How to Explore and Use Existing Universes in Long Stories

What Are Existing Universes?

When you open Long Stories, you don't have to build everything from scratch. You'll already see:

• An Open universe — a flexible default that doesn't lock you into any specific style
• Featured universes — curated environments built by the Long Stories team

These are available to everyone and are a great starting point if you're new to the platform.

Why Explore Before Building

Exploring existing universes helps you:

• See what a well-configured universe actually produces
• Learn how style and tone stay consistent across different prompts
• Understand the difference between universe types before designing your own
• Get a finished video quickly without any setup

If you're still deciding whether Long Stories fits your needs, this is the fastest way to find out.

How to Test an Existing Universe

1. From the Create new video screen, look at the universe selector at the top.
2. Click on a Featured universe or select Open.
3. In the prompt box, type a short, simple idea:

• "A friendly robot exploring a futuristic city."
• "A brave knight discovering a hidden forest."

4. Leave most settings at their defaults.
5. Click Generate.

When the video finishes, pay attention to:

• Style consistency — do all scenes look like they belong together?
• Narrator tone — does it feel right for the content?
• Overall mood — does this feel like a world you'd want to build in?

The Open Universe

The Open universe is the most flexible option. It doesn't enforce a specific visual style or tone — it interprets your prompt broadly.

Use the Open universe when:

• You're doing a quick test with no particular style in mind
• You want maximum creative freedom on a one-off video
• You're still figuring out which direction you want to go

The trade-off: less consistency across videos. Each generation may look a little different.

Featured Universes

Featured universes have predefined styles, moods, and narrative rules. Generating a video inside one immediately gives you a coherent aesthetic.

Use featured universes when:

• You want to see a fully realized style before committing to building your own
• You don't need your own branding and a featured style fits your content
• You want to produce videos quickly without setup

When to Move to a Custom Universe

Switch from existing universes to your own when:

• You're making more than a few videos and want them to match
• You need a specific look that no featured universe provides
• You're building a series with recurring characters and a distinct world

Custom universes give you control that featured ones can't. But featured and Open are the right starting point for day one.

Updated on: 16/03/2026