Withdrawn story directions are earlier plot ideas that the user withdrew or that later decisions replaced. They stay in the history for provenance, but new work must not bring them back.
The list#
| Withdrawn idea | What replaced it | When |
|---|---|---|
| Circuit Ranger as the opening. A three-minute task-chain tutorial with a timed defence (the H/G/P opening). | A fresh onboarding to be reviewed separately. The prototype's code and saves are kept as a technical reference. | User, 29 October |
| Breach-first campaign. The v2 design put an injury encounter early because it was easy to teach. | Stress-associated neuroinflammation drives the main story; acute injury becomes the separate Act V finale. | User, 29 October |
| The owner storyline. v0.1 had a human protagonist with phones, news, poor sleep and a crash. | Zero owner content. The world is shown only from inside. See Science guardrails. | User, 30 October |
| Bramble, the tutorial mentor. | Pip and Mote carry the opening. | Removed 30 October |
| Practice Grove as a place name. | Memory Meadow. | User, 31 October |
| Hearth as the Act V refuge. | The refuge moves to Memory Meadow, so event staging never covers the player's built home. | User, 31 October |
| A generic free helper and Imprints that lend helpers or skills. | Companions join only through quests; Imprints are passive keepsakes. | User, 31 October and 2 November |
| A Coordinator trial before any recruit. | One supervised order to Mote in II3, "but only that once". | User, 31 October |
| Rest at Starwell and the Depot. | Rest moved to the Apothecary. | User, 1 November |
| Real-time encounter rooms. | Turn-based encounters. | User, 1 November |
| A larger, recoloured Ranger, Pip and Mote. | The original sprites stay. | User, 2 November |
Why the opening changed#
The user said on 29 October that the original three-minute introduction is an unapproved prototype, not part of the main game. Its script, sequence, Continue bridge and saves are not required in the main design. The new prologue builds a calm home first and starts no crisis.
Why Breach-first was withdrawn#
STRESS_STORY.md records that the Breach-first plan "privileged an easy teaching encounter" over the user's requirement that stress-associated neuroinflammation drive the story. Starting with injury would make a supposedly stress-related game injury-centred.
Development#
- The lead's 2 November audit lists the current authority and the conflicts to retire. It also found that the alpha had a free generic helper and old fixture Imprints. The later integration reports removing the free helper.
- Old documents keep these ideas for provenance. Never copy them into new player-facing text.
See also#
Sources#
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_COMPLETE_GAME_PLAN_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
1ded4c01c:AGENTS.md1ded4c01c:README.md1ded4c01c:docs/integrated-design-v2/STRESS_STORY.md- docs/ops/agent-messages/2026-11-02-lead-full-project-reconciliation-audit.md (working copy, not in Git)
What links here (24)
- Act I: The Long Wake
- Act II: The Boundary Is Not a Wall
- Act III: What Stays After the Signal
- Act IV: The Interval
- Act V: The Break
- An Errand That Was Already Underway
- An Hour Without a Request
- Arborwake: The Long Wake
- Bramble
- Ensemble scenes
- Epilogue: The Next Ordinary Day
- Evening Pair
- Prologue: The Last Regular Evening
- Ranger
- Sleep and stress research
- Someone Else's Shift
- Stress-associated neuroinflammation
- The Border of an Agreement
- The Five Stretches
- The Names at the Edge
- The Part Between
- The Stretch Between Neighbours
- The Uninteresting Ones
- Who Takes the New Road?