Getting started

Start Roller#

  1. Double-click acopa.command in the Acopa folder. A Terminal window opens, and Acopa opens in Safari, showing Mipsy.
  2. Click Roller at the top left.
  3. Keep the Terminal window open while you play. Closing it stops Acopa.

If Acopa is already running, double-clicking acopa.command just opens it in Safari again.

Unlock with your password#

Everything you write in Roller is locked with a password. Until you enter it, the left column is empty and nothing can be played; a red ! next to the password field shows that Roller is locked.

  1. Type your password in the field at the top left.
  2. Click set (or press Return).

The very first time, the password you type becomes your password. After that, you type it each time you start Acopa. It is the one password of Acopa: it also opens the Vault of Mipsy's stories, and if you already entered it in Mipsy, Roller is unlocked too.

Choose a model#

The model is the program that plays the characters. At the top of the window:

  1. Pick who runs the model with the switch on the left: Local (Roller itself) or LM Studio (a separate app). See LM Studio or Local for the difference; if you're not sure, use the one that has models in its list.
  2. Pick a model in the list next to it. A filled dot ● means the model is already loaded and ready; an empty dot ○ means it will be loaded when you send your first turn.

Bigger models play better, but take longer to load and need more memory. Models of about 12B ("12 billion") and up keep three characters apart best; see Model sizes for what fits your Mac.

No models in the list yet? See Download a model from Hugging Face.

Play your first turn#

When you start Roller for the first time, it creates a first world with a first game, so you can begin right away:

  1. Click Story in the left column and write a few sentences about the setting: where you are, what's going on, the mood. Click Back to game when you're done.
  2. Click Character A, give them a name (at the top of the editor) and a short description. Do the same for B and C, and for User (that's you). See Write characters that come alive for tips.
  3. In the boxes at the bottom, write what your character says, and if you like, what you do.
  4. Click Send (or press ⌘ Return).

The characters' answer appears on the stage as a new turn. Write your next line, and the play goes on.

Be a creator#

Roller works fine if you simply write your turn, click Send, and never touch what comes back. But that's not really the idea. Roller is built so that you shape the play together with the model: you're not only one of the characters, you're also the director and the editor.

The model learns from what's on the stage. With every turn, the model reads the whole play so far — including everything the characters said and did. It takes that as the example to follow. So if a character slips into dull, polite or repetitive lines and you let them stand, the model "gets used" to them, and the next turns get more of the same. The good news: it works just as well the other way round. Show it how you do want the characters to behave, and it picks that up.

Ways to steer, from small to big:

  • Edit what the characters said. Click into any line on the stage and change it: sharpen a reply, cut a waffling sentence, give a character the line you wish they'd said. The model sees your version from then on. See Change what was said.
  • Give hints in parentheses. In your own line, text in brackets is a stage direction, not speech: (quietly, to Ana) You knew all along. — or simply (Peter is getting impatient). Directions like these are read by the model, and it often sorts them out surprisingly well.
  • Use the audience. The Audience box is your voice from beyond the fourth wall. Praise what works ("Bravo! More of that!") and criticise what doesn't ("Boring! Somebody do something!"). The characters hear it and react.
  • Let something happen. Write it under Events: a knock at the door, a power cut, a letter that arrives. Events push the scene when the characters won't.
  • Go back and try again. Didn't like the answer? Back takes the turn away; send again, perhaps with a hint. See Back and Fix a turn you don't like.
  • Let Roller help. Patch rewrites the weak lines of the last turn (see Patch), and the nudges give characters a sudden impulse now and then. You can write your own nudges, too.
  • Improve the cast. The more a character's description says about how they talk and what they want, the better they play. See Write characters that come alive.

Don't be shy: small edits early on keep a whole game on track.