Short answer: Use the Menu view in Forge - the title-screen editor. You build the first thing a reader sees: a background, your title, decorative layers, and the menu buttons, all placed freely by dragging them on a canvas. Then you choreograph the intro on a timeline strip - each element gets an entrance with its own delay and duration, idle motion keeps the settled screen alive, and an ambient camera can drift between two framings you draw. Nine ready-made presets give you a complete starting point, each with its own music, and a "keep my content" option applies a preset's motion to your own art and title.
What you're placing
Everything on the title screen is an element you drag into place:
- Background - one image, a solid color, or a gradient.
- Title - your game's name, styled with its own font, size, and color (or an image, if your title is drawn art).
- Decorative layers - up to 12 extra images and text labels, freely placed, resized, and rotated. Text labels cover things like a version tag, "Chapter 3 out now", or a credits line.
- The five menu buttons - more below.
Drag anything on the canvas into place; layers and buttons can also be resized and rotated right on the canvas, and the arrow keys nudge whatever is selected. Every element has precise controls in the inspector when dragging isn't exact enough.
Choreographing the intro
The intro - how the screen assembles itself when a reader arrives - is edited on a timeline strip under the canvas. Every element has its own row:
- Pick an entrance per element: fade, scale, blur, letter cascade, typewriter, and more, each with an easing curve.
- Give the whole picture a reveal as well: on top of per-element entrances, the screen itself can arrive through a fade, an iris opening, a pull-back, a blur sharpening into focus, or a shutter - or appear instantly. The reveal plays over the intro from the first moment, gets its own row on the timeline, and is edited (with its own preview) alongside the exit transition that plays when a reader leaves the menu.
- Drag an element's bar to change when it starts; drag its edge to change how long it takes.
- Scrub the playhead to preview any moment, or press play to watch the whole intro; a replay control starts it over.
Committing a motion edit plays that element's moment back automatically, so you see the result of each change without replaying the whole intro.
Keeping the screen alive
After the intro settles, idle motion keeps the screen from feeling frozen: give elements looping motion such as a slow breathe, a sway, or a shimmer. An ambient camera can drift between two framings you draw directly on the canvas - drag each framing box to position it, drag a corner to zoom - and atmospheric particles (with control over density, speed, size, and tint) can float through the scene.
The five menu buttons
Every title screen has the same five buttons: Start, Continue, Load, Settings, and Chapters. You can't add or remove buttons, but each one is fully yours to style and place - position, size, rotation, colors, typography, hover behavior, and its own entrance timing.
Buttons are also smart about when they appear: Continue only shows when a reader has something to continue, and Chapters waits until your story has more than one episode. You can hide a button entirely if you don't want it.
Presets and keeping your content
A presets gallery offers nine ready-made title screens, each a complete composition - background, title treatment, button layout, motion, atmosphere, and its own music track. Hover a preset to preview it live on your canvas; apply it and everything remains editable, because presets are built from the same controls you have.
The keep my content option applies a preset's motion and design while keeping your own background and title - a fast way to give your art a finished choreography.
What readers experience
Readers can skip the intro with any input - one click or key settles the whole screen instantly, and that same input never accidentally presses a menu button. Readers who have reduce motion enabled get the settled screen immediately, with no intro, loops, or particles. Music fades in with the intro and keeps playing while the menu is up.
The intro also waits until the menu's own images are ready, so it never plays over a half-loaded screen - on a slow connection readers see a brief loading state first. And when your menu has music, a reader's first visit may show a single begin prompt before the intro: browsers only allow sound after a click, so that one click starts the intro and its music together. Returning readers usually go straight in.