I get it. You prefer diving headlong into the situations. A person of action—theory follows practice. I like you already.
This Arcweave QuickStart Guide is just for you! It will hurl you right in the middle of Arcweave’s environment and let you taste the most basic features, before diving deeper into writing a full-fledged interactive story using Arcweave.
Let’s go, then!
The first time you open Arcweave, you’ll be facing The Castle, the in-built example project. You’ll have plenty of time to study it later.
For now, click on the top left orange icon, to exit to your projects list.
Once there, click on the Blank Project button, at the top left.
This is your first board. Double-click anywhere to create your first element.
Drag from the element’s edges, to create a connection. Drop it onto an empty board area and choose Create Element here, to create Element 2.
Repeat, to create 5 elements in total, connected as follows:
Double-click on the element's title area, to give it a title. Then, press TAB, to edit its content.
Give your elements a title each and some content:
Since you're here, why not give the project a proper name? Click Untitled project at the top left, next to the orange icon, and name your project.
Right-click your Start element and choose Set Play Mode start. Notice the little star that appears next to the element's title.
Click on the PLAY icon on the top right, to start Arcweave’s Play Mode. This opens in a new browser tab.
Click on the option buttons, to proceed from element to element.
To restart the playthrough, click outside the content area. This will make the Play Mode menu appear. Then, click on the Restart button, at the bottom left.
You can share your story, so that others can play it, too.
Back to the design’s browser tab, click on Share & Export, the paper plane icon at the top right. Then choose Share.
On the popup modal, change the Public access dropdown to “Play Mode only.”
Then, click on Copy play mode link and paste it all over the world!
You’ve now mastered the bare minimum required to write and share a simple interactive story in Arcweave.
I hope this has only whetted your appetite, because Arcweave has much more to offer. We haven't even mentioned components, dynamic text, real-time collaboration, branches, and arcscript code!
Don't panic, though: we’ve created a whole series of video tutorials, demonstrating every feature in detail!
You’ll find yourself creating complex interactive stories using all of Arcweave's features in no time!