Story Map

Once a story branches, a plain outline stops telling the whole route. The Story Map shows project, chapter, and scene flow as graphs so you can see where the player goes next.

You do not need it for every edit, but it becomes valuable as soon as a project has multiple chapters, a chapter has scene jumps, or a scene has choices, conditions, filtered Text Input routes, jumps, or disconnected draft nodes.

Use it for

Understand flow

See chapter order, scene order, main paths, choice branches, condition routes, and merge points without reading a script.

Edit connections

In Scene scope, create, reconnect, and disconnect node paths from the graph when that is faster than using Properties.

Clean up layout

Move cards into a readable left-to-right structure, or use Auto Layout to create a saved starting point.

Find problems

Warnings and disconnected paths are easier to notice when the whole route is visible.

Map scopes

Use the project, chapter, and scene icon buttons in the Story Map header to change what the graph shows. These buttons use the same icons as matching items in the Explorer.

Scope	Shows	Best for
Project	Chapter cards and chapter-to-chapter links.	Checking the top-level story order.
Chapter	Scene cards inside the selected chapter, including jump links between scenes in that chapter.	Checking how scenes connect before drilling into a route.
Scene	Node cards, branch handles, jump handles, and editable node connections inside the selected scene.	Editing choices, conditions, Text Input filtered routes, jumps, and linear node flow.

Project and Chapter scopes are overview maps. You can pan, zoom, move cards, select cards, open context menus, and drill down into lower scopes from them. Scene scope is where connection editing is available.

Selecting a project, chapter, or scene directly in the Explorer switches the Story Map to that item’s matching scope. If you choose a scope button afterward, your manual scope stays selected until you select another project, chapter, or scene in the Explorer.

The Explorer is the structured outline. It is best for selecting stories, chapters, scenes, assets, characters, variables, and exact nested rows.

Both views represent the same story data, so changes in one should remain consistent with the other.

What connections mean

In Scene scope, most linear nodes connect through Next. Choice nodes connect through each option row. Condition nodes connect through branch rows and Otherwise. Text Input nodes can connect through If Text Is Filtered when filtered text uses a branch. Jump nodes leave the current scene and point to a destination scene, with an optional destination node.

The graph does not invent flow. If a node has no connection and no built-in ending behavior, the story path stops there.

Story Map warning badges use the same warning messages as Properties and the Explorer. If a card shows a warning, select it and check Properties for the field-level message.

Connection edits in Scene scope follow the same node rules as Properties. A stale or mismatched handle should not change a different kind of node, so reconnect suspicious routes from the visible handle on the card.

Moving cards, connecting handles, and disconnecting handles use the same undo, autosave, and refresh behavior as other editor edits. Disconnect Connections is only available when the selected card has a visible connection to remove and the current scope supports connection edits.

VNC saves established card positions with your project in all three scopes. Connection and structural edits, refreshes, and inserts preserve those positions instead of reflowing the rest of the map. New cards receive their own positions without moving the cards you already arranged.

Resizing a docked panel preserves your manual pan position. VNC reveals the selected card after the map first mounts or when you actually change selection or scope, so ordinary panel resizing does not unexpectedly recenter the graph.

Use Auto Layout when you want VNC to calculate a fresh layout for the current project, chapter, or scene map. The result becomes the new saved baseline. It is one undoable edit, so you can compare the automatic result with your previous arrangement and restore either layout with Undo or Redo.

Auto Layout changes card positions, not story flow. Your connections and route order stay the same.

Authoring guidance

Keep the main path mostly left-to-right.
Put alternate branches above and below the main path.
Give condition and choice branches enough vertical spacing to read.
Merge related branches back into a shared continuation when the story does that.
Leave unreachable nodes visible until you intentionally delete or reconnect them.

Why this is different from reading code

In a script-first visual novel engine, branches are hidden inside if statements and function calls. The Story Map makes the same structure visible:

Choice options become outgoing connection points.
Condition branches become named routes.
Merge points can be positioned intentionally.
Unreachable nodes can be found without mentally executing code.

The map is not only a diagram. It is an authoring surface for graph-shaped story data.

That is the payoff: you can change a route with your eyes open.