Characters

Characters help you organize the people or entities that appear in your story. They act as reusable profiles that store names, portraits, and pose variations, making it easier to manage recurring characters across scenes and dialogues.

Characters are optional. You can still create dialogues or place images directly in scenes without defining a character. However, using characters greatly simplifies working with portraits and expressions in larger projects.

The Characters panel lists all characters defined for your story. Each entry represents a reusable character profile that can contain multiple visual poses.

Common uses include:

• Managing recurring characters across scenes and dialogues
• Storing portrait images and pose variations
• Keeping visual representation consistent throughout the story

Characters are global. Once created, they can be used anywhere in your story.

To create a character, open the Characters panel and select + Character.

Each character contains the following fields:

• Name: The character’s display name used in dialogues.
• Description (optional): Internal notes about the character, asset source, or design details.
• Portrait: A small portrait image used for character references or dialogue displays.
• Poses: Full character images representing different expressions, emotions, or body positions.

A character can contain multiple poses, allowing you to switch between expressions during conversations or scenes.

Characters support two types of visuals:

• Portrait: A small image used for character identification. Often used in dialogue interfaces.
• Pose: A full character sprite representing the character in a specific expression, stance, or outfit.

Each pose is stored with a pose name, such as:

• neutral
• happy
• angry
• thinking

These names help you quickly select the correct pose when placing the character in a scene or dialogue.

Once created, characters can be used throughout your story.

Typical uses include:

• Dialogue Editor: Assign the character as the speaker of dialogue lines or choices.
• Scene Editor: Display character poses as visual elements in the scene.

Because characters are global references, the same character can appear across multiple scenes and chapters.

Character visuals are centrally managed.

If you add, remove, or update a pose, those changes automatically apply everywhere the character appears. This allows you to improve artwork or adjust expressions without manually editing each scene.

For example, updating a character’s neutral pose will automatically update every scene where that pose is used.

Characters are designed for convenience, not as a requirement.

You can still:

• Create dialogue with custom speaker names
• Place images directly in scenes
• Use one-time characters without creating a profile

However, using character profiles is recommended for stories with recurring characters or many dialogue scenes.

• Use consistent pose names (e.g., neutral, happy, angry).
• Group all poses under one character rather than creating duplicates.
• Use portraits for dialogue clarity when characters speak frequently.
• Keep descriptions for internal notes, such as the asset source or illustrator.

Well-organized characters make it much easier to manage dialogue-heavy or branching stories.