Product Updates

Changelog

Follow along as we build XScapeKit. New features, improvements, and fixes - we're constantly evolving based on creator and player feedback.

New Feature
March 2026
  • New Media → Themes page in Creator Studio - browse, create, and manage all your saved themes in one place with visual preview cards
  • Standalone theme editor at full width with a larger live preview - see your changes in more detail than the story tab
  • Full-screen preview mode - see your theme at actual player dimensions in a 16:9 viewport, switch between Dialogue, Choice, and Narrative with keyboard arrows
  • New dialogue box width control - set your dialogue box to 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, or 60% width for a floating panel look
  • Hover text color for choices - separate text color when hovering over choice buttons, with interactive hover preview in real time
  • Upload custom background images directly on standalone themes - no need to apply to a story first
New Feature
March 2026
  • Save your theme customizations as named themes - give them a name like "Dark Forest" or "Neon Cyberpunk" and reuse them across any of your stories
  • Browse and apply your saved themes from a dropdown picker right alongside the built-in presets
  • Update a saved theme after making tweaks, or save your changes as a brand new theme
  • Rename or delete saved themes at any time from the three-dot menu in the picker
  • Your theme library is yours - every theme you save is available on every story you create
New Feature
March 2026
  • Upload custom background images for your dialogue box, choice buttons, and character nameplate for full visual theming
  • Choose from 23 curated Google Fonts and 4 built-in presets (Classic, Modern, Minimal, Paper) as starting points
  • Independent opacity controls for backgrounds and text - semi-transparent dialogue box with crisp text on top
  • Position your character nameplate above or inside the dialogue box with precise offset sliders
  • Narrative node theming: upload full-screen backgrounds with 4 fit modes (Cover, Contain, Pattern, Centered), set default colors and animation style, customize title font and size
  • Live preview with Dialogue, Choice, and Narrative tabs updates instantly as you adjust settings
  • Organized tabbed editor on the story detail page: Dialogue, Choices, Nameplate, Narrative, Typography & Global
New Feature
March 2026
  • New Cutscene node type lets you add full-screen images between dialogue sequences - perfect for establishing shots, location changes, and chapter breaks
  • Choose between instant cut or smooth fade transitions with configurable duration
  • Add optional caption text that overlays the bottom of the screen - great for "Meanwhile..." or "3 hours later..." moments
  • Control how images fill the screen: Cover fills edge-to-edge (may crop), Contain shows the full image with your chosen background color behind it
  • Creators can mark cutscenes as unskippable for key story moments, or let players click to advance
New Feature
March 2026
  • Creator profiles are now full storefronts - subscription tiers display in a sidebar (desktop) or swipe-up modal (mobile) so visitors can subscribe right from the profile
  • New About tab lets creators tell their story with rich text formatting - up to 10,000 characters
  • Posts now show image thumbnails with hover animations, engagement stats, and a stronger subscribe-to-unlock call to action for gated content
  • Creators can choose from 17 custom icons for their tiers - pick the one that fits your brand
  • XPerience type badges show at a glance whether content is a Visual Novel, Escape Room, or Detective Case
  • Copy your profile URL with one click from Creator Settings to share it anywhere
  • Choose how often you get email notifications - immediately, as a daily digest, weekly digest, or turn them off entirely
  • Digest emails group your notifications by type and creator, so you get one clean summary instead of a flood of individual emails
  • Similar notifications are now grouped together in the bell dropdown and notifications page - expand a group to see individual items
  • Notification sound plays a short chime when real-time notifications arrive - toggle it on or off in Settings
  • Old read notifications are automatically cleaned up to keep things fast and tidy
New Feature
March 2026
  • Control your notifications - toggle in-app and email notifications on or off from Settings
  • Fine-tune email preferences per notification type: new posts, new followers, tier changes, and XPerience updates
  • Disabled notifications? The bell icon shows you at a glance, with a quick-enable button right in the dropdown
  • Email notifications are scaffolded and ready - styled email templates coming soon
  • Notification settings consolidated into one place under Account Settings for both players and creators
New Feature
March 2026
  • Notifications now arrive instantly via WebSocket - no more waiting for a page refresh
  • Toast notifications pop up the moment something happens, so you never miss an update
  • Get notified when creators you follow publish or update an XPerience
  • Notification bell is now available in Creator Studio and the Editor, not just the main app
  • Follow/unfollow spam protection - rapid toggling no longer floods creators with duplicate notifications
New Feature
March 2026
  • Get notified when creators you follow publish new posts - never miss an update
  • Creators receive notifications when someone new follows them
  • Subscribers are notified when a tier they belong to is deactivated
  • Notification bell in the navbar shows your unread count at a glance
  • Click the bell for a quick preview, or visit the full notifications page with filtering and infinite scroll
  • Mark individual notifications as read, mark all as read, or delete ones you no longer need
Improvement
March 2026
  • Tier pricing is now locked when active subscribers exist - no accidental price changes that affect paying supporters
  • Deactivating a tier with subscribers shows a double-confirmation dialog explaining the impact before canceling subscriptions
  • Subscribers keep access until their current billing period ends when a tier is deactivated
  • Removing benefits from a tier with subscribers shows a warning before proceeding
New Feature
March 2026
  • Write posts for your audience with rich text formatting - announcements, updates, and behind-the-scenes content
  • Schedule posts for the future, reschedule, unschedule, or publish immediately from the Studio
  • Set post visibility to public, subscribers-only, or a specific tier
  • Your published posts now appear on your profile under a new Posts tab - visitors can like them with a single click
  • Profiles now show separate Followers and Likes icons so they’re easy to tell apart at a glance
Improvement
March 2026
  • Tier descriptions now support rich text formatting - use bold, italic, lists, and links to make your tiers stand out
  • Narrative node animations are smoother - fade style respects your duration setting and consecutive narrative nodes transition cleanly
  • Story splash screens now render formatted descriptions instead of raw text
  • Creator profiles load correctly for visitors who aren’t logged in
  • Format your dialogue and narrative text with bold, italic, underline, and color using the new rich text toolbar in the editor
  • Character sprites now stay perfectly still during dialogue - no more shifting when text changes length
  • Edit pose labels and images directly from the character detail page with the new Edit button on hover
  • Multi-character stage positioning works in the player - place up to 5 characters across the scene with the position dropdown
  • New stories start with a guided tutorial template to help you learn the editor basics
Improvement
March 2026
  • Create free community tiers - set any Tier 1 to 0 XO so fans can subscribe at no cost
  • Pricing ranges are much wider now -Tier 4 goes up to 10,000 XO ($100/mo) for premium creators
  • All four tier levels have overlapping ranges, giving you full control over how you price each tier
  • Free tier subscribers skip payment entirely - no empty transactions cluttering your earnings
New Feature
February 2026
  • Subscription tiers are now fully connected - create, edit, and delete tiers with real XO pricing
  • Choose from four tier templates (Tier 1–4) with guided XO cost ranges when creating new tiers
  • Toggle tiers active or inactive, enable subscriber messaging, and manage benefits all from one place
  • Tier stats dashboard shows active tiers, total subscribers, and monthly XO revenue at a glance
  • Delete confirmation warns you about active subscribers before removing a tier
Improvement
February 2026
  • Write rich text descriptions for your XPeriences with the new editor - bold, italic, headings, bullet lists, and links
  • XPerience landing pages now feature a cinematic full-width cover banner with vignette fading at every edge
  • Cover images scale responsively from mobile to ultra-widescreen monitors with no hard cutoffs
  • Cover image uploads now require a minimum of 1200×400 pixels to ensure crisp display at all screen sizes
New Feature
February 2026
  • Upload cover images and thumbnails for your XPeriences from the new detail page upload zones - drag-and-drop or click to browse
  • Consistent landscape thumbnails (4:3) across all card listings: Studio, Discover, Library, and creator profiles
  • Cover images (16:10) display as banners on XPerience landing pages, with thumbnails as the card image
  • Unified fallback placeholder across every listing - the XScapeKit logo replaces mixed icons
  • Full keyboard and screen reader accessibility for all image upload controls, drop zones, and display components
Improvement
February 2026
  • New XPerience detail page - manage everything about your story in one place: metadata, settings, version history, and reviews
  • Edit genre, content rating, estimated playtime, language, and tags directly from your XPerience page - changes save automatically
  • See player reviews and ratings at a glance with the new Reviews section on published XPeriences
  • Quick links to Play Published Version and Preview Public Page right from your XPerience management view
  • Refreshed story cards in the Studio with cleaner layout, dropdown menus for actions, and monetization badges
Improvement
February 2026
  • Creators can now close and reopen conversations - closed threads show a banner and hide the reply input
  • Replying to a closed thread as a creator automatically reopens it, so you never get stuck
  • Block and unblock users directly from a thread or from the new Blocked Users tab in your inbox
  • Players see a clear 'Closed' status on threads and can resume replying once the creator reopens
New Feature
February 2026
  • New onboarding wizard for players - pick your favorite genres, set content preferences, and discover creators to follow
  • Your dashboard is now personalized with sections for Continue Playing, New from Creators You Follow, Recommended for You, and Trending
  • Follow your favorite creators for free - see their latest XPeriences right on your dashboard
  • Content maturity preferences let you control what shows up in Discover and recommendations
  • New Settings page to manage your account, update your profile, and adjust content preferences
  • Creator profiles now show follower counts and a Follow button
New Feature
February 2026
  • Message creators directly from their profile - available with a qualifying subscription tier or via paid messaging
  • Creators get a full inbox in the Studio with filtering, starring, and thread management
  • Players can view and reply to conversations from a dedicated Messages page in the main app
  • Unread message badges appear in both Studio and player navigation so you never miss a reply
  • Creators can configure messaging access and paid message pricing from Monetization settings
  • See which version you're playing with a subtle in-game version badge - click it to check for updates
  • When playing an older version, switch to the latest with one click (your saves are cleared for a fresh start)
  • Reviews now show which version was played, so you can see how an XPerience has evolved over time
  • Smarter save protection: if a creator reroutes their story around a node you're sitting on, we'll warn you instead of silently upgrading
  • Player library page for browsing your XPeriences in one place
  • Auto-save now triggers automatically as you play through each scene
New Feature
February 2026
  • Stories are now XPeriences - the foundation for new content types like escape rooms and detective cases
  • Every published XPerience gets its own landing page with cover art, description, reviews, and a Play button
  • Shareable links for your content at /u/username/stories/your-slug with full SEO and social previews
  • Custom slugs for published XPeriences - set a clean, memorable URL for your work
  • Refreshed creator profile pages with improved layout and cover art display
  • Creator profiles now show play counts and ratings on every XPerience card
Security
February 2026
  • Publishing now requires the dedicated publish flow - no more bypassing graph validation
  • Version references are now scoped to prevent cross-XPerience data access
  • Improved dark mode support across landing pages and review components
  • Fixed play count display on creator profiles
New Feature
February 2026
  • Rate and review stories after playing - leave 1-5 star ratings with optional written reviews
  • Star rating badges appear on story cards across Discover, Browse, and creator profiles
  • Reviews feed into the discovery algorithm so great stories rise to the top
  • Edit or delete your reviews at any time from The End screen
  • Creators see new review activity in their Studio dashboard feed
New Feature
February 2026
  • New consolidated Discover page with Popular, New, and Top Rated story sections
  • Browse all stories with genre filtering, sorting, and search
  • Streamlined navigation -Discover is now the central place to find stories
  • Improved story cards with play counts and rating badges
Improvement
February 2026
  • Rebuilt dialogue typewriter with proper two-phase click handling - first click completes text, second click advances, just like classic VNs
  • Rapid clicking no longer skips through dialogue
  • Fixed phantom navigation bug where narrative timers could fire after the player had already moved on
  • Full keyboard support with Space and Enter for advancing dialogue and skipping narratives
  • Security hardening across player and editor components
New Feature
January 2026
  • Full analytics dashboard for creators in the Studio
  • Subscriber growth charts with 1-month, 3-month, and 12-month views
  • XO earnings tracking and trend visualization
  • Top performing content rankings
  • Tier distribution breakdown and fee tier display
New Feature
January 2026
  • Duplicate any node with Cmd/Ctrl+D
  • Scene duplication copies all children and internal connections
  • Right-click context menu on nodes for quick actions
  • Keyboard shortcuts legend accessible via ? key
  • Duplicated dialogue nodes preserve character selections
New Feature
January 2026
  • Version history for published stories
  • Republish with change summaries for your readers
  • Players can continue saves on older versions or upgrade
  • Version changelog displayed to players on update
New Feature
January 2026
  • Direct messaging between players and creators
  • Paid messaging option with XO currency
  • Message threads with conversation history
  • Creator inbox in the Studio dashboard
New Feature
January 2026
  • XO virtual currency for content monetization
  • Creator subscription tiers with monthly XO billing
  • Single play purchases for individual stories
  • Creator earnings tracking and payout system
  • XO balance and transaction history for players
New Feature
January 2026
  • Reusable character library with pose management
  • Add characters to stories and assign poses to dialogue nodes
  • Public creator profile pages at /u/[username]
  • Profile stats showing story count and total plays
New Feature
January 2026
  • Dedicated creator dashboard with story management
  • Play session and completion tracking
  • Activity feed showing recent reader engagement
  • Studio navigation with stories, posts, media, and settings
New Feature
December 2025
  • Visual node-based story editor
  • Interactive story player with save/load
  • Dialogue, choice, scene, and narrative node types
  • Scene nodes for organizing story segments
  • User authentication with creator and player roles

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