Guides
Builder guide
How the visual builder works — Scenes, choices, and paths on a graph canvas, the five Scene Modes, and the Custom escape hatch.
The Builder is a visual graph editor. You build a scenario by laying out Scenes (nodes) on a canvas and connecting them with paths. The shape of the graph is the branching story.
The pieces
| Piece | What it is |
|---|---|
| Scene | A node — one screen a player sees. The unit you build. |
| Path | A connection from one Scene to another — usually a choice the player makes. |
| Choice | The label on a path: the button or link a player clicks. |
| Start Scene | The entry point. Exactly one per scenario. |
| Ending Scene | A terminal Scene — where a branch finishes (success / failure / neutral). |
A typical flow
- Lay out Scenes. Add nodes and give each a title and body.
- Connect them. Drag from one Scene to another to create a path; label it with the choice.
- Add logic where you need it. Rules decide what’s remembered, what’s shown, and where a player goes — see Logic — when, if, do.
- Play-test. Switch to the Player and walk every branch.
Default modes vs. the Custom escape hatch
You usually author through one of five friendly Modes — Decision, Slides, Quiz, Video, or Custom. Decision, Slides, Quiz, and Video are curated projections for common authoring jobs; Custom is the full-source escape hatch.
Under every Mode is the same Scene source — Markup, Bindings, and Logic Blocks. The Custom surface (the “Edit as code” Source view) exposes that Scene source directly. Because a Mode is only a projection of the Scene source, switching a Scene to Custom is lossless — it’s the same Scene, viewed closer to the floor.
That’s the “defaults plus escape hatch” promise: ship friendly out of the box, never lock you out of the raw surface. The full model is in The Scene (the Scene source).
Reuse
When you build the same rule or component more than once, Make it into a reusable definition in the Workspace Library and place linked instances — edit the definition once, every instance updates. See Reuse — Logic Blocks & the Library.
Related
- Data model — the JSON a scenario compiles to.
- Architecture — how Builder and Player sit over one scenario.
Short and practical for now — this guide will deepen as the builder UI settles.