Short answer: Choose the place you want to charge for in Forge. Scene, episode, and choice locks use the Lock control. For visuals, open Money and choose a sprite, background/CG or video. For a story event, insert Offer for an optional purchase invitation or Content lock to require access to the rest of that scene. Their purchase settings are visible directly in the event inspector. Tips are voluntary support through the player's support surfaces.
Where locks and offers live
- A chapter or scene: the Lock section of its inspector. Open it from the lock or crown on the scene card or chapter bracket, or from Scene settings / Episode settings.
- A choice option: the option's inspector. The reader meets checkout at the choice; the rest of the menu stays free. Priced choice in the Money palette starts with pass-only access, then lets you choose a price or membership in its inspector.
- An optional moment: insert Offer from Money. Choose a purchase option and an optional message. Readers can buy or choose "Not now" and continue reading.
- Required access during a scene: insert Content lock from Money. It protects the rest of the current scene. Choose what opens it and what happens on decline: Go back, Skip ahead to accessible content or Go to scene.
- A sprite, background/CG or video: open the dock's Money tab, choose Add visual, then set an individual price or covering-pass access in its detail. One unlock follows that visual throughout the story; sprite access includes every current and future frame. Review older event locks there before consolidating them. Locked art uses safe blurred previews; video uses a neutral poster and can skip or wait for access. Visuals do not have members-only access.
Offer and Content lock settings
The header stays Offer or Content lock while you edit. The purchase option, price or membership selection, create/reprice controls, optional message, reader behavior and condition are all on the event's main page. Selecting a price or tier never turns an optional Offer into a required lock, or a lock into an Offer.
A new Offer says Needs setup. Choose an existing offer or membership, or create a price; Forge does not silently select the first price in your catalog. Clear offer clears the purchase selection while preserving the event, message and condition. Delete event removes the event. An unconfigured Offer can be saved as a draft and is skipped in preview, but must be configured before publishing.
The Lock control for other places
A free scene, chapter or choice option reads "Free for everyone". Press Lock... or Edit access to create a price, reuse an existing price or choose membership access where supported. Once locked, the control shows the price and what else opens it:
- The price: editing it changes every placement sharing that offer, and the control tells you how many. Save the price explicitly; leaving the field does not reprice it.
- Also opens with: Passes includes covering passes. Members allows eligible members to read without buying separately; select a tier to limit that access.
- If they don't unlock (chapters, scenes and clips): skip ahead or wait at the lock.
- Remove lock: makes that place free again.
Prices themselves (names, amounts, passes, memberships) live on your project's Monetization page. Its Overview shows how each episode is entered and what is paid inside it, with anything that needs fixing first; Story access inspects every scene; Offers & passes lists where each price is used, with Edit in Forge links that open the exact lock. Placing or changing a lock always happens here in Forge.
See every lock at once
The Money tab lists story-wide visual rules with search, typed targets and appearance links. Scene/episode access and choice options keep their inspectors. Studio Monetization retains its six tabs for the complete access plan, catalog, passes, memberships, promotions and buyer protections. The Story Map's Money lens shows narrative locks and the free road on the chart. Timeline reminders use small locks beside protected names, without derived prices; raw Assets stay neutral.
Practice your gates safely
Test purchases in Forge's Money tab applies to both Forge and Preview. Off, every unlock works automatically and choices show no lock badge. On, gates behave like a reader's and purchases subtract from a separate test balance. Your account wallet is untouched.
A purchase stays owned when you go Back, reload, or switch between Forge and Preview. Visual dismissal also survives rewind and reload, with manual Reveal still available. Reset clears this story's test purchases, memberships and practice visual prompt history and refills 100,000 test V. State is scoped to your account and project in this browser. Purchase completion waits for Keep reading.
Your own gated share link uses the same practice wallet. Other readers use their own account Veez under the site's commerce mode. The share link's Unlock all paid content setting bypasses gates for everyone who can open it, independently of the Forge switch.