Act 3: Setup

In our first act, we talked about making your character look the part. In the second, we gave them a soul and a history. But we skipped the very first step: actually opening the damn menu and pressing the buttons.

You can’t build a house without laying the foundation, and you can’t build a character without navigating the basics. If you’ve ever found yourself staring at the main menu, wondering where the "Import" button is or why the gender options aren't showing up yet, this one is for you.

Welcome to the third act of character creation on MiocAI: The Fundamentals. We’re going back to the start. We’ll cover the setup wizard, naming your creation, importing your old favorites, and ensuring you don’t lose your work to a browser crash.

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1) Opening the Creation Wizard

Everything starts with the "Create" button. I know, groundbreaking stuff. But once you click "Bots" followed by "Create" in the main menu, you aren't just dumped into a text box. You are entering a 4-Stage Wizard.

We made this for more than just the beauty of it, althoughh I must admit, it is pretty beautiful. It's to stop you from getting overwhelmed. The interface is designed to hold your hand through the process, ensuring you don't try to upload an avatar before you've even given the poor thing a name.

The Interface Anatomy

Once the modal pops up, you’ll see a few key areas (mostly on desktop, mobile users get a more linear flow):

• The Header: This is your compass. It displays a Stage Badge that either says "New Character" or "Editing [Name]" if you're fixing an existing bot. Next to it, the Stage Indicator tells you exactly where you are (Setup, Character, Looks, etc.).
• The Progress Bar: A visual representation of how close you are to the finish line. It fills up as you move through the stages. Simple, satisfying.
• The Sidebar (Desktop): To the right, you have a Preview Panel. This is your little window into the future. It starts empty but will eventually show your character's avatar once you upload or generate one. It’s also where the "Generate" magic wand lives later on.

Navigation

At the bottom, you have your marching orders: * Back/Cancel: On Stage 0, this button says "Cancel". Click it, and a confirmation modal appears asking, "End creation?" (Because we know you didn't mean to hit it). Once you move to Stage 1, it turns into "Back". * Next/Create: This is your "continue" button. It stays "Next" until the very end (Stage 3), where it transforms into "Create" (for new characters) or "Save" (if you're editing).

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2) Naming Your Creation

You’ve landed on Stage 0: Setup. The first thing staring you in the face is the Name Input.

This seems trivial, but there are rules.

The Name Field

• The Limit: You get 50 characters max. That’s it. Don’t try to fit an entire Tolkien genealogy in here. "Arwen Undómiel" fits. "Arwen, Daughter of Elrond, Lord of Rivendell, Bearer of the Evenstar" does not.
• The Counter: Keep an eye on the little badge next to the input. It counts down your remaining characters. If you turn it red, you’ve gone too far.
• The Shake: If you try to hit "Next" without a name, the input box will develop a red border and shake violently. It’s our way of saying, "Fill me in, idiot." (I dont actually think youre an idiot, youre amazing <3)

Can’t Decide? Roll the Dice.

Directly below the name input, you’ll find the Example Names Section. These arent actually hard coded. We fetch em from an API that returns random names. Really cool, aint it?

• Name Tags: You’ll see a few name tags floating around. Click one, and it instantly auto-fills the name field. Great for when you just want to start testing immediately.
• The Refresh Button: See that little icon with the arrows? Click it. The system fetches a fresh batch of random names. Doesnt actually work, ill have a talk with our engineers later.
• Loading State: If you’re spamming refresh (which you shouldn’t, let the poor server breathe), you’ll see a spinner. Wait for it.

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3) Gender Selection

Here is a common point of confusion: "Where are the gender buttons?"

They only appear once your character has a name longer than 1 character.

We don't ask for the gender of a nameless entity. Once you type "Al", "Bob", or "Xena", the three gender buttons slide into view:

• Female: Pink icon. Sets the internal gender tag to 'female'.
• Male: Blue icon. Sets the tag to 'male'.
• Other: Brand-colored icon. Sets the tag to 'other'. This button is unique because it takes up the full width below the other two. I just find that dandy. like take a look:

A checkmark will appear on the selected option. This helps the AI determine which pronouns to default to if you don't specify them in the personality.

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4) Importing: The Easy Way Out

Maybe you’re like me, and you have a stable of characters on another platform that you want to bring over. We don’t judge. We facilitate.

Below the gender selection, there’s a collapsible section labeled Import Character. It’s hidden by default to keep the UI clean, so click the caret to expand it.

Current Options

Right now, you’ll see one active button:

• CharacterHub: This connects to the CharacterHub database (totally legitemately :3). Clicking this opens the ImportCharacterModal. From there, you can search and pull characters directly into your creation wizard. It scrapes the definitions so you don’t have to copy-paste manually.

Character AI is currently not available, its a bit more difficult or so ive heard.

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5) Drafts: Saving Your Skin

We’ve all been there. You spend 30 minutes tweaking a backstory, your browser crashes, or you accidentally close the tab. Rage ensues. Dont hurl your devices just yet.

MiocAI has a system to prevent this tragedy: Draft Management.

Auto-Save

For most users, this is enabled by default. Look at the bottom of the modal. You’ll see a status indicator: * "Saving...": The system is currently uploading your progress to our servers. * "Saved as draft": You are safe. Your work is stored.

If you close the modal now, you can simply find your character in your drafts, ready to be finished.

Manual Save & Discarding

If you are on a setup where auto-drafts are disabled, or you just like having control, the UI changes slightly: * Save Draft: A button appears that lets you manually commit your current progress. * Discard: If you decide the character sucks and you want to start over, hit "Discard". A confirmation modal pops up ("Discard draft?"). Confirming this deletes the draft permanently. No take-backs.

Finding Your Drafts

How do you load a draft? On the Stage 0 (Setup) screen, if your name field is empty, you will see an Open Drafts Button. Click this, and a modal appears listing all your unfinished work. Select one, and it loads everything—name, gender, personality, prompt—right back into the wizard.

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6) TLDR

Do

• Use the Refresh button on names if you need inspiration.
• Let the auto-save work. Give it a second before closing the tab.
• Import from CharacterHub if you want to port existing OCs quickly.
• Check the Progress Bar to know how many steps you have left.

Don't

• Panic if gender buttons are missing. Just type a name first.
• Spam the "Character AI" import button. It's not ready yet.
• Ignore the character limit. 50 characters for a name is a hard limit.

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Now that you know how to open the tool, fill in the name, and save your progress, you're ready to actually build something. Stage 0 is complete. The foundation is poured.

Up next, we move to Stage 1, where we put the "person" in "personality". But since we already covered that in Act 2, you can consider yourself fully briefed on the entire lifecycle of a MiocAI character. Go forth and create. Don't make anything that'll get you banned.