Welcome to Story Engine

Think of a moment in your game. A character recognizes the player. A door opens because someone put in a good word. A companion offers a hint after a few unsuccessful attempts.

Story Engine helps you make these moments respond to the player's situation. You write the responses, choose the facts that matter, and ask the Story Director to pick a suitable one when something happens.

These guides are for people who make game content. You should be comfortable opening a Unity scene and adding Game Creator instructions. You do not need to write code to follow the main guide.

Where would you like to start?

Set up a projectWhat you need and how to import Story Engine. Make your first reactionOne Rule, one response and a way to try it. Learn from an examplePlay a scene, change a Rule and see what happens. Something did not happenFind out why a Rule was missed or a response repeated.

Three things to know

A Rule describes a possible moment. It contains conditions and the instructions that run when it is chosen.

The Story Director chooses between the Rules that fit. You call it from an ordinary Game Creator instruction sequence, such as a Trigger that runs when the player interacts.

Story history remembers what the Director has already selected. Use it to make first meetings, returning visits and pauses between repeated lines.

See these ideas in a small example.

A good first afternoon

1. Install Story Engine and open Hello Rule.
2. Read the three greeting Rules and change a line of dialogue.
3. Try the first reaction lesson in a small scene of your own.
4. Add a greeting that changes.
5. Open Rule Trace to see why each response won.

Start small. Two or three clear Rules are enough to get a feel for the system.

About this guide

This edition describes Story Engine 1.0.0-rc.2. The compatibility page lists the Unity and Game Creator versions checked for that release candidate. If your Inspector looks different, check your installed version first.