Preview and Publishing
Preview your story
A key part of the writing process is testing. You'll need to make sure that your story plays from start to finish without glitches, that your characters are coming to life properly, and that you have implemented all of the tools correctly. There are two ways to preview your story:
Slide out test chat
To test in the slide out test chat:
- Press the arrow on the right-hand side of the story graph to open the slide out test chat.
- Save any memories needed using the
Memory Setter
in the top left-hand corner of the test chat window. - Choose either
Chat from start
orChat from selected node
(you will need to have selected a node in the graph first to do this). - Start chatting!
This slide out chat will not show any media in your story but will show you all character dialogue
Play in App
This is where you can see the full effect of your story, including any media, bubble positions, impacts and dialogue.
To Play in App:
- Press the arrow on the right-hand side of the story graph to open the slide out test chat.
- Save any memories needed using the
Memory Setter
in the top left-hand corner of the test chat window. - Choose either
Chat from start
orChat from selected node
(you will need to have selected a node in the graph first to do this). - Click
Play in app
. - Use your camera app or a QR reader on your phone to read the QR code on the graph.
- Allow your phone to open the Charisma app.
You will need to have already installed the Charisma app to your phone, and be logged in for this to work.
Checklist
Promo Panels
Before you publish, you'll need to add Story Promo Panels. This is a short series of panels and text bubbles to give your audience a taster of your story when they select “View Trailer” in the app. To add Story Promo Panels head to the Story Overview page in the left-hand menu.
- Click Add Panel and choose an image. These should be the same size dimensions as the images in your story.
- Add Panel Caption. This will be the first line of text. You can use this as a sort of blurb or introduction to the story.
- Continue adding Panels and Captions until your promo is finished.
- Click Save Promo Panels.
Publishing Checklist
Once you have tested, tested and tested again, you're ready to think about publishing. Here's what you should have completed before publishing:
End Story
on the final node of your storyCreate a Preview version
After crafting your story, create a preview version. This will give you a version number (e.g., V1, V2). This preview version is uneditable, can't be changed and it is not public yet. To make edits you have to return to the draft.
Steps to create a Preview version:
- Click
Draft
under your story title in the left-hand menu. - Click
Create a preview version
.
Publish and Promote
Make sure to check you've covered everything on the Publishing checklist first, and then you're ready to share your story to the wider world.
- Once satisfied with the preview version, publish it to make it available to users.
- The last published version automatically becomes the promoted one.
- You can have multiple published versions, and all published versions are accessible to the public. If you simply access the story without specifying a version, you'll automatically get the promoted version.
Steps to Publish and Promote:
- Create a preview version
- Select the
...
icon next to the version you'd like to publish. - Click
Publish
. This story will be automatically the promoted version, if you would like to promote a different version, select the...
icon next to the version you'd like to promote and clickPromote
. - Congratulations! Your story is now published!
Editing and Reverting
- If you would like to make any changes to the story you will have to return to the draft version, make the changes, and publish/promote it again.
- If you would like to use a previously published version, you can promote it by the
...
icon next to the version you'd like to promote, and clickPromote
.
These processes allow you to refine, and share your story while maintaining control over versions and content variations.
Viewing Previous Versions
After publishing you will be able to access past versions of your story by clicking Draft
under your story title. Here you can reference back to any past version and check the analytics for published versions.
To see the date a version was published, hover your mouse over the clock logo next to the version.