Can turns be read aloud? (beta)

Read aloud turns a story turn into a short audiobook. A narrator reads the prose, and each character speaks their lines in their own voice. Voices are chosen once per journey, so a character sounds the same from one turn to the next.

Read aloud is in beta and available on request.

How do I get access?

Ask us on the Imagina Discord or write to [email protected] from the address of your account, and we'll turn it on for you. Once it's on, it works in every journey you play.

How do I listen to a turn?

Open the turn's ⋮ menu and pick Read aloud (beta). The menu shows roughly what the first listen will cost. The first listen takes a little while to prepare (often 20 to 30 seconds), then playback starts. A play/pause button appears beside the ⋮ menu while that turn is loaded. Sending your next action stops the playback.

While a character on the stage is speaking, the other characters dim, so you can tell who is talking.

What does it cost?

Read aloud is billed close to cost: you pay what the voices cost us to make, plus a small margin. A typical turn costs a few dozen credits, and the ⋮ menu shows an estimate before you start. It is paid with purchased credits, or with your subscription's credits if you subscribe (those are spent first). Daily free credits can't be used for it.

Once a turn has been read, replaying it is free for 3 days. After that the recording is deleted, and the next listen makes a new one and is charged again. A turn that fails to read costs nothing.

In a party journey, each player pays for the turns they choose to listen to.

Can I choose the voices?

Yes. While playing, open Settings (the gear) and go to the Voice tab. There you can:

• Pick the narrator: leave it on Automatic, or choose one of the narrator voices. Each one has a free demo you can play.
• Give the narrator instructions: how it should read (pace, mood, attitude), for example "slow and cozy, like a bedtime story". Instructions shape the delivery, not the voice itself. Preview reads a short passage with your instructions for a few credits.
• Choose what is read: Everything, Narrator only (the narrator reads the dialogue too), or Characters only (only what the characters say is read, the narration is skipped).
• Pick the quality: Standard has the most natural voices. Cheaper uses a lighter voice model that costs about a third less, with a slightly flatter delivery. Turns already read keep their recording.
• Pick character voices: each character gets a voice the first time they speak. You can play a free sample of it, pick another one from the voice library, or tell a character how to speak (for example "a light Scottish accent").

These choices are per journey. Only the journey's owner can change them; other players in a party see them read-only. After a change, turns you already heard are read again with the new setup the next time you play them, and that new listen is charged.

How do I turn it off?

Go to your account Settings, open the Content tab and switch off Turns read aloud. Read aloud then disappears everywhere: no audio is made and nothing is charged. Switch it back on whenever you like.

Good to know

• The voices are English voices. Journeys in other languages are still read in their language, but with an English-sounding voice.
• While this is a beta, very busy moments can make a read fail with "Narration is busy". Try again a minute later.