Tip: you can use tokens like {title}, {author}, {year}, {website} here (filled in from Info & credits) - and, here or in any dialogue line, {time}, {date}, {weekday}, {month}, {day}, filled in from the player's own clock when the line shows.

How dialogue text appears. Individual lines and characters can override this.

Only matters once a dialogue box has a fixed height (a Canvas editor layout); with no custom layout the box just grows to fit, as always.

Attribution for your project; separate from the story's variables. These can be dropped into the title screen or a credits screen with tokens like {author}, {website}, {email}, {year}, {title}.

Catalog where each asset came from (audio, art, fonts…). Turn on the credits screen below to show them automatically at the end.

A base look for the whole story. Groups and individual scenes can override this in their own options.

Enabled tools appear in a small bar at the bottom of the player. All optional.

Add a note to any scene from its focus / edit view. Great for to-do reminders or director's commentary; can hold images, audio & video.

Off by default. Uses the same volume as other sound effects. Leave the custom sound unset to use a built-in synthesized blip; set one to replace it.

Developer tools shown while authoring/testing. Turn the whole set off with one switch before the module ships.

Saved for you across restarts; doesn't change the exported module. Includes light and dark options.

Make your own: download the template, edit the colours, then import it; it'll appear here with a ★.

Ctrl/Cmd + wheel always zooms the stage, whether this is on or off; it never zooms the browser page.

Snapping aligns each scene's corner to a dot, so spacing controls both.

Current-layer info shown there (each toggle-able):

Handy for blocking out a branching structure's shape before writing real dialogue. Off by default; existing blank lines are never touched. When you're ready to write the real thing, Edit → Fill in next empty content… jumps you to each genuinely blank line/choice one at a time (this toggle off leaves plenty to find; on, there's nothing left blank to jump to).

Starting folder for file dialogs (pick media, open/save a project, export). Native app only (app_native.py / run_scenemaker.bat) - a plain browser tab has no way to set this; saved here either way, in case you switch later.

Native app only (app_native.py / run_scenemaker.bat) - a plain browser tab has no window of its own to affect. Saved either way; takes effect the next time the native app launches, not live.

API keys for the online asset browser (Assets panel → 🌐 browse online). Pixabay/Pexels/Unsplash (images, video), Freesound/Jamendo (audio) and Smithsonian (images) each need your own free key below, since Scenemaker can’t ship one shared key without breaking that source’s terms. Wikimedia Commons, NASA Images, the Met Museum and Openverse need no key at all and aren’t listed here; they’re just always available in the browser. Freesound and Jamendo’s free tiers are non-commercial use only, and Openverse’s license varies per result (it aggregates from many sources) - both are flagged in the browser itself.