Script Entry

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What it controls

The Script Entry is the player’s first contact with a work and the point that leads into the first act. Keep player-facing copy separate from the background rules that guide the whole story. This guide uses Letter from Mist Harbor: Shen Yao receives an undelivered letter at the Tidebound Post Office.

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Story settings

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Cover specs and production

The cover appears in the catalog, details page, and management card; without one, the card shows the first character of the title.

• Size and scaling: the target is horizontal 1280×720. The editor scales to that size on upload; when the ratio does not match, it enlarges to fill and trims the overflow, so keep the subject near the center and important content away from the edges.
• Format and size: PNG, JPEG, or WebP, under 4MB. Prepare a source close to 1280×720; a small image is enlarged and looks soft.
• Frame: a complete horizontal key visual that summarizes the work. Do not include characters, endings, or plot facts you have not confirmed.
• Exclusions: text, watermarks, logos, and extra subjects carry through to the player page.
• Prompt: state that this is a script cover, the 1280×720 horizontal full frame, a centered subject, and the confirmed art style, and exclude text, watermarks, and accidental cropping.

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Write the summary

Use: who the player is → where they are → what problem is present → what they can look forward to.

You receive an undelivered letter at the Tidebound Post Office. The tide is rising, and its address points to the old pier that is still lit tonight. Find out who left it before the water reaches its highest mark.

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Write the overview

The overview is six short parts, each answering one question:

1. Work identity: what topic and scale is this story?
2. Opening situation: where does the player first appear, and what is already true?
3. Central question: what should the work really make the player face?
4. Tone: what are the pacing, distance, mood, and language like?
5. Narrative arc: how do the facts change from the first unknown to the ending?
6. Landing point: what does the ending deliver, and what should not be extended?

Two or three sentences per part. State facts and direction first, then leave room for player action.

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Write the story control

Story control has four parts:

1. Player input handling: which inputs count as something the player clearly said or did? Do not write lines, promises, or key actions the player did not choose.
2. Performance boundaries: what are the limits of people, places, items, time, and danger? Which facts must not be invented?
3. Progression and waiting: what must be finished before the next stage, and which key actions must the player take?
4. Freedom and closure: which routes can vary, and which facts close the story into an ending?

Example: the overview moves from a letter, to the salt mark, to the sender’s identity, and finally to a reply under the lighthouse. The story control says not to invent Shen Yao’s decisions and not to reveal the sender before the evidence is found.

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Write the worldview

Worldview is maintained as entries, each stating one shared fact that most relevant characters know, titled with the in-world name. It defines the rules, history, common knowledge, and boundaries the whole script can always rely on—when a phenomenon appears, who runs an institution, what customs everyone follows.

• Put shared facts here: The old pier lamp lights only when someone is landing;
• Keep private information and conditional conclusions out; those belong to clues and intelligence;
• Worldview is not story background: background is the narrative the player reads at the start, while worldview is knowledge that stays true across the work;
• Worldview also does not replace story control, which covers response handling, performance boundaries, and closure.

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Story background

Background is shown as reading pages after Start New Game. Keep each page to one or two complete paragraphs and move from setting, to people or objects, to the immediate problem. Example pages: the post office loses power; the envelope has a salt mark; Lin Zhou holds the old-pier key while the tide rises.

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Opening design

Opening text plays after the background. Recommended actions appear once at the start and can be selected as the player’s input. Do not write “you decide to investigate” in fixed opening text. Leave the first decision to the player.

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Split the opening text

Each entry carries one action or one piece of information:

• Narration: place, action, sound, and observable facts;
• Character: a line the character says at this moment;
• Content: the text actually shown to the player.

The opening presents only what has already happened. Do not write “you decide to investigate” or “you feel afraid”; leave the first decision to the player. Every character who speaks in the opening text must already be listed under the first act’s Available characters; otherwise the opening brings on someone the act never placed, and testing and review fail.

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Write recommended actions

Action style is the short button label; action copy is the complete action the player can send. Recommended actions should show what is possible now without deciding the story for the player. Selecting one sends it as this turn’s input, so write it as a complete, executable action.

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Protagonist

Choose a character truly controlled by the player. For this example, choose Shen Yao and either keep that name as the script’s name or let the player enter one with a prompt such as “How should others address you?” Common settings:

• Protagonist: pick a character truly controlled by the player, not an observer or a backstage figure;
• Narrative perspective: keep one perspective across the work, for example addressing the player as “you”;
• Name mode: use the script’s fixed name when the work depends on a fixed identity; let the player enter a name when immersion matters, and write a clear prompt.

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Before leaving this node

Check that the summary makes sense alone, the background establishes place and problem, opening text states only facts, recommendations are executable, the entry connects to exactly one act, and the protagonist is clear. Confirm that the opening location (when filled in) and every speaking character in the opening text belong to the first act. Next: Act.