Steps are the moment-to-moment content inside a Milestone — the thing a player is actually looking at. A Milestone can chain as many as you like, in order, and each one can carry its own reward on top of whatever the Milestone pays out.
There are 23 Step types, and the builder groups them by what they ask of the player. That grouping is the useful way to think about pacing, so it's how this page is organised.
What Every Step Has
Whatever type you pick, each Step shares the same frame:
- Label — admin reference only. Players never see it; you'll be grateful for it at Step 14.
- Required — must be completed to advance, or optional and skippable.
- Background — a background image for the scene.
- Step Rewards — XP, BLOO, EP, an item, and/or an achievement, granted on completion.
- Mistake Message — on the types that can be answered wrongly, the message shown when they are.
Deliver — Auto-Complete on View
Content the player receives. Nothing to get right; they read, watch, or listen and continue.
- Dialogue — a character speaks. Set the character's name and portrait and place them on the left or right (or nobody at all, if you're just describing the scene). The workhorse of narrative pacing.
- Video — plays a video file, with optional text above it.
- Audio — plays an audio clip in a player widget. Good for language work, podcast-style briefings, or anything voice-led.
- Find Item — the player is handed an item, which lands in their Backpack. A reward beat with no test attached — and the natural setup for a later Require Backpack Item step.
Validate — The Player Must Answer Correctly
The Next button stays locked until they get it right. Each of these can carry a Mistake Message for wrong attempts.
- Multiple Choice — a question, an optional question image, and your options. Mark one correct answer or several, and choose whether players may select more than one. The fastest comprehension check there is.
- Keyphrase — the player types a word or phrase. You supply a comma-separated list of accepted answers (any match passes) and decide whether case matters. Excellent for in-person events: put the phrase on a slide, a poster, or a physical prop.
- Cryptex — the same accepted-answers idea rendered as a rotating combination lock, with a wheel count you set (up to 20). Same mechanic as a Keyphrase, completely different feel — reach for it when the answer should feel like cracking something open.
- Puzzle — a jigsaw built from an image you upload, cut into a grid you choose (2–8 columns by 2–8 rows). The player drags and rotates the pieces into place. Low information density, high engagement — a change of pace, not a knowledge check.
- Require Backpack Item — a gate that only opens if the player is carrying a specific item, with the option to consume it on use. This is what turns the Item Shop and Find Item steps into a real progression mechanic rather than decoration.
- SCORM Package — upload a SCORM 1.2 package and it runs inside the Step, tracking completion and resuming where the player left off. Use it to fold in content you already built in another authoring tool instead of rebuilding it. You can reset every player's progress on the package from the same panel.
- Case Study (HTML) — embeds a self-contained interactive HTML activity by URL. You set the total number of questions and the score needed to pass; the activity reports its own result back and the Step completes when the player clears the bar. This is the escape hatch for bespoke, custom-built exercises.
Collect — The Player Submits, With No Right or Wrong
You're gathering something, not grading it. Use these for reflection, feedback, evidence, and opinion.
- Open Text — free writing, with an optional minimum word count. Can be validated by AI against criteria you write in plain language ("must name at least two causes of the French Revolution"), which gives the player instant feedback to revise against before they submit. See Grading & AI-Assisted Feedback.
- Survey Choice — a question with options and no correct answer. Choose whether players can pick more than one, and whether they see the aggregate results after answering.
- Rating Scale — a numeric scale with a minimum and maximum you set, plus a label for each end ("Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"). The tool for pulse checks and confidence self-ratings.
- Poll — a question whose results render as live percentage bars the moment the player votes. Use it when seeing what everyone else said is the point.
- Upload Image — the player submits a photo or screenshot, with a maximum file size you set. Use it for anything you need to see to assess.
- Upload Video — the same, for video. Pitches, demonstrations, language practice, physical technique.
Flow — Routing
- Branch Choice — the player picks one of the paths in a branch group, and that choice is permanent and mutually exclusive: taking one closes the others. This is how you build "choose your track" moments. Branch groups themselves are set up on the achievement, then referenced here. See Branching & Prerequisites.
Special
- System Message — narrator text in the system voice, with no character attached. For instructions, transitions, and anything that isn't a person speaking.
- Win Screen — the success beat at the end of a Milestone.
- Fail Screen — the failure beat; ends the Milestone as failed.
- Choose Nickname — prompts the player for their name and sets it. Almost always in the first Milestone of an Adventure.
- Choose Avatar — the player picks from the avatar images you provide. Same placement logic as Choose Nickname.
Pacing: The Only Rule That Matters
Alternate the groups. Deliver something, then ask for something. A run of Deliver steps reads like a slide deck; a run of Validate steps reads like an exam. The Milestones players remember alternate every two or three Steps.
Per-Step Rewards
Any Step can hand out its own XP, BLOO, EP, item, or achievement, independent of the Milestone's overall reward. Use small per-Step rewards to keep a long Milestone feeling alive along the way, and save the bigger payout for completion.
Making a Step Optional
Mark a Step as not required and players can skip it without blocking their progress — useful for bonus content, an optional deep-dive, or anything that enriches the experience without gating it.