Talebench

What’s new

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

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. · 2 changes

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

Testing and publishing

  • Test runs count the dungeon cells they reached and name chests, traps and other things on cells no run came to.
  • While playtesting, ✨ beside a line or an option sets a screen effect and shows it at once, without playing again.

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. · 1 change

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

Testing and publishing

  • Errors in the test play, the look’s previews and the library are said in plain words, never as a technical message or an address.

The story map of a long story opens again in seconds: with hundreds of passages it could stay on “Placing the passages…”. · 1 change

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

Testing and publishing

  • Opening the debug panel in the playtest keeps the screen size it found.

Sounds made with AI now understand descriptions in German and other languages: the description is turned into a short English sound prompt first, so heavy rain sounds like rain and not like footsteps. · 2 changes

Updates that day: Sounds from a description in any language · See every visit in the preview · One tap shows the whole line · Only if a choice was made · Play takes the keyboard into the game · Undo that says what it undoes · Copy, a level in between, and where an option leads · Dice battles that hold still on a phone · The dialogue editor as a grid · Dice battles that stay in place · Combinations with a look of their own · Dice effects shown as intended · Game cards that tell more · Tidy game cards · The start page knows you · Health that only counts down · Dice battles that read cleanly

Testing and publishing

  • After Play (in the bar, from a passage, Play the passage in the dialogue editor, Restart with changes) the keyboard is in the game: Space reads on and a number picks an option, no click needed. Shift+Tab takes you back to the editor.
  • A playtest that loads while you type no longer takes the cursor from your text.

The playtest in a short window folds its controls into one line, "Size and start", so the game and the debug panel get room; the playtest stays open when you reload. · 4 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

Testing and publishing

  • The playtest in a short window folds its controls into one line, "Size and start", so the game and the debug panel get room; the playtest stays open when you reload.
  • Changing a line while playing in a translation changes the translation, never the original text.
  • The Log names every event in plain words, the debug panel can mark places on the maps as found, and test runs report a camp entered without making camp.
  • Sound in the playtest: the sound of the first way and a sound or voice in the first passage are heard; Skip read text skips the sound only on ways taken before.

The test play and the look preview no longer stop with an error when you reload, restart or load while the story is moving on by itself. · 1 change

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…”

Testing and publishing

  • The test play and the look preview no longer stop with an error when you reload, restart or load while the story is moving on by itself.

Full screen in the test play: your game at its chosen size over the whole screen, the same moment going on. · 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

Testing and publishing

  • Full screen in the test play: your game at its chosen size over the whole screen, the same moment going on.
  • The test play and the look preview start at a laptop’s size and say which size they show, so your game looks as it will when published. Open as published shows the same moment in a window of its own.
  • The test play keeps its game area large when it shows how to make it readable.
  • The test play starts at the largest size it can show readably, and All sizes appears only where its views are big enough.
  • All sizes: watch your game on a phone, a laptop and a large screen side by side; a choice in one plays in all, and problems are listed per size.
  • Export PDF includes the change you just typed.
  • The test play at its own size no longer reports screen problems you did not ask for, and each screen warning says how to fix it.

Screen sizes: the playtest and the look preview show your game as a phone, a laptop, 1920 × 1080, an ultrawide monitor or 4K. · 3 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

Testing and publishing

  • Screen sizes: the playtest and the look preview show your game as a phone, a laptop, 1920 × 1080, an ultrawide monitor or 4K. Players’ screens report problems anonymously (covered options, cut text), shown in your Stats.
  • Problems, the test play and Publish now count the same things: open ends still to write are named in all three.
  • Statistics count a game continued from a save as the same game, not a new start.