Download SWAT
SWAT is the tool authors use to create a storyworld. SWAT is currently in beta, and is for professional or aspiring storyworld authors who are interested in joining a small group of professional and aspiring creators who enjoy the challenge of creating a new artform. This is where you go to see "under the hood" of Storytronics.
Prepare
First, check our system requirements to confirm that your machine can run SWAT.
Second, be aware that SWAT has two components: the client-side piece, which runs on your machine, and the server-side piece, which runs on Storytron's server. The server side software does the calculations. You need access to Storytron's server whenever you use anything that accesses the story engine: Storyteller, Rehearsal, Scriptalyzer, and the engine logging feature, LogLizard.
This means that without an internet connection, you can still create and edit Actors, Props and Stages, and you can do scripting and some limited testing, but you can't fully test or de-tick your scripts, or play the resulting storyworld. (Ticks are problems in your storyworld that cause it not to run properly. Ticks are introduced by us, the storybuilders, as distinguished from bugs, which are introduced by the programmers, who write the application software we storybuilders are using.)
When you use SWAT, you may encounter bugs. We can't find them all ourselves, because you are going to use the tool differently than any of us on the team, and will find bugs we would never encounter. So we need you to find those bugs and help us squash them.
Read the bug reporting instructions carefully, so when the inevitable bug does occur, you know how to report it.
Install Authoring Tool
You're ready to go! Download and unzip the latest version of SWAT client. (To check on when SWAT was most recently updated, visit the SWAT Latest Version topic on the StoryBoard.) Once you have installed SWAT, see Test Drive SWAT for ideas about exploring the authoring software.
Prepare
First, check our system requirements to confirm that your machine can run SWAT.
Second, be aware that SWAT has two components: the client-side piece, which runs on your machine, and the server-side piece, which runs on Storytron's server. The server side software does the calculations. You need access to Storytron's server whenever you use anything that accesses the story engine: Storyteller, Rehearsal, Scriptalyzer, and the engine logging feature, LogLizard.
This means that without an internet connection, you can still create and edit Actors, Props and Stages, and you can do scripting and some limited testing, but you can't fully test or de-tick your scripts, or play the resulting storyworld. (Ticks are problems in your storyworld that cause it not to run properly. Ticks are introduced by us, the storybuilders, as distinguished from bugs, which are introduced by the programmers, who write the application software we storybuilders are using.)
When you use SWAT, you may encounter bugs. We can't find them all ourselves, because you are going to use the tool differently than any of us on the team, and will find bugs we would never encounter. So we need you to find those bugs and help us squash them.
Read the bug reporting instructions carefully, so when the inevitable bug does occur, you know how to report it.
Install Authoring Tool
You're ready to go! Download and unzip the latest version of SWAT client. (To check on when SWAT was most recently updated, visit the SWAT Latest Version topic on the StoryBoard.) Once you have installed SWAT, see Test Drive SWAT for ideas about exploring the authoring software.
