The scene start is its normal beginning. Named entries let you jump to other places in the scene. The arrow beside Play story lets you test an entry directly.
The first node you create or paste into an empty scene becomes its scene start. You can move the scene start to another node. Remove entry removes only an additional entry, not its node.
Characters, Variables and Game actions have a searchable list on the left and details on the right. Select an entry to edit it. Character search also finds group and upper-group names. The three icons sort alphabetically by name, upper group (default) or character group. The count is below the list.
Build your story step by step. Each tool starts with a simple situation, followed by a practical example from the sample project. Use the menu to jump straight to a tool.
Control names match the English interface. Names such as Welcome or Received belong to the example project. The Harbour Key: download and follow along
Drag a chapter to its new position in the sidebar. Drag a scene before or after another scene; the bright line marks the insertion point. Drop a scene on a chapter to append it there, even when collapsed. Alternatively, click the move grip on a chapter or scene to select a destination and position. Undo reverses the move; Save preserves the order. This organizes your project without changing connections or game logic.
Select a scene in the sidebar or click a chapter name. Three dots and the move grip appear on active rows and when hovering over another row. The three dots open editing directly. Change the name here, or the chapter artwork. Delete is also available in this window. Delete scene removes the scene, its nodes and entry points. Delete chapter also removes every scene inside it. Every deletion asks for confirmation, showing the name and the exact scene count for a chapter. Cancel changes nothing.
The confirmation also shows affected jumps, substory calls and export profiles. Jumps from other scenes remain but need a new target afterward. Export profiles with no remaining entry points are removed. Shared texts, images, characters and resources are kept. Undo restores deleted content and references together. Save the version you want to keep.
Chapters organize your story. A scene contains a connected conversation flow.
Your story follows a journey. Use the plus beside Chapters to create Arrival, then Add scene to create At the gate and At the inn. Open a scene to build its conversation. The list order does not connect conversations: you decide how the story moves between them.
Open Harbour, where Mira’s conversation begins. Mira’s request contains her short request; Warehouse contains the warehouse conversation. Search for Warehouse on the left to open that scene.
Open the example project and walkthrough →The canvas shows your story as connected boxes, called nodes. Lines show what happens after each step.
Create two dialogues saying “Hello!” and “Good to see you.”. Click Next on the right of the first, then the input on the left of the second. The line now shows that the second line follows the first. Drag the background to move around the canvas.
Open Harbour and use the magnifier in the block toolbar to search for Welcome. Select the result. VNLE centers the greeting on the canvas. Follow its connections to understand Mira’s conversation.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A dialogue shows a spoken line or narration. You can assign a character and an expression.
A guard should say “The gate closes at sunset.” Choose Dialogue, write the line and select a character under Speaker. Connect Next to End. Choose Set scene start on the dialogue, then Play story to read your first line.
Welcome uses Mira as its speaker. Later, Your remaining gold displays money through a placeholder bound to Gold. After a successful purchase it shows 5 instead of 10. Simply typing a number into the line would not update it automatically.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A choice shows several replies to the player. Each reply can lead to a different part of the story.
The guard asks “Where would you like to go?”. Create a Choice with “To the market” and “To the inn”. Connect each reply to its own dialogue. During play, the player chooses the route. An unconnected reply cannot take them onwards.
Open Choose a reply. One reply leads to the purchase, the other to the farewell. Play both routes. Replies can also have conditions. Define what happens if none of the replies are available.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A condition checks a value and automatically takes the Yes or No route. For example: does the player have enough gold?
A ferryman charges three coins. Create a numeric Coins value under Variables. Add a Condition checking whether Coins is at least 3. Connect Yes to “Come aboard!” and No to “You need more money.” The route is chosen automatically. This check does not subtract any coins.
Enough gold? checks Gold ≥ 5. Yes leads to Pay five gold; No leads to Not enough gold. Test with 10 gold and with 2 to check both connections.
Open the example project and walkthrough →This block changes a stored value. For example, subtract gold or remember that a quest was accepted.
The player has persuaded a guard. Under Variables, create a true/false value GateOpen, initially false. Choose More blocks → Variable, select GateOpen and set it to true. Connect Next to the following dialogue. A later Condition can use it. The change itself shows no extra dialogue line.
Pay five gold subtracts 5 from Gold and records the accepted quest through QuestAccepted. Remember the key later sets HasKey to true. If the handover fails, Refund the payment returns the money. The purchase should only succeed once the key has been handed over.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A game action asks your game to do something, such as give an item. The conversation waits for the game’s response. In editor preview, you select a test response yourself.
A chest should put a sword into the inventory. Under Game actions, define Give item with an item input and the outcomes Received and No room. Select it in a Game action block and connect both routes. In the editor you choose the test response yourself. In your finished game, the action must be connected to the inventory: VNLE does not create one on its own.
Receive the key uses Give item with Warehouse key. Its project-defined outcomes are Received and Declined. Try both test responses. The included example game performs the actual handover; declining leads to a refund.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A jump continues the conversation at another entry point. The entry point can be in another scene.
After the conversation at the gate, the story should continue at the market. Create an entry point in the market scene. Under More blocks, add a Jump and choose that entry as its target. Play continues there without automatically returning to the gate.
Go to the warehouse leads to Warehouse at its warehouse entry point. There the story checks whether the player has the key. Stored values such as HasKey survive the scene change.
Open the example project and walkthrough →A call takes a short detour into another conversation sequence. Afterwards, the story can continue from where it left off.
Several conversations should offer the same directions. Build them in a separate scene. Choose More blocks → Substory and select its entry point. Connect After returning to the original conversation’s continuation. End the directions with Return so you can reuse them.
Ask Mira calls Mira’s request at mira_request. Mira explains the warehouse, then returns to Already have the key?. Start in Harbour to experience the complete detour and return.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Return ends that detour and goes back to the conversation that called it. The call remembers where to continue.
The directions are complete. Add Return at the end and connect the last dialogue to it. The original conversation resumes where it called the directions. Without a previous call there is nowhere to return to. Use End for an ordinary conversation ending.
In Mira’s request, Return to the question finishes the detour. Play from the Harbour start, rather than starting the substory directly, so the story knows where to return.
Open the example project and walkthrough →End finishes the current conversation flow. The game can then close the dialogue box.
A merchant says “See you tomorrow!”. Create End and connect the farewell’s Next output to it. The conversation is finished. This need not end your whole game: your game can allow movement again afterwards.
Return to the game ends the warehouse conversation. Despite its custom name, it is an End block, not a Return block. Check the icon and block type: its name alone does not determine its behavior.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Define who is speaking here: their name, portrait and expressions. You select the character later in a dialogue.
A guard should speak with a name and portrait. Open Characters, create Ada and add a portrait. Select Ada under Speaker in a dialogue. You can add another image for a surprised expression and select it for the appropriate line.
Open Mira under Characters, then open Welcome. This shows the connection between character and dialogue. You do not need to enter the name and image again for each line.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Resources describe recurring things in your story: items, quests and locations. Create each once, then select it in game actions. A resource describes what something is; an action asks the game to do something with it.
Manage names, descriptions, images and translations here. Add actions in the Story editor using Resource. Used in takes you to existing nodes.
A variable is a named value that remembers a number, text or yes/no. For example, Gold remembers money and HasKey remembers whether the player has a key.
Should the story remember whether you helped a guard? Under Variables, create a true/false value HelpedGuard, initially false. After helping, Variable sets it to true. A Condition can later choose a friendlier greeting. Use a number for coins or text for a nickname.
Gold starts at 10. HasKey, QuestAccepted and QuestComplete start as false. Follow Gold from the purchase check to Your remaining gold: checking, changing and displaying all use the same stored value.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Preview lets you play your story inside the editor. Project check helps you find missing connections and other problems.
You want to try both replies. Choose Play story. Use the testing tools to bookmark a point before the choice, then return to try the other reply. Test values do not change your project. If you edit the dialogue, restart to include the change. Project check helps find issues such as missing connections.
Start Harbour at harbour_start. Try buying with enough gold and with too little. Try Received and Declined at the game action. Is gold deducted or refunded correctly? Does the player only get the key after a successful handover?
Open the example project and walkthrough →Save keeps your work on your computer. Export creates a package to share. The team dialog in the project menu exchanges changes with GitHub.
Save keeps your work in the local project. To share a copy, open the project menu at the top left and choose Export entire project as ZIP. Neither sends changes to your team. For GitHub, use the team dialog: compare first, then send.
Download the example, extract it and open the included project folder. Edit Welcome, save and reopen the project. Your text remains. A ZIP export includes the editable copy and, for a valid story, the files for your game.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Translate one story into several languages. Connections, choices and stored values stay shared.
A dialogue should say “Good morning!” in English and “Guten Morgen!” in German. Open Localization, add the target language, select the row and enter the translation. Play in both languages. You translate the text without rebuilding the conversation.
The example includes English and German. Compare Mira’s greeting. Keep the placeholder for remaining gold so the current amount appears in both versions. Translation package lets you share the texts as an Excel file for translation.
Open the example project and walkthrough →Characters, resources, variables and game actions use a list on the left and details on the right. Search sits above the left list. The detail area remains visible without a selection and explains the next step.
In Resources, choose Quests, Items or Locations at the top. The three-part filter shows all, used or unused entries. Select a name on the left to edit its texts and uses on the right. In Characters, the three-part switch chooses alphabetical order, upper groups or character groups; search includes group names.
Return to the story using Story in the left menu or the Story editor switch at the top. Project check at the bottom of the left menu opens specific issues in your story.
Open Characters → Manage character groups → New upper group. Enter a name and click Add. Inside that upper group, choose New character group. Edit / move changes its name or upper group. Review changes lists affected characters before saving. Deleting an upper group keeps its character groups under Ungrouped and preserves character assignments. Deleting a character group removes only its assignments; characters remain. Cancel leaves the project unchanged. Undo restores the change. Within a character, choose Assign groups → New character group. Select an existing upper group or New upper group and enter the names. Add creates the groups together and selects the character group; Save assignment applies your selection. Previous selections are kept. Canceling assignment keeps groups already created.
In the Story editor, choose Resource before End. Quests is selected initially. Switch to Items or Locations, choose an action and a resource, then connect Afterwards to the next node. For items, enter a positive whole quantity.
The toolbar stays on one line. Use the right arrow for five more tools and the left arrow to return to the five standard tools. Resource nodes show the type, resource name and full action name, plus the quantity for items.
Missing a resource? Open the resource selector and choose Create quest, Create item or Create location. Enter a name. The new resource is selected immediately; you can add details later in Resources.
In Preview, Previous step restores the previous screen and its variable values. It also works at the end of a path. Restarting clears this history.
Choose a resource and what should happen. Your game performs the action; in Preview, confirm it to continue.
Manage names, descriptions, images and translations here. Add actions in the Story editor using Resource. Used in takes you to existing nodes.
Groups only organize the editor. They do not change story playback and are not included in game exports.
Select one or more nodes, right-click and choose Assign group → New group. Enter a name and choose a color. You can also assign a group under Position & details in the inspector. Each node belongs to at most one group within its scene.
The group selector appears directly after the chapter and scene once a group exists. Ungrouped comes first, followed by groups in alphabetical order. Select several groups to show them together. Entire scene shows everything. New and pasted nodes join the first selected group; the menu names that group. A dot marks colors already used; they remain selectable.
Connection markers below nodes list links to hidden nodes. Click one to temporarily show only its counterpart and that exact connection, keeping your groups visible. Hide the inspected connection to return to the filtered view. Filtering never moves nodes. Manage groups lets you rename, recolor or dissolve groups without deleting their nodes. Undo restores changes. Groups are saved with the editable project and shared with your team. Multiple selected nodes have their own inspector with a list, group assignment, copy and delete actions.
A scene can have up to 32 groups.
