Principle
Author with intent: story logic, UI behavior, and publish metadata should stay understandable to non-engineers.
Documentation
Platform Guide
This guide explains how Plotbun works at a system level. It is intentionally focused on product behavior and responsibilities rather than implementation internals.
Principle
Fail safely: invalid content is rejected early, and runtime paths prefer predictable fallback behavior.
Principle
Local-first workflow: creation and iteration should remain fast without requiring cloud dependencies.
Principle
Clear separation of concerns: creator, player, community, and admin surfaces should not overlap responsibilities.
Runtime And Story Systems
How interactive stories are represented, played, and persisted during game sessions.
Narrative
Defines story structure, scene/block flow, and the runtime execution model.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Dialogue
Covers dialogue rendering, choice interactions, and player-facing text behavior.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Save System
Controls save/load lifecycle, rollback behavior, and session continuity.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Assets
Describes asset identity, safety constraints, and media resolution rules.
Surface: /editor, /games/[slug]
Game Components
Defines reusable game modules that can be embedded into story flow.
Surface: /editor, /games/[slug]
Core
Shared core state primitives used by runtime orchestration and feature modules.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Locations
Location-state semantics for scene context and progression-aware routing.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Inventory
Player inventory contracts and interaction boundaries for item-driven stories.
Surface: /games/[slug]
Export
Defines package outputs and the guarantees required for distributable builds.
Surface: /editor
Creator Workflow
How creators write, edit, and augment projects before publication.
Editor
Primary authoring workspace for scenes, blocks, project settings, and stage/script-linked preview editing.
Surface: /editor
Character
Character identity, presentation metadata, and profile behavior guidelines.
Surface: /editor
LLM
Assisted writing and generation interfaces with bounded safety and validation rules.
Surface: /editor
Narrator
Optional synthesis/propagation layer for context-aware narrative assistance.
Surface: /editor, /sim
Engine Direction
Product-level architecture boundaries and long-term scope constraints.
Surface: platform-wide
Platform Delivery
How projects are hosted, discovered, and presented across core product surfaces.
Host
Hosted project loading, route safety, and server-side file boundary behavior.
Surface: /api/host/*, /games/[slug]
Library
Creator/player project management across local and hosted collections.
Surface: /library
SEO
Search and sharing baseline for metadata, crawl surfaces, and canonical routes.
Surface: /, /sitemap.xml, /robots.txt
GDPR
Data-rights and compliance surface for policy acceptance logging, erasure requests, and portable export boundaries.
Surface: /api/gdpr/*, /profile, /signup
Community And Operations
Public discovery, creator monetization, and admin oversight boundaries.
Community
Listing discovery, creator pages, follows, reviews, and reporting flows.
Surface: /community
Commerce
Monetization lifecycle for purchases, entitlements, payouts, and disputes.
Surface: /community/*, /api/commerce/*
Profile
Authenticated user and creator identity dashboard behavior.
Surface: /profile
Admin
Operational moderation and payout review surfaces separated from user routes.
Surface: /admin