remove the story from the system.
• Archive Story: Disable active development and remove the story from normal editing workflows while preserving its data.

The available option depends on whether the story has been purchased:

• Stories without active purchases can be permanently deleted.
• Stories with existing purchases cannot be deleted and must be archived instead.

Archiving ensures that Dreamers who already own the story can continue to access it.

Use this section carefully, as these actions affect the long-term availability of the story.