Interactive narrative design has come to Celtx, one of the largest developers of online tools for writers (mostly screenwriters). Having used the freeware Celtx service for years as as screenwriter, it may be time to pony up and pay for a Studio package.
The company announced a new product that’s currently free to test called “Game & VR” which allows writers to create branching narratives and story maps. Likely designed as a competitor to Twine and other branching narrative building tools, Celtx offers some key features that may make designers particularly interesting in testing it out.
The service is cloud-based and collaborative and does a neat thing by merging screenplay-style script writing/editing with a dynamic, customizable Story Map that visualizes the structure of your narrative.
Here’s the trailer:
According to the Celtx blog: “With the Game & VR project, you’re not just writing a story – you’re building a comprehensive data model. The structure of your narrative and the connectivity of its various components are automatically captured in an expansive catalog and reporting system, ready for export in both .JSON and .CSV formats for easy integration into other development tools.”
The Celtx Game and VR tool looks to be more than just text to a flow chart. The Game & VR project comes fully equipped with both writer and developer focused features that are resource-rich and ready for export.
You can use the Interactive Dialogue tool to write intricate branching conversations between characters, or take a deep dive into your story with the In-Line Breakdown Mode to identify and track different permutations of narrative assets.
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StoryFix Media produces interactive fiction games and novels. Our sci-fi text adventure The Pulse releases in 2019. Our novel New Horizons is available now.
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