+1
12/1 Tool Update
1) Tons of UI updates on the Channel page and the Episode page. The Simulator looks much more like the actual app. You'll now see the ellipsis and the timer countdown display.
2) There is a new feature called "Add Reset Node." This new option appears when you add a new node under an existing node. By adding a Reset Node, you can designate a previous node to go to. This comes in handy when you want to "kill-your-reader" and have them go back to a previous point in your story.
3) There is a "Time to Play" stat that adds up a total for all your story delays.
4) There is now a PLAYER character in the Character list. If you designate PLAYER as the character typing/talking, the associated text will appear on the RIGHT side of the screen. Now you can have your "reader/player" jabber away in their own character node.
5) When you upload an image, you can now designate the area of that image that shows up in your story.
6) We've added Instagram Support.
7) There is a new "Export to File" feature. On the Episode page, click on the Episode Tool icon (the gear thingie). You can now Export the entire contents of your story to a text file. If you open this text file, you can copy/paste it into a Google Sheet/Doc and it will line up nicely.
8) A number of Bugs were fixed. If you find any, please continue to report them to me.
Customer support service by UserEcho
I like the look of the new interface. Thanks for the Export function. That will make editing/proofreading so much easier.
BTW, we're going to clean up the Export function. It currently has a bunch of extraneous "?" stuck in there.
I'm having trouble accessing the user profile--whenever I click on it, this is what I get:
Doh! We're on it!
Question about Player / Self. Should all the Self nodes be updated to "player"? Or will they be automatically pulled?
@Lynnea I will have our devs go through and change all the "SELF" to "PLAYER" for you, in your Episodes.
If others also have a lot of "Self" already in place, just let me know.
@Michael Yeah, I started putting Self in place after you guided me through it. I can start doing Player, but I've got a LOT of Self tags in there.
Actually, will it be really disruptive if I add a character called Player? Maybe I should hold off. :/
@Jo. No worries. I'll have our devs correct your Episodes also.
Just to be clear. :-) When you go to the ADD CHARACTER menu, there is a character already designated as "PLAYER"
This PLAYER shows up as a choice for everyone. You can't change/delete this PLAYER character. (Now, you certainly don't have to use this PLAYER, if it doesn't make sense for your story!) If you do use it, any node designated as PLAYER will show up on the right side of the screen (and look like it's coming from "you," the one pressing the User Choice buttons.)
Anyhow, you could certainly name a story character as "Player" but just be careful which "player" you want to have doing the talking/typing.
I've found as I changed my other character names that the tool very cleverly altered the node-character name in all the other nodes associated with that character (terrible sentence sorry - I mean when I changed a name from "Manny" to "Amir" all the nodes designated "Manny" automatically changed to "Amir"). Will that work for self/player? And can we then tidily delete "Self"?
Another question: I sometimes edited my text to look better or to have better rhythm based on the simulation screen. How accurate is the sim in the sense of individual words making a different to the shape of a paragraph or (more importantly for timing) the number of lines in a node? Does it vary from one device to another?
I notice the player-decision text expands and contracts in order to fit in its box. That looks good and works well I think.
The "SELF" name was to be used temporarily until the new PLAYER feature got in. So, if you want a character you previously called SELF to work as the new PLAYER feature (i.e.: appear on the right side of the phone screen.), then you either have to go back in and manually select PLAYER in place of all of your old SELF nodes, OR drop me a line and I will have the devs go through and change the old tree for you.
So, unfortunately you can't just change the old name "Self" to PLAYER, because the new PLAYER character is hard-wired to the new PLAYER behavior. The tool considers "Self" as just another common name.
The Simulator is a "pretty-close-to-the-actual-thing" preview area, but don't make any design-y decisions based on it. The actual Sequel app may show up slightly different depending on the device (phone or pad), model number and device maker.
Thanks again for being so patient with the Tool!
Is the Time to Play stat the one on the Episode cover? Is that just the time for the actual author created delays and doesn't include the dialogue? Because mine says 4 mins, and it takes me like twice that to get through the whole story in the simulator.
That time readout just adds up all of your own "dramatic writer delays" into one number. It doesn't include the dialogue delays.
Okay, that makes more sense. Thanks.