Elseway Creator Guide

Player-facing fields aim for appeal, style, and suspense; AI-facing fields aim for clarity, full disclosure, and accurate executability. Once the two are mixed, the work reads noticeably worse.

Story fields

Character Card fields

Design principles

• Put all the main characters in the frame. Add a touch of thematic atmosphere so people instantly sense "a world with many people and a real story." Keep the art consistent with the character cards.
• Keep one visual focal point. For example, let the protagonist take the foreground or center while others fan out around them; this reads as an ensemble, not a flat row at one size.
• Text on the image is optional. A big title plus a one-line hook ("Your name isn't on it.") sells the premise directly; relying on the visual alone is equally fine.

Format & specs

• Use a 3:4 portrait composition.
• MP4 is supported and recommended. Keep it to a 2–3 second "micro-motion" clip (a slight sway of hair, a shift of the eyes), within 2MB. Large motion clutters the frame.
• For a static cover, GPT Image 2 works well: you can try to give it the character images and the main plot, and ask for a cover that fits the art style, matches the plot, and highlights the focus.

Static cover examples

Animated cover examples

Dynamic characters catch the eye on Discover. Keep the motion subtle, around 2–3 seconds.

Just like a movie trailer, a teaser doesn't need to retell the whole plot. Pick the most compelling moments from your story, let players quickly grasp its core situation, and leave them hanging at the most critical moment so they want to start playing.

Design principles

• Prefer a first-person view. Treat the camera as the player's eyes, so viewers feel they are inside the story rather than watching someone else's experience.
• Start the action in the first second. Skip opening credits, empty establishing shots and long character introductions. Cut straight into a conflict, a surprise or a key event to grab attention right away.
• Make the situation clear, but keep the suspense. Let players understand where they are and what they're facing. There's no need to explain the full backstory, and never reveal the ending.
• Have characters interact with the camera. Avoid characters standing in place reciting lines. Let them engage the player through actions, expressions, eye contact and dialogue, and let each character's personality show.
• Escalate, then cut at the peak. Every shot should move events forward and raise the conflict or tension. End on the most critical moment, with a line, an action or a sudden twist that leaves viewers hanging.

Format & specs

• 9:16 vertical, 10–20 seconds long. Around 15 seconds is recommended.

Teaser examples

• Short and memorable. Overly long titles get truncated on cards.
• Hint at the core, don't spoil. Specific beats grand. "Reborn as the Villainess" makes the hook obvious at a glance.
• It's fine to be direct. Put the core premise or hook right in the title (reborn, revenge, trapped, the only one), so players can judge at a glance.

Don't agonize over it. You can wait until the Plot and characters are done, then come back and pick a fitting title.

A practical three-step structure:

1. Set up the situation: what's happening, and who the player plays.
2. Reveal the conflict: what trouble or choice the player will face.
3. Leave a hook: end with an unspoken question or choice, handing the decision to the player.

A few reminders: don't tell the whole plot here; the Introduction only attracts the click, and the real content stays in the story. Keep it short. For multi-character stories, hint that this is a web of relationships, not just one person's story.

HTML styling

The Introduction supports HTML for more refined layouts. You don't need to know code; there's an easier way below. In short: use <div> to frame a block, and write the styling inside its style="…". For example:

Two rules: ① start directly from <div>, no <html> / <body> wrappers, or the platform fails to render; ② write all styles inline, no external CSS.

The easiest way: send the full template below, plus your plot setup, to an AI  and have it adapt the style using your plot. The complete code is in the attached file Introduction-HTML-template-the-summoned.html.

Two things to remember; this is where beginners most often go wrong:

Below are four groups. Each has one required item; the "optional" parts can be used as needed.

1 · Player and Goal

• Player role: who the player plays, in one sentence (e.g., "You are a field medic just dispatched to the frontier, on your third day"). If there's no preset identity, say the player defines it.
• Core goal: what the main line chases: uncover a truth, win a position, survive, make a decision.
• Stakes / cost (optional): what happens on failure, and why the player should care. A story with no cost quickly loses interest.

2 · Obstacles

Don't just write "there's a villain." Split the obstacle into three layers for depth:

• External: a system, a deadline, a faction; not aimed at a person, but always pressing.
• Other characters: those who know but only tell when the player "asks the right question," or whose goals oppose the player's. However, you don't need to go into too much detail here for the main characters. The specific character settings can be placed in the character's personality section. For less important NPCs, if you don't want to create separate character cards for them, you can just write them down here.

3 · World

• Genre + tone + emotional goal: the subject, the tone, and what you want the player to feel (thrill / heartbreak / suspense / comfort / fear). All setup serves this.
• Opening status quo: the fragile balance the world holds before the player steps in, ready to break at any moment.
• Rules and mechanics (optional): special rules unique to your world, how the magic / system works and its cost, memorable key props / places / symbols.
• A bit of history (optional): one or two past events that shaped the present; enough for depth, no chronicle.
• What the world is "not" (optional): define boundaries in reverse (no magic / no superpowers / pure realism) to keep the AI from drifting.
• Factions / forces (optional): the camps the player can join, each with goals and costs; especially useful for multi-character stories.

4 · The Web of Relationships

The core engine of multi-character, long-plot stories. Pull it out separately:

• Who is who, who is what to whom, who knows what, who hides what, whose goals conflict. Most of the tension comes from "everyone present holds different information and stands in a different position."
• Character routes (optional): for multiple lines / romanceable targets, list the routes and their differing tones.
• Secrets: state what the secret is and who knows it. (When it is revealed, and the rule that the AI mustn't spill it first, go in Story Arc.)

Two cross-cutting practices

• Clear beats clever. Pin vague adjectives down to concrete behavior. Not "she's cold," but "she never learns her teammates' names and calls them only by number; when one falls, she pauses a beat, then walks on." The former gives the AI only a stereotype; the latter gives it grounds to act.
• Break into sections and bullets. A clearly structured Plot is easier for the AI to reference across a long conversation without missing key points.

The above is a simple set of starter rules, not a standard answer. If you have better approaches, you're welcome to expand on this, or break it.

1 · Pacing and progression

• Give stage goals, not a rigid line-by-line script. Players act unpredictably; the more rigid the script, the more it clashes with their choices. Use "acts" (Act 1 lays groundwork, the middle stages a conflict, the later part forces a decision), but each act only states "what should happen"; leave trigger timing to the AI.
• How relationships / arcs change. The web in Plot is static; here, write how it comes alive: who moves from opposition to trust, whose stance loosens.
• When secrets are revealed. Continuing from Plot, state under what conditions a secret surfaces, and that the AI must not reveal it early.

2 · AI behavioral rules (write as a list)

• Perspective and tone: second person? present tense? what overall tone? Decide first.
• Player sovereignty: don't speak or decide for the player; only narrate the consequences of their choices.
• Every choice has a cost: don't let goals come too easily.
• NPCs act from their own motives, and always hold a bit more information than the player; avoid omniscience.
• Multi-character: give each a recognizable voice (don't blur them into one); don't put everyone on stage taking turns at once.
• Other custom restrictions: e.g., no image URLs in replies, forbid a line, etc.; write each out.

The most critical few (a secret, a mechanic, not deciding for the player) are worth re-stating once in a short, firm sentence. The more important the rule, the more it should stand out.

3 · Advanced (optional): the Module Method

For more replayability, break the plot into "scene modules," each with just two things: what happens + what triggers it. Then let the AI pick based on player behavior, rather than walking one line to the end. Great for multi-character stories: give each character a set of dedicated scenes.

Again, these are starter frameworks, not rules to follow exactly. Once familiar, go at your own pace.

Plot is the static "what it is": facts true before the player steps in. Story Arc is the dynamic "how it plays out": pacing as the plot advances, and the AI's behavioral rules. Split the easily-confused points along this line:

• Cut in from "the first frame." Avoid a big block of worldbuilding; go straight into what's happening now.
• Set the tone in the first line or two. Keep the opening atmosphere consistent with the emotion you set in Plot.
• End by handing control back. For example, give two or three options plus "or do as you wish"; or end on a "you must respond now" hook.

Note that the model's later replies will likely mimic the format of your Prologue. If you end with options, its replies may keep the option format throughout.

Markdown

The chat (including the prologue) supports a full set of Markdown. Here is everything you can use, and how it renders in Elseway:

Supported syntax

How it looks

Most common in roleplay: plain text for a character's spoken dialogue; *…* for narration (setting, thoughts, actions), shown in dim grey; **…** for emphasis, shown in purple.

Inserting images

You can insert images in the Prologue too, the same way as the Introduction: upload to an image host, get the direct link, then use it. Note: once you use an image direct link in the opening, add a rule in Story Arc: "do not generate image URLs in replies," or the AI will mimic the format and produce broken images later.

• Choose tags that truly match the content: subject, setting, relationship type, hook; pick the few that best represent the core.
• Don't pile on irrelevant popular tags to chase exposure. If name and substance don't match, players who click in and find it isn't what they expected will leave.

• No adult sexual content.
• Images must be clear and of decent quality; blurry, hastily captured, or unedited low-quality images and videos risk being taken down.
• For the specific prohibitions, see Strictly Prohibited Content below.

• Public: everyone can see and play it on the Discover page.
• Private: only you can see it; good for unfinished, saved, or test stories.

Avatar

• The character's first impression. Use an image or a short video; a 2–3 second micro-motion character is more appealing.
• Keep it consistent with the introduction and personality, or it breaks immersion.
• Recommended 3:4 size; video no larger than 2MB.

The avatar must also be clear and of good quality; blurry or casually unedited low-quality images / videos risk being taken down.

A few directions:

• Bust or half-body, face toward the viewer. The safest default; the face still reads at thumbnail size.
• A signature prop or outfit that signals the character at a glance (an oracle's ceremonial robes, a medic's blood-stained coat, a hooded host in shadow).
• For emotional or romance characters, a mood-forward close-up (a sidelong glance, a half-smile) lands harder than a neutral pose.
• Keep the whole cast in one art style. When several characters share a story, a consistent style makes them feel like one world.

Avoid: tiny full-body shots where the face is unreadable, or an avatar whose vibe contradicts the character's personality.

Avatar examples

An avatar can be a still image or a short video. Same characters, both formats:

Name

Just enter the character's name.

Introduction

The "business card" players see when selecting a character: who they are, what's special, and one point that draws people in. Also supports HTML styling, the same way as the story Introduction.

Personality

The core of the whole card. Players never see it, but the AI reads it every turn to play the character. The more concrete and specific it is, the closer the AI gets to the character you imagined; if it's thin, the AI falls back on the most generic version.

Write cause and effect, not a pile of adjectives. Don't write "she's aloof." Write: "She keeps every colleague at arm's length, not out of coldness but because years on a response team taught her to treat 'trusting someone' as a risk assessment; even so, she quietly remembers each teammate's daily routine." Adjectives give the AI a stereotype; a causal chain lets it react in character even in situations you never scripted.

A solid Personality usually covers:

• Appearance: height, bearing, signature features or clothing; a visual anchor for the AI when it narrates actions.
• Identity & background: role, standing, and one to three events that shaped them.
• Personality core: written as cause and effect ("why they are this way"), not labels.
• Speech & movement habits: catchphrases, rhythm, unconscious gestures (e.g., "before he hesitates, he goes quiet for a beat, as if deciding whether to say it").
• Relationship to the player: the initial relationship, first impression, and any unspoken expectation.
• AI performance note: direct instructions (e.g., "He never says 'I love you' first, but the moment {{user}} is in danger he steps in front of them without thinking").

Two traps to avoid:

• Stacking labels instead of writing a person. "Tsundere / overachiever / cold beauty" is fine for minor roles, but a main character needs the full causal picture.
• Directly contradictory static traits. "Shy but bold" confuses the AI. Write the situation instead: "In company meetings she speaks slowly and weighs every word; at her small weekly book club she jumps in first and forgets to lower her voice." Always write the context.

Secrets the character hides from the player should still be written here for the AI; when they are revealed is handled in Story Arc.

These are starter frameworks; once you're skilled, go further.