Player Interface

The player interface is the screen players actually see while they play. If you leave it alone, it's the default chat interface. If you want to give your card an opening page, a status panel, an inventory or a map, this is where you build them, no code needed.

There are two ways in: click Player interface in the middle of the top bar, or on the canvas, double-click the player interface preview stuck on top of "This card" (the pencil in its top right works too).

Start from a template

Click Templates at the top to open Pick a template.

There are 22 ready-made templates, already wired up with variables, buttons and instructions for the AI. Add one and it plays.

Whole screen: swaps out the look of the whole card in one go

Template	Good for
Portrait scene	A card about one character: portrait, two meters, a details page
Adventure HUD	Text adventure and exploration: current location, day and time, two meters
Stat panel	Raising, managing, surviving: four meters, gold, day
Character sheet	Roleplay: the player's own name, role, location and story phase

Every whole-screen template tells you "Adds these variables to the card". Stat panel, for example, adds Day, Time of Day, Gold, Affection, Stamina… These are ordinary variables. Back on the canvas you can see them, change them, and drive them with behaviors. If you don't want them, undo.

Openings · before the story starts: Title screen, Pick an opening, Enter your name, Character sheet, Pick a background, Pick a difficulty, Draw an opening, Spend attribute points, Confirm before starting. The player goes through these in order before the story begins, and what they pick is handed to the AI. Fill in a name, for instance, and the AI calls you by it from the very first line.

While playing · opened from the chat page's Menu: Status page, Inventory, Map, Phone messages, Relationships, Daily actions, Dice check, Clues and accusation, Collection.

There's also a Blank page with nothing on it, for laying things out yourself.

On the canvas, the ＋ on Player interface (Add a page) opens this same template library.

Pages

The column on the left holds every page in the card, like slides:

• Click a page to edit it, drag to reorder, double-click to rename, right-click for duplicate, delete and so on
• New page also picks from the templates
• If a page has no button that leads away from it, it gets a No way out warning, so players don't get stuck
• On a card with only one page, this column starts folded away

Edit right on the screen

While Edit at the top is on, click something on the screen to select it, drag it to move it, and pull a corner to resize it. Turn Edit off to press buttons like a player would and see what they do. This is a preview: it doesn't call the AI and doesn't cost credits.

Desktop and Phone switch the preview width. Each width has its own positions and sizes, and you're editing whichever one you're looking at. Some parts can be set to show Desktop only or Phone only.

Select a part and its settings appear on the right as This part:

• The text and what it shows: you can Insert a variable's value…, like "Day {current day}"
• Position, arrangement and style: colour, font size, alignment, rounded corners and so on
• Add a part: Text, Button, Image, Panel, Meter, List, Card picker, Form field, Popup
• Layers: every part on this page. Click a name to select it. The easiest way to find something hidden behind something else

With nothing selected, the right side lists what this page uses.

How the conversation looks

You can't delete the Conversation block in the middle or the input box below it, but you can change how they look. Select it, and Message look offers Platform, Bubbles, Novel, Letter and Terminal. Further down, Fine-tune text, bubbles and special formats lets you change the font and bubble colours separately, and even style special formats (like italic action lines).

What buttons can do

Select a button, and under When pressed, do in order you can line up several steps:

• Say a line for the player: like "Look around". One click and it's as if the player said it
• Change a variable
• Set off a behavior: you can + Pass something in, see Behaviors · Passing a value from a button
• Call an AI: calls a UI-based AI, like a fortune teller
• Switch opening, Go to page, Pick at random
• Show a notice, Play audio, Stop audio
• Regenerate, Undo last turn

Only pressable once these are filled: tick a few variables, and the button only lights up once they all have something in them. The "Start" button on an opening page often uses this, so nobody gets in without a name.

Change the look: Theme default, Solid, Outline, Soft, Glass. Only the appearance changes, not the content.

Writing your own interface code

When templates and parts aren't enough, you can build it all yourself. Interface code lives in Panels → Front End Code. Write it by hand, or have the Creation assistant write and edit it for you. Details in Advanced: Custom UI Deep Dive.

When you're done

Once saved, this is the interface both playtests and players see. When you're done, click ← in the top left to go back to the canvas.