The General tab is the front page of a game. It sets the game’s identity — its name, how long the timer runs, and how it looks — along with the rules for hints and alerts, the default sounds and videos, and the spoken-voice settings. Get these right and the rest of the tabs build on top of them.
Open the Editor, choose your game, and start on the General tab.
Game identity
The identity settings are the basics every game needs.
- Name — the name shown wherever this game appears, on the Dashboard, the control page, and in your history.
- Duration — how long the countdown runs by default for a session.
- Status — Active, Testing, or Retired (see below).
- Accent color — the color used to tint this game’s controls and chrome, so staff can tell rooms apart at a glance.
- Control image — the image that represents the game in lists and on the Dashboard.
Game status
The status decides how the game behaves and whether staff can run it.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Active | Live. Sessions run normally and are recorded to your history and Insights. |
| Testing | Runs normally, but nothing is saved. Use it while building or rehearsing. |
| Retired | Hidden from the control page and Dashboard. The build is kept, but staff can’t run it. |
Stay in Testing until you're ready
Keep a game on Testing while you build and rehearse, then switch it to Active for real groups. Testing runs don’t clutter your history.
Hint behavior
This section controls how hints and help requests work during a game.
- Hint limits — cap how many hints staff can send in a session, or leave it unlimited. The control page shows a running count against the limit.
- Manual hints — allow staff to type and send free-form hints from the control page, in addition to the saved hints on each objective.
- Help requests — let players signal that they’re stuck (a button press or a device). You choose the notification sound staff hear — a tone, an alert, a spoken prompt, or off — and the message shown on displays while a request is pending.
- Alerts — the attention-getting sound that plays before a text or image hint reaches a display.
Audio defaults
The Audio section sets the game’s default sounds and videos. Each field picks a file from the game media library or the shared media library.
Intro and outro video
- Intro video — plays at the start of a game, on your countdown displays, to set the scene before the timer runs.
- Outro video — plays at the end of the game.
Pick each from the library, or leave it empty if the game has no intro or outro.
Ambient audio
Ambient audio is the background track for the game. You also choose when it plays.
| Playback mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Manual | The track doesn’t start on its own. Staff start it from the control page. |
| Start automatically when running | The track starts when the game begins running. |
| Running until end | The track plays while the game runs and stops when it ends. |
| Play continuously whenever a countdown display is open | The track keeps playing any time a countdown display is open — even between games — so the room is never silent. |
Alert sound
The alert sound plays before a text or image hint reaches players, to get their attention. Use one of ARC’s built-in sounds or a custom file from your library.
Volume levels
ARC mixes game audio across four channels, each with its own level and a lock toggle:
- Alert — the alert sound played before hints.
- Ambient — the background music.
- Media — videos and clips, such as the intro and outro.
- Speech (TTS) — spoken hints read aloud.
The lock controls what staff can do with the channel during a game:
- Unlocked — staff can adjust the level freely, up or down.
- Locked — staff can lower or mute the channel, but not raise it above the level you set here.
Lock to protect your mix
Lock the Ambient and Media channels at the levels you want so a busy game’s audio stays balanced. Staff can still pull a channel down if it’s too loud, but they can’t blow out your carefully set mix.
Speech
The Speech settings control the synthesized voice that reads spoken hints and Speak text actions aloud. You choose:
- the engine — for example Piper or Voices (Local) running on the ARC machine, or a cloud voice such as ElevenLabs,
- the voice, and
- the speaking rate.
These defaults apply to the game’s text-to-speech hints and any Speak text (TTS) automation actions, unless an individual hint or action overrides them.
Local and cloud voices
Local voices run on the ARC machine and keep working without the internet. Cloud voices may sound more natural but need an internet connection. Pick the engine that fits your room.
Where to go next
- Objectives — build the puzzles and write the hints these settings govern.
- Media — upload the intro, outro, ambient, and alert files this tab points to.
- Displays — the screens that show your intro video and hints.