Request: general prompt pack improvements

[Anim-ator]

I really like the idea of the prompt packs, but I've encountered a few pains when working with them. I hope you don't mind that I add them all in a single issue.

1. the AI assistant should be able to access prompt packs. I find it a bit frustrating that it doesn't seem to be able to access (read/edit) prompt pack data. It would save a ton of time, if I could let the assistant generate runtime variables for my scenario, rewrite instructions etc. - especially for RPG-heavy scenarios, this would be extremely helpful. That being said: I don't really understand why runtime variables are part of a prompt pack and not part of a scenario. If they were part of a scenario, it would immediately provide a path to the next issue:

2. initializing runtime variables for newly started stories is really annoying. I wish I could set default runtime variables for a scenario in some way. I use runtime vars for RPG stats and it would be so much easier if I could specify in the scenario that, e.g: "Knight A" should have Strength 14 and MaxHealth 200. I might just not fully understand the purpose of the feature, though.

3. saving runtime variables "randomly" doesn't work. When I add a new runtime variable to a prompt pack and fill out all of its data, saving it (via the "save" button at the bottom of the panel) sometimes doesn't work, or only saves partial data. Saving existing variables often has the same issue. Generally: the actual variable stays, but its fields often revert to default values after I save and return to the runtime variables section. I haven't been able to figure out what causes it so far, but usually I need to restart the program entirely to get saving to work again. Apologies that I don't have a path to reproduce this - I couldn't find a pattern so far.

4. a way to copy prompt packs would be very helpful. Via SQL, I managed to copy data from one pack to another, but even that was really difficult due to the data being stored in different tables all over the DB.

5. a way to copy specific data from one prompt pack to another. Might be improved with suggestion 2 by letting the assistant do this. Especially for runtime variables: if I have 10/20 runtime variables in pack A and really want to add them to pack B... I'm currently out of luck.

6. a way to limit runtime variables to specific characters. Ties into idea 3 - if runtime variables were part of a scenario, the UI could let me select which variables apply to which character. Not sure how the variables are sent to the LLM in the first place, though.

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[failerko]

Thanks for your input and yeah I like your suggestions, some of these should've been been thought of when this feature was first made, especially 4. and 5. 💀

To answer your one question: Runtime variables are in prompt packs because they need to be referenced in the prompt to let the AI know what they mean and also tell they AI how it should be updating them as well as telling the AI what entity has what values for each variable.
That is the reasoning for why it is the way it is today... BUT I see your point and I think with some refinements it could actually be the better way to do things.
We need to make sure prompt templates actually render the necessary context variables so the feature works to begin with.
Then you'd set up your runtime vars in the wizard or scenario in vault and I could also imagine we have some runtime var presets you can set up in the vault so you can quickly add a defined set of runtime vars to new stories.
Thoughts?

To your point 2. If we add the change as described above you basically want the story wizard and scenario edit UI to have a place where you can set values for those runtime vars for each entity? I guess that same UI would also include point 6. and allow you to set which vars don't apply to specific entities.

[Anim-ator]

Thanks for your response!

Runtime variable presets/packs sound like a very interesting addition. Perhaps one could even limit a pack to certain entities within a scenario? I'm not 100% sure what this would look like, but maybe it's worth keeping in mind.

The preset idea is great in any case. I share most runtime variables across stories anyways, so if I could define a common "RPG variables" pack, activate that in most scenarios, then add a few more scenario variables ones that are unique to the setting (e.g. because the setting also has a specific magic system), the workflow would probably be really fast. Even better if I can have an "RPG mage" set, then an "RPG knight" set and have a way to activate each one only for a specific selection of characters. Mage characters could then have a "mana" stat and other magic related values, knights could track something else.

Yes, a way to set default values for each character in a scenario would be very helpful, even better if the wizard could access this data and let me just prompt the individual default values quickly. It would probably be sufficient to keep this to characters associated with a specific scenario - I think support for setting default values for scenario agnostic characters in the vault would only complicate things.

I'm frankly not entirely sure how the UI could be structured to let variables be setup for different entities without making the UI more complicated. I'm sure there is a way to put that functionality somewhere where power users can access it without limiting people who don't care about complex runtime variable sets. Maybe just a "Variable Packs" selection per character where users can select 0-n packs from the vault for that character. And maybe another Variable Packs selection on the scenario itself, that then acts as the default value for new characters, but I'm unsure if that would be good UX.

Lots of brainstorming was involved in this post, please don't mind the rambling nature of it.

[failerko]

Hmm, yeah. I'll need to think on that properly, but yes some interpretation of this stuff will make it to the app for sure.

[aventurasbot]

Centipede BOT

<:thissss:1456006930924310690>

[aventurasbot]

Failerko BOT

that's the person i was talking about that suggested the runtime var improvements <a:ASlaugh:581598053367021568>

[aventurasbot]

Centipede BOT

Bro is the goat