Player Navigation
The 0.7 runtime separates entering a story from pausing one. Players start at the title screen, read with a compact toolbar, and open pages without leaving their current story.
Title screen
Section titled “Title screen”| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Continue | Resumes the autosave directly when one is available and compatible. |
| New game | Starts a new story. |
| Load game | Opens the save browser so players can choose a checkpoint. Occupied manual slots also offer Delete, which asks for confirmation by slot name. The autosave can’t be deleted. |
| Chapters | Opens chapter selection, respecting unlock progress. Replaying a chapter starts with default variables and keeps a further-along Continue point; see save behavior. |
| Settings | Opens player settings before entering a story. |
Pages opened here use Return to title. Confirmations name their action: overwriting a save uses Overwrite, deleting story data uses Delete, and Cancel always backs out. Loading from the title screen does not warn about unsaved progress, because no story is running. Continue and Load game are separate actions: Continue does not open the save browser. See save behavior for outdated saves and checkpoints from another story.
Status messages
Section titled “Status messages”A short message appears at the top of the screen when something needs the player’s attention: while the story loads, when an action such as saving fails, when requests come too quickly, or when save data can’t be opened. Most messages disappear after a few seconds or once the next action succeeds. A message that blocks play, such as save data that could not be opened, stays until the player leaves. The message never takes keyboard or gamepad focus.
While reading
Section titled “While reading”The top toolbar contains Auto, Log, and Menu on phone, tablet, and desktop layouts. Auto toggles automatic reading. Log opens the story log. Menu pauses reading and opens the session controls.
Auto shows Auto: On while enabled. The toolbar hides while a page, confirmation, or title card is open and returns when reading resumes.
The pause menu offers Save game, Load game, Settings, and Chapters. Return to story closes it and resumes reading. A page opened from the pause menu uses Back to return to the pause menu; from there, choose Return to story. Log opened from the toolbar behaves the same way: Back leads to the pause menu, not straight to the story. Loading a save or choosing a chapter changes the story session instead of resuming the previous point.
When returning to the title is allowed, the pause menu also offers Return to title with a confirmation. This is different from closing the pause menu.
Choose your startup and return flow
Section titled “Choose your startup and return flow”Select the project in Explorer and use its Runtime Menu fields:
| Setting | Result |
|---|---|
| Startup Mode: Main Menu | Start at the title screen. |
| Startup Mode: Start Story | Start a new story when no autosave exists; otherwise offer the continue/start-over decision. |
| Allow Return to Main Menu: off | Remove Return to title while keeping the pause menu and its save, load, settings, and chapter controls available. |
| Allow Story Data Reset | Control whether Settings offers Delete story data. This clears player progress, saves, and runtime settings. |
For a story-first game, choose Start Story and turn off Allow Return to Main Menu. Players can still pause. Startup and recovery screens remain available when needed.
An Open Runtime Page node can also open Save, Load, Log, Chapters, or Settings at an authored moment. Back on a page the story opened continues the story directly instead of going through the pause menu. The pause menu itself is a navigation screen, not an additional node page option.
Layout and style
Section titled “Layout and style”Backgrounds, sprites, and overlays retain their authored 16:9 composition. Dialog, choices, text input, menus, and the reading toolbar adapt to usable screen space. Long content scrolls; save slots use one, two, or three columns depending on the screen’s width and height, while retaining six slots per page.
New Empty Projects use the VNC Style Preset and enable Inherit Active Style Preset. Existing projects keep their chosen SVNE, Episode, or custom style and menu inheritance setting. See Visual Styling for overrides and menu image/music defaults.
After upgrading the plugin, use Install / Update Runtime, compile the project, and start a fresh play session. Test both your original style and any new style using the screen-size and input checklist.