The background doesn't show, and no network request ever goes out to fetch the image

The block used is the legacy Stage block — not Background. Its input expects a scene already saved under the module's Stages tab, not an image. Wiring an image into it is accepted without any error, but nothing ever loads.

Always use the chain Load image → Background image → Background. Stage is a legacy block with no entry in this documentation: avoid it for a background, unless you know exactly what you're doing with the Stages tab.

The background is there, but stretches horizontally

The cover setting on the background image doesn't cover the frame the way its name promises: it stretches the image widthwise only, ignoring its proportions.

Fix it with a CSS block that actually covers the background without stretching it (see Formatting without writing CSS).

Lines of dialogue render in serif, while the rest of the app is sans-serif

The font name picked is the generic entry at the top of the list ("sans-serif", "serif"). For certain elements — dialogue in particular — that name always gets wrapped in quotes in the final style: a generic keyword in quotes means nothing to the browser anymore, so it falls back to its default serif.

Pick an actual font name from the list (Nunito, Arial…), never the generic entry at the top.

Lines of dialogue are invisible

A character's text style defaults to #efefef — an off-white meant for a dark background. On a light bubble, the text blends right into it.

Open the character's text style and set a color that contrasts with the bubble.

The story never starts, the debugger stays stuck on one block

The Play music block only opens the next step once the sound has actually started playing. A sound loaded from an external URL can simply never start (unsupported format, missing headers…): the block then waits forever, without ever raising an error or releasing the flow.

For a music track, upload the file into the project instead of pointing at an external URL.

A variable threshold behaves erratically

Inside an Expression block, every name used in the formula automatically creates a matching input on the block — but that input isn't wired to anything. As long as it's left dangling, the expression runs with a default value instead of your variable.

After writing or editing an expression, check every input it created and wire the right variable into it.

A fix changes nothing in the game, even after testing

A block's code editor (CSS, HTML5…) only saves your text once it loses focus — a click elsewhere, or closing the window. Until then, the change only shows on screen; it's never actually committed to the graph.

Always click outside the editor (or close the block's window) before testing. Also check that a second tab open on the same project isn't playing the older, server-saved version instead.

You write ten lines of CSS for something that already existed

The setting is already one of the 90 fields under App style / Block style — background color, margins, text style, border image…

Before opening the CSS block, look in App style and Block style first. See Formatting without writing CSS.

A variable referenced in a text shows up literally, braces and all

The name between the double curly braces contains an accent, e.g. {{Café}}. Only unaccented letters, digits and the underscore are recognized: the accent breaks detection silently, and no input is created to receive the variable.

Write the variable name without accents inside the braces ({{Cafe}}); keep accents for the rest of the sentence. See Injecting a variable into text: double curly braces.

An image-based character added to the screen in a Visual Novel module never appears

The block that adds or brings in the character expects a specific mood to be given. Without a mood chosen, no image is ever applied: the character is technically on stage, but nothing makes it visible.

Always pick a mood when adding or bringing in a character.