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Inkweaver

Screenplays

Inkweaver uses the standard screenplay format used in film and television. It was made by writers, for writers, and it’s one of the best ways to tell a story in a visual medium.

Inkweaver reads your screenplay files directly, so there’s nothing to import. Save your files anywhere in your workspace, and Inkweaver will find them.

Screenplays are plain, human-readable text, so there’s no coding involved. You get to focus on what you do best: write.

Choosing a screenplay editor

Section titled “Choosing a screenplay editor”

You’ll need an editor that supports one of the industry-standard screenplay formats: Fountain (.fountain) or Final Draft (.fdx). Most screenplay editors support one or both, so you have plenty of options.

Fountain

Section titled “Fountain”

Fountain is a simple markup syntax for writing screenplays in plain text. The Fountain syntax is easy to learn, and it works in any editor that can edit plain text.

We recommend Visual Studio Code with the free Inkweaver Language Server. Visual Studio Code is an excellent text editor, and the Language Server adds syntax highlighting and error reporting for your screenplays.

Later on, Inkweaver Studio will give you one place to write your screenplay and preview your novel. Inkweaver Studio is planned for 2027, and the Visual Studio Code extension ships in stages before then.

Final Draft

Section titled “Final Draft”

If you’d like something that feels more like a word processor than a code editor, try an app that supports the Final Draft format.

Final Draft and Fade In are the industry standards, and there are cheaper and free alternatives like Beat.

Anatomy of a screenplay

Section titled “Anatomy of a screenplay”

Whatever editor you use, every screenplay is built from the same elements. Inkweaver adds a few of its own to make your story interactive.

Here’s an excerpt from an example screenplay. Click an element to learn more about it.

#PROLOGUE

INT. ABYSSAL GAME ROOM - MIDNIGHT

The cold, mechanical click of the lock was a merciless reminder that we were no longer players, but prisoners in someone else's deadly game.

SOPHIA

<stage-left>

<despairing>

Why can't we just leave? I don't want to play!

The voice of our host crackles through the speaker, this time softer but no less sinister.

HOST

<off-screen>

Oh, but my dear, sweet Sophia... You're already playing!

SLOW FADE TO:

INT. GAME TABLE - CONT'D

The room is a pressure cooker, and I'm caught in its center. My pulse races as I meet their eyes. The faces of fear, guilt, desperation.

One of them is lying. One of them is a murderer.

And time is running out.

[Wait, you said there were rules! -> #peace]

[Sit down Sophia. We know how this ends. -> #violence]

Sections

Section titled “Sections”

Sections mark places in your screenplay that the reader can jump to, either through links or from code.

Sections are never shown on screen.

Scene headings

Section titled “Scene headings”

Scene headings, also called sluglines, say where and when a scene takes place. Inkweaver uses them to choose the background image.

Inkweaver does this by comparing the words in the slugline to the names of your artists’ PSD files. You can read more in displaying images.

Character headings

Section titled “Character headings”

A character heading brings a character into the scene.

Inkweaver also uses it to find the character’s artwork, matching names the same way it does for sluglines.

Dialogue

Section titled “Dialogue”

Dialogue is the text a character speaks.

Narration

Section titled “Narration”

Narration is any text that isn’t spoken by a character. Use it to describe the action in a scene, for a narrator’s voice, or for the protagonist’s inner monologue.

Transitions

Section titled “Transitions”

Transitions choose the animation that plays when the scene changes, like DISSOLVE TO: or WIPE TO:. If you don’t write one, Inkweaver uses a soft cut: a quick fade.

See transitions for every transition you can use.

Section titled “Links and labels”

Most of the elements above come straight from the standard screenplay format. Visual novels are interactive, though, so Inkweaver adds two more: links and labels.

Section titled “Links”

Links let the reader jump between sections of your screenplay. They look the same in Fountain and Final Draft:

[ Text the reader sees -> #TARGET-SECTION ]

Add sections throughout your screenplay and links that point to them, and you can design routes and branches for your novel.

Section titled “Empty links”

A link with no target moves the story on to the next beat when the reader clicks it.

[ I had no choice but to pull the trigger... -> ]
Section titled “Silent links”

A link with no text is a silent link. It isn’t shown to the reader, but when they click to continue, the story follows the link instead of moving to the next beat.

[ -> #CONSEQUENCES ]

Labels

Section titled “Labels”

Labels connect lines in your screenplay to the work of your artists and programmers. They can set a character’s expression, where they stand in the scene, or any special logic that should run on that line.

A label is a word in angle brackets. Labels refer to artwork layers, cues, and JavaScript functions, so check with your team to see what’s available.

You can put labels at the end of the line they belong to, or on their own on the next line:

CLAIRE <stage-right> <scared>
CLAIRE
<stage-right>
<scared>

Both examples do the same thing: the <stage-right> and <scared> labels belong to Claire.