Arcweave cheat sheet for game writers

A list of resources to help you learn Arcweave faster and master it with confidence

Strategy game resource icons by Ravenmore

Are you getting ready to participate in the upcoming Game Writing SIG Arcjam but have not used Arcweave before?

Learning a new tool can feel daunting. The good news is that Arcweave is built with game writers & game designers in mind. It doesn't require you to be particularly tech savvy to start creating your interactive stories.

This article is an Arcweave cheat sheet for writers, designed to help you find your footing and start creating asap. It includes links to relevant resources and the ideal order in which to explore them.

Beginner

Start simple and don't worry about the advanced Arcweave features. First get used to navigating its environment and visualizing your story flow.

💡 Tip: Focus first on how to build your story with elements and connections.

As a beginner, you can start your learning journey from the following resources:

• QuickStart Guide: A short blog post with step-by-step instructions leading you from scratch to your first playable, shareable story.
• Quick Tour: The Arcweave documentation includes this quick exploration of Arcweave's environment.
• Video Tutorials: A slightly longer route to knowledge is this playlist of Arcweave tutorials covering all the basics.

🔖 Read the Docs: The Arcweave Documentation is the ultimate reference guide for all features. It includes multiple examples and helpful images, along with a good search field that can answer most questions.

💬 Get support: Ask questions and get answers in Arcweave's Discord server, where you'll find the Arcweave Team hanging out with the community.

Intermediate

Once you're comfortable linking elements and playtesting the result, you can consider taking the next steps:

Team management

• Project collaborators: Read this page to get a quick grasp of how to invite other people to collaborate on your project.
• Workspace collaborators: For more freedom and the ability to work on multiple projects with the same people, look into Arcweave's collaborative workspaces.

Assets

Enrich the player experience with images, audio, and video, which will render and play in Play Mode.

• Assets quick guide: A short blog post guiding you through uploading and attaching assets to your project. (It's slightly old, so it doesn't include video assets.)
• Assets documentation: Leave no stone unturned regarding the use and manipulation of media assets.

Expert

Ready to step up your game even more? Dive into logic, dynamic story flow, debugging, and CSS styling!

Logic

Let your game know and remember what has happened. E.g., is the player carrying the brass key? Then, manipulate the story flow accordingly.

Follow this advanced tutorial to learn all the logic-related features of Arcweave:

• Variables: Keep track of player choices and story state.
• Branches: Direct the story flow dynamically, according to story state and conditions.
• Arcscript: Add simple expressions to set variables, display conditional text, and manipulate logic inside your elements and connection labels.
• Debugger: Test your project and troubleshoot its logic in Arcweave's Play Mode.

❤️ Pep talk: Yep, it's quite a challenge! But if you survive this tutorial, there are very few things in Arcweave you won't achieve!

Style editor

Are you ready to polish your project for release?

• Style Editor: Use this CSS editor in Arcweave's Play Mode to customize your project's look.

The Game Writing SIG Arcjam is now open for joining! There is plenty of time to master Arcweave and submit something amazing!

You've got this! 

As you go through and absorb this list of resources, take it easy; start small, experiment, and remember: you're not alone!

• If you get stuck, the Arcweave community is here to help.
• Don't underestimate the value of reading the docs!

🎮 Happy writing, and see you in the jam! 🕹️