Storytale currently runs on the budget of one person. Servers, AI credits, domain names — not large amounts, but they add up. With growth that gets expensive. That's why we're setting out three principles explicitly, with an honest account of their limits.
Principle 1: no ads that disrupt the experience
No banners that break your reading flow. No pre-roll before your story starts. No "sponsored by" as a sudden character in the text. Storytale sits between people at a personal moment — you don't want commercial interruption that kills the atmosphere.
But fully ad-free forever? We can't promise that. If the user base grows and the AI bill grows with it, we'll look at ads in places that don't get in the way — for example a quiet sponsor strip on the homepage, or a mention on the "/about" page. Not while writing, not in the reveal, never in the book itself. The atmosphere stays — that's a commitment.
Principle 2: no tracking cookies, no analytics
We don't know how many people use Storytale. Or rather: we know roughly, from server logs, but we don't know any individuals. No Google Analytics, no Hotjar, no Mixpanel. No Facebook pixels.
The only cookie we set is a functional player ID — a random UUID that holds your session. No tracking, no link to a person. Result: no cookie banner. Because we have nothing to ask consent for.
This principle we do want to hold firm. Tracking adds nothing to your evening, and adds a lot to our responsibility.
Principle 3: base game free — voluntary contributions welcome
All modes (Quick, Comedy, Classic, Visual, Solo) stay free for everyone, no mandatory account. The base game must not disappear behind a paywall.
But to be honest: AI text and AI illustrations cost money per generated item. At the current volume (a few dozen games per day) that's manageable monthly from our own pocket. At hundreds of games per day it gets serious, and then we need to find coverage somewhere.
Our preference: voluntary contributions. Whoever finds Storytale valuable can make a one-off or recurring donation — a button in the footer, a payment link, no pressure, no reminders. A separate blog post is coming about that. We hope it'll be enough.
If donations aren't enough, we'll look at restrained advertising (see principle 1) or optional premium extras (own subdomain, a physically printed book, classroom tools for schools). The base game stays free regardless.
What this means
Money isn't the drive. Time, energy and enjoyment are. But we won't pretend Storytale runs without costs. It's a hobby project that needs to remain affordable somewhere — personally for me, and for Storytale as a whole if it grows.
If any of these principles ever needs to change, we'll write about it here on the blog. With explanation, with consideration of alternatives. Not quietly in a small update to the terms and conditions.