System User Guide
Understanding the Cosmic Story Engine & The Telegraph
The Two-Part System
This system consists of two distinct but connected applications:
- Blueprint of the Cosmos: A powerful tool for creators to design the foundational rules, themes, and keys for a narrative universe. This is where special QR codes can be conceptualized.
- The Telegraph: An interactive web app for players to scan QR codes and experience, continue, and co-create stories with an AI.
The Blueprint creates the "seeds" (QR codes) that are "planted" in The Telegraph to grow into unique experiences.
Blueprint of the Cosmos: The Creator's Tool
This is your mission control for generating unique narrative universes. You will define the core parameters (the "Blueprint") which produce a set of unique Runic and QR Keys. These keys are the entry point for the player experience.
The top half of the page contains several cards that form the foundational "Blueprint" of your story. Every choice here influences the final output.
- Cosmic Theme: Select a visual color scheme for the application interface.
- Cosmic Axioms: A list of unchangeable philosophies that guide the AI's narrative choices.
- Temporal Coordinate: This uses your current date and time by default. You can pause the live clock or manually set a different date and time to create a key based on a specific moment.
- Spatial Coordinate: This uses your browser's GPS location. You can refresh it or enter manual latitude/longitude coordinates to root your story in a specific place.
- Crypto Wallet Key: Optionally, include a crypto wallet address. This adds another layer of unique data to the final composite key.
- Glossary & Inspirations: Define key characters and terms for the AI to use. Add inspirational works (books, songs, movies) to guide the story's tone and themes.
- Prompt Options: Fine-tune the AI's behavior, such as play length, dialogue style, and how often it includes image descriptions or director's notes.
Based on your selections in the Blueprint, the system generates a single, 100-digit numerical key. This key is then processed through four different algorithms to produce four unique "Composite Keys": Direct, Expanded, Shifted, and Reversed.
For each key, you are given:
- A Runic Sequence: A visual representation of the key using Elder Futhark runes. You can download this as an SVG image using the button.
- A QR Code: A scannable QR code that contains the runic sequence's underlying English words. You can download this as a PNG image using the QR button.
These QR codes are what you share with players to use in the The Telegraph application. Each of the four QR codes will start the same "Keyword Hunt" game.
Once your Blueprint is set, you can generate the story.
- Review Cost: The "Cost & Donation Estimator" provides a rough estimate of the API cost for generating the full play.
- Generate: Click the Generate Full Screenplay button. A progress bar will show the AI weaving the narrative scene by scene.
- Read: The final screenplay appears in the "Generated Star Chart" section. Each scene is in a collapsible accordion item for easy reading. Glossary terms are highlighted and show definitions on hover.
- Listen: Click Listen to Play to have the screenplay read aloud via Text-to-Speech. The currently spoken sentence will be highlighted.
- Revise: After the first draft is complete, you can enter notes and generate a "Second Draft" and then a "Final Draft".
- Export:
- Export Codex: Downloads the entire screenplay as a professionally formatted PDF.
- Download All Assets: Downloads a ZIP file containing all generated runic keys (SVGs) and QR codes (PNGs).
The Telegraph: The Player's Experience
Welcome, player! This app is your portal to an interactive narrative experience. Your journey begins by scanning a QR code.
When the application first loads, you will see the title and a main button.
- Click the Start Scan button.
- Your browser will ask for permission to use your camera. You must grant access for the scanner to work.
- Once permission is granted, a live camera view will appear. Point your device's camera at a QR code.
- When a code is successfully scanned, the app will expand to full-screen, and the AI will begin to generate your story.
You can click the info icon () in the top right corner at any time to review these instructions.
After a moment, your unique story will appear. Now you can read, listen, and add to the narrative.
- Listen to the Story: Use the audio controls (⏪ ▶️ ⏹️) to have the story read aloud. As it plays, the current sentence will be highlighted in the text.
- Continue the Story: Below the story is a text box. Type in your own idea for what should happen next (e.g., "The hero discovers a hidden passage.") and click the Continue Story button. The AI will write a new section based on your prompt and add it to the bottom of the existing story.
- Get Suggestions: If you're stuck, click the Get Suggestions button. The AI will provide two questions and a statement. You can use these as inspiration or click the plus icon () next to one to instantly add it to the text box.
Once you are happy with your co-created narrative, you have two main options:
Plant a Seed
Clicking the Plant a Seed button opens a modal window containing a brand new QR code. This code is generated from the key themes of the story you just finished. Save this image or have a friend scan it directly from your screen. When they scan it, they will begin their own unique story, continuing the cycle of creation!
Submit for Review
Clicking Submit for Review saves your entire story as a draft post on this website for an administrator to read and potentially publish.
Before submitting, you can use the "Include full story history" toggle. If enabled, your submission will include not just the final story, but also the initial prompt and every "Continue the Story" prompt you entered, showing the complete creative process.
When you are finished with your session, simply click the Scan Another button at the very bottom of the page. This will reset the application to its initial state, ready for you to scan a new QR code and begin a new adventure.