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Kardiya, Chapter 0

The opening chapter, beat by beat: the script I wrote, how it is built in VSM, and how it plays in the game.

Oğuzhan Açıkalın. VSM notes in the scripts mark rolls, stress and stored answers. Switch them off to read the script on its own.

VSM is our in-house node-based writing tool for Unity. In a challenge, the player chooses an action, then rolls against its Physical, Mental or Social difficulty to determine the outcome.

Kardiya case study

Primordial Blackness of the Womb

Before Ukral is born, a voice asks him Hamlet’s question. Two answers pick the item he starts the game with.

Beat 1

The question

The first answer picks the stat Ukral leans on.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · Primordial Blackness of the Womb
The Voice

I ask thee... to be, or not to be?

Player choice
  1. "Ask me one more time, I'll answer this time, promise."
  2. "Perhaps you are asking the wrong question."
  3. "What if I don't want to leave here."
  4. [EXPLORE] "Why are you asking me questions?"

VSMThe answer is stored as a stat: Mental for asking again, Physical for questioning the question, Social for wanting to stay.action: Mental = 1

The Voice

Cheeky little one. Very well. We shall do it your way.

2 · VSM

VSM: node 18, the question, forks into four answers. Three run into action nodes 4, 2 and 5, then to the Voice’s reply. The fourth is a side question, nodes 62 to 66, that loops back.
Four answers. Three store a stat, the fourth is a side question that loops back.VSMnode 18 → 24, 31, 32 → actions 4, 2, 5 (Mental, Physical, Social = 1) · 62 → 63 → 64 → 65 → back
Beat 2

The stance

The Woman asks how he will save his family. The answer is a stance.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · Primordial Blackness of the Womb
The Woman

You asked how fate works. Side with one, and the other suffers. How will you save your family?

Player choice
  1. "I expose what they truly want."
  2. "I give each side what they think they want."
  3. "Let the fracture come!"
The Woman

The playwright. Let each believe they have won. Kardiya has survived on such arrangements before.

VSMThe stance goes into the same variable: 2 for the unmasker, 3 for the playwright, 4 for the determinist.action: Mental = 3

2 · VSM

VSM: conditions 8, 7 and 6 check which stat the first answer stored, then the three answers 97, 98 and 99 lead to the Woman’s replies and to action nodes 33, 34 and 37.
Three conditions find the stat. The same three answers then store the stance.VSMconditions 8, 7, 6 → node 60 → 97, 98, 99 → actions 33, 34, 37 (Mental = 2, 3, 4)
Beat 3

The item

“To be.” The two answers decide one of nine starting items.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · Primordial Blackness of the Womb
The Voice

Those dice shape fate.

The Voice

I ask thee again, little spark. To be, or not to be?

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. [EXPLORE] "Not to be."

VSMNine conditions read the two answers and give one item. Here: Father's Testament, +1 to Mental rolls.condition: Mental == 3 → AddNEquipItem(Father’s Testament)

The Voice

I wish you a bright future, little spark.

VSMOn to Chapter 1.Ch1 Birth of a Wound_Transition

2 · VSM

VSM: To be, node 116, runs down a column of nine conditions, 42 to 53. Each true output gives one item through an action node, and all of them meet at node 118, the farewell, then the transition to Chapter 1.
Nine conditions, nine items. Every branch ends at the same farewell.VSM116 → conditions 42–53 → AddNEquipItem → node 118 → Ch1 Birth of a Wound_Transition
Beat 4

Not to be

The Voice asks twice more. The third “Not to be” ends the game.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · Primordial Blackness of the Womb
Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. [EXPLORE] "Not to be."
The Voice

Are you sure? This will be your end.

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. [EXPLORE] "Not to be."
The Voice

Think carefully and make your final choice. There is no turning back.

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. "Not to be."
The Voice

Maybe that's the right answer.

VSMThe game ends here.DemoEndAction

2 · VSM

VSM: node 115 asks the question again. Not to be, node 117, leads to 68, then 69 and 72, then 73 and 119, Maybe that’s the right answer, and the DemoEndAction node. Every To be goes back to node 116.
Each “Not to be” asks again. Every “To be” goes back to the item.VSM117 → 68 → 69 → 72 → 73 → 119 → DemoEndAction
The whole scene as script, with every choice
Kardiya · Chapter 0 · Primordial Blackness of the Womb

I drift in a pink haze, with no ground beneath me or sky above. Something warm holds me. I cannot find the edges of my body. A touch comes through the mist, followed by a voice.

The Voice

Here you are again, little spark. Are you ready for the question?

Player choice
  1. "What is the question?"
  2. [EXPLORE] "Where am I?"

Side question: "Where am I?"

The Voice

In the womb of creation, at the moment this spark is born.

The Voice

I ask thee... to be, or not to be?

Player choice
  1. "Ask me one more time, I'll answer this time, promise."
  2. "Perhaps you are asking the wrong question."
  3. "What if I don't want to leave here."
  4. [EXPLORE] "Why are you asking me questions?"

Side question: "Why are you asking me questions?"

The Voice

To shape your fate.

Spark

But I want to shape my own fate.

The Voice

Exactly. Here is your chance:

The Voice

I ask thee again... to be, or not to be?

VSMThe game stores this answer.Mental = 1

The Voice

Cheeky little one. Very well. We shall do it your way.

Polished timber spreads beneath us. She sits at the far end of a long table. Two bloodlines face each other across it. I stand on a stage with a sword in my hand.

The Woman

Tell me, Tigin Ukral, son of Toygar. How will you save your father and mother? It is already too late for the other one.

Player choice
  1. "Do they need saving?"
  2. [EXPLORE] "Who is the other one?"

Side question: "Who is the other one?"

The Woman

Leave that for now. Your mother and father will both need saving.

The Woman

They will. Both of them.

The Woman

Be careful. There are no monsters to slay here.

Two figures take shape across the table: one proud, the other quietly enduring.

The Woman

They need saving from each other.

The Woman

You asked how fate works. Side with one, and the other suffers. How will you save your family?

Player choice
  1. "I expose what they truly want."
  2. "I give each side what they think they want."
  3. "Let the fracture come!"
The Woman

The playwright. Let each believe they have won. Kardiya has survived on such arrangements before.

VSMThe game stores this answer.Mental = 3

The Voice

We have been here before, little spark. Countless times.

The darkness returns. A sheet of parchment fills the sky, and ink reveals an older version of me. His hands shake as he writes. The memories on the page keep changing. Four crimson dice fall and stop just above the ground. Their faces shift as I watch.

The Voice

Those dice shape fate.

The Voice

I ask thee again, little spark. To be, or not to be?

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. [EXPLORE] "Not to be."

Side question: "Not to be."

The Voice

Are you sure? This will be your end.

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. [EXPLORE] "Not to be."
The Voice

Think carefully and make your final choice. There is no turning back.

Player choice
  1. "To be."
  2. "Not to be."
The Voice

Maybe that's the right answer.

VSMThe game ends here.DemoEndAction

VSMUkral gets his starting item.AddNEquipItem(Fathers Testament)

The Voice

I wish you a bright future, little spark.

VSMOn to the next chapter.Ch1 Birth of a Wound_Transition

At the Eye of the Huluca

Ukral’s fight with Sungur Khan beside the wrecked Stormbreaker. The tutorial for choices and dice.

Beat 5

The wind

The first choice of the fight is a memory. Its answer is stored for later.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · At the Eye of the Huluca

A breeze touches my face as I struggle to stay conscious. When did I last lose the wind?

Player choice
  1. "There wasn't a single moment I couldn't feel it! I have always felt the wind!"
  2. "In Atroven. When noble blood spilt on the wind terrace."
  3. "When Sungur Khan slaughtered my family!"

VSMThe answer is stored as Ukral's status. Sungur Khan's next lines check it.action: UkralStatus = 2

I draw Huluca into my lungs. I am the wind. I wipe the mud from my face and force myself to stand.

2 · VSM

VSM: narration node 4 forks into three answers, 103, 104 and 102. Each runs into an action node, 129, 131 or 132, that stores Ukral’s status, then into its own narration.
Three answers, each stored as Ukral’s status before the fight goes on.VSMnode 4 → 103, 104, 102 → actions 129, 131, 132 (UkralStatus) → 124, 125, 126
Beat 6

The sword

The first dice roll. Every answer is a Physical challenge.

1 · Script2 · VSM

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · At the Eye of the Huluca
Sungur Khan

Stand, then. The Khan's sword will spill your Eubac blood all the same.

Player choice
  1. I meet his blade mid-air.
  2. I judge the angle of the blade and step out of its path.
  3. I scream the name of his dead son, Laçin.

VSMEach answer is a Physical roll. A success goes on with the fight, a failure costs stress.Physical challenge · ✓ → node 28 · ✗ → node 275 (AddStress)

His sword whistles down. He cannot hold its weight. The edge grazes my shoulder and drives into the ground beside Stormbreaker. Blood from the piled corpses has soaked the earth. The Khan pulls at the blade, his boots slipping in the mire.

2 · VSM

VSM: the three sword answers each run into a Physical challenge node. Every success output goes to node 28, the sword descending. Every failure goes to action node 275, which adds stress.
Three answers, three Physical challenges. Success goes on with the fight, failure costs stress.VSM3 × Physical challenge · ✓ → node 28 · ✗ → node 275 (AddStress)
Beat 7

Stormbreaker

Later in the same fight, on screen.

1 · Script2 · In the game

1 · Script

Kardiya · Chapter 0 · At the Eye of the Huluca
Ukral

You killed her. My father, your own son, my mother. You killed them all!

The Khan parries and shoves me back. He throws a body torn by the wind. It strikes me and knocks me down.

Sungur Khan

I am cleansing Kardiya of your kind. You Bakters have bled the Homin Khanate dry!

He tears a jagged piece of metal from Stormbreaker and throws it. I dodge. The shard buries itself in the earth.

Player choice
  1. I swing my sword, aiming for his knee.
  2. I throw him off balance and shove him toward the sharp protrusions of Stormbreaker.

2 · In the game

The fight in the game: Stormbreaker, a wrecked war machine, under a storm. The dialogue panel on the right holds the lines above, and the left column shows Ukral’s items and dice.
The left column holds Ukral’s items and dice.
The opening of the fight as script, with every choice
Kardiya · Chapter 0 · At the Eye of the Huluca (opening)

I am in the eye of Huluca, where the winds are born. The silence presses against my eardrums.

A fist hits my face before I can adjust. I fall onto the cold earth.

VSMStress +1.AddStress

A breeze touches my face as I struggle to stay conscious. When did I last lose the wind?

Player choice
  1. "There wasn't a single moment I couldn't feel it! I have always felt the wind!"
  2. "In Atroven. When noble blood spilt on the wind terrace."
  3. "When Sungur Khan slaughtered my family!"

I draw Huluca into my lungs. I am the wind. I wipe the mud from my face and force myself to stand.

VSMThe game stores this answer.UkralStatus = 2

Sungur Khan stands before me, hunched over the wreckage.

Sungur Khan

"Still standing? You tainted my brother's blood, you bastard." He hits me again. I stagger but stay on my feet.

VSMStress +1.AddStress

Sungur Khan

"Look what you've done." He points to Stormbreaker's shattered frame behind him.

Player choice
  1. I do not take my eyes off the Khan.
  2. I look at Stormbreaker.
Sungur Khan

You had your chance to flee. Across the ocean, into the filthy tunnels of İntestiniye. You should have stayed with your own kind.

Player choice
  1. "Just like your son, Laçin, wanted to do, huh!?"
  2. I hold it together and look straight into Sungur's eyes.
  3. "We've lost everything, Sungur. Neither of us will make it out of here now."

I spit the blood filling my mouth onto his boots.

Sungur Khan

"Keep..." Blood gathers at the corner of his eye.

Sungur Khan

Keep my son's name out of your disgusting half-blood mouth! He was the victim of a mind poisoned by bastards like you!

Ukral

No, he was the victim of a coward who murdered his own son to protect his throne.

A kick lands in my gut, knocking the wind out of me.

VSMStress +1.AddStress

Sungur Khan

"You chose this, half-blood." White foam gathers on his lips.

Sungur Khan

You made me do this.

Sungur Khan

Stand, then. The Khan's sword will spill your Eubac blood all the same.

Player choice
  1. I meet his blade mid-air.
  2. I judge the angle of the blade and step out of its path.
  3. I scream the name of his dead son, Laçin.

VSMPhysical roll. This path passes it.Physical5_Challenge

Player choice
  1. [EXPLORE] What did the wind mean to me?
  2. (Continue)

Side question: What did the wind mean to me?

Huluca's sacred winds. My father always said fate was shaped by these winds. My mother, for her part, only wanted me to show it respect. And... when was the last time I couldn't feel the wind?

His sword whistles down. He cannot hold its weight. The edge grazes my shoulder and drives into the ground beside Stormbreaker. Blood from the piled corpses has soaked the earth. The Khan pulls at the blade, his boots slipping in the mire.

Sungur Khan

"You thought it would be that easy?" He smiles. "Never."

He turns toward Stormbreaker and kicks the corpses out of his way. At its front hangs an amber sphere. My mother, Umay, floats inside. He starts striking it.

THUD!

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