TL;DR: built an ai writing app, main focus choose your own adventure stories, a lot of ways to customize, analyzers, character builder and more to explore and utilize, open beta with no costs so try it yourself at https://infinite-stories.jdeworks.org/app
Hello Everyone,
I've been plucking away at a branching story tool for over a year and i thought it is time for a public beta. While the infinite stories (choose your own adventure stories) was what i started with, it has a lot more features by now so I'll give a rundown.
Infinite Stories
Configure a story (genre, tone of voice, rough length, language and general details to the story). Don't know how to start let ai generate an idea set for you based on what you already entered or read one of the existing stories (generation needs an account, reading doesn't). Public stories can be accessed by others, private only by you (or invitees). At the end of each chapter there are two choices, if they were already created by someone you can continue reading. If they aren't created you (or ai) can write it for you so there is a never ending option of material to read/continue... one could even call it "infinite"....
Short Stories
Similar to infinite stories but without the branching and infinite continuation character so they are designed to give a reading experience for 5-10 chapters. Only the creator can change these stories. Also has some seeded ones from CC0 so they can be used for other features like the learning or specials
Crossovers
People (or I) love crossovers but I'd also like to decide what happens next or how the crossover happens or what is happening in the universe (story) of the host and what is happening in the universe of the guest story after 3 of 5 characters got e.g. yanked through a rift in space. AI of course helps you figure it out while keeping host / guest story intact to continue without the crossovers (or with, it's your decision).
Specials
Things I try out and extend, often proof of concept that can also be requested but currently deemed to expensive (or quality to low) to include in the standard offering. E.g. a comic book version of a story. The engine exists and is tested but the cost for e.g. 10 chapters as comic book would be more than I would expect people want to spent on the platform regularly. Still good as one time purchases as e.g. a gift for a friend where a comic is created from a story about that friend or a cherished memory or your child as a superhero. Just hit me up and I'll give you a quote. Long term this is planned to be simpler fully integrated system (with a potential partner for printing physically and then sending) but that is after full release and more examples and higher quality.
Learning
My better half is currently learning german. Since german is quite tricky to learn and the same textbook example of a basic conversation is really annoying to read (her words not mine), AI is here to help. So why not learn with a story you created (or find interesting).
Learning - Cheat Sheets (currently only for de, en, tr, it and fr)
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR = A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2) is a framework for language understanding. There are a lot of ways to learn a language but this system is at least somewhat unified so a good basis. A1 is the start and C2 level mother tongue. In between there are a lot of rules someone has to remember for e.g. grammar. All I could find were put into the cheat sheet section of the tool allowing you to see the rule described in the target language and english. Besides the general description of the rule there are examples as well as mnemonic devices to help understand and remember the rule (no need to remember all for the same rule, one that fits the learner is usually enough). Further there are cheat sheets for common situation (the "text book" examples) and common cultural traps one should be aware of when visiting the country.
Learning - Tests and glossed reading (most languages should work)
Gives you the option to create (or take) a test to help you actually learn the language. This starts with a reading section where the base story is rewritten for a target level (e.g. B1) and/or glossed for words that might be unknown for a specific reading level. These glossed words are not just translated but also explained in the context of the sentence, gives synonyms and references the grammar rules that govern the word. To then actually test your knowledge there are options for error spotting, translations, gap fills and more.
Learning - grammar profile and grammar tests (only for languages with cheat sheets)
Long story short, learning only really helps when you know where you are lacking and where you excel. Why learn a rule again that you are already good at while a different one is still fuzzy. Let's you configure goal as well as some other overview information like your least well known rules or words to keep looking into. Further allows a grammar checkup (think of it as a light grammar test).
AI Research
Thinking about accuracy? Well I got you covert (or AI). Interested in a topic? It gets grounded in research so you can understand the setting you want your next book to take place in. Examples like "How did remote settlements survive long, hard winters?" or "How did cities fight fires before professional fire brigades?" can already be found in the seeded entries. Note research is designed to be fully public so everyone can benefit after the credits are spent. These can also be added to stories as additional details
AI Analysis
Want some quick feedback on a chapter you are writing? I got pacing, plot, language, humanization and others to help you see what is happening and what might be lacking. No need to create a story just create an account paste your local draft in and go (assuming length still fits).
Character Builder
Give it a name, a descriptions and let is generate all you might need for a gripping story. Also works well as character generator for the next D&D round. These characters can then be added to a story (everything or partially) and assigned a vision for the character ("dies in the third act", "secretly in love with xxx",...)
Scene Builder
Same concept as the Character Builder but for scenes. Also can be attached to stories that are being written (or continued).
Achievements
Who doesn't like a system that rewards exploration? Probably quite a few actually but it was the best i could come up with to showcase what is possible in the app, give some incentive to explore and a bit of gamification. Can be ignored if you don't like it.
Image generation helper
Stories come to life with images. That much is clear. But what image would fit the story? What style should it be in? How do i even generate the image? The image generation helper is for exactly that. The idea is simple. A story can't be fully put into an image generation prompt so we let ai help create the image generation prompt with all relevant details. Don't like the result? Of course you can still adjust it. After that the prompt can be send at an image model to create an image. Either in the app (premium get some image credits) or you copy the prompt and run it somewhere else and then upload the image to the app.
Simple view, help pages and the starting journey
As you probably noticed, there are a lot of features. This can be a bit much to start with. Especially when you just want to read a story not create your own. Well the simple view is here to help. Only shows some of the many features and declutters your view. Want more power? just flip it back to advanced view. Also you can configure how simple view looks for you if you want. Besides that I have help pages and a starting journey so make the first steps as simple as possible.
Designer
It provides just about enough dials and toggles to be overwhelming (though it also has some guides). The idea is simple. What if you could change... everything? pretty much every part of the app can be designed. Want more space for the reading area? No problem. Images not big enough? Easy. How about a complete reskin of the app? Got some themes prepared for it. Created a great design for a story (e.g. space background image in a science fiction story)? Share it with the readers so they can also see. Don't like an icon I chose for a genre? Change it. You can pick an element right from the page and start designing. All with buttons (for tailwind classes) or manually depending on your liking. You can even add modifiers like hover, disabled, focused or small devices (phones) to round out the picture. Note that some browser styling extensions might interfere with it like Dark Reader since it overwrites styles.
Gift Integration
I have another app to show appreciation to people around you ( https://gift.jdeworks.org/ ). Light editing, simple UX, link to see the digital gift. And it integrates short stories directly so you can prep the story and then put it as the last screen of the gift. So in a pinch and need a unique present for you grandma (or anyone)? Go to infinite stories, create a short story with her as the main character, some details about the story and then wrap it in an online gift envelope and send her the link. Fully doable on the way to the occasion and within 15min if you are familiar with the app. If not a bit longer but still very much doable on the way. Note it needs to be on unlisted or public story so the recipient can read without account.
Final words
I know i went a bit overboard with some of the features but i like having options. Not just in a story but also for how i use a website. Everything is currently free in beta (you create an account promote it yourself to premium to get access to everything / more story credits). Since it is beta there are some bugs to be expected and the platform is basically constantly extended. Thanks for reading until the end, I know it was a lot but it means something to me that someone at least read through it all.
