The Making Of
How does BAMJOY make a story? Play the Story Machine game, find out how we keep stories kind, and see what we’re building next.
How BAMJOY makes a story
Six steps from your idea to your book. Tap a step to find out what happens.
Step 1: You choose
You pick the hero, the place and the problem. Your choices are the recipe for the story.
Be the Story Machine
AI writes by guessing which word comes next, again and again. Pick the next words and see what a story machine would guess!
The numbers in this game are pretend — they show the idea of how AI guesses, not real data.
Kind or unkind?
Read what each character did. Were they being kind or unkind?
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The bear shared his honey with everyone.
🛡️ How BAMJOY keeps stories kind
Stories can have grumpy trolls and cheeky foxes — that’s how heroes learn and grow. But nothing too rude, hurtful or scary should get into a story for children.
BAMJOY checks the words typed into the story form, and the AI has its strictest safety filters switched on. If something unsuitable comes up, the story isn’t made.
Grown-ups: no filter is perfect, so reading together is always the best way to enjoy a story.
Is it really writing?
A plain-English explanation for parents.
What generative AI does — and doesn’t do
Generative AI doesn’t “think” about your child’s story the way a human author would. It works by recognising patterns in language: it has processed a huge amount of text and learned how words, sentences and story structures tend to fit together. When you press “Generate”, it puts together a new sequence of words that fits the choices you made — the same idea as the Story Machine game above.
This means the story is new — not copied from anywhere — and it is shaped by your child’s input. The hero’s name, the setting, the challenge and the personality all steer the story in a particular direction.
BAMJOY adds layers on top: a word filter on everything typed into the story form, the AI’s strictest safety settings, writing rules for each age group, and a phonics highlighting engine that maps the text to UK Letters & Sounds phases. Stories are checked automatically, not read by a person first, so we recommend enjoying them together.
The BAMJOY Quest Roadmap
Where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re heading.
Ready now
- Personalised storybooks
- UK phonics highlighting (Phases 2–5)
- Lots of illustration styles
- Page-flip book viewer
- Audio narration
- Character Creator — printable hero cards
Building now
- Salford — a friendly reading buddy to chat with
- Phonics audio — Phases 3–5
- Print-on-demand physical books
- Chapter books and Middle Grade age groups
Dreaming up
- Parent Voice Legacy — hear stories in your own voice
- Save your Character Cards and reuse them in every story
- Story Weaver Awards for young authors
- Classroom mode for schools
From the Workshop
Behind-the-scenes decisions about how BAMJOY is made.
Why hero faces are drawn as gentle caricatures
When a child’s photo is turned into a story hero, we ask for a gentle, stylised caricature rather than a photo-realistic face. It keeps enough likeness to feel like them, looks at home in a storybook, and avoids the uneasy feeling of near-real faces.
How we keep stories kind
Two layers: a word filter checks everything typed into the story form before it is sent, and the AI runs with its strictest safety filters switched on. If something is blocked, no story is made. We are honest about the limits — no filter is perfect, so we always suggest reading together.
Why guests can’t type a real name
Anyone can try BAMJOY without an account, but guests choose from ready-made heroes instead of typing a name. That keeps children’s personal information out of the product until a parent has an account and has agreed to how it is used.