NovelForge 2.2

A rebuilt map maker, a more modern look, an easier install, and a full website to go with them. Your novels and Word documents are untouched by this release - it only changes the program.

What's new

The map maker, rebuilt

• Worlds that look like worlds. Coasts now wander into bays and headlands, islands are irregular, mountains form chains, forests and deserts form soft patches, and lakes fill real basins.
• Rivers that make sense. Every river starts in the hills and runs to the sea, with tributaries. Before, they were short stubs in the middle of nowhere.
• Roads follow the land - never through the sea, and around steep ground.
• A better-looking map: shaded, snow-capped mountain ranges, tree stamps, riverbanks, pale shallows and ripples around every coast, and place names with a halo so they stay readable over coasts and rivers.
• The same seed always rebuilds the same world - names included. (Before, the names were different every time.)
• A new window: a tool rail with icons, palette and properties cards, the map lying on a desk, and Export and More menus in place of fifteen crowded buttons.
• Much faster to use. Zooming shows at once, and nothing is rebuilt for a zoom, a selection or a pan.
• Fixed: a lake drawn on the land used to vanish under it; forests reshuffled every time a map was opened; the map picker named the wrong map when the one on screen was unsaved.

A more modern look

• Rounded buttons, fields, tabs and scroll bars in every theme, cards on a darker backdrop, and icons throughout. Every tool window and dialog now sits on the same rounded card.
• Corkboard cards are rounded and easier to read; the Outline window shows all of its columns.
• The NovelForge logo is used everywhere: window and taskbar icon, welcome screen and About box. Make Desktop Shortcut.bat puts an icon on your Desktop.
• Fixed: the Sprint and Corkboard windows on scaled (125%) displays.

Easier to install

• Write.bat now installs the two small libraries NovelForge needs the first time you run it (this needs the internet once), and says plainly what to do if Python is missing.

A website

• https://sideeffects69.github.io/NovelForge/ is now a full site: features, the map maker, an honest comparison with Scrivener and others, a FAQ, download help and a changelog.

Getting started

1. Install Python 3.13+ - tick "Add python.exe to PATH" during setup.
2. Download Source code (zip) below and unzip it anywhere.
3. Double-click Write.bat. The first time, it installs two small libraries for you.

See the README for the full feature list, or the website for a quick look before you download.

Upgrading from 2.1 or 1.0

Your novels live in the Projects folder next to Write.bat, and your preferences in novelforge-settings.json. Copy both from your old folder into the new one before you start it.

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11, Python 3.13+. python-docx and Pillow are installed for you on first run (or pip install -r requirements.txt). On Windows 11 the title bar also takes on the theme's colour.

This release ships with an automated test suite that clicks every menu command, toolbar button and tool-window button, opens the Map Maker in every theme, tests the map engine, and checks the website (python -m unittest discover -s tests -t .).

NovelForge 2.1

A refresh of how NovelForge looks and feels, plus a batch of fixes found by testing every button, menu and window. Your novels and Word documents are untouched by this release - it only changes the interface.

What's new

• A modern, flat look in every theme. Buttons, fields, lists and scroll bars are redrawn to match each theme instead of the old Windows dialog style.
• The Premium (dark navy) theme is dark all the way across - title bar, menu bar, right-click menus and every window. Pick it under View > Theme.
• A toolbar with icons. Buttons are grouped (write, review, work) and hovering shows what each does and its keyboard shortcut. On a narrow window it shrinks to icons only instead of running off the edge.
• Command palette - press Ctrl+Shift+P. Type what you want ("story graph", "backup", "theme") and press Enter. It searches every command in every menu.
• A proper welcome screen on a fresh install.
• Readable reports. The dashboard, diagnostics, story graph and continuity reports now have real headings and FIX / LOOK / NOTE tags instead of rows of =====.
• The status bar tells you if your writing is saved ("Saved" / "Unsaved changes").
• Works on scaled displays (125%, 150%): windows grow with the display so nothing is cut off.
• The map maker opens fitted to the window, not as a small thumbnail.
• Fixed: an inspector button that was cut off at the edge; switching theme leaving text boxes in the old theme's colours; right-click menus ignoring the theme; empty progress bars showing on the first-run screen.

Getting started

1. Install Python 3.13+ - tick "Add python.exe to PATH" during setup.
2. Download Source code (zip) below and unzip it anywhere.
3. Double-click Write.bat.

See the README for the full feature list, or the website for a quick look before you download.

Upgrading from 1.0

Your novels live in the Projects folder next to Write.bat, and your preferences in novelforge-settings.json. Copy both from your old folder into the new one before you start it.

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11, Python 3.13+, pip install python-docx Pillow. On Windows 11 the title bar also takes on the theme's colour.

This release ships with an automated test suite that clicks every menu command, toolbar button and tool-window button (python -m unittest discover -s tests -t .).

NovelForge 1.0

The first tagged release. A free, local-first novel-writing studio for Windows — real Word documents, nine outline frameworks, a continuity checker that reads your actual prose, and a procedural fantasy map maker. No account, no cloud, no subscription.

Getting started

1. Install Python 3.13+ — tick "Add python.exe to PATH" during setup.
2. Download Source code (zip) below and unzip it anywhere.
3. Double-click Write.bat.

See the README for the full feature list, or the website for a quick look before you download.

Requirements

Windows 10 or 11, Python 3.13+, pip install python-docx Pillow.