The Branching Canvas: Scenes, Choices & State

The canvas is the structural heart of your film: every scene is a node, every choice is an edge, and the whole graph is your story.

Scenes

A scene node holds its video (or image), its script, and one interaction, the moment it hands control to the viewer. Scene types match the interaction they carry: button choices, a FaceTime call, a text thread, or hotspots.

Interaction types

• Buttons, classic choices over the video. Configure labels, layout, a countdown, and which option is the default when time runs out.
• FaceTime call, an incoming video call with your character's name and avatar. Accept and decline each route to their own scene.
• Text message, a chat thread with suggested replies; each reply targets a scene.
• Hotspots, tappable regions positioned on the frame itself.

Choices and edges

Drag from a choice's handle to the scene it should lead to. One scene's choices can fan out to many branches, or several branches can converge back into a shared scene. Convergence is how you keep 28 endings affordable: branch for the moments that matter, reconverge when they don't.

Variables and conditions

Stories can remember. Set a variable when a viewer makes a choice (toldHerTheTruth = true), then gate a later branch on it with a condition. Relationship meters, counters, and flags all work this way, it's the difference between a story that branches and a story that remembers.

Start and endings

Every story has one start scene. Endings are simply scenes with no outgoing choices, the player reaches one, the film wraps, and that ending is added to their tracker. Give your endings personality; they're what players screenshot.

Testing structure without video

You don't need generated media to test structure. Use phone preview (scan the QR code) to play your graph as an animatic (stills, voice, and timing) and feel whether the branching works before you spend on video. More in Previewing & Sharing Your Story.