Hey all! I’m happy to announce the beta launch of Scroll Cinema, a new visual editor for creating scroll-driven animated content — embedded right into AltSalt’s admin.
Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m really into electronic literature. From the release of A Modern Ghost in 2017, to the development of Riveted in the Word, my passion is for creating work at the intersection of art, language, and technology.
For years, I’ve been working on the concept of scroll-driven animation, or scrollimation if you will, going blindly down many paths, trying to find a way to bridge technology and literature in an innovative, engaging way that hits the sweet spot between visual appeal, interactivity, and story.
And with the launch of these tools, I’m hoping now to empower anyone to create this kind of content, previously locked behind huge technological barriers to entry.
Whether you’re a writer, artist, designer, zinemaker, game designer, or anything in between, even if you’re just casually interested, you can now give creating this kind of content shot! And it won’t take you years to build up the programming knowledge and stumbling around in the dark to do it.
The tools are open and free to use for anyone with an AltSalt account, though I’m also working on making a standalone version available over the next several weeks. EDIT: I’ve decided to deprioritize the standalone version in favor of developing a creative community right on AltSalt — with everything hosted in one place, I’ve found that makes it easy to collaborate on new projects, offer assistance, and keep in touch on bugs and features. Seeing usage also allows me to better prioritize the roadmap. Of course, projects can still be exported from AltSalt to be hosted elsewhere 😀
That being said, I’m still in the process of developing the tools — there are still many features and bug fixes I want to handle before Scroll Cinema reaches a solid version 1.0.
I’d love for you to give them a spin! Try logging into your AltSalt account and let me know what you think.
I’ll also be presenting Scroll Cinema as a part of a workshop at the 2025 Electronic Literature Conference this week. I’m hoping it can be the first of many in promoting the creation of electronic literature and independent publishing.
More to come!
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