What is Lifspel?
Lifspel is a Storyplay Engine—an AI-powered interactive storytelling experience. You inhabit a protagonist, type what you want to do, say, or feel, and the engine renders your intent as literary prose.
You don't need to write well. Just feel honestly.
Entering the Story
Beginning
- Browse available scenarios or choose "Surprise Me" for a random selection
- Each scenario provides a protagonist, setting, and situation
- The story begins—take in the opening and respond
Your Role
You inhabit the protagonist. In the input field, describe:
- Actions — What your character does ("I reach for the door handle")
- Dialogue — What they say ("Tell me what you know")
- Feelings — Internal states ("I feel a chill of recognition")
- Observations — What they notice ("I study her expression")
Mix these for variety. The AI interprets your intent and continues the story.
Resonance
Your Resonance score reflects the craft of your scene—how fully you inhabited the moment and co-authored something that moves. High resonance means you created a scene worth returning to.
Resonance measures five dimensions:
- Variety — Did you mix dialogue, action, observation, and feeling?
- Momentum — Did each choice push the scene forward?
- Engagement — Did you inhabit your character fully?
- Subtext — Did you let silence and implication do their work?
- Progression — Did the scene travel from tension to resolution?
Scene Structure
Stories unfold in scenes with natural dramatic arcs:
- Opening — The situation is established
- Rising — Tension builds through your choices
- Confrontation — The critical moment arrives
- Resolution — The scene can conclude (Close Scene becomes available)
The Interface
Story Column
The main area where narrative unfolds. Your inputs appear as protagonist actions; the AI responds with prose that streams in real-time as micro-beats, building each passage piece by piece until the story reaches a natural pause for your response.
Sidebar
- Your Pillars & Emotions — Your character's core traits (wound, desire, flaw, strength) and current emotional state, which updates in real-time as the story progresses
- Cast — Characters in your story and their current state
- Scenes — Navigate between scenes; past scenes are read-only, the current scene is interactive
- Resonance — Your score measuring how well you're co-authoring the scene; click the badge for detailed breakdown
- Whispers — Evocative observations about subtext and emotional undercurrents, updated after every beat
Controls
- Continue — Submit your input and advance the story
- Interrupt — While the story is generating, stop the current passage and respond early
- Suggest — Get an AI-suggested action (note: using suggestions results in 0 resonance for that turn)
- Close Scene — End the current scene (available at resolution phase with sufficient progress)
- New Story — Enter a different scenario
- Copy Story — Copy the full story text to clipboard
Consider This
After each beat, you may see a "Consider" hint above the input field. These are context-aware suggestions that respond to what just happened in the story, offering possibilities for your next move. They're not prescriptive—just food for thought.
Creating Scenarios
Build your own worlds with the Scenario Builder:
- Go to My Library
- Click "Create Scenario"
- Define your protagonist, setting, conflict, and characters
- AI assists with suggestions and descriptions
- Publish to share with others or keep as a draft
Settings
Customize your experience in Settings:
- Story AI Engine — Choose between GPT (OpenAI) or Claude (Anthropic)
- Scene Pacing — Swift, Natural, or Deep Immersion
- Narrative Density — Spare, Balanced, or Rich prose style
- Illustration Style — Use Lifspel's signature style or scenario-specific art
- Compact Navigation — Show icons only in the navigation bar
Going Deeper
- Vary your approach — Don't just talk; observe, move, remember, feel
- Let silence speak — Sometimes what you don't say matters most
- Inhabit your wounds — The most interesting choices come from your character's core
- Trust the AI — Give it room to surprise you
- Remain present — Engage with what's happening, not where you want to go
Take a Tour
New to Lifspel? Click the Tour button in the header during a session to get an interactive walkthrough of the interface.
Need More Help?
Still have questions? Contact us and we'll help you out.