PathForge

Visual editor for creating interactive choice-based stories. Built with a plugin-based architecture so each feature is isolated.

Comes with two apps: PathForge (story visualizer/editor) and Nodepad (node-based note-taking tool).

Screenshot of the app coming soon — run it yourself or run PathForge.exe directly (Windows, no install needed).

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What it does

• Drag-and-drop node editor for mapping out branching stories
• Each node is a story beat — you link them with choices (up to 8 per node: A–H)
• Custom story format: N: (node ID), T: (title), S: (story text), A:–H: (choices + where they lead)
• Zoom, pan, branch-drag (move a whole subtree), fit-to-screen
• Auto-layout modes: Grid, Random, or the custom Tree Reaction algorithm
• Tree Demo tool — generate test trees from 4 to 8192 nodes instantly
• Integrated file manager for bulk editing nodes
• Story Reader — play through your story like a game to test it
• Export/import projects
• Auto-save for node positions and project state

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Story Format

Each story node is a plain .txt file:

N: 1
T: The Dark Forest
S: You stand at the edge of a dark forest. The path ahead splits in two.
A: Take the left path -> 2
B: Take the right path -> 3
C: Turn back -> 4

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Running from source

Requires Python 3.x.

cd pathforge_1.1
python story_visualizer.py

For Nodepad:

cd nodepad_1.1
python nodepad.py

Or just run PathForge.exe (Windows, no install needed).

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Architecture

PathForge uses a plugin system — each feature (drag, zoom, pan, right-click menu, etc.) is its own plugin file. The PluginManager handles registration and event routing so plugins can't conflict with each other.

story_visualizer.py     # Main app + UI
plugin_manager.py       # Plugin registration + event system
base_plugin.py          # Abstract base class all plugins inherit from
basic_drag_plugin.py    # Node dragging
branch_drag_plugin.py   # Whole-branch dragging
mouse_zoom_plugin.py    # Scroll-to-zoom
pan_plugin.py           # Canvas panning
fit_to_screen_plugin.py # Auto-fit view
right_click_menu_plugin.py  # Context menus
file_creator_plugin.py  # Node file creation
file_explorer_plugin.py # File browser panel
story_format_parser.py  # Parses the N:/T:/S:/A-H: story format
file_manager.py         # Bulk file operations
story_reader.py         # Playtest your story

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Dev Mode

There's a hidden dev tools panel accessible via a password (dev1211). It was used during development for debugging — left in as-is since the source is now open.

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Related

The tree layout algorithm used in PathForge was extracted and open-sourced separately: tree-reaction-algorithms