Hello everyone, welcome to my help thread!
I know it looks like I am new to episode but i’ve had past accounts that I lost the users to, I can remember @Episodio.Rosa as one but the rest are a blur. I just ask that you trust me when I say I can help. 
Some quick tips are:
- Make a story planner to keep your plot organised, I’ve got an example of a planner that you can use by just copying the page over. (Yes, I put the plot questions episode gives but I also add a page for you to note down CC creators and character profiles etc.)
Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bXfsEZUiPjEcBFscQBuMAWNaNo0ignwmV32zId2IMzE/edit?usp=sharing - It is okay to be cliche, it’s impossible to be original in the world. The idea is to think of a commonly used theme or topic and add a twist to it, E.g. The main character is a “golden child”, straight A student on honor roles and he is a dangerous bad boy. Cliche right? Well, try reverse the roles; E.G. You’re one of the most feared and ruthlesss crime boss, or you were, until you meet the dorkiest golden boy and start to rethink every decision you’ve ever made. See what I mean?
- Use grammar, spelling and punctuation. People enjoy reading stories with good grammar and spelling, we like to understand the words we read.
- Add either 1-2 meaningless choices per every 2-3 episodes or 1 or more meaningful choice every 5-7 episodes.
- Add more then just dialog, add the animations and the placement, if a character says “Let’s go!” don’t fade on them standing still, add the extra line of script to make them walk off.
- Add descriptive narration, aka text by the narrator that is not just “At the MC’s house”.
- Add sound effects, avoid dead silence. Unless you’re making a scene incredibly awkard then keep music. I personally feel like sound just adds to the effects of the story and helps set the mood.
- Use text effects to highlight points that are going to be revisted later or are hinting to something, e.g. “He has had his hand in his pocket for this whole date”, it gives the hint that the pocket may have something in it, and also brings a more greater attention to often missed crucial detail.
- Don’t make the whole first chapter customisation only, add some form of scene even if it’s small. At least the reader can get to experience of what the story is like and decide whether they then wish to keep reading on later, this tip just helps keep a higher retension rate.
- Release in batches, I recommend publishing your story at 4-5 chapters and then publish 2-3 chapters at a steady rate but you can adjust those figures to work best for you, as long as you can keep up with your deadlines you are in the clear.
- Custom content! Always credit the person who helped you get a background or overlay, script, outfit, background character etc. They created or made something for you, please remember to credit them as the owner of their content.
- Use custom backgrounds and overlays, episode no hate, we love your backgrounds but it’s lacking some screnes we could really use and can be restricting.
- When entering a creators contest, think of a plot or base idea, then get your CC in ready to be approved, then after work on your characters, scripting, correcting, reviewing.
I will add more tips but my math class just ended and gotta pack up, see ya at lunch.
(feel free to ask questions on anything, I will do my best to help.)
Basic scripting!
Scripting in episode isn’t as hard as it may look, it just seems that way because it is new and can be daunting. Here are some basic scripting commands you can try!
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@ This is used at the start of almost every line of script, it is used to tell the script WHAT or WHO you want to do something at a normal defaulted pace. E.g; @CHARACTERNAME is idle.
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& This does almost the same job as the @ command however it works instantly, It is best and most commonly used when placing characters before the screen fades in. E.g; &CHARACTERNAME stands screen center.
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ACTION COMMAND To perform the action command you simply put ‘@CHARACTERNAME is ___’ (NOTE: Put the action you wish to have in the blank space.) E.g; @CHARACTERNAME is idle_happy.
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PLACEMENT To make things appear on your screen in the story you write put the words “screen left, screen right, screen center” these will make your character or overlay etc appear on screen. You can then play around on the mobile app later when trying to position your characters in a specific spot.
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LAYERS If you wish to make a character move infront of or behind an overlay or person just put ‘@CHARACTERNAME moves to layer __’. (In the blank put a number between 2 and -7, with 2 being the closest and -7 being the furthest in layers.)
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TALKING To make a character talk you use multiple lines;
1st line) tab key 2x CHARACTERNAME (action)
2nd line) Tab key 2x Text. (Must start with a capital.) -
CHANGING If you wish to make a character change their clothing, you put:
@CHARACTERNAME changes into OUTFITNAME -
TRANSITIONS There are many different transitions you can put however the most common are the fade transitions, to use put:
@transition fade in COLOUR
or to end a scene
@transition fade out COLOUR. -
Sound and music These 2 commands are great but make sure not to confuse them;
Sound - Plays the audio once.
Music - Loops and doesn’t stop unless stopped by a command.
(I forget the sound command, help me out here guys. xD)
Music command - @music is ______ (add the audio in the blank)
Stop command - @music reset
