Revelations: Basic structure (Patreon)

Alright, still travelling, but at least my brain has gone back to normal. So, how will I write Revelations after the massive variations of the ending? Glad you asked!

Cataloguing the basic structure!

I needed to catalogue the main ending variants of Retribution. And by main, I mean the ones that will lead to different starting positions in Revelations. There will of course be a lot of variables within them, but that will be dealt with later. There are four major paths where you can end up. They are:

1: Crashed as Sidestep, stuck in Sidestep.

2: Crashed as Sidestep, stuck in Puppet.

3: Crashed as Puppet, stuck in Puppet

4: Crashed as Puppet, Stuck in Sidestep

A fun fact, a little less than 30% end up being stuck in the puppet. Good to know! Now, let’s go through them one at a time.

Path One

This crash path splits in two parts, innocent and guilty depending on whether you are revealed as a villain. So, let’s call them 1.1 (innocent) and 1.2 (guilty). And not only that, this is the most widely split path where you end up. Unless I have missed something (which is possible) this should be the major branches:

1.1.1 (innocent, staying with Ortega)

1.1.2 (innocent, staying with Daniel)

1.1.3 (innocent, staying with Chen)

1.1.4 (innocent, staying at the Ranch)

1.2.1 (guilty, Skyrider rescue, Mortum end)

1.2.2 (guilty, stuck with the Rangers)

1.2.3 (guilty, Ortega breakout)

1.2.4 (guilty, Daniel breakout)

1.2.5 (guilty, Argent breakout)

1.2.6 (guilty, Chen breakout)

In addition, it is important to remember varying poly situations, especially for the innocent variables. It is also important to remember your possible HG variables.

I can guess that the innocent paths will fuse rather soon, as will the guilty with Ranger breakout ones. The Skyrider rescue, and the stuck with the Rangers will be the odd ones out here.

Path Two

In this one, Sidestep still crashed, but you are caught in the Puppet and is desperately trying to get your body back. The paths with the Hench and/or Mob Boss Team are similar in all but numbers and will be abbreviated as H/T.

2.1 (saved Sidestep with H/T and escaped afterwards. Blissfully unaware of the Impostor.)

2.2 (saved Sidestep with H/T and escaped afterwards. Knows of Impostor and ran.)

2.3 (saved Sidestep with H/T successfully but was arrested)

2.4 (saved Sidestep with Mortum/Skyrider)

As you can see, there’s only four variables here, a much easier time. However, they all lead to very different paths, so no quick mergers or similarities other than possibly between 2 and 3.

Path Three

Crashed in puppet and stuck in puppet is a painful path.

3.1 (saved by Mortum/Skyrider)

3.2 (stuck in the hospital, innocent or protected)

3.3 (stuck in the hospital, under arrest)

There are a lot of general variables of importance here. Who did you ask to check on Sidestep if any? Is Sidestep coming to read your mind? How guilty does Ortega think you are? How loyal is your Hench or Team? There are not many different situations, but a lot of different ways it can play out.

Path Four

Crashed in puppet and jumped to Sidestep is the closest thing to an easy path. Still free, still in control. Well, in most cases.

4.1 (saved Puppet with Mortum and was betrayed)

4.2 (ignored puppet, still free and whole)

Again, there are a lot of variables here that open up new paths at the start. However, the important thing here is that apart from the captured by Mortum path, this will be all player choice. Did you go into Chen’s mind? Did you learn where Hollow Ground live? Did you get any Sentinel clues? In this one, the plot can start immediately.

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So, in conclusion, now we have the major paths that needs to be written. I will start the way I always do, by writing codeless prose/dialogue of a single outcome/scene to get a feel for the characters and what’s going on. Occasionally, there might pop in a choice or two if it appears as I write, but the goal is not a finished scene. That will be finalized/put together later. Also, I will put them on here, clearly marked with the number code so you can see which path it is. If you prefer not to be spoiled, avoid anything prefaced by numbers.

Once I have got enough snippets to make a scene, I will put it together and will fill out with variables. Once I have enough of that, I will post a demo. At the start, the demo will probably only follow a single path, until they fuse. As you might imagine, the puppet resolution point will be the big fusing point for all the paths. It might come sooner for some, later for others. We’ll see.

So yeah, sorry about VIP lack of updates, this is when the fun starts.