A custom outfit is an extra look for one of your characters: a suit of armor, a wedding gown, a swimsuit. Each outfit has its own sprites and replaces the character’s sprites for one dress mode (clothed, undergarment or nude). You write two short instructions: when to switch to the outfit and when to switch back. During play, the story checks them after every narration and changes the character’s outfit for you.
How It Works Each Turn
Three rules decide what the character wears.
- The narrator sets a dress modeThe narrator gives every character a dress mode (clothed, undergarment or nude), and a check after the turn corrects it if it’s wrong.
- A check turns the outfit onAnother check reads your outfits’ switch-to instructions and asks: is the character in one of these situations right now? If yes, that outfit turns on for its dress mode. It stays on until the switch-back situation happens.
- The outfit only shows in its dress modeThe character only uses the outfit when they’re in the dress mode it belongs to. So a clothed outfit only appears on clothed turns.
Example: Sir Aldric’s Plate Armor
One clothed outfit through a day of fighting.
Sir Aldric is a knight whose base clothed look is a simple tunic. He has a clothed outfit called Plate Armor, with these instructions:
| Instruction | Aldric’s text |
|---|---|
| Switch to this outfit when… | Aldric is in battle, on patrol, in a duel or riding out to fight. |
| Switch back to the base clothed outfit when… | Aldric is back inside the castle or off duty. |
“Horns sound from the watchtower. Aldric grabs his sword and rides out beside you toward the enemy line.”
From the next narration, Aldric’s clothed sprites wear the armor.
“After the fighting, Aldric strips off his armor and tunic and wades into the river in his linen smallclothes.”
Plate Armor is still on, but it belongs to clothed, so it doesn’t show on undergarment turns.
The whole day, turn by turn:
| Turn | Dress mode | Outfit check | Aldric on screen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Horns sound and Aldric rides out to battle. | Clothed | Plate Armor | His tunic (the armor shows next turn) |
| 2. He holds the line beside you. | Clothed | No change | Plate Armor |
| 3. After the fight, he bathes in the river in his smallclothes. | Undergarment | No change | His base undergarment sprites |
| 4. He dresses and rejoins the patrol. | Clothed | No change | Plate Armor |
| 5. You ride back through the castle gates. | Clothed | Switch back | Plate Armor (his tunic next turn) |
| 6. He joins you in the great hall for supper. | Clothed | No change | His tunic |
Choosing the Dress Mode
Pick it by how much the character has on.
Every outfit belongs to one dress mode, chosen when you create it, and it replaces the base character’s sprites for that dress mode only. The check sorts every turn into one of these three, so pick the one your outfit will be worn in:
| Dress mode | The check counts it as | Outfit ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Clothed | Dressed in any outfit. | Plate armor, a wedding gown, a royal robe, a winter coat |
| Undergarment | Only underwear, lingerie, swimwear, a towel or sleepwear. | Swimsuit, pajamas, a lace lingerie set |
| Nude | Nothing on. | Body paint, jewelry only, a leaf or flower cover |
Creating an Outfit
Make the sprites, then write the two instructions.
- Open the NPC CreatorChoose Alternative Outfit, then pick the character. You can add outfits to your own characters once they are game ready.
- Choose the dress modeClothed, Undergarment or Nude. Dress modes your safety filter hides can’t be picked.
- Set the tags and nameThe tags start as the character’s own, without the categories that dress mode doesn’t use. Change what’s different, usually the clothing. Name the outfit in 1 to 3 words, like “Plate Armor”.
- Preview and saveCheck the previews, then press Save Outfit. The tags can’t be changed after saving.
- Generate the spritesOn the outfit’s page, use Generate All Missing Assets. An outfit needs 2 poses, the 16 default expressions and one sprite for each of the character’s custom expressions. They cost the same as the character’s own sprites.
- Assign the instructionsPress Assign Instructions and fill in both fields (160 characters each): “Switch to this outfit when…” and “Switch back to the base … outfit when…”.
An outfit is Game Ready once all its sprites are generated and both instructions are filled in. Until then its badges say “Missing Assets” or “Missing Instructions”, and stories don’t use it.
Writing Good Instructions
Describe a situation the check can see.
The outfit check uses a decision model: a fast model that picks one answer instantly. It isn’t a chatbot and it can’t reason through hints, so write the situation the way it would plainly appear in the story.
- Describe a place or activity, not a clothing change: “Aldric is in battle or on patrol” works even when the narration never mentions him putting armor on.
- Only where the character is right now counts: photos, memories, plans, invitations and talk about other times or places don’t switch an outfit.
- Make the switch-back the end of the same situation: if the switch-to is “at a royal feast”, the switch-back is “leaves the feast”.
- Keep outfits of the same dress mode apart: if two outfits could both fit one moment, the check has to guess.
- Leave undressing to the dress mode: taking clothes off changes the dress mode, not the outfit. Undressing for sex is not an outfit change.
| Works well | Too vague |
|---|---|
| Aldric is in battle, on patrol, in a duel or riding out to fight. | When there is danger. |
| Aldric is at a royal feast, a ball or the king’s court. | When he wants to look noble. |
| Aldric is back inside the castle or off duty. | Later. |
Several Outfits
Up to 10 per character.
- A character can have up to 10 outfits, and several can share a dress mode.
- Each dress mode shows one outfit at a time. When the check picks another outfit of the same dress mode, it replaces the first.
- Outfits of different dress modes can be on together, like a clothed Plate Armor and an undergarment Nightshirt.
- Switching back takes off all of the character’s outfits, in every dress mode, except ones a player picked by hand.
- With several outfits, the switch-back check reads all of the character’s switch-back instructions together.
Picking Outfits Yourself
Skip the check when you want a set look.
| Where | What it does |
|---|---|
| Initial Outfit, on the character’s card when you create a story | The character starts the story in the outfit you pick, per dress mode. The checks can still switch it later. |
| The outfit’s name in a Starting Prompt tag | Write the outfit’s name as the tag’s dress mode, like "dress_mode":"Plate Armor", to show that outfit on that line. It doesn’t turn the outfit on for later turns. |
| Character Management, in a story’s Gameplay Settings (players) | Each character with outfits has an Outfit field: Auto, Default or one of the outfits, per dress mode. A pick stays until the player sets it back to Auto, and the check leaves that dress mode alone. |
Only Game Ready outfits are offered in all three places.
Where Outfits Show
Everywhere the character appears.
In the story: the character’s sprites, including in Speak mode.
Custom images: images of the character are drawn in the outfit they’re wearing.
Character Database: the “Has Custom Outfits” filter finds characters with outfits, and a character’s page lets anyone preview each outfit’s sprites. Signed-out visitors see clothed outfits only.
FAQ
Why isn’t my outfit showing?
Check that the outfit is Game Ready, that the character is in the outfit’s dress mode on that turn, and that a player hasn’t set the character’s outfit by hand in Character Management. A switch also shows one narration after the check picks it. If the check never picks it, make the switch-to situation more concrete.
Does the story text describe the outfit?
Not by itself. Outfits change the character’s sprites and images, but the narrator isn’t told which outfit is on, so the text may still describe the character’s usual clothes.
Which characters get checked?
Every character in the current scene who has at least one Game Ready outfit. A character who isn’t in the scene keeps what they were wearing.
What happens on topless or bottomless turns?
Outfits are made for clothed, undergarment and nude only, so a topless or bottomless moment uses the character’s base sprites.