FAQ: How do I create a new room/chapter?
Creating a New Room
When you come to a point in a story where there is a choice that does not lead to another already created room you might be faced with the option of creating a new room. You must be logged into your account to be given this option.
If the owner of the story has turned off public submissions you will be told you are not allowed to add to the story, unless you are on the list of those they gave access rights to. You will always be allowed to add to your own stories, no matter what the access settings are.
When the Room Creation screen opens you will have several fields to fill out and options to select to either create this new room or create a new link. There are three ways to create a room or link on this screen: Room With Choices, Ending Room, or Link to an Existing Room. There is also the special First Room creation screen that works much like the Room With Choices.
If the owner of the story requires room reviews your room will not be immediately added to the story. Instead the link will be locked, stopping others from adding a new room until the submission is reviewed. The owner of the story will have the option to either accept the new room or reject it.
Creating a Room With Choices
If you want to create a new room that has one or more links to continue the story there are a few steps you have follow. The first of which is the most obvious: Write the room. Fill in the Room Description field with that you want the room to say. You can use HTML formatting in this field to alter the look of the text or even do some other neat tricks (such as image linking). Do not include the text you want for the links in this field though.
It is also smart to give your room a Nickname of some kind, in the Nickname field. This is useful for linking rooms together and creating story loops. You can give the same nickname twice in a story; they must be unique.
Next you can add a small image to the page from your computer by choosing the file you want and uploading it to the server. Images uploaded this way must be in jpg or gif format, can be a maximum of 350x350 pixels at 72dpi in size, and the file can be no larger than 50000 bytes in size. You can also choose what Position you want the image to appear on the page and if Text wraps around it or not. For more information on adding images to rooms, click here.
Lastly, you get to create the links you want to appear on the page for your story to continue on from this point. You can create up to five choices here. For each choice you want to include just fill in the long field with the description you want for the choice. A minimum of one choice must be written, if you are creating a room with chices.
I you already have a room in your story that you want any of the choices you make to lead to you can automatically create this link by putting the room ID number or Nickname for that destination room in the short field to the right of the long choice field. This is not required, but makes it easier if you plan to link to another existing room.
Once you have everything filled out the way you want, simply press the "Save Room With These Choices" button. You will then be greeted with a message telling you if it was successfully saved or not.
Creating an Ending Room
This is done to create a dead end in your story. This will be marked with a large "The End" instead of any choices when viewed. You create it in almost the same way as a Room With Choices: By filling out the room description, giving it a nickname, and uploading any images you may want to include.
Then you finish off by selecting the "Save Room With No Choices - End of Story" button. You will then be greeted with a message telling you if it was successfully saved or not.
Creating a Link to an Existing Room
If you want to make the link you just selected connect to an existing room instead of creating a new room you can use this ability to do that. This is the easiest thing to do.
You then put either the ID number or the Nickname for the room you want to link to in the "Room ID of Nickname" field and click the Submit button next to it. This creates a link rather than a room. You will then be greeted with a message telling you if it was successful or not.
Creating a First Room
This is exactly the same as creating a room with choices, only the actual screen will look slightly different. Instead of giving you all the options you would normally have when creating a room it only shows the options a new room allows. This means you can not end the story, you can not link to another room, and you have to have at least one active choice.