Storylines: One Image Can Start a Whole World
An unofficial community feature idea for Civitai
I've been working on a feature idea for Civitai called Storylines, and I've made an interactive mockup to show how it could work.
Imagine one image starting a joke. Another creator adds a twist. Someone turns it into a video. Suddenly there's a story people want to follow.
It could be a four-image gag, a finished short story, a series that keeps growing or even a whole fictional world built by different creators.
That's the idea behind Storylines: connecting separate images and videos into stories you can read, follow and continue, while every creator keeps their original work and credit.
We're already telling stories together
The Patch: four images by four creators. A cat patch becomes a painting, then a T-shirt and finally a framed picture in a thrift store. Each creator takes the joke one step further.
1 · Sillycat83 → 2 · Moonbear_AIArt → 3 · tehalex86 → 4 · Tar_Tarj
The cat-and-moon story: four videos by two creators. A magical cat causes chaos, the moon gets destroyed, a bear tries to fix things and the cat comes up with a suspicious explanation. It's a conversation told through videos.
1 · Moonbear_AIArt → 2 · Sillycat83 → 3 · Moonbear_AIArt → 4 · Sillycat83
Right now, you often need to dig through comments and links to find the full story.
Why not just use Remix Galleries?
Remix Galleries are useful, but a story isn't necessarily a remix.
With The Patch, where would you even draw the line? Is the T-shirt a remix of the painting or the original patch? The joke is about how the idea changes from scene to scene.
The videos make it clearer. They aren't edits of previous videos. They're replies, new ideas and continuations.
Storylines would show something different: What happened before this and what happens next?
Imagine opening chapter seven
You notice a small Storyline icon in the feed or a Storyline pill on an image or video. You click it and discover it's chapter seven of a bigger adventure.
Now you can start at the beginning, move between chapters, see every contributor and follow the story for new additions. Some stories could be Complete, others Ongoing or Open for Contributions.
There could also be one discussion for the whole Storyline, separate from comments on individual works, with moderation options for the host.
And every new chapter could bring people back to older creations and introduce them to artists they might never have discovered otherwise.
From running jokes to shared worlds
Imagine one creator inventing a fantasy town. Someone else introduces a character. Another makes a video showing a strange event there. A fourth tells the story of what happened across town.
Over time, that place gains characters, history and mysteries. That's collaborative worldbuilding.
Established creators could welcome guest chapters. Smaller creators could get noticed for one brilliant continuation. Friends could tell stories together, even if one makes images and another makes videos.
Not every Storyline needs to be huge. A three-image joke with a perfect ending is just as valuable as a world with a hundred chapters. Some stories could branch into different endings while others simply grow whenever inspiration strikes.
“Continue my story!”
Imagine a Challenge where the host shares an opening scene and asks: “What happens next?”
Or a Crucible where different creators compete with possible continuations. You could have guest episodes, missing chapters or creative relay races.
Best of all, the story would still exist after the event ends, ready to discover or continue. That's another reason for people to revisit older work on Civitai.
These are possibilities, not features that all need to exist on day one.
Try the interactive mockup
I made a demo to show how Storylines might fit into Civitai: (there is something to click ;) )
Explore the Storylines mockup →
https://moonblack87.github.io/civitai-storyline-mock/#disc
https://moonblack87.github.io/civitai-storyline-mock/#story/halloween
This is an unofficial concept. The controls and interactions are simulated.
Would you like Storylines on Civitai?
I think this could make Civitai even more fun: stories that outlive the feed, creators discovering each other through shared ideas and viewers returning to see what happens next.
Creators should always have a say in whether their work becomes an official chapter. But with that choice in place, imagine how many unexpected stories could grow here.
If you'd like Civitai to consider this feature, please comment, save this article and share it with other creators. Let's show the Civitai team there's real interest in Storylines.
And I'd love to hear your ideas. Do you already know a chain of images or videos that deserves its own Storyline? What kind of story would you want to start?
Maybe your next image isn't just another post. Maybe it's chapter one.