Some of these are facts, but most are my thoughts and opinions so far…
Character Creator
Chapters 8.3 _ Easy to use and you can filter options. Also, if you copy/duplicate a character sometimes it’ll glitch and only partially copy or not copy at all. Can easily change name used in editor.
Dorian 9 _ Easy to use. Characters can be sorted into groups to easily identify main, supporting, background, etc characters. You can easily copy characters and change the name aka alias used in the editor.
Episode 9.2 _ Fairly simple and can filter options. Easily find categories and great variety with customization. List of characters can get long. Display name can easily be changed but not script name which can be a bit of an inconvenience.
Tales 9.6 _ Not too difficult. Certain sections feel like they belong elsewhere or need to be renamed? Filtering available, but not always accurate. Can easily access characters from “other stories” and use them in sequels or spin offs. Unique ID used in editor can be changed as well as display name.
Body Types
Chapters 7.5 _ There’s “1 of 4” body types for females: Old, Standard, Thin, and Busty. Standard and Thin look very similar, I don’t see a difference at all! Old is just standard/thin with wrinkles.
Men don’t have Plus sized. There’s 2 bodies for kids (male or female) and 1 for baby (both male and female).
Dorian 7_ Just one body type so far.
Episode 8.6 _ Female bodies have 3 types with no trans body and the plus sized is a separate character creation. Male bodies have 5 including trans female and no plus sized option in character creation.
Tales 9.7 _ 7 noticeably different body types available! Little, petite, thin, fit, average, stocky, and heavy.
Faces or Head Shapes
Chapters 7.8 _ The face styles are preset with all facial features and really don’t look that different from one another in terms of shape. Diamond, heart, round, square, vampire, and vampires - human templates. They change when skin tone changes however.
Dorian 8 _ The 5 face shapes mostly look different.
Episode 9.5 _ Lots of noticeably different face shapes.
Tales 9.3 _ A great variety in face shapes.
Facial Features
Chapters 8 _ Preset eyebrows and mouth shapes maybe a few with freckles? Wrinkles are available only with 2 face options for Old body types. Decent amount of scars and wounds.
Dorian 6 _ There’s an ok amount of options for eyebrows, noses, and eye-shape/color. No freckles, scars or moles. Female option to add wrinkles, 1 colored eyeshadow, 1 colored blush, or 1 type of eyelash. Male option for wrinkles and stubble. Men’s eye-shape options are smaller than females.
Episode 9.5 _ Tons of options for eyebrows, noses, mouth, and eyes. Good amount of scars, moles, freckles, and piercings. Very few on wounds.
Tales 9.1 _ Solid variety of eyebrows, noses. mouths, and eye-shapes. Decent amount of scars, piercings, dirt and wounds. No moles and 1 option for freckles and 1 face tattoo.
Body Features
Chapters 8 _ Only 4 skin tones. Scars, wounds, wings, horns, werewolf features and tattoos are a fair amount.
Dorian 5 _ 6 skin tones. Nothing else right now.
Episode 9.3 _ Lots of skin tones including fantasy colors. Great variety! Tattoos, piercings, scars, wings, horns, tails, body hair, and some wounds.
Tales 9.3 _ Tons of possibilities and also great variety! Sweat, blood, dirt, and wounds. 1 wing option and a few horns. A special effects option to change appearance to ghost or orc (noticeable) as well as sexy werewolf or vampire (just eye color?!) I struggle with finding different light skin tones.
Hairstyles
Chapters 8.9_Great styles, but some more afro textured styles are needed. Can only filter hair type, not color.
Dorian 8.7_ Nice modern styles. Afro textured needs work and filter option needed.
Episode 9.5 _ Beautiful hairstyles with good amount of color options. Filter system is awesome!
Tales 9 _ Lots of styles and types and color option is amazing! Some styles look messy or too unnatural. Style filter can be a bit off.
Fashion
Chapters 9.7 _ All clothes are premade outfits. Very stylish and well put together. The more modest clothes look good and so does historical and fantasy outfits. Filter option works well in clothing section.
Dorian 6 _ Coats and dresses are decent. More variety and stylish options needed.
Episode 9.7 _ Great variety and stylish. The complex colored clothes are an awesome addition! Some outfits are preset, most are create your own. Shoes are included and shown! A bit more attention is needed in modest styles and male clothing. Filtering is good most of the time.
Tales 9.4 _ Lots of options, but not very stylish. Fantasy and historical outfits are great. Color option is amazing again! Filtering is so-so.
Accessories
Chapters 7.2 _ Earrings and necklaces look pretty and stylish. Everything else needs work.
Dorian 6.8 _ I really love the glasses and scarves they have! Jewelry needs its own section and more variety.
Episode 9.8 _ It’s a wonderful selection with pretty easy filtering.
Tales 7.5 _ The headpieces have an interesting selection. Glasses seem a bit off and jewelry needs more options.
Character Behaviors/Actions
Chapters 7 _ There are under 10 facial reactions and they are very subtle. They need more variety and make the reactions more refined and noticeable.
Dorian 7.7 _ There’s about 14 fairly distinct reactions, but can use more!
Episode 9.8 _ Tons of facial reactions and body movements and they are currently working on more face emotes during behaviors.
Tales 9 _ About 25 noticeably different facial reactions.
Props
Chapters 8.2 _ Lots of options. Many items are not in the art style of the game and can look off.
Dorian 5 _ None right now
Episode 9.2 _ Nice variety can be used with character actions! Filter option.
Tales 8.7 _ Surprising items. Not used with characters, filter option doesn’t work as well as it should. All available for possible props.
Backgrounds
Chapters 9.5 _ Looks amazing, I just love the art style and filtering works great!
Dorian 7_ Solid images, but needs a bit more.
Episode 9.2 _ Very good, but different art styles for some of the images. Filtering works well.
Tales 9 _ Nice looking although blurry. Filtering options help a ton! Images can’t be viewed in a separate tab.
Music and Sounds
Chapters 9.6 _ Awesome options and variety. I enjoy the music a bit more with them. Filtering needs some tweaking.
Dorian 5_ None right now.
Episode 9 _ A solid amount, but some sound slightly cartoonish.
Tales 9.4_ So many options and filtering is good.
Story Editor/Studio
Chapters 9.3 _ No coding. Blocks with options and add-ons are available. There’s a “story tree” where you can view your story as a branching graph. Helps with linking choices and branching paths. The story tree needs a separate tab or pop open option for easier viewing. Not a fan of choosing 1 MC throughout whole story.
Dorian 8.5 _ No coding needed and easy to use! Has a branch graph style and is easy to view and keep track of. Choice memory finally available. You can easily choose sides for displaying characters and options for using player name and/or avatar available.
Episode 8.8 _ So many possibilities, but lots of coding! This can get tiresome, confusing, and overwhelming.
Tales 9.3 _ You can view and stick to old school coding or a simplified method with blocks that have options in them. Less chance of being confused or overwhelmed. Characters displayed in bubbles.
Tutorials
Chapters 8.8 _ Tutorial area has some videos and story guides with pictures that are organized in list style. Can feel tedious to scroll through the long list of sections.
Dorian 9 _ Some found onsite and Youtube. It’s easy so there isn’t a lot of learning needed.
Episode 9.2 _ Plenty of written tutorials on the site, but can feel like a lot because of all the coding possibilities. Some writers on the forum and Youtube demonstrate how to do certain coding.
Tales 8.5 _ Guides are found on another site that sometimes won’t let you in. Searching for the right tutorial can take a bit to find.
Community
Chapters 8.4 _ Writers seem active and helpful with feedback.
Dorian 9 _ Writers respond very quickly and feel supportive.
Episode 8.5 _ There seems to be better behavior and solid support.
Tales 8.3 _ There are pretty good responses for help on the forums and discord, not sure about camaraderie yet.
Support
Chapters 7 _ They have a contact option through their site that doesn’t seem to show if message was sent and a Discord. Writers seem more active than people from Chapters.
Dorian 9.8 _ Very fast and informative responses on Discord and good at replying to emails. Dorian mods and writers are super helpful.
Episode 8.7 _ I’m paranoid and feel like I have to walk on eggshells on their forum, but they email back fast! Writers are fairly helpful.
Tales 8 _ Writers are pretty good at responding on forums and Discord. It’s been 2 weeks since I sent an email to Tales and I’m still waiting for a response.
Events and Contests
Chapters 9 _ Different types of challenges and contests with great rewards! Winners announced usually within a month.
Dorian 9 _ Steady flow of contests and prompts with decent rewards. Sometimes the events feel like they end too soon and may not give some writers enough time. They have worked with AMC for Mayfair Witches and Interview with the Vampire tv shows, there was a Blair Witch Project contest, and a fair amount of Arcana events. Winners announced usually within a month.
Episode 8 _ Only one type of writing contest every 6-8 weeks. Lots of time to write, but is it enough time to code? Winners announced usually within a month, but can be longer if lots of rules need to be met and reviewed, there were a lot of entrants, or some issues popped up. Some themes are starting to feel stagnant.
Tales 8.5 _ Monthly contest with interesting themes and 1k cash prize. Winners are announced about 2 months after contest ends.
Payment
Chapters 8.5 _ Current payment center has a limited time offer from now until August where payments are unlocked with 1000 reads within 60 days. There 's author levels that are follower based and you get paid more? Or it’s just to show how high up you are. That bit is confusing. Diamonds and reads are calculated in.
Dorian 9 _ Writers don’t need to unlock anything. Payment is earned through readers that spend hearts they’ve purchased on paid choices writers have created. You can also choose your heart amount! It’s about 6 cents per hearts.
Episode 7 _ It’s apparently much harder to unlock payments now. You have to accumulate a total of at least 500,000 reads OR 100,000 gem reads and 50,000 gems used across all of your published stories in the last 60 days.
Tales 7 _ Authors are paid by keys and gems. Keys is $0.25 and for Gems is $0.13. Not clear to me if whole amount goes towards writer or the 0.25/0.13 is split up with Tales. Must meet $250 amount to be paid and only paid quarterly. If $250 is not met, then it simply rolls over until next time.
NOTES
Dorian editor is easiest to use with best support, ease of payment and flexibility of charging, great statistics information. Choice memory, music/sounds, fashion, and accessories are what’s lacking. Also, they are almost full body with arms and hands showing, those should be utilized with some character behaviors. Clenched fists, arms folding, etc.
Tales has the best body diversity in terms of shape, height, and age. The color wheel is a great feature to diversify looks. The editor is fairly easy to use if you can have access to their tutorial. They need to spruce up their fashion and accessories and let us preview backgrounds before selecting.
Chapters also has an easy editor and it may be my favorite. Face shapes and reactions needs more refinement. Skin tones, customization for readers needs work.
Episode is the best over all and there so many possibilities in the editor! I do however think it’s way too complex and time consuming. Tales shows how script coding can be changed into simpler coding!
- Some thoughts have question marks because I feel conflicted or unsure of what these apps are doing or how they should improve.
Links Studios/Story Editors
Chapters: Chapters Writing Room
Dorian: Dorian
Episode: Episode
Tales: https://app.talescreator.com/
