Your First Story

The goal of this page isn’t to teach you every bit of syntax. It’s to help you write your first runnable story.

If this is your first time with NovaMark, just focus on understanding:

• How to write a scene
• How to write narration
• How to write dialogue
• How to write choices

A Minimal Example

#scene_intro "Beginning"

> The rain has just stopped. The streets still carry a damp scent.

沈砚: Something different might happen today.

? What do you notice first?
- [The old bookstore by the street] -> .bookstore
- [The flickering lamp at the alley entrance] -> .lamp

.bookstore
> A faint warm glow seeps through the glass door.

.lamp
> The light flickers, as if trying to tell you something.

This script already contains the 4 most important elements in NovaMark:

1. A scene
2. A narration line
3. A dialogue line
4. A choice

Understanding It Line by Line

#scene_intro "Beginning"

This means:

• Create a new scene
• The scene ID is scene_intro
• The title is Beginning

You can think of a scene as “a container for a segment of your story.”

> The rain has just stopped. The streets still carry a damp scent.

This is narration.

Narration is typically used for:

• Environment descriptions
• Atmosphere
• Action descriptions
• System messages

沈砚: Something different might happen today.

This is character dialogue.

The format is simple:

CharacterName: Content

? What do you notice first?

This is a choice question.

It’s usually followed by multiple options.

- [The old bookstore by the street] -> .bookstore

This means:

• The option text is “The old bookstore by the street”
• When the player selects it, jump to .bookstore

Why Write Labels as .bookstore

.bookstore is a label.

Labels serve two purposes:

• Divide a scene into smaller fragments
• Let choices jump to specific positions within the scene

You can think of it as:

“A small node within the current scene”

What to Remember For Now

Just remember these 4 rules:

1. #scene_xxx starts a scene
2. > writes narration
3. CharacterName: writes dialogue
4. ? and - [option] -> target write interactive choices

With just these, you can already write a basic interactive fiction prototype.

What’s Next

Now that you have your first story, the natural next questions are:

• How do you remember what the player has obtained?
• How do you make certain choices appear only when conditions are met?

Next page:

• State, Variables, and Items