What's Next: North Star and Scene Builder
The two features that make switching impossible
What's Next: North Star and Scene Builder
We're an A-. Production-ready. Zero critical issues. 98% test coverage.
Now we build the shit that makes switching impossible.
The Two Features That Matter
North Star and Scene Builder aren't polish. They're the moat.
Everything else in the MVP proves we can execute. These two prove we're building something nobody else can copy.
North Star: From Tourist to Native (With a Plan)
Right now, Knowledge Base gives Claude access to your world. Characters, conflicts, themes – it's all there.
North Star makes Claude understand it. And helps you actually finish what you're building.
Think about someone who memorized facts about your hometown versus someone who grew up there. Facts versus understanding. That's the difference.
What It Actually Does
When you're on Episode 47, North Star tracks:
- -Relationship arcs - Not just "Sarah and Mike are dating" but where they are in the full trajectory
- -Character momentum - Who's building toward crisis, who's ready for growth, who needs space
- -Thematic threads - Which themes are ready to pay off, which are still building
- -Story structure - What beats are climaxing, what's setup for later
This isn't better memory. It's comprehension.
Plan Mode: The Deadline Keeper
But understanding your universe doesn't help if you never finish.
That's where Plan Mode comes in.
Plan Mode lets you:
- -Set goal posts for your project (finish Act 1 by Friday, deliver Episode 3 by end of month)
- -Build a structured to-do list that breaks big goals into actual work
- -Get North Star to help you stay on task and hit your deadlines
- -Track progress against real production schedules
It's for the writer who knows exactly what they need to build but needs help staying disciplined. Or the one who's never had a deadline and needs to give themselves one.
You tell North Star "I need to deliver three episodes by December 1st" and it helps you backwards-plan the work. What needs to happen this week. What beats need outlining. What scenes need drafting.
It's not just project management. It's project management that understands story structure.
Why It's a Moat
Once Claude understands your universe this deeply AND keeps you on track to finish, switching means losing a creative partner who knows your world as well as you do and keeps you honest about shipping.
You're not locked in by contracts. You're locked in by value.
Scene Builder: Structure Before Prose
Even with perfect context and a solid plan, creators still face the blank page.
You know your world. You know your characters. You know what you need to finish today. You still don't know what happens next.
Scene Builder solves that.
The Real Problem
Most AI tools assume you already know what you want:
- -"Just describe the scene"
- -"Tell me what happens"
- -"Give me the beats"
But creators don't start with answers. They start with questions:
- -What if Sarah confronts Mike now instead of later?
- -What if this happens at the wedding instead of the office?
- -What if we flip who has power?
They need to explore before they commit.
How It Works
Eight exploration methods. Four-phase workflow:
Phase 1 - Discovery: Generate possibilities with Story Spark, What-If Engine, Conflict Matrix. Not writing yet. Just exploring.
Phase 2 - Structure: Pick the best direction. Break it into beats.
Phase 3 - Refinement: Define objectives, emotional turns, power shifts for each beat. Understand mechanics before writing dialogue.
Phase 4 - Composition: Now you write. But you're executing structure you've already tested, not inventing from nothing.
Why It Changes Everything
You're not waiting for inspiration. You're systematically exploring your story space.
You're not writing into corners. You're testing structure before committing.
You're not in revision hell. You're refining at the beat level where changes are cheap.
It's architecture instead of prayer.
Why This Order
North Star first, then Scene Builder.
Context enables structure.
Scene Builder's exploration works exponentially better when Claude deeply understands your universe. What-If Engine generates better alternatives when it knows your themes. Conflict Matrix finds richer tensions when it understands your dynamics.
And Plan Mode keeps you shipping while you're exploring possibilities.
They compound.
What Users Get
Right now: Escape session hell, compose in dual-panel, never lose context.
With these two:
- -Creative partner who structurally understands your universe
- -Deadline tracking that understands story structure
- -Systematic discovery instead of waiting for lightning to strike
- -Tools that get smarter as you use them
- -Real switching costs from accumulated value, not lock-in
What We Get
Category creation.
Nobody else is building persistent story universe understanding. Nobody else combines project management with story comprehension. Nobody else separates discovery from writing. Nobody else treats narrative like a world to explore instead of text to generate.
This isn't iterating on "AI writing assistant." This is building the world-building platform for storytellers.
You build your universe once. North Star helps you plan the work and stay on deadline. Scene Builder helps you discover and structure what you're building. Then you compose.
That's not a feature. That's a moat.
The Work
North Star needs:
- -Relationship tracking across episodes
- -Character arc analysis
- -Thematic thread ID
- -Story momentum assessment
- -KB integration
- -UI that surfaces insights when they matter
- -Plan Mode: Goal setting, to-do lists, deadline tracking
- -Plan Mode: Progress tracking against story structure
Scene Builder needs:
- -Eight exploration methods refined
- -Four-phase workflow
- -Beat-level editing
- -North Star integration
- -Transport controls at beat level
- -Structure-to-prose flow
6-8 weeks. Maybe 10 with unknowns.
But we're not guessing anymore. The A- MVP proved the foundation works. Now we build on solid ground.
Why Now
We could polish the MVP. Refactor large files. Optimize bundle size. Clear those 46 TODOs.
That's maintenance pretending to be progress.
North Star and Scene Builder are what make users say "I can't go back" instead of "this is nice."
The A- earned us the right to be ambitious.
Now we use it.