In a few stories, I have seen that let you choose your own name for some of the characters. How do they do that?
When creating a story, there's a checkbox where a user can select an option to allow readers to enter details about the main characters.
To make these "immersion variables" work in the story, the authors have to use the variables in their chapter instead of the character names.
I have a related question. I'm trying to use the Variables in someone else's story. In the guide, it says Then it goes on to talks about "blue marked Immersion Variable". I don't see any of these when I check in the sidebar. I'm guessing this is because the guide was written in 2016 and CHYOA has since been updated. Do I use the Customize menu in the sidebar now? How do I find what text to use for the Variable? If the Customize Menu says the "First Name" (for the variable) and "John" (greyed out in the editable input bar), do I use {First Name} when I want to add that Variable, or {FirstName}? Is capitalization important? If there is punctuation in the variable, do I need to include that as well (eg First-Name = {First-Name})?
That part of the guide is still up to date. The variables are shown below the "Guidelines" in the section "Variables" Have you looked at the sidebar of the page where you add a new chapter or edit an existing chapter? Usually, no. What you see in the Customize tab is the description of the variable, not its name. Yes, variables are case-sensitive. Yes.
I see it now. I didn't realize that the menu for the story and the menu while editing were different. The way I have my screen set up, the menu is minimized, so I never paid much attention. Thanks
I have two related questions. Can you create new variables and scores to your story or do they have to be set at the beginning of the story?
You can create new variables and scores anywhere you like inside your story! Basically, the score becomes active as soon as the player reaches the chapter where it's attached. For instance, if your first intro chapter has no scores at all, but your first option is "pick one item to take with you," you could make having that item, either true or false, be added on the next chapter they select. Good luck with it!
Thank you. I had created my first story and saved the first chapter as a draft but after trying to edit it the option for adding scores and variables disappeared or changed from where they were and I couldn't find them. It got be worried cause I wanted to add a bunch of variables and scores. I just didn't want to have to think of all I would want up front.
I have another question. Is there a way to indent text or change the size of text that I want to post in a chapter? When I highlight the text I want to change, none of the options do either. I feel like I've seen indented text in a chapter before, but I forget where.
There is a chapter that describes the general options of formatting https://chyoa.com/chapter/Chapter-Formatting.320683 To create bigger text, you can use headers To indent, you can non-standard spaces as the site won't recognize them as duplicate spaces but as actual characters. Yet, I haven't found a way to type them but you can copy them: -> <- Depending on what you want to do exactly, there might also be ways with direct Markdown formatting (for some things you have to deactivate the RTE)
