How to create an AI interactive videos In Trickle

Interactive short dramas (or branching micro-films) are powerful because they combine cinematic motion with decision moments. In the Trickle Magic Canvas, you can generate video assets using modern models and then wire up branching logic with natural language (vibe coding). The key is to think ahead about narrative structure, pacing, and prompt design.

Below I’ll first explain how to design the branching narrative, how to think about prompt templates and style consistency, then walk through a detailed step-by-step of building inside Trickle including video generation, Library, Magic Canvas wiring, preloading, and testing. Finally I’ll comment on the narrative and technical rationale.

Part I: Narrative and branching logic (before writing prompts)

Before you ever write a prompt, think of your mini-drama as a tree:

• A root node (opening)
• Branch points where the viewer picks A vs B
• Leaf nodes or endings
• Potential midway follow-ups that continue the path

Here’s how to plan:

1. Start with dramatic tension and a clear choice

In your opening, present a visual tension or hook (a world, a mystery, a threat) plus two plausible but contrasting choices. The user should feel compelled (not confused) about “which direction to go.”

For example, the opening sets an alien planet, a spaceship landing, mystery. The two choices are: go toward the signal, or continue scanning. These represent exploration vs caution.

2. Keep branch depth shallow

Too many layers will multiply the number of scenes to generate and strain both generation consistency and user patience. A common pattern:

• Opening → two branches (A / B)
• Each branch → two possible endings (A1 / A2, B1 / B2)

That yields 1 + 2 + 4 = 7 clips total. That’s manageable for preloading and for narrative coherence.

3. Maintain visual consistency across branches

To prevent disjointed feel, ensure common visual elements (lighting palette, color grading, atmospheric dust, same planet, same hero silhouette) recur in all scenes. Also, keep camera style consistent (e.g. slow push, tracking, close slow zoom) so transitions don’t jar.

4. Use modular prompts and templates

Rather than writing entirely new prompts for each scene, you can use a template system:

• A “scene descriptor” template:

[duration] silent cinematic shot. [subject] [action restated]. [environment detail]. Mood: tense, atmospheric. No speech or captions. Photorealistic. 16:9.

• A “transition modifier” that you can plug in: e.g. “the drone hovers and scans”, “glyphs pulse in the wall”, “smoke flare bursts”.
• Keep a “style token” that you include in all prompts, e.g. “ash-storm palette, dusty reds, muted blues, cinematic lighting” to anchor visual consistency.

So for each node, you fill in subject + action + environment detail using that template.

5. Plan how video switching and UI will link

While designing, think in parallel: when the user clicks branch A, what text will replace, what video you’ll show, and what choice buttons appear next. Think in terms of “for each node, specify: video asset, caption text, two button labels, next nodes.” Write this as a small table:

You could even script in natural language: “When user picks button A from node A, switch video to A1 and set caption to … and button to start over.” That becomes your vibe coding text in Trickle.

Part II: Models and visual consistency

To support this narrative, you’ll use three models in concert:

• Nano Banana: fast image generation / style probes (you can explore environments, color mood, props). Use it to prototype look and feel, or generate background images.
• Seedream 4.0: more advanced text-to-image or multimodal image generation. Use it for key frame art, concept stills, character visuals, or intermediate images you want refined.
• Seedance 1.0 Pro: for animation (text-to-video or image-to-video). It is explicitly designed for multi-shot narrative, preserving subject consistency, and prompt following.

When you generate a video from an image , Seedance maintains the visual anchor from the image and then adds motion. That helps you reuse consistent imagery.

When combining models, a typical flow is:

1. Use Nano Banana or Seedream to generate a refined still for a scene you like.
2. Feed that still plus a short prompt into Seedream in video generation mode to animate it.
3. For scenes that don’t need a “pre-existing still,” directly use text-to-video in Seedream with your template.
4. Always include style tokens (“cinematic lighting, dust, muted palette”) to tie all scenes together.

Part III: Implementation in Trickle + Magic Canvas (Detailed)

Here is a more narrative walkthrough of what you do inside Trickle.

1. Generate video assets

• Enter the Trickle interface and choose Generate Video.
• For your opening node, use a prompt built from your template. Wait for the generation to complete.
• Then generate scenes A and B, then A1, A2, B1, B2.
• As each video finishes, Trickle will place it into the global Library. Rename them with short keys (e.g. “overall”, “A”, “B”, “A1”, …).
• Check each video to ensure quality is consistent (lighting, framing, subject scale). If a branch looks visually disjointed, you may regenerate with stricter style tokens.

2. Create a Magic Canvas page

• In your Trickle workspace, create a canvas project for your interactive drama.
• In that page, use a vibe-coding prompt such as:

  “Place a video player that spans full canvas width, maintaining 16:9 aspect ratio. Use the Library video asset named “overall” initially. Do not add borders or drop shadows. Overlay a caption text block at the lower portion of the video. Below the video, place two buttons side by side.”

• After you execute the prompt, canvas will lay out a video + text + two buttons scaffold.
• Inspect and adjust the default layout if needed (e.g. margin, spacing).

3. Wire interactions

For each button you placed, set an onClick or onTap behavior in your vibe coding. You’ll write natural language lines like:

“When the button labeled Go to Signal is clicked, switch the video source to Library.A, replace the caption text with ‘she enters the unknown ruins…’ and change the two buttons to Touch the Device / Turn Away with their respective next actions.”

You do the same for the other path. For leaf nodes (A1, A2, B1, B2), you wire the start over button back to the opening: load the “overall” video and revert the caption and the two initial buttons.

Because vibe coding is dynamic, you can use references like “the Library asset named X” or “the caption text block” rather than writing code.

4. Add preloading logic

To reduce stutters at branch transitions, you should preload all video assets (overall, A, B, A1, A2, B1, B2) at page load. Use a vibe coding line such as:

“Preload videos overall, A, B, A1, A2, B1, B2 in the background before the first play.”

This ensures when the user clicks, playback is smooth.

5. Test transitions, fallback, and mobile

• Preview your page and click through all branches to confirm that each node loads the correct video and caption, with correct “next” button.
• On mobile view, ensure your buttons are big enough and do not overlap video controls.
• If any branch fails or a video is missing, you can fallback (e.g. disable the button or show a “loading” placeholder).

Part IV: Example — Walking through one branch

Let me walk you through how branch A → A1 might play out:

1. From the opening, the user clicks “Go to Signal.” The system:
   • switches the video to the “A” clip,
   • replaces the caption with the “entering ruins” text,
   • changes the two buttons to “Touch the Device” and “Turn Away.”
2. Suppose the user clicks “Touch the Device.” The system will:
   • switch the video to “A1,”
   • change the caption to “she touches the device, memories flood in …”
   • display a single “Restart” button (or two buttons with only that one active) that maps back to the opening.
3. If the user clicks “Restart,” the system will:
   • switch the video back to “overall,”
   • restore the initial caption and the original two buttons.

Because each transition is just a video swap + text change + button rebind, the system is light but feels immersive.

Part V: Why this approach works (narrative & technical rationale)

• By limiting branch depth and maintaining style consistency, you prevent the user from feeling disoriented between paths.
• Short, silent cinematic clips reduce complexity (no lip sync, no dialogue) so your prompts can focus on motion, mood, and composition.
• Preloading ensures low latency so the switching feels instant rather than laggy.
• The natural language wiring in vibe coding lets you keep all logic in human-readable terms, making iteration easy.
• The model synergy (Nano Banana / Seedream → Seedance) lets you control look & feel while getting motion out of existing stills.
• Because Seedance supports multi-shot narrative and prompt adherence, transitions across scenes keep visual consistency.

Prompt Template Suggestions (abstracted, not full prompt dumps)

You can use variations of these templates when writing your video generation prompts:

Base scene template

[dur] second silent cinematic scene. Subject: [who]. Action: [what they do]. Environment: [place, lighting, atmosphere]. Mood: [tone adjectives]. Style: photorealistic, cinematic lighting, dusty atmosphere, palette muted-red/blue. 16:9.

Branch variant template

[dur] second continuation. The subject [continues action or reacts]. Add motion detail: [drone appears / lights flicker / dust storm]. Maintain same lighting style. No dialogue or captions.

Always include a style token like “cinematic lighting, dust haze, muted palette, slow camera movement” in every prompt so each scene inherits the same flavor.