The challenge
Making an animated story usually takes a studio and weeks of work. CasaToon had to make that feel as simple as typing a sentence, for storytellers, YouTubers, teachers, marketers and families alike.
// CASE STUDY 05
AI STORY STUDIO · FORMERLY ROARLY
CasaToon
An AI story studio for everyone: type an idea, pick a style, and get a colourful animated video in minutes, not weeks.
- Role
- Full-stack product development
- Platform
- Web product and marketing site
- Core stack
- Node.js · SQLite · AI animation
// 01 / THE STORY
Why this was built.
The approach
The product grew out of Roarly. I rebuilt the front door around one clear three-step flow and five visual styles, with a playful, kid-friendly identity. Billing authority stays on the server: plans and credits activate only after a signed payment webhook confirms the expected details.
What it delivers
CasaToon now runs as a live product at casatoon.com, with a separate creator app, story gallery, and Free, Creator and Studio plans, taking visitors from an idea to an animated video.
// 02
Key capabilities
From a typed idea to an animated video, and from a visitor to a paying creator.
- Three-step flow: write a story, pick a style, watch it become an animated video
- Five art styles: 2D cartoon, 3D animation, anime, claymation and realistic
- Try-it prompt on the home page that previews a scene from a typed idea
- Featured story gallery filtered by adventure, fantasy, friendship and education
- Free, Creator and Studio plans with monthly or yearly billing
- Free trials on paid plans, and watermark-free HD to 4K exports on higher tiers
- Separate product app for signed-in creators at app.casatoon.com
- Registration, login, session hydration and account billing views
- Hosted checkout with webhook-confirmed plan and credit activation
- Server-authoritative plan, amount, currency and user validation
- Hashed passwords, hashed session tokens, rate limiting and same-origin checks
- Automated tests for authentication, plan validation and billing activation
// 03
Architecture
A product site and creator app on a Node backend, with webhook-first billing.
- Product site
- Responsive marketing site at casatoon.com, with story previews, styles, pricing and testimonials
- Frontend
- HTML, CSS, ES2022 JavaScript, responsive layouts and video media
- Backend
- Native Node.js HTTP server with modular authentication and billing services
- Storage
- SQLite with indexed users, sessions, billing accounts, payments and WAL mode
- Payments
- Hosted checkout and signed, idempotent webhook processing
- Security
- scrypt password hashing, SHA-256 session hashes, validation and rate limiting
// SEE IT LIVE