UX review · Vortex Creative Center · 26 October 2026
All eight are built now.See the real screens. This page is the original review and its mockups.
How the studio could feel much better for the two of you
My honest read of the studio as you merged it in PR #2, with real screenshots of today and mockups of what I'd change. Nothing here is built yet: tell me which ones to make.
Code: PR #2 merge, aac66fb (the live server runs exactly this)Before: a copy of the server's dataAfter: mockups
The short version
It understands videos well. It doesn't yet help you make one.
01Five formats, eight recipes, zero videosThe studio is strong at the first half (examples → DNA → recipe) and weak at the half that matters: getting a CoinPusher video out. Most of the effort should go there now.
02Making a video is a 4,600-pixel formNine separate "Price & generate" buttons, each with its own confirm. Music has to come first, but it sits in another tab. You can't see the whole video or the total cost anywhere.
03It would let you pay to fake the game4 shots in the two CoinPusher recipes say "UPLOAD, do not generate", yet they still show a Seedance model and a generate button. In Creator Proof those 3 shots are $4.10 of the $4.78 final, 86%.
04It's built for five people; you are twoThe first control in the menu is My space / Shared, and My space is empty. Private spaces, forks and "publish back" are a lot of machinery for two people who just need to know whose turn it is.
05The open decisions aren't in the productMarket, operator offer or brand only, and our game footage are what block the first video, but no screen asks for them. The brief hides the market inside "Hey Lagos" and "Oya, try am."
06Engineer words still show"Harness v2", "Create production", "Jobs", "40.083s", "cut tolerance ms", "Pack 6664_6", and "NOT USED: THE API KEY BILLS A SEPARATE $0 WALLET" repeated down a 13,400-pixel Models page.
Before → after, one change at a time
Tap any picture to see it full size. Example frames are grey on purpose: the examples are private. Credit numbers in the "before" pictures are test values from the copy.
01A storyboard for each video, not a long formSee all 8 shots at once, start every draft with one confirm, ♥ the good takes, make only those final with one more confirm.+
Beforevideo page, Shots tab
One prompt box, model menu and "Price & generate" per shot, 4,600 px tall. Shot 2's prompt says "UPLOAD, do not generate" but it still offers Seedance 2.0 Mini. Music and voice are in the Audio tab.
Aftermockup
Eight 9:16 cards in story order. The AI shots show their draft takes with ♥; shots 2, 4 and 6 are drop zones for our own clips. One bar at the bottom: what the next step makes, its price, one button.
What changes
One draft run: music, voice, host portrait, every AI shot and the end card in one go. Priced first, one confirm: about $0.50 for Creator Proof.
One final run: only the ♥ shots, priced and confirmed once (2 liked presenter shots ≈ $0.36).
Click a card to play its takes, redo it, or change its words or model in a side panel. Raw prompts live there, not on the page.
The phone preview plays the draft cut at any point; the edit rules sit under it as ticks.
Notes from the other person pinned to a second of the video.
Why
Today, drafting one video means 9 trips through prompt box → price → confirm, in the right order, across two tabs. With a storyboard you judge the video as a video. You still confirm every spend yourself; there are just two confirms instead of nine.
Mthe job queue and prices already exist (jobs.js, workflow.js); this is mostly a new page on top of them.
02Our footage is never generatedShots that must be a real recording become "drop our clip" slots, with no model and no generate button.+
What I found
Creator Proof shots 2, 4 and 6, and Street Booth shot 4, say "UPLOAD, do not generate: the real game / sign-up screen recording".
The video page still gives them Seedance 2.0 Mini for drafts and Seedance 2.5 for final, with a "Price & generate" button.
In Creator Proof they cost $0.25 of drafts and $4.10 of the $4.78 final. That's money spent on something we decided never to do: a model drawing the game's screen.
We have no CoinPusher recording, logo or key art yet, and the studio can't yet put a recording into a phone in someone's hand (the "screen-replace" step).
What changes
A recipe shot can be marked "our footage". It shows as a striped drop zone (see shots 2, 4, 6 in change 01) and is left out of every price.
The home page lists the footage as the first thing to do, with how many shots wait for it (change 03).
Until the clip arrives, the cut shows a labelled slate, as it does now.
Later: a screen-replace step, so a game recording can go into a generated hand-held phone. Format C (one-take testimony) needs it too.
Sa flag on the shot plus the drop zone. I'd build this first because it protects money.
03Home tells you what's nextInstead of "My space · Nothing here yet", the three things that block the first video, then the videos in progress and whose turn it is.+
Beforehome, My space
My space: "Nothing here yet", "No videos in this space yet". The activity still says "started a DNA study: Pack 6664_6 · E · …".
Aftermockup
"What's next": upload our game footage (blocks 4 shots), pick the first market, draft a Creator Proof video (≈ $0.50). Then videos in progress with "your turn", the five formats with what each still needs, and the two of you.
Beforehome, Shared
Shared: big format cards, then an empty video list. The cards say what exists ("recipe ready"), not what to do next.
What changes
The next-step cards come from real state: missing footage, open decisions, recipes ready to draft, takes waiting for a ♥.
Budget in dollars at the top of every page: KIE ≈ $200 and the Higgsfield plan ≈ $102 until it refills on 12 Nov (balances from the 26 Oct check). It replaces the credit counters.
A "To review" count in the menu for takes and cuts waiting on you.
The six generic starter recipes (Big Win, Crash, Slot trailer…) move out of the way; the two CoinPusher recipes come first everywhere.
S–M
04New video on one page, market firstPick the recipe and the market. The market fills in the language, greeting, sign-off, voice, end-card terms and payment logos.+
Beforestep 1 and step 2
Step 1 lists all 8 recipes with the CoinPusher ones last. Step 2 is ten fields whose grey examples look like filled values. There's no market field, though "Hey Lagos" means Nigeria, and the voice defaults to "James: husky, engaging, bold". The button says "Create production".
Aftermockup
The two CoinPusher recipes with length, draft and final price, and how many inserts need our footage. The brief starts with the market and the operator choice, then the offer once.
What changes
The market is a switch: UK, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria, Uzbekistan (the six markets in the examples).
Things the market sets show "from the market"; anything needing a person's check says so ("check with legal").
"Who the video sends people to" makes the operator-vs-brand decision visible.
Creating a video stays free; the bar says what the first draft run will cost.
Why
The market is the decision that's been open the longest, and it changes the words, the voice, the terms and the logos. Today it's hidden in two slang fields, and nothing stops a Nigerian creator from speaking with a stock American voice.
Mneeds a small per-market table (words, voice, terms, logos) the two of you fill in once.
05Review on the phone, between the two of youThe person who didn't make the drafts opens a link on their phone, watches each take full screen, keeps or redoes it, and leaves a note at a second.+
Beforevideo page on a phone
On a phone the first screen is the menu, "HARNESS V2", nine chips and five status boxes. The first shot is several screens down; the takes are small boxes next to forms.
Aftermockup
Full-screen take, as it will look in the feed. Keep, redo, note. The strip shows all 8 shots: kept, waiting for footage, to review. Swipe for the other take.
What changes
"Send to teammate for review" on a video makes a review link and adds it to their "To review".
Notes are pinned to a time and show next to the storyboard (change 01).
A ping when drafts or the cut are ready, in Telegram or Slack, so neither of you has to keep the tab open. Draft runs take minutes and an analysis about 38 minutes per 10 s example.
Why
With two people the real workflow is "one makes, the other judges". Today the shared signals are the ♥ on a take and a Feedback tab with stars and a note for the whole video. Nothing ties a note to a shot or a second, and nothing tells the other person it's their turn.
Mthe ping needs a bot token you choose; everything else is in the studio.
06Format page: "Can we make it?" up topKeep the great "How it unfolds" board. Put a short checklist beside the title: what's ready, what's missing, and the one button.+
Beforeformat overview
The one-line summary appears twice (lead and dark banner). "References: r7, r10, r11" leaks ids. Seven tabs, including "Ask the assistant" when the assistant is already on the right. Nothing says the game footage is missing.
Aftermockup
The summary once, four facts, and the checklist with Make a video and its price. Four tabs: Overview, How it's made, Examples, Videos. Analysis details sit at the right edge for when you need them.
Sit reuses what the format page already knows.
07Plain words, and one door to the engine roomRename what's left of the engineer vocabulary, round the numbers, and put the knobs behind a single "Advanced" button.+
BeforeModels page, top of 13,400 px
The Models page is in the main menu for everyone. Most rows are provider plumbing, and the plan email shows on it.
Beforevideo page, Montage tab
The rule checks on the right are excellent. The rest is in/out times to the millisecond, overlapping word labels and "cut tolerance ms / duck dB" fields.
Where
Today
Proposed
Video page button
HARNESS V2
Recipe v2
New video
Create production
Create the video
Team card
0 harness drafts · 0 productions
0 recipes · 0 videos
Activity
started a DNA study: Pack 6664_6 · E · Street spectacle (crowd)
started the format Street crowd spectacle
Format and recipe text
References: r7, r10, r11
Examples: Colombia 40 s, Brazil 40 s, Nigeria 34 s
Examples
40.083s · Choose File / No file chosen
40 s · a drop zone
Video tabs
Jobs
History (what ran, what it cost)
Shots
s01, s02…
Shot 1, Shot 2…
Montage
Cut tolerance ms · Duck dB · Min shot s
Under Advanced; the default shows the phone preview and the rule ticks
Menu
Models · Team
One Settings page: models and prices, the two of you, invites
Smostly text; Models and Montage move, they aren't removed.
08One studio for two peopleDrop the My space / Shared switch. Everything is shared; trying a change makes a draft version inside the recipe, with your initial on it.+
BeforeTeam page
One member, four "Free seat" boxes, and a page explaining spaces, publishing and feedback. The second person hasn't joined yet; the one open invite is labelled "owner sign-in on the Hetzner server".
What changes
No space switch in the menu (visible in every "after" picture).
"Try a change" on a recipe makes draft version 3, marked with whoever made it. Videos can use it. "Make it the main version" replaces fork and publish.
Each video shows who has the next step ("your turn", "Teammate · checking the cut").
Inviting the second person moves onto the home page until they join (change 03).
The honest tradeoff
You lose fully private experiments. With two people that's a feature: you see each other's drafts. If you want privacy back later, a "hide this draft" toggle is enough.
Mtouches how recipes are stored, so I'd do it after 01–04.
What I'd keep exactly as it is
These are the best parts of the studio. The changes above build on them.
"How it unfolds" board
Every part of the format, with the frame where it starts in every example. It's the clearest DNA view I've seen.
Workflow tab
Draft → ♥ → final with the exact model and price per step, and a model per shot. It becomes the engine behind the storyboard's two buttons.
Assistant beside the work
It knows the page and can't spend money. One wish: after it changes something, show what changed and an Undo.
The order I'd build it in
#
Change
Size
Why this order
1
02 · Our footage is never generated
S
Protects money now: stops paying a model to draw the game.
2
01 · Storyboard, one draft run, one final run
M
The path to the first video.
3
04 · New video on one page, market first
M
Makes the market decision; feeds the storyboard.
4
03 · Home tells you what's next, budget in dollars
S–M
Uses the state the first three create.
5
05 · Review on the phone, notes, a ping
M
Once there are takes to review.
6
07 · Plain words, Advanced door, Settings
S
Can go along with any of the above.
7
06 · Format checklist
S
Small, nice to have.
8
08 · One studio for two
M
Changes how recipes are stored; least urgent.
For your approval
Reply in the chat with approve, change or drop for each number. I'll build the approved ones in the order above, test them offline with the mock providers, and show you the real screens before anything goes live.
A storyboard for each video, not a long formone draft run and one final run, each priced and confirmed by you
Our footage is never generated"drop our clip" slots, left out of every price
Home tells you what's nextblocking items, videos in progress, whose turn, budget in dollars
New video on one page, market firstthe market fills in the local words, voice and terms
Review on the phone, between the two of youa review link, notes at a second, a ping
Format page: "Can we make it?"checklist and one button beside the title
Plain words, and one door to the engine roomrenames, rounding, Advanced, one Settings page
One studio for two peopleno space switch, draft versions inside the recipe
What this report doesn't know
How long a draft run takes. No paid generation has run in the studio yet, so there are no timings. The mockups show prices, not minutes.
Prices are the recipes' own list prices on KIE as of today (drafts 480p, finals 720p), from the studio's price function. Real bills can differ, for example after retries.
Budget figures (KIE ≈ $200, Higgsfield plan ≈ $102, refill on the 12th) come from the 26 Oct balance check, not a live read.
The per-market words, voices, terms and payment logos in change 04 are placeholders. They need your input and a legal check for each market.
Screen-replace (putting our recording into a generated phone) isn't in the studio. It's needed before the gameplay inserts can be made in-house; until then they're clips you make outside and drop in.
I didn't watch either of you use the studio. These are my judgement from the screens, the code and your earlier feedback.
