Talebench

What’s new

What changed in Talebench, a section per day, newest first.

Bag and figure now opens as a wide screen of its own: the bag with its empty places and filters (All, Gear, Usable …) beside the hero, whose slots stand in two columns with lines to where they sit; an empty slot shows the outline of what goes there. · 4 changes

Updates that day: A new opponent: the standard dice fight · The things you use most in the top bar · Defend die against die · Foes ahead in the crawler · Dice battles that show who attacks · Made for desktop or phone; calmer battles · Languages on the title screen · Settings like a game’s · Menu pages with icons · An inventory screen like a game’s · The bag in your style, the slots on the figure · A game-like inventory · Demo buttons in their game’s letters · Your reply stays in view · Endings found as cards · A calmer ending and a clean picture · Cleaner options and fewer false warnings · A story map you can read from far out · 24 dungeon tiles in the library · Dungeon tiles made with AI · No dead ends in the dark · The view stays while a trap waits · Victory in sight · Bumping into walls · A larger dungeon map · Foes that belong in the corridor · Bells, altars and wells in the corridor · Traps in plain sight · The crawler’s screen in one frame

Look

  • Bag and figure now opens as a wide screen of its own: the bag with its empty places and filters (All, Gear, Usable …) beside the hero, whose slots stand in two columns with lines to where they sit; an empty slot shows the outline of what goes there. The card shows the name on a coloured band and each value a thing would change with ▲ or ▼, and the hero’s values show the change too.
  • Bag and figure has its own style: the size of the squares, the figure (a silhouette, the member’s own picture, or none) and the most squares in a row; style rules reach a thing’s square, a slot and the card.
  • New in the look, under Things and equipment: Bag and figure. The menu then shows each member’s figure with its slots beside a bag of square icons; drag a thing onto a slot, or tap it and then the slot that lights up. Only fitting slots take it, and the card shows what it would change. Works with a mouse, on a phone and with the keys; Crystal of Aster uses it.
  • The Ember Road’s buttons and battle commands are now set in the carved capitals of its titles, and Deepwatch’s buttons, menus and status line in one clean face, like a crawler’s screen.

Crossing a room in a dungeon, the party walks the shortest way through it: a trap, a battle or a scene on the way happens where it stands, before the party gets where it was going. · 1 change

Updates that day: Walking through rooms · Rooms bigger than a cell · A roomier dungeon editor · Foes that walk the dungeon · Deepwatch, a dungeon crawl to play · Spinners, pits, pressure plates and dungeon sounds · The whole dungeon map, and moving by hand · Dungeons from inside, on paper and with secrets · Dungeons to explore

Look

  • Rain and snow fall in layers with depth, and their loop no longer jumps.

When saving a version, renaming or deleting a file, a comment, a note or a style does not go through, the editor says so and keeps what you typed. · 3 changes

Updates that day: Clearer when something goes wrong · Losing need not end the game · Lines in any order, names that read · Settings that fit, weapons that count · Quicker pages, sturdier library · A library that stays quick · A readable menu in every look · Clear dice over any scene · A steady sidebar · Tab when you type fast

Look

  • Speakers’ names and option numbers on boxes read clearly in every look.
  • A library picture that did not load while you scrolled quickly loads again by itself.
  • The library and the ready cursor sets now load their pictures as you scroll to them, so Use copies a file at once however much creators have shared; a copy that cannot get through tries again by itself.

A choice you made, a check’s result and choices shown as links stay readable when your own page colour does not suit the style’s accent. · 2 changes

Updates that day: Big stories stay quick · Fairer armour hints · Conversations as deep as you like · Every line readable · Portraits as you framed them · Safer translation scripts · Translations and files through the API · Planned battles fit a laptop; decks checked more closely · No two of the same name in your lists · One click for two of the same name; Strength shown in the throw · Pictures in any language; two versions of one person stay apart

Look

  • A choice you made, a check’s result and choices shown as links stay readable when your own page colour does not suit the style’s accent.
  • A dialogue box in the story shows the speaker’s portrait exactly as you framed it, not a strip from its middle.

Dice battles come alive: the dice tumble into the tray, knock into each other and settle with a wobble; you hear the shake, the roll on wood or felt, the clacks and a sting for every combination. · 2 changes

Updates that day: Faster, smoother dice rounds · A steady story map · Clearer dice battles on every screen · Dice that roll on a tray · Your saves in your account, combinations in defence · Fairer and clearer dice battles · A tidier dialogue editor · Dice that feel real · Your turn in the dice tray · Weapons and shields, a dialogue editor · Dice that land one by one, and skills paid with a die · Aim high, middle or low · Counter attacks

Look

  • In the look: "Dice effects" (full, light or off), dice sounds, screen shake and vibration on phones. Reduced motion, the battle speed and muted sound always win.
  • Dice styles: plain, wood, bone or pixel ("Dice style" in the look). Dice Duel throws wooden dice.

On a large monitor the story column and its text grow (from about 1600 px wide), so a game no longer reads small in the middle of the screen. · 2 changes

Updates that day: A run of three · See the throw you face · Hidden dice · Replies that stay, found at once · Options to passages you already have · Dice tricks · Real dice, and who starts · Defend with your own dice · Gentler critical throws · Your own throw in the log · Dice battles to try · Lighter games, keys for your own tools · Games that remember, pages that invite · A lore book that fills itself · Fights that end without a fall · Fights that belong to their scene · Larger text on large screens, quicker shared links · A map that stays put, and a first game without surprises

Look

  • On a large monitor the story column and its text grow (from about 1600 px wide), so a game no longer reads small in the middle of the screen.
  • On a phone the text box follows right under the scene's picture instead of waiting at the bottom of an empty screen.

The writing view shows names instead of internal codes, and in the simple view conditions and changes read as sentences ("only if Mira trusts you"); a click shows the formula. · 2 changes

Updates that day: The writing view in your words, and a book you can play · Games that pick up where you left them · Writing that never loses a word · Projects come first, and come back · The map keeps still · Saved battles go on · Help for the new ways of writing · Writing on, faster

Look

  • Chapters with a fixed screen of their own keep their page: text, picture and choices lie on the paper again.
  • Pixel fonts are larger in story text, your own name in a speech bubble is readable, and on a phone thin hotspots are large enough to tap.

Titles keep their lines on a large screen and never break inside a word; a cover cut to a band keeps what it shows; a narrow column, the values in the top bar and the side bar grow with the window. · 5 changes

Updates that day: More from a deck · A steadier test play · Every look, clean at every size · Decks and lists · Recordings from the studio · Options that scroll show it · Planned turns and combos · Finished looks and “I want…”

Look

  • Titles keep their lines on a large screen and never break inside a word; a cover cut to a band keeps what it shows; a narrow column, the values in the top bar and the side bar grow with the window.
  • Complete looks: a few finished looks for each kind of game, chosen when you start a project or at the top of Look; Keep my colours and fonts keeps your own.
  • I want…: tell Look what you want (“a smaller picture”, “bigger text”, “no title screen”) and it takes you to the setting, shows the change and offers to do it; where your layout cannot, it says why and offers one that can.
  • On a phone, options follow right under the box; snow, fireflies and other particles stay behind options and buttons; a name in the box sits beside the picture at every size.
  • The look preview no longer takes the keyboard away from the editor while it redraws.

Look in pictures: every area of Look — picture and layout, text, title screen, battles, top bar and menus, sounds — starts with a few pictured choices; a line on top says how your game looks in plain words. · 7 changes

Updates that day: Look in pictures, a battle in three steps · Conversations inside a passage, and a manuscript · A book that always prints · Updates you do not notice · Battles that fit, a full-screen test play · What you test is what players see · Battles on every page layout · Cleaner screens at every size

Look

  • Look in pictures: every area of Look — picture and layout, text, title screen, battles, top bar and menus, sounds — starts with a few pictured choices; a line on top says how your game looks in plain words. The single settings stay in the full view.
  • Look → Dialogue starts with four pictured choices — speech in the story with a picture, a box at the bottom, speech bubbles, plain text with the name. The preview plays three lines, so you see what happens after a click, and a setting that makes speech lose its box is named with its fix.
  • Look → Dialogue shows only its four pictured choices in the simple view; the single settings stay in the full view.
  • Titles no longer break inside a word, an open-book title screen keeps its cover on the left page, and screens fit low windows.
  • Title screens and pages no longer scroll when everything fits, and frames show on all four sides.
  • Title screens: a long title shrinks to fit its box, and the buttons never cover it or wrap their labels.
  • Cursor sets made with AI say so plainly, without technical names.

Upload a frame picture for the dialogue box: it is drawn around every spoken line (and the narration box on a fixed screen), over the look’s own frame. · 11 changes

Updates that day: Battles in the middle of the picture · Smaller pictures, smaller dialogue — if you like · Your first battle, step by step · Your heroes show in battle · The help answers in full · Ask for help while you make your game · Whole lines, a fourth cursor set, a smaller story engine · Phones read from the top, new cursor sets, steadier stories · Lighter games, AI activity and a calmer simple view · Easier to read, fairer statistics, a calmer editor · Frames for the dialogue box, and clearer settings · Cursors, sharing to the library and seeing every screen size

Look

  • Upload a frame picture for the dialogue box: it is drawn around every spoken line (and the narration box on a fixed screen), over the look’s own frame.
  • Cursors: one for your whole game, or one for each situation — over an option, a hotspot by what it does, a foe in battle, a place on the map, a thing held to use. Ready sets come with the library.
  • Look → Picture size: on a fixed screen with the picture beside or above the text, make the picture small for more room for the text, or large. The background stays as it is.
  • Look → Dialogue size: spoken lines a little smaller or larger than the narration, never too small to read.
  • Both are off until you choose them, so your game looks the same as before.
  • The look’s battle preview shows your characters’ portraits, and battles have their own group in the look.
  • A fourth cursor set in the library: soft watercolour, beside ink, gothic and brass.
  • Three new cursor sets in the library, made for Talebench: storybook ink, gothic iron and steampunk brass.
  • A frame picture in your look no longer hides the box colour a player chose.
  • Readable everywhere: a title screen keeps its title and buttons readable on any cover; option numbers and speaker names stand out on every style; rain falls behind the text; every button is big enough to tap.
  • Letters stay whole at the edge of a framed or rounded box — the first letter is no longer cut.