# Hertz Quest: After Hours **Current release: Director’s update — September 23, 2026.** Thirteen walkable locations, seven territories, nine chapters, two optional activities and the 60-slide V6 research deck. See [Director_Update.md](Director_Update.md) for current scope, recording controls, art provenance and research changes. Earlier PDF/PPT world-bible exports remain dated design snapshots. World prototype 1 / yacht finale revision Seven territories, eleven walkable room screens and one drivable city map. S08 moves from the repeated café booth to Biscayne Marina and the yacht. Earlier 43-page exports are archived story snapshots; the World Update supplement governs the changed finale and playable scope. ## Current build Implemented local HTML Canvas 2D prototype, with point-and-click and keyboard walking, road graph driving, approach-to-talk interactions, persistent story flags and an embedded research reader. Full inventory puzzles, separated resident animation and recorded voices remain planned. ## T01 / Arrivals & Rental Emporium R01 Rental lobby Starting territory. Rental keys unlock the causeway; the café address is printed on the agreement sleeve. Yellow counter light against blue airport dusk; palms and aircraft outside. Counter, brochure rack and exit remain spatially consistent with the approved board. ## T02 / Hurts Don't It Café R02 Main counter Anita gives Lucky the yacht invitation. The café remains freely revisitable for its operating-margin research. Warm diner interior with Anita behind the counter, open foreground floor, airport-night palette. This location appears once in the main story. ## T03 / South Beach, Neon Causeway & The Landing Strip R03 Driving insert, R04 Club entrance, R10 South Beach shoreline and curb Visit the club after the café. After the auction, the shoreline stop unlocks Marina’s lift and the service incident. The service call leads directly to Tomorrow Mile. Coastal night links the neon club exterior to a moonlit turquoise shoreline, palms, sand and art-deco lights. South Beach adds one reusable shore/curb plate; the white convertible is an overlay. ## T04 / The Auction Hangar R05 Auction floor Auction flyer unlocks entry. The purchased car is marked for next-day delivery, so the hero continues in his rental. Industrial lamps, yellow banners, Model 3, raised podium and a large bid board. Keep the glamorous auctioneer and bidder reaction from the approved board. ## T05 / Tomorrow Mile: Demo Yard & Service Depot R06 Depot apron, R08 Parked autonomous cabin S04A returns the white rental for service. Val opens the existing demo yard for S05 and issues its pass. S07 reuses the autonomous cabin after the data visit. Gold demonstration vehicle at one end; workaday charging, cleaning and repair bays at the other. Blue fleet lights connect this territory to the approved robot-date board. ## T06 / The Matchmaker R07 Travel-intelligence lounge Val sends the hero to collect a proposed sponsor brief; the café stair opens after S05. Completion returns him to the depot demo. An upstairs extension of the café: emerald silk, glass, warm brass and restrained cyan analysis screens. One physical room contains Cookie, a tablet and a buyer screen. ## T07 / Biscayne Marina & Cathie’s Yacht R11 Marina dock, R12 Yacht sun deck, R09 Yacht salon Drive to the marina, park the Hertz, walk to the gangway with Anita’s invitation, board the sun deck and enter the salon. Every doorway permits a return trip. White Hertz convertible beside a moonlit marina, teak yacht deck over Biscayne Bay and an elegant cream-and-wood salon. The party deck and business meeting are separate spaces. ## S01 / The Full-Size Upgrade Lucky arrives to investigate the future of Hertz before a midnight café meeting. Nina’s attention convinces him the evening is already a success. ### Objective Collect the rental keys and identify the obligation behind the attractive offer. ### Beats - Nina holds the key just out of reach and invites a little excitement. - She steps around the counter; the approved silhouette reveal sends him into the brochure rack. - She straightens his lapel and hands him the agreement. The paper unrolls before her credit-limit punchline. ### Puzzle READ the agreement to locate the deposit/credit obligation; USE the signed sleeve at the terminal. Fictional tutorial fields, not current Hertz terms. The paper must be readable without zooming the artwork. ### Choices - Ask about the total obligation: Nina supplies a clear answer and a knowing smile. - Flirt first: preserve the full gag, then offer the same readable agreement. Neither path prevents progression. ### Reward Exhibit E01: agreement sleeve. Flag obligations_read. Rental keys and café destination become available. ### Transition The sleeve advertises Hurts Don’t It Café. Lucky claims he has a business meeting there; the player selects the café on the map. ### Dialogue - NINA / Looking for a little excitement? / Core board - LUCKY / I was thinking full-size. / Core board - NINA / Let’s start with your credit limit. / Core board - LUCKY / Does the upgrade come with your number? / Optional - NINA / It comes with a reservation number. Start there. / Optional ### Shots - Wide two-shot at counter; hold eye contact 2 seconds. - Reveal and rack collision in one readable medium-wide shot. - Close on unrolling paper; return to Nina for the final line. ### Boundary The characters, credit gag and contract fields are fiction. The connection to the research is the difference between an attractive equity story and its obligations. ### Acceptance - The three approved core beats appear in order. - Keys cannot be lost; agreement can always be reopened. - Hero suit and Nina face match the approved reference. ## S02 / The Bottomless Tab Anita hosts a midnight meeting with potential fleet-service backers. Lucky promises a convincing case by then, hoping the invitation is personal. ### Objective Open the case notebook and separate a headline offer from what remains after costs. ### Beats - Anita meets his gaze across the counter; he asks whether the smile is included. - Her “Bottomless Refill” has a per-cup charge. He watches her instead of the menu. - The itemized bill arrives. She tells him his assumptions are expensive and sets the midnight deadline. ### Puzzle READ the menu and sort three ticket entries into sales, cost and remaining contribution. Toy example: $12 sales less $8 direct cost leaves $4 before other costs. This is a café analogy, not Hertz margin guidance. ### Choices - Inspect the small print: earn the clear contribution exhibit immediately. - Order by the headline: Anita circles the charges, gives a hint, and lets the player correct the ticket without a restart. ### Reward Exhibit E02: marked café tab. Flag contribution_understood. Notebook and midnight appointment established. ### Transition Anita gives Lucky an invitation to Cathie’s fictional yacht meeting. The café flyer supplies the auction lead. Driving opens every district for exploration. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / Is that smile included? / Board - ANITA / The smile is complimentary. / Board - ANITA / Your assumptions are expensive. / Board - LUCKY / Bottomless sounds like my kind of evening. / Optional - ANITA / Then try looking below the headline. / Optional - ANITA / Bring me a case that pays its own bill. Midnight. / Exit ### Shots - Counter two-shot establishes café geography and Anita. - Menu insert; hold tiny espresso beside oversized language. - Tab crosses frame toward camera; midnight clock becomes next objective. ### Boundary All café prices and terms are illustrative. The scene teaches contribution, not a reported restaurant or rental-company result. ### Acceptance - New board is visibly labeled as a proposed addition. - The arithmetic $12 - $8 = $4 is editable UI text. - The café is a recurring hub, not a detached sketch. ## S03 / The Fleet Sees Everything He takes an unnecessary detour to The Landing Strip, calls it market research, and receives an inconvenient call from Nina. ### Objective Read the fictional event log and distinguish an observed vehicle stop from a story about the customer. ### Beats - Approved convertible drive through neon Miami; he announces “market research.” - He parks by Trixie. The fictional Palantir game map logs the destination. - Nina calls while he stands beside the parked car; Trixie watches his explanation disintegrate. ### Puzzle READ three log cards: vehicle at a location, time of stop, and an invented romantic conclusion. Mark the first two as observations inside this fictional scene and the third as an inference. No real GPS collection is part of the game. ### Choices - Give the honest explanation: Trixie rewards the recovery with an auction flyer. - Invent a business excuse: Nina delivers a callback, then the player still receives the flyer and corrects the log. ### Reward Exhibit E03: annotated event log. Flag observation_not_inference. ### Transition Trixie gives him the auction flyer: “If you like models, try the warehouse.” The map unlocks the hangar. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / Just a little market research. / Core board - LUCKY / Well, hello there... / Core board - NINA / Interesting definition of due diligence. / Core board - TRIXIE / If you like models, try the warehouse. / Exit - NINA / The car is parked. The rest is your explanation. / Optional ### Shots - Drive insert ends before interactive phone action. - Exterior wide keeps both car and club sign visible. - Phone insert and Trixie reaction share the frame; hold embarrassment before exit. ### Boundary The nightclub alert, live customer tracking and staff callback are fictional game devices. They do not establish a real Hertz or Palantir nightclub-monitoring product. The title belongs to the joke, not the research conclusion. ### Acceptance - Approved three-panel gag stays intact. - The fiction label is present in video and the evidence notebook. - No phone interaction occurs while the hero is driving. ### Alex Karp cameo / playable update Lucky takes an unnecessary detour to The Landing Strip and calls it market research. Trixie watches his excuse unravel on a call with Nina. On the sidewalk, a fictional Alex Karp cameo offers a fleet-demo diagnosis of Lucky’s very inefficient evening. Recognizable mature public-figure caricature: wild salt-and-pepper curls, clear round glasses, charcoal knit sweater, dark trousers, white sneakers and a blue-lit fleet-demo tablet. Cool, lean and eccentric. Stands on the club exterior sidewalk to the right of Trixie. - Karp stands to the right of Trixie, tablet in hand. Lucky must walk over to start the conversation. - Karp connects the vehicle, location and invoice; Lucky asks him to integrate his love life. The response: insufficient interest. - Choose a comedy exchange, untangle the fictional event log, or ask Karp for the relevant research. All previous Trixie and Nina paths remain available. **Lucky:** Can you integrate my love life? **Karp:** We tried. It keeps returning insufficient interest. Alex Karp’s presence and dialogue are invented game satire, not quotations, an endorsement or a claim about his personal activities. The nightclub alert and staff callback remain fictional; linked research keeps its original dated sources. Research: Palantir inside the fleet (9–17), operating results (18–25, 29), data permissions (39–41). Original core board retained; new room plate is `game/world/assets/club_karp_v1.png`. ## S04 / Love at First Bid Bella’s kiss sends Lucky bidding against himself. This is the fixed comic event that creates the financing problem paid off in the finale. ### Objective Reconcile what he bought, what he owes and what his attraction added to the price. ### Beats - Approved $18,000 illustrative estimate remains visible as Bella introduces the experienced “model.” - She blows a kiss. He raises the bid to $28,000 and then $32,000 while bidder 004 is already out. - The $32,000 hammer falls. She delivers the keys and “The car, darling. Only the car.” ### Puzzle After the scripted overbid, READ the invoice and USE Sal’s condition report to identify the $14,000 difference from the illustrative hammer estimate. Invoice arithmetic is $32,000 + $2,640 tax + $499 fee = $35,139. These are fictional figures inherited from the board, not current market prices. ### Choices - Inspect the condition report: record price, repairs and resale uncertainty separately. - Ask Bella whether anything else is included: she repeats the punchline; Sal points at the paperwork. ### Reward Exhibit E04: reconciled invoice. Flags overbid_recorded and residual_risk_read. A fictional purchase obligation of $35,139 enters the paper ledger; it is not subtracted from a game cash meter. ### Transition The purchased Tesla is scheduled for next-day delivery. Lucky continues in his white rental, takes the coastal route and spots Marina at South Beach. The jellyfish incident then gives him a concrete reason to return to Val’s service depot. ### Dialogue - BELLA / Who likes a model with experience? / Core board - LUCKY / Twenty-eight! Thirty-two! / Core board - BELLA / The car, darling. Only the car. / Core board - SAL / She’s got your attention. I’ve got the service history. / Optional - LUCKY / I thought I was winning. / Optional - SAL / You were. That was the problem. / Optional ### Shots - Model 3 and Bella in a shared composition; keep estimate legible. - Fast bid escalation, then a full beat on bidder 004. - Invoice reaction and keys; preserve Bella’s control of the final line. ### Boundary The bid, tax, fee, staff conduct and purchase are fiction. The announced 30,000-vehicle EV reduction was completed in 2024; this scene does not claim it remains unfinished or that all Teslas have been sold. ### Acceptance - The forced overbid is presented as story, never as an avoidable choice. - The player retains agency in interpreting and handling the resulting obligation. - All displayed invoice totals agree, including the $35,139 total. ## S04A / The Uninvited Plus-One ### Marina / character design v2 Fictional Asian adult woman around 35, with an East Asian high-fashion swimwear-model look: refined mature features, expressive brown eyes, elegant cheekbones, glossy long jet-black beach waves, luminous warm skin and polished editorial makeup. Tall, graceful and athletic-curvy, with a confident teasing smile, gold hoops and an opaque turquoise two-piece bikini. Match the same face across the swimming, jellyfish reveal, car-entry panels, dialogue portrait and playable beach room. Her name remains Marina Wade. Current storyboard: `assets/13_South_Beach_Marina_v2.png`. Current room: `game/world/assets/beach_marina_v2.png`. The v1 artwork remains preserved as a historical reference. After the auction, Lucky stops at South Beach and offers a glamorous swimmer a ride. Marina walks out with a large jellyfish stuck to the outside of her bikini bottom. It comes along in his white rental and turns the promised date into a depot visit. ### Objective Get the messy rental checked into service and distinguish an idle vehicle from one ready to earn. ### Beats - Marina smiles from the water. Lucky holds up the rental keys and offers a ride. - She walks onto the sand. A rear three-quarter reveal shows the jellyfish attached to the outside of her swimsuit; his hopeful face collapses. - She gets into the passenger seat. The jellyfish slides onto the cushion, leaving tentacles and a glistening mess. The unexpected passenger is unmistakable. - A short return-to-service cut brings the same white rental to Val. She points at the passenger cushion and delivers the deposit punchline. ### Puzzle After the fixed comic sequence, READ the rental ID and inspect the passenger-seat report. USE the service-call card, select interior clean plus inspection, and mark the rental unavailable until cleared. Val accepts the intake and arranges off-screen handling. The player reports and routes the vehicle; no manual jellyfish removal is required. ### Choices - Report the jellyfish accurately: Val opens the correct work order and gives a knowing look. - Call it an extra passenger: Val asks whether it bought coverage, then shows the same intake fields. The player can correct the report. ### Reward Exhibit E04A: jellyfish service ticket. Flags jellyfish_reported and rental_in_service. The rental remains unavailable until a later staff clearance; no fee is invented or added to the auction ledger. ### Transition Val keeps the white rental in its service bay and walks Lucky across the apron to the gold autonomous demonstration car. S05 begins with the same upholstery theme: driverless cars still need physical work. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / Need a ride? / Board - MARINA / I brought a plus-one. / Board - LUCKY / Does that count as an extra passenger? / Board - VAL / Your date left a deposit. / Board - MARINA / Don’t look at me. I didn’t invite him either. / Optional - LUCKY / Can you just freshen it up? / Intake - VAL / First we clean the car. Then you clean up your story. / Intake ### Shots - Wide moonlit water and shore; Marina and the hopeful hero share one eyeline. - Full-figure rear three-quarter emergence; hold the jellyfish reveal, then cut to his reaction. - Open passenger-side view makes the transfer from swimsuit to cushion readable. Keep the same creature, bikini and white convertible. - Match cut to the existing depot apron. Val frames the car and work order together; pause before the deposit line. ### Boundary The jellyfish, its attachment and transfer, the return procedure and all dialogue are invented slapstick. This does not establish a Hertz cleaning fee, a real incident or a wildlife-handling procedure. The business connection is vehicle downtime, turnaround work and service capacity. ### Acceptance - All four beats appear: woman in the water, jellyfish on the outside of the bikini bottom, passenger-seat transfer, and service return. - The rental is the existing white convertible; the purchased Tesla remains scheduled for next-day delivery. - Swimwear remains opaque; staging uses full or medium-wide views and comic reactions. - The incident is a fixed story beat. Intake choices remain recoverable and the rental cannot dispatch before staff clearance. - S04A and E04A are awarded once; revisits cannot create duplicate tickets or charges. ## S05 / Driverless, Not Spotless His jellyfish-filled rental is already checked into service. Across the same apron, a gold Cybercab demo makes Lucky assume the work will disappear. Val gives him a cleaning kit and a separate four-car dispatch queue. ### Objective Get two eligible vehicles ready for dispatch while keeping an unsafe vehicle out of service. ### Beats - A brief professional Elon cameo frames the fictional display. Lucky brings a steering-wheel lock to a car with no steering wheel. - Val answers his question about why he is needed with a bucket: “The upholstery.” - He asks whether she is free after her shift. She points to the queue: “Depends how fast you are.” ### Puzzle USE the tablet to route four toy vehicles: A is clean/charged and ready; B needs charging; C is charged but needs cleaning; D has an unresolved maintenance flag. Dispatch A, clean then dispatch C, charge B, and keep D in repair. Exactly two vehicles are available by the demonstration cutoff. The white jellyfish rental is a separate intake job, not one of these four toy queue vehicles. ### Choices - Choose work by readiness: produce a feasible two-car dispatch. - Maximize the displayed car count: Val blocks dispatch of D and explains the maintenance flag; retry without losing progress. ### Reward Exhibit E05: dispatch sheet. Flag dispatch_safe. Receive the autonomous demo-pass for S07. The jellyfish rental stays in staff care; the demo-pass provides the next ride. ### Transition Val sends Lucky to Cookie upstairs at the café for a potential sponsor brief while the demo car charges. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / If it drives itself, why am I here? / Board - VAL / The upholstery. / Board - LUCKY / Free after your shift? / Board - VAL / Depends how fast you are. / Board - LUCKY / I’m very low maintenance. / Optional - VAL / Your file says otherwise. / Optional ### Shots - Wide gold demo car; cameo stays peripheral and brief. - Medium handoff of bucket; eye contact sells the misreading. - Reverse wide reveals the queue and actual physical work. ### Boundary The showroom, cameo and toy dispatch puzzle are fiction. Verified research separates Avis/Waymo, Hertz/Oro with Uber/Lucid/Nuro, and Tesla Cybercab. No Hertz-Cybercab commercial agreement is implied by this scene. ### Acceptance - A and C can reach ready status; D never dispatches with an open safety flag. - The cameo is not treated as a factual quote or partnership announcement. - The scene demonstrates servicing economics instead of promising automatic rental-company gains. ## S06 / Your Type, for Sale Cookie says someone is interested in Lucky’s profile. He thinks his evening has turned romantic; the interested party is buying advertising access. ### Objective Build a hypothetical commercial offer from customer information enriched through analysis, with a clear buyer and permitted use. ### Beats - She serves the coffee he selected and lets him mistake attention for chemistry. - Customer records and trip context pass through a Palantir-assisted analysis concept to create a relevant café audience. - An advertiser buys an offer placement. “I found someone interested in your profile.” Lucky: “Finally!” ### Puzzle READ four cards: customer/rental record, permitted trip context, inferred preference, and allowed-use terms. USE them to create a contextual offer or an optional personalized audience product. The advertiser pays for an offer placement in this toy example; an enriched dataset license is discussed as a separate possible product, not assumed to be the same transaction. ### Choices - Contextual offer: use a customer-selected destination; no background-location permission is required by this fictional path. - Optional personalization: explain the intended data use and accept the player’s selection. Declining remains a complete path. - Raw identified trip-history export: Cookie explains that the available permission card does not authorize this option; choose one of the other products. ### Reward Exhibit E06: product-and-permission brief. Flags data_product_defined and data_choice. Toy campaign: $300 fee less $100 delivery cost = $200 contribution before other costs. This illustrative profit is not added to company valuation. ### Transition A demo-ready message arrives from Val. Cookie returns the pass with a smile: “A match is ready downstairs.” Lucky takes the wrong meaning again. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / You know exactly what I want. / Board - COOKIE / You selected it three screens ago. / Board - COOKIE / I found someone interested in your profile. / Board - LUCKY / Finally! / Board - COOKIE / He owns a restaurant. He wants your lunch budget. / Optional - PROF / I connected the customer, the vehicle and the invoice. Your love life remains unstructured. / Hint ### Shots - Cookie and hero two-shot; tablet is secondary to her expression. - Short readable transformation insert, not a wall of fake personal data. - Buyer offer lands; hero reacts before Cookie identifies the buyer. ### Boundary This implements the user’s thesis: Hertz could sell richer customer intelligence created using Palantir-assisted analysis. It does not depict Palantir selling Hertz records. A launched business, specific buyer, revenue and contract permissions remain unverified. Linked inferences can still be personal information. ### Acceptance - Both the contextual and declined-personalization paths reach S07. - Source facts, derived inferences and permissions are distinct UI fields. - The screen says hypothetical data product; no invented Google agreement appears. ## S07 / A Perfect Connection Lucky finally gets reciprocal flirtation from EVA-03 inside a parked demo vehicle. A mutually initiated kiss precedes a very practical battery request. ### Objective Complete the robot-date reveal and arrange a safe charging handoff without treating autonomy as maintenance-free. ### Beats - Approved handholding and warm eye contact in the parked autonomous cabin. “Finally. Some chemistry.” - Both lean in for the brief kiss. Hold the silent beat, then the blue light and chime. - At the depot she reveals the clean mechanical port and says she is at three percent. The narrator supplies the predictable-maintenance line. ### Puzzle After the fixed reveal, READ the service request and USE the call button to have Val connect the compatible fictional dock. The player chooses the scheduled handoff; the game does not teach real charging hardware procedures. ### Choices - Arrange the charging handoff: EVA thanks him and gives the service ticket. - Offer another pickup line: EVA responds with a battery pun, then offers the same handoff. ### Reward Exhibit E07: service ticket. Flag service_handoff. The hero has all eight field exhibits for the café meeting. ### Transition The midnight reminder lights up. He returns to Anita carrying a sheaf of paper and considerably less romantic certainty. ### Dialogue - LUCKY / Finally. Some chemistry. / Core board - EVA / You’re sweet. I’m at three percent. / Core board - NARRATOR / At last, a relationship with predictable maintenance. / Core board - LUCKY / Can we pick this up tomorrow? / Optional - EVA / After a full charge, I’m very available. / Optional ### Shots - Parked cabin, shared warm composition and consensual movement. - Brief silent kiss; blue light becomes the visual turn. - Depot reveal repeats the approved staging; do not spoil it in the earlier scenes. ### Boundary EVA-03 is wholly fictional. Hertz’s disclosed autonomous-fleet role does not announce humanoid companions. The charging prop is theatrical, not a real service instruction. ### Acceptance - The robot reveal remains a core payoff, not a cameo in another scene. - EVA’s true nature is not exposed to the hero before the kiss. - Three percent, port design and teal dress remain consistent with the board. ## S08 / The Floating Rate Lucky parks the Hertz at the dock and boards a luxurious yacht expecting the party of his life. Portia and Sandy confuse him with talk of liquidity and yield. In the salon, Cathie discusses the horizon while Max reveals that the final bill has come aboard. ### Objective Present a grounded case and choose a financing response without confusing future opportunity with current ownership. ### Beats - The white Hertz pulls into the marina. Lucky walks to the gangway with Anita’s invitation and boards the yacht. - Portia and Sandy trade jokes on the sun deck. Lucky crosses to the salon for the meeting. - Cathie asks about the assumptions. Max presents the current obligations and three ways to settle the final bill. ### Puzzle Prototype: collect the café invitation, board the yacht, approach Max and choose cash, debt or partner equity. Planned full episode: assemble the prior exhibits and classify operating savings, fleet-service opportunity, hypothetical data revenue and financing claims before the choice. ### Choices - Cash settlement consumes available cash while retaining ownership. - Debt retains the equity stake and adds a repayment obligation. - Partner equity supplies capital in exchange for shared ownership. ### Reward Persistent ending flag records the chosen financing response. The player can continue exploring and reviewing all research. ### Transition The final line lands over water, with Lucky’s rental waiting on the dock. The café is not reused as the finale. ### Dialogue - PORTIA / This yacht has excellent liquidity. / Sun deck - LUCKY / It certainly has a lot of water. / Sun deck - PORTIA / Exactly. The balance sheet is a separate conversation. / Sun deck - SANDY / I came for the yield. / Sun deck - LUCKY / I came for the invitation. / Sun deck - CATHIE / A long horizon still needs sound assumptions. / Salon - MAX / The view is included. The financing is separate. / Salon - LUCKY / Do I at least keep my seat? / Payoff - MAX / Of course. Depending on the agreement, somebody else may own part of it. / Payoff ### Shots - Wide marina arrival with the rental in the foreground and yacht beyond. - Walk across the deck past the two fictional guests, with the salon entrance visible. - Business meeting in the salon. Max’s contract interrupts Lucky’s view of the water. ### Boundary Yacht ownership, cameos and every spoken line are fictional comedy. This scene asserts no real endorsement, yacht ownership, trade or ARK price target. Research slides preserve their dated source labels. ### Acceptance - The café and yacht finale use different backgrounds and dialogue. - The invitation permits dock-to-deck-to-salon travel and return. - Each financing choice has a distinct outcome without a softlock. - Public-figure cameos remain professional financial satire. ## Original game soundtrack / September 23, 2026 Seven original 32-bar synth lounge arrangements now play in the prototype: The Floating Rate, Neon Mileage, Full-Size Funk, Bottomless Bossa, Due Diligence Disco, The Jellyfish Shuffle and Synthetic Chemistry. Scene music follows Lucky through the eleven rooms and the road map. Dialogue and slide reading lower the mix. Use the Play music button, track selector and volume control above the world. Soundtrack.md contains the cue sheet and Soundtrack.html previews every loop. The editable score is source/compose_soundtrack.py. ## Full route test implementation / September 23, 2026 All nine chapters now have playable progression in the separate test edition. game/campaign.js defines the implemented activities and evidence checks; Playtest_Guide.md is the current player route. The finale requires the eight field exhibits and Cathie’s evidence classification, then offers three financing outcomes. The authored earlier scene specifications describe additional production detail beyond this illustrated playable build. ## Current world atlas The playable world now uses seven territories and eleven scene entrances with animated zoom, travel and current/next-stop markers. See [Atlas World Guide](Atlas_World_Guide.md) for the current territory grouping and controls. Open World atlas or press G in the game. ## Living scene performance Walking now leads into camera close-ups and in-scene speech clouds. Lucky and Nina have new idle gesture poses; other characters and locations have subtle motion. Use P to audition Lucky’s poses and Motion to pause ambient animation. See [Scene Performance Notes](Scene_Performance_Notes.md) for the current implementation and asset prompts. ## Mack Piston: counter encounter At S01, approach Nina and choose **Try your best pickup line**. Her mechanic boyfriend Mack emerges from the service bay, delivers a comic dust-cloud beating, and leaves Lucky rumpled and seeing stars. Nina returns him to the rental agreement. The optional scene adds no chapter gate. Mack remains available for banter and research on maintenance, operational intelligence and uptime. [Full script and assets](Counter_Scuffle_Notes.md).