The critic panel (.claude/skills/critic-panel/SKILL.md) on the story as the owner has agreed it
so far: story-acts.md (order 4, D18; the Wheatley branch, D19; co-op; the 10 chapters, D21),
ending-tree.md (small endings, C0-C5 + C1b, E1-E7, co-op CE1-CE3), story-arcs.md (L-1..L-C,
S-1..S-15, the fit check) and owner-decisions.md (D1-D21). This is step 11's review of the
picked path (plans/story-convergence.md), run before round 2 closes.
Comments only. Nothing here is removed or rejected, and no decided item is changed by this
file: where a critic's fix would touch a decision, it says which D-number, and the owner decides.
New hybrids continue from H60 (the highest in the brainstorm) as H61-H81. The last section,
Findings as options, lists every recommended change as an independent option (F1-F25).
Facts were checked, not assumed:
design/sounds/catalog.csv (duration from itsduration column; stt = the text is speech-to-text, per TODO.md's catalogue notes);.venv/Lib/site-packages/mpf/modes/game/code/game.py (0.80);hardware-ideas.md (the I/O budget, HW-1..HW-24).The panel read the agreed path end to end three times:
For each, they asked who knows what when, what causes what, and what a beginner, an expert and
a compete/co-op table actually see. Then length, build order and the canon that the path now
leaves out.
The same four invented people as critics-period5.md and critics-play-modes.md (not real
designers or critics):
"This is a good story with a pinball machine attached, and I mean that as a compliment and a
warning. The spine is strong: every period has a toy, a voice and a multiball, and every game
ends on a scene. What I'd watch is that the structure has grown faster than any build can
follow: 5 periods, 10 chapters (12 with Wheatley's), 7 choices, 7 final endings, 5 small ones,
3 co-op ones and 3 play modes. That's more branches than most commercial machines ship. Build
it as a trunk with optional branches, and let the trunk be fun on its own."
I Wake Up + chapter 1A. Wheatley's knock on the plunge (M-15, WH-P1) is the right first
beat: a ball-held moment with a reason. Keep the opening under 10 s of talk before the ball is
live. The Edgeless Safety Cube joke (GF-20 v2) belongs on the first ball save or the first
drain-free 30 s, not at the plunge, so the plunge isn't a monologue.
II The Tests (1A, 1B, 1C). playthrough.md is the key document here: the decided period 1
asks ~20 major shots plus 50 pops before the first multiball, and a beginner makes ~13 major
shots per game. The 10-chapter split (D21) fixes the feeling of progress, but only if a chapter
break is reachable. My numbers for a chapter:
That makes ~15 shots to the first multiball, which is still a lot for a beginner but fine for a
home player in their second week. Worry: Wheatley's visits (WH-P2), the cube chain, the
turret line, LIE/CAKE lanes, the hidden routes, the comply/defy meter and the Caroline letters
are all live in period 1 at once. Each is a "layer"; together they're noise. I'd ship 1A with
the tests and the sign only, and switch layers on per chapter (H62).
The escape multiball and C0. The escape (M-20) with the dropper as a real lock (ID-2) is the
right first multiball. C0 can't be asked "at the escape multiball" in the middle of live
balls; it has to be asked before the balls are released (all locked balls held, the flippers
free to choose) or after it ends. The canon line is ready made for it: GLaDOS,
glados_sp_a2_core02.ogg "Do NOT plug that little idiot into MY mainframe." (4.41 s) against
Wheatley's wheatley_demospherefirstdoorwaysequence01.ogg "Plug me into that stick on the wall
over there." The left flipper is GLaDOS, the right is Wheatley.
III The Fall. Ball-held, short, with the shaker (HW-6): good. Note the content problem Ezra
raises below (PotatOS lines on the refuse path).
IV Old Aperture (2A, 2B, 2C). The cleanest period in the plan: three decades, three gels,
three sign styles, one lock per decade. The pops (2A), orbits (2B) and portals (2C) go from easy
to hard, which is the right order. Cave's lines are long (only 9 under 4 s, playthrough.md), so
keep him to ball-held moments and decade starts (H11/H19's split clips). C1b at each decade
lock (Cave's order or Caroline's tip) asks a choice three times in one period; that's the most
choice-dense spot in the game. As "two lit shots" it's not a choice a player feels, just two
shots; I'd make it a ball-held flipper pick at the lock (the ball is held there anyway) with a
2-second default (H71).
The lemons multiball. Loud, funny, readable: the best multiball fit in the plan. Cave's
lemon rant is 20 s (cave_eighties_outro11.ogg, 20.56 s); play it in pieces across the jackpots,
not as one block.
V The Reunion (3A, 3B). Here the plan has two peaks back to back: the core-transfer
multiball (CT-6.2 v2, which already ends on "Stalemate detected" and "Please press the
Stalemate Resolution Button") and then the climax, which again opens the Stalemate button
(RD-d9 v2) and burns the cores. A player will press the same button twice for two different
reasons. Make the multiball seat the cores and the climax press the button once (H70).
The three turret waves (M-31 v2) on a clock with the all-9 reset was where expert games died in
playthrough.md; keep the H17 version where a wave failure doesn't reset everything.
VI The Choice. Fine as a ball-held three-way pick. Two notes:
game.end_game()game.py), but a player with two balls left loses them. Give them something: the remainingend_game() ends thegame.py lines 88-102) rotates every player until theVII Back to Your Own Time (P4). The combined Cave is a strong idea. My worry is the
multiball: the owner moved Caroline's upload out of period 2 because "the lemon rant suits a
multiball better than Caroline's quiet upload" (owner-decisions.md, OW-4 review). That same
argument now applies to period 4: the upload is a quiet, sad scene placed in the loudest slot.
Swap the order: the multiball is Cave's time ride on the era dial, and the upload is the
ball-held reveal at its end (H64).
VIII The True Story (P5). critics-period5.md covered it; the agreed P5-17 holds. One
structural note: after the P3 climax, P4 and P5 are both quieter than P3. The game's biggest
fireworks are in the middle. That's fine if P4 and P5 are framed as an epilogue (the sign and the
announcer say "EPILOGUE"), and if the very end gets one last loud moment: the credits multiball
with Still Alive (H65).
| Player | Gets to | Game length |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner (1.5 min/ball) | 1A, maybe 1B's first cube step | 4-5 min |
| Good home player | 1C's escape, the fall, 2A | 8-12 min |
Expert (playthrough.md variant B) |
the P3 climax at ~12-14 min | +4 min P4, +3-5 min P5 = ~20-25 min |
A 20-25 minute full run is long but not wrong for a home machine played by its builder; the
chapter select (D21) is what makes it livable. I'd set target times now (PT-5) and add one:
an expert reaches the final ending in ~20 minutes, measured on the cabinet.
| Choice | How it's asked | Readable? |
|---|---|---|
| C0 | flipper, ball held | Yes, if asked before the escape balls are released |
| C1 | shot fork (Incinerator / Blue Portal) | Yes if the sign shows BURN / KEEP on the two icons; a missed shot must not count as a choice |
| C1b | two lit shots, x3 | Weak as shots; yes as a flipper pick at the lock |
| C2 | hidden meter | Felt only through GLaDOS's tone; fine as colour, risky as the gate between E1 and E2 |
| C3 | three lit ways, ball held | Yes |
| C4 | hidden letters | Fine; it's a collection, not a choice |
| C5 | flipper, ball held | Yes |
Rule of thumb: every choice that changes the route is a ball-held flipper pick with two faces
on screen; every hidden one only colours. C2 breaks that rule: it decides whether escape ends
the game (E1) or drags you to P4 (E2). A player who chose "escape" and gets dragged back by a
meter they never saw will feel cheated. Show the meter in the choice screen (D20 already allows
an operator setting for the needle; F7).
| Period | Multiball | Balls | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | the escape | 2-4 (dropper + lock) | the first, the most played |
| P2 | the lemons | 3 | the best fit |
| P3 | core transfer | 3 (three core locks) | then the climax right after |
| P3 W | not named on the Wheatley branch | - | D9 needs one (H80) |
| P4 | Caroline's upload | ? | the quiet scene in the loud slot (H64) |
| P5 | a clear head | 2 | intentionally small |
| Co-op | one ball each | 2 |
The Wheatley branch's P3 has a boss fight but no named multiball; D9 says every period has one.
The three corrupted cores on the three core locks (SC-S7) are the natural one (H80).
Risk: three peaks lean on the ball dropper being refilled without a player shot (the
cores falling from the dropper SC-S6, the dropper as a lock ID-2, the box P5-10), and the
launch-lane diverter that does that is an idea, not obtained (D6). Each needs a fallback where the
player loads the dropper by a shot (right ramp -> Div1 -> VUK6).
"Order 4 is a remix, and a respectful one: Portal 1's tests with Portal 2's Wheatley, Cave's
decades, Caroline told slowly, Rattmann last. I don't mind the remix. What I mind is when the
remix keeps a line whose meaning came from a scene the remix removed. Most of my notes are
exactly that: a PotatOS line on a path with no PotatOS, a 'You win' that means 'I deleted
Caroline' in a game where she was never met, a core transfer with nobody to transfer."
The refuse path still has PotatOS in it. D20 says PotatOS rides along only on the
Wheatley branch. But the order 4 table in story-acts.md still gives the refuse path:
glados_potatos_sp_a3_00_fall03.ogg (2.06 s)glados_potatos_longfall_speech03.ogg);glados_potatos_sp_a3_end_peptalk01.ogg (10.50 s), which goes on: "We are going to march rightstory-arcs.md L-2 step 8 carries the same lift line on the main arc.These are leftovers from order 1/2, not a decision; they need main-path replacements (H68).
Wheatley vanishes on the refuse path. His grip slips at the end of period 1, and he is never
mentioned again: not in period 3, not in an ending. A friend who disappears without a word reads
as a bug. One line is enough (H67). GLaDOS already has the right ones:
glados_jailbreakfaketest03.ogg (7.65 s) "...it's an easier way out than whatever asinine plan
your friend came up with." during 1C's escape, and a period 3 aside.
A core transfer with nobody to transfer. On the refuse path, period 3's multiball is "core
transfer with the three core receptacles" (CT-6.2 v2: "Substitute Core: are you ready to start?",
announcer_bb_stalemate02.ogg). In canon the substitute core is Wheatley. On the refuse path
he's gone, so who is the substitute? And the climax then burns "the four cores" (SC-S6) after
three locks. Canon gives a clean answer: the refuse path's period 3 is Portal 1's finale:
GLaDOS's personality cores knocked off and burned in the Incinerator, under the neurotoxin clock.
Seat her cores in the three locks during the multiball (the fourth falls from the dropper in the
climax), press the Stalemate button once, burn them. She survives chastened, as Portal 2 says she
did after Portal 1. That also explains why she's alive for E1 and E4 (H70, H79).
"Oh... it's you." glados_chellgladoswakeup01.ogg (2.19 s) is her wake-up line from
Portal 2's chapter 2. On the refuse path she never slept; but as "you're back from the
basement" it still works. Canon-adjacent, fine.
Caroline's timeline holds, with one care point. Seed in P2, glitch in P3, reveal in P4 is a
better arc than the game's own (Portal 2 crams it into chapter 8). The care point is the tape:
Cave's eighties sign-off is one recording in canon order - brain mapping
(cave_eighties_outro05.ogg, 17.37 s), "Now she'll argue... But you make her."
(cave_eighties_outro06.ogg), "Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care."
(cave_eighties_outro07.ogg, 2.22 s), then the lemons (_outro09, _outro11). Period 2's
lemons multiball must stop before 05-07 or the period 4 reveal is spoiled. Better: make that a
story beat - in period 4 the brain-mapped Cave plays "the part of the tape you didn't hear".
C1b: Caroline's advice has no voice. Caroline has 20 lines in the catalogue; 15 are
speech-to-text and may be unused recordings (TODO.md). None is advice: "Yes sir, Mr. Johnson"
(caroline_caroline_cave_responses27.ogg, caption), "Sir, the testing?" (_responses36,
caption), "We're still doing science, sir." (_responses41, stt). Her "tip" has to be text in
the speaker bar, with one of those as the sound (H72). And a tone warning: "Mr. Johnson, I don't
want this!" / "No, listen to me! Sir, I do not want this!" (_responses56, _responses82, stt)
turn the upload into an explicit violation. Canon leaves it to Cave's "she'll argue... you make
her". Listen to them first, and use them only if the owner wants the darker reading.
The moon rock. story-arcs.md L-4: "Cave is dying of the moon rock you pocketed in the
eighties (M-38)". Two problems: Cave poisoned himself in canon ("Ground up moon rocks are pure
poison. I am deathly ill.", cave_eighties_intro08.ogg, 4.57 s), and a brain-mapped AI can't die
of poison. The moon rock's canon payoff is the moon itself: moon dust is the portal conductor
(cave_eighties_intro10.ogg) that lets a portal open on the Moon - that's the Wheatley branch's
E7. On the refuse path, the AI Cave's memory is dying, and he replays the "deathly ill" tape
(H63).
The endings borrow lines that mean something else.
glados_epilogue12.ogg "Goodbye, Caroline." (1.80 s), announcer_carolyndeleted02.oggglados_epilogue14.ogg "...deleting Caroline just now taught meglados_epiloguekillyou02.oggglados_epilogue04.ogg "You know, being Caroline taught me a valuable lesson. I thought youglados_epilogue19.ogg ("Nobody murdered me. Or put me in a potato. Or fed me to birds.")The arrow route's box. E6 is "always last": the box opens, the subject inside is alive, your
file. D18 adds "the box opens onto a shaft into the old ruins" when you came by the arrow. That's
two meanings for one box. Keep Schrodinger for the true end: on the arrow route the box opens
empty, onto a shaft (Rattmann's own crawlspace, D18), and the file card waits until after
period 4, so E6 really is always last (H61).
Wheatley in period 1. Wheatley never met Chell during Portal 1's tests. Putting him between
Portal 1's chambers is a remix, and an acceptable one; just don't give him lines that refer to
Portal 2's ruined facility in a period whose sign is Portal 1's clean white. Pick his "fifteen
chambers ahead" and management-rail lines, not his "the place is falling apart" ones.
C0's lines. wheatley_demospherefirstdoorwaysequence01.ogg "Plug me into that stick on the
wall over there. I'll show you something." is from his early door-hack scene, not the core
transfer. The core-transfer nags are wheatley_fgb_plugin_nags06.ogg "Plug me in..." (0.92 s)
and _nags09 "...Plug me into the port, please." (2.54 s), against GLaDOS's
glados_sp_a2_core02.ogg "Do NOT plug that little idiot into MY mainframe." (4.41 s). The door
line is fine as a tease earlier in period 1.
Keep the cube. Non-canon (Portal 1 forces the burn), but a beloved fan wish, and the burn
still exists as the other path with its canon line (glados_13_part1_euthanized-1.ogg, "You
euthanized your faithful Companion Cube more quickly than any test subject on record."). Fine.
critics-play-modes.md."I know GLaDOS, the cake, portals, the cube, and I've seen Wheatley's face. I don't know what
a 'period' is and I won't read a card. What I need: what to shoot, who's talking, and after the
game, a reason to press Start again. Most of my game will be chapter 1A, so 1A had better be
the best four minutes on the machine."
Wake Up / 1A. Someone banging on a door and a British voice: funny, I'd plunge. The sign with
three lit icons is the thing that saves me; if the inserts on the playfield blink the same
colours as the icons, I get it in a minute. "Chamber 00, 01, 02" counting up is a progress bar I
understand without a word. Please: in 1A, only the tests. If the lanes, a cube, a meter and a
hidden word all talk at once, I'll just flip.
1B, the cube. The best thing in the game for me, if I reach it. Put its first step inside my
first minute (PT-6). Burning it vs keeping it: I'd want to keep it, and I'd want the screen to
say that hitting the Blue Portal keeps it. If I just miss and it burns, I'll feel robbed.
1C, the escape and C0. "Plug him in?" means nothing to me. "TRUST WHEATLEY / TRUST GLaDOS"
with their two faces, the ball held, and each one saying one line - that I can choose. I'd pick
Wheatley; most people will, because he's the nice one. So the Wheatley branch might be the
path most first-timers actually take, not the side branch. Worth knowing before the build
order is set.
The fall, old Aperture. Falling into the fifties with a loud salesman: clear and funny. Three
decades with three looks on the screen: I'd notice each change. Cave's order vs Caroline's tip:
fine if I see her face and name the first time ("CAROLINE, MR. JOHNSON'S ASSISTANT").
Period 3. "Oh... it's you." - I'd laugh. Timers stress me; turret waves on a clock, I'd lose.
That's fine; the small ending "Didn't we have some fun, though?" is a nice way to lose.
The choice, periods 4 and 5. I won't see them in my first month. That's fine, as long as the
machine tells me they exist: the small ending could show a teaser of the next chapter (a
locked door, Cave's portrait, a scrawled arrow), and attract could show the ending gallery with
locked silhouettes (EN-4). Then I want to come back.
"I checked the agreed path, not the brainstorm. The brainstorm has nearly everything; the
question now is what the picks dropped, and what's only reachable on a branch most players
will see once. Below: the checklist, then what's missing or branch-only."
Where: main = the refuse path, W = the Wheatley branch only, elsewhere = in the
brainstorm but not in the agreed files (story-acts, ending-tree, story-arcs).
| Item | Game / chapter | Agreed path | How the machine could use it | Voiceable line (file) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The cake is a lie" | P1, Rattmann's dens | main (LIE lanes RA-1, M-7) | - | display (scrawl) |
| "This was a triumph" / Still Alive | P1 credits | not placed in any ending (M-33 only "fits Endings") | E1 / E6 credits, a credits lap (H65, H77) | music music_portal_still_alive.ogg (176.5 s) |
| Want You Gone | P2 credits | not placed (GF-43) | E1 on the Wheatley branch, E4 | music music_portal2_want_you_gone.ogg |
| Cara Mia Addio | P2 ending | main (PC-5 opera colour) | - | music music_Portal2-12-Cara_Mia_Addio.ogg |
| "Are you still there?" | P1 turrets | elsewhere (attract) | ball search on the main path | turret_turret_search_1.ogg (1.63 s) |
| "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out" | P1, the flinging chambers | missing | the first portal-to-orbit combo in 1A/1B (H78) | glados_06_part1_success_2-1.ogg (9.75 s) |
| "You euthanized your faithful Companion Cube..." | P1 ch. 17 | main (C1 burn) | - | glados_13_part1_euthanized-1.ogg (6.64 s) |
| "I'm not even angry" | P1 finale | main (GF-2 tilt) | - | (GF-2) |
| "Combustible lemons" | P2 ch. 8 | main (CT-6.14) | - | cave_eighties_outro11.ogg (20.56 s) |
| "Goodbye, Caroline." / "Caroline deleted." | P2 ch. 9 epilogue | missing (E4 reuses "You win") | E4 (H66) | glados_epilogue12.ogg (1.80 s), announcer_carolyndeleted02.ogg (1.07 s) |
| "Being Caroline taught me..." | P2 epilogue | missing | E5 (H66) | glados_epilogue04.ogg (8.88 s) |
| "Killing you? Is hard." | P2 epilogue | missing | E1 (H66) | glados_epiloguekillyou02.ogg (1.88 s) |
| "Do NOT plug that little idiot into MY mainframe." | P2 ch. 5 | missing | C0's GLaDOS side (H71) | glados_sp_a2_core02.ogg (4.41 s) |
| "SPACE!" | P2 ch. 9 | W only | Space Core cameo on main (Sanne) | wheatley_bw_finale04_through_portal02.ogg, space_core_space02.ogg |
| "BECAUSE I'M A POTATO." | P2 ch. 6-7 | W only (but still on the main path's Act III by mistake) | W's fall (H68) | glados_potatos_longfall_speech03.ogg |
| "NOW WHO'S A MORON?" | P2 ch. 6 | W | - | wheatley_bw_fgb_heel_turn15.ogg |
| "Bring Your Daughter to Work Day" | P1 ch. 1; P2 ch. 1 | missing | E3's "your era" (H75) | glados_01_part2_success-1.ogg (6.10 s), wheatley_sphere_flashlight_tour41.ogg (3.84 s) |
| "I am deathly ill." | P2 ch. 8 | missing (the moon rock's set-up) | P4 (H63) | cave_eighties_intro08.ogg (4.57 s) |
| Party escort | P1 ending (patch) | main (E2) | - | glados_15_part1_partyreminder-1.ogg |
| Portals, cubes, buttons, turrets | both | main | - | - |
| Energy pellet | P1 | main (CH-2 pops) | - | - |
| Material Emancipation Grill / fizzling | both | elsewhere (TS-3, the drain) | the outlane drain sound on the main path | sfx |
| Lasers, Discouragement Redirection Cube | P2 | missing | the spinner as a laser relay (callout layer only) | - |
| Faith Plate, Light Bridge, Funnel, gels | P2 | main (shots, P2 decades) | - | - |
| Crushers | P2 | main (XR-11 slings) | - | - |
| Neurotoxin | P1 finale, P2 ch. 5 | main only in P1's multiball | the refuse path's P3 clock (H79) | glados_fgb_trap08.ogg "It's your old friend, deadly neurotoxin..." (7.03 s), announcer_bb_neurotoxin06.ogg |
| Rocket turret | P1 finale | main (GF-17) | - | - |
| The Incinerator | P1 | main | - | - |
| Personality cores (P1: 4) | P1 finale | main, but framed as Portal 2's core transfer | H70 | Anger core growls (sfx_escape_02_sphere_anger-*) |
| Corrupted cores (Space, Fact, Adventure) | P2 ch. 9 | W (boss), Fact facts on main (SC-S9 v2) | W's multiball (H80) | space_core_*, fact_core_*, adventure_core_* |
| PotatOS | P2 ch. 6-8 | W | - | - |
| The moon portal | P2 ch. 9 | W | M-38's real payoff (H63) | wheatley_bw_finale04_button_press05.ogg "...your precious human moon" |
| The cake (the real one, P1 ending) | P1 ending | missing | E1 / E6 last image (H77) | display |
| Momentum through portals | P1 | main as shots (M-32 v2), no line | H78 | see above |
| Flinging / Faith Plate arcs | P2 | main | - | - |
| Funnels carrying you | P2 | main (ramp) | - | - |
| Portal 2 chapter titles | P2 | missing as chapter cards | H69 | display |
| Perpetual Testing Initiative (alternate Caves) | P2 DLC 2 | missing (81 cave_dlc2_* lines) |
P4's combined Cave (H74) | cave_dlc2_0100_caveprime_misc01.ogg "...I am literally in the future!" (37 s; cut), cave_dlc2_2100_caveprime_conv_b01.ogg "the impostor Cave" |
| Rattmann, Lab Rat | P1, comic | main (P5) | - | - |
| Co-op courses, the vault | P2 co-op | co-op | - | - |
| Peer Review | P2 DLC 1 | co-op CE3 teaser | - | - |
| Wheatley's post-credits apology | P2 | not in the rip (TODO.md) |
- | - |
story-arcs.md keeps for the branch).Champions (all four):
Shared worries:
Each is an extra option next to the items it's built from. "Changes" names any decided item it
would touch.
On the arrow route (P3 -> P5 -> P4, D18), P5's climax opens the box empty: Rattmann's
crawlspace, a shaft down into the old ruins - that's the drop to P4. The file card (TOP OF THE
LIST) and the "subject inside is alive" image are held until after P4's ending, so E6 is
always the last screen on every route. Built from: P5-10, P5-7, D18, E6, RA-5. Changes:
clarifies D18 (no change in substance).
Each chapter switches on only its own layers, and has one featured beat reachable in ~5 major
shots from its start: 1A the first portal, 1B the cube lock (PT-6), 1C the fire, 2A the blue line,
2B the honorarium on the orbit, 2C the lemon target, 3A "Oh... it's you" + the shortcut, 3B the
first turret wave, 4 the first click of the era dial, 5 the first scrawl. Every small ending
ends on "NEXT: CHAPTER - " with a teaser image. Layers (LIE/CAKE, the Caroline
letters, Wheatley's visits, the meter) start in 1B, not 1A. Built from: S-10, PT-6, M-37, CH-1,
D8, D21, EN-4. Changes: none.
M-38's eighties super skill shot collects moon dust ("a great portal conductor",
cave_eighties_intro10.ogg). On the Wheatley branch it's what makes the moon portal possible
(E7): no moon rock collected = Wheatley's boss fight lights it in the climax instead. On the
refuse path it's a bonus multiplier; in P4 the AI Cave replays "Ground up moon rocks are pure
poison. I am deathly ill." (cave_eighties_intro08.ogg): his memory is dying, not his body,
and nobody blames the player. Built from: M-38, WH-P9, E7, M-22, CJ-11. Changes: none.
P4's multiball is Cave's ride home through time: each lit shot moves the era dial a decade, each
decade's jackpot plays one of his tapes. Its super jackpot stops the dial at the eighties: ball
held, "the part of the tape you didn't hear" plays (cave_eighties_outro05/06/07.ogg, ending on
"Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care.") and the reveal follows as a full-screen, ball-held
scene. Built from: M-22, H13 v2, M-3, OW-4. Changes: D18 (P4's multiball is "Caroline's
upload, as Cave's memory"; here the upload becomes the multiball's payoff scene instead).
After a final ending (E1, or E6 at the very end) with balls left, the remaining balls are played
as a credits lap: all shots lit, every shot scores and scrolls one credit line, Still Alive
(music_portal_still_alive.ogg) or, after E1 on the Wheatley branch, Want You Gone. No drain
penalty; the game ends when the lap's balls are gone. In compete this is also the MPF answer:
MPF 0.80 can't end one player's game (end_game() ends everyone's, game.py), so a finished
player plays credits laps on their remaining turns. Built from: M-33, GF-43, E1, E6, D20.
Changes: refines D20 ("escape + comply ends the game": it still ends, after the lap).
glados_epilogue23/25.ogg, glados_epiloguekillyou02.ogg, glados_epilogue28.ogg).glados_epilogue12.ogg), "Caroline deleted."announcer_carolyndeleted02.ogg), "...deleting Caroline just now taught me a valuableglados_epilogue14.ogg), then "Just go."glados_epilogue04.ogg), then the gentle "It's been fun. Don't come back."glados_epilogue29.ogg).glados_epilogue19.ogg (potato, birds) only on the Wheatley branch.In 1C's escape GLaDOS sneers at "whatever asinine plan your friend came up with"
(glados_jailbreakfaketest03.ogg). After the fall, a short Wheatley line plays once from far
above: "I'm going to work on the assumption that you're still alive and I'm just going to wait
for..." (wheatley_sp_intro_03_afterfallalt08.ogg, 5.28 s). In E1 he can appear in the credits
lap (a cameo, no line needed). Built from: WH-P5, M-1, PC-3. Changes: none.
On the refuse path: Act III is the fall + Wheatley's line from H67 + Cave's welcome (no GL-C).
The P2 -> 3 lift uses Cave's own lemon line ("When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade.
Make life take the lemons back!", cave_eighties_outro09.ogg) or Caroline's "Sir, the testing?"
(caroline_caroline_cave_responses36.ogg). The PotatOS lines (glados_potatos_sp_a3_00_fall03,
_longfall_speech03, _sp_a3_end_peptalk01) move to the Wheatley branch only. Built from: M-1,
CT-6.14 v2b, CH-6, D20. Changes: none (it applies D20 to story-acts.md's order 4 table and
story-arcs.md L-2).
Chapter cards use Portal 2's titles where they fit: 1A The Courtesy Call, 1B The Companion
Cube, 1C The Escape, (Act III The Fall), 2A-2C the decades, 3A The Reunion, 3B The
Finale; on the Wheatley branch 3A The Itch and 3B The Part Where He Kills You. Co-op
keeps Calibration. Built from: D21, M-39, PT-2. Changes: D21's chapter names (not the
split); adds two named chapters for the Wheatley branch to the chapter select.
The refuse path's P3 is Portal 1's finale: the multiball seats GLaDOS's personality cores in
the three core locks (the Anger core's growls, sfx_escape_02_sphere_anger-*, are in the
library); the fourth core falls from the dropper at the climax (SC-S6's four). Then the Stalemate
button is pressed once (RD-d9 v2), the Incinerator refuses, then burns them (M-17 v2). GLaDOS
survives, chastened, for E1/E4. The core-transfer framing ("Substitute Core", Wheatley) stays on
the Wheatley branch. Built from: CT-6.2 v2, SC-S6, RD-d9 v2, M-2, M-17 v2. Changes: none to
D17's climax; reframes the P3 multiball's story on one path.
Every choice that changes the route (C0, C1b, C3, C5) is a ball-held flipper pick: two faces,
two words, one line each, a 10-second default. C0 is asked when the escape lock is full, before
the balls are released: GLaDOS (left) "Do NOT plug that little idiot into MY mainframe."
(glados_sp_a2_core02.ogg) vs Wheatley (right) "Plug me in..." (wheatley_fgb_plugin_nags06.ogg).
C1b is asked at each decade's lock (the ball is held there anyway). C1 stays a shot fork, with
BURN / KEEP on the two icons and only a made shot counting. Hidden C2/C4 only colour, except C2 at
C3 (F7). Built from: PC-3, PC-1, A2-4, C1b, D20. Changes: the "how" of C1b (D21: two lit
shots -> a flipper pick).
Caroline has no advice lines. Her C1b tip is a short text in her speaker bar ("THE LEFT ORBIT IS
SAFER, SIR"), with a real line as the sound: "Yes sir, Mr. Johnson" (_responses27, caption) or
"Sir, the testing?" (_responses36, caption). The speech-to-text lines are listened to before any
use. Built from: CA-3, XR-4, C1b. Changes: none.
On the branch, PotatOS rides through 2C and reacts as in canon: "Caroline... why do I know this
woman? Maybe I killed her? Or-" (glados_potatos_caroline_ohmygod02.ogg, 7.24 s). P4's reveal
then confirms what she suspected, and E1 on the branch can use the full canon epilogue (H66's E4
lines). Built from: M-25, M-4, M-3, D19, D20. Changes: D17/D18's "Caroline only seeded in
P2", on the Wheatley branch only.
The Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC has 81 Cave lines (cave_dlc2_*): Cave Prime "speaking to
you from across time and space... literally in the future" (cave_dlc2_0100_caveprime_misc01.ogg,
cut), the impostor Cave (cave_dlc2_2100_caveprime_conv_b01.ogg), a dead Cave
(cave_dlc2_0714_altcave_dead_cave05.ogg). Use them as the brain-mapped Cave's glitches: wrong
decades, wrong universes, a copy of a copy. Built from: M-22, CJ-11, LO-L16, H13 v2. Changes:
none.
E3's "your era" is the day the dial stops on "200-": Bring Your Daughter to Work Day, the day
GLaDOS woke (H53). The science fair's potato "By Chell" (TS-13) is the hint that you were there.
Lines: glados_01_part2_success-1.ogg "...Bring Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to
have her tested." and wheatley_sphere_flashlight_tour41.ogg "Bring your daughter to work day.
That did not end well." Home is bittersweet: the day it all began. Built from: E3, M-22, H53,
TS-13, LO-L6. Changes: none.
Build co-op v1 as the main periods with co-op voices (ATLAS/P-body names, GLaDOS's co-op lines,
PM-10 drains, PM-13 splits) and the vault ending (PM-9, H43); the five courses (PM-8) come as v2.
Built from: PM-6, PM-9, PM-10, PM-13, H43. Changes: the build order of D15, not the
decision (the courses stay co-op's story).
E1's last image is Portal 1's: the cake with its candle (and the Companion Cube beside it, if
kept, H21). E6's file card gets a slice. Still Alive plays over the credits lap (H65).
Built from: LO-L1, M-33, H21, E1, E6. Changes: none.
The first portal shot that comes out fast onto an orbit (or the first Faith Plate launch) in 1A/1B
plays "Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals. In layman's terms,
speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out." (glados_06_part1_success_2-1.ogg, 9.75 s; split
or ball-held). Built from: M-32 v2, GF-29, M-37. Changes: none.
The refuse path's P3 clock is Portal 1's neurotoxin countdown ("It's your old friend, deadly
neurotoxin...", glados_fgb_trap08.ogg; announcer_bb_neurotoxin06.ogg), with the shaker; the
reactor meltdown (WH-P6) stays Wheatley's. Same timer code, different name, art and sound.
Built from: CT-6.13 v2, M-20, WH-P6. Changes: D18's "the reactor clock" in P3 (by path).
D9 gives every period a multiball; the branch's P3 has none named. Seat the three corrupted cores
(Space, Fact, Adventure) in the three core locks for a 3-ball multiball where they argue
(SC-S7, SC-S8; space_core_*, fact_core_*, adventure_core_*); the boss fight and the moon
portal are its climax. Built from: SC-S7, SC-S8, WH-P8, CT-6.2 v2, D9. Changes: none (fills D9).
A chapter started from the select (D21) shows a two-line PREVIOUSLY card ("Wheatley dropped you
into old Aperture.") and sets defaults: the refuse path; cube burned; meter neutral; 0 letters,
0 hints (so no arrow, H50 still gives a full P5); no credit toward the full ending (PT-2). The two
Wheatley chapters (H69) only appear once the branch has been played on this machine (PT-3).
Built from: M-29, PT-2, PT-3, D21. Changes: none.
Concrete, independent changes the panel recommends. Each can be taken or left on its own. ★ =
the panel's 8 most important. "Changes" names a decided item it would touch; "none" means it
fits the decisions as they stand. Recommendation: implement, optional or don't (the
panel's view only; nothing is removed).
| # | What to change | Why (critics) | Cost / effect | Changes | Panel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 ★ | Remove PotatOS lines from the refuse path: Act III and the P2 -> 3 lift get Cave/Wheatley/Caroline lines; the potato lines move to the Wheatley branch (H68) | story-acts.md order 4 rows III and P2->3 and story-arcs.md L-2 still use PotatOS lines, incl. "MAKE him put me back in my body" (Ezra, Marta) |
Text edits in 2 files + a line swap; fixes a continuity break | none (applies D20) | implement |
| F2 ★ | Refuse-path P3: the multiball seats GLaDOS's own cores; the Stalemate button is pressed once, in the climax; she survives (H70) | Two stalemates in a row; no substitute core without Wheatley; 3 locks vs 4 cores (Marta, Ezra, Ravi) | Story framing + callout list; same hardware (HW-5, HW-1, HW-2) | none (D17's climax kept) | implement |
| F3 ★ | Arrow route: the box opens empty onto a shaft; the file card and "alive" image wait until after P4, so E6 is always last (H61) | D18's shaft and E6's "always last" contradict (Ezra, Marta) | One rule in the ending tree; no hardware | clarifies D18 | implement |
| F4 ★ | One choice grammar: route choices are ball-held flipper picks with two faces; C0 asked when the escape lock is full, before release, with GLaDOS's "Do NOT plug that little idiot..." vs Wheatley's "Plug me in"; C1b as a flipper pick at each decade lock (H71) | C0 can't be asked during live balls; C1b as two shots isn't felt as a choice (Marta, Sanne, Ravi) | One reusable choice slide + ball-hold logic; fewer accidental choices | C1b's "how" in D21 | implement |
| F5 ★ | Balls left after a final ending become a credits lap (Still Alive); in compete a finished player plays credits laps on their turns (H65) | Escape + comply ends the game with balls in hand; MPF 0.80 can't end one compete player's game (game.py) (Marta) |
One small mode; solves a real MPF limit | refines D20 | implement |
| F6 ★ | Chapter layers + a featured beat within ~5 shots per chapter + "NEXT: CHAPTER ..." on every small ending (H62) | A beginner makes ~13 major shots per game (playthrough.md); P1 has too many live layers (Marta, Sanne) |
Rules tuning; makes every chapter pay off in a 4-5 minute game | none | implement |
| F7 | Show the comply/defy meter on the C3 choice screen (where it decides E1 vs E2), not only via the operator setting | Being dragged back by an unseen meter feels like a bug (Sanne, Marta; Ezra prefers tone only) | One element on one screen | refines D20 (meter "hinted in play") | optional |
| F8 ★ | P4's multiball is the era-dial ride; Caroline's upload and the reveal become its ball-held payoff scene with "the part of the tape you didn't hear" (H64) | The quiet upload in the loud slot is the exact reason it left P2 (Marta, Ezra) | Same lines, reordered; P4 gets a fitting multiball | D18 (P4 multiball) | implement (owner's call) |
| F9 | Give each final ending its own canon lines: E4 "Goodbye, Caroline." + "Caroline deleted."; E5 "Being Caroline taught me..."; E1 adds "Killing you? Is hard."; epilogue19 only on the Wheatley branch (H66) | E1 and E4 share "You win. Just go."; the deletion lines are missing (Ezra, Ravi) | Line swaps only | none | implement |
| F10 | Name the Wheatley branch's P3 multiball: three corrupted cores in the three core locks (H80) | D9 needs one per period; the branch has none (Marta) | Uses the same 3 locks | none (fills D9) | implement |
| F11 | Moon rock: no "dying of the rock you pocketed"; it powers the moon portal on the Wheatley branch and is a bonus on the refuse path; P4 Cave replays "I am deathly ill" (H63) | Canon causality; an AI can't be poisoned (Ezra, Ravi) | Text + one line | none | implement |
| F12 | Say where Wheatley went on the refuse path: GLaDOS's "your friend" jab in 1C, one Wheatley line after the fall, a credits cameo (H67) | He vanishes without a word (Ezra, Sanne) | 2 lines | none | optional |
| F13 | Portal 2 chapter titles on the chapter cards; 1A renamed from "Calibration" (co-op's act I name); the Wheatley branch gets "The Itch" and "The Part Where He Kills You" (H69) | Free canon; a name collision (Ezra, Ravi) | Display text | D21 (names only) | optional |
| F14 | The refuse path's P3 clock is the neurotoxin (Portal 1's finale); the reactor stays Wheatley's (H79) | Portal 1's finale told whole (Ravi, Ezra; Marta: same code, fine) | Art/sound swap, same timer | D18's "reactor clock" (by path) | optional |
| F15 | On the Wheatley branch, PotatOS reacts to Caroline in 2C ("why do I know this woman?") and P4 confirms (H73) | A canon moment wasted while PotatOS listens to Cave's tapes (Ezra, Ravi) | 1 line, branch only | D17/D18 "Caroline only seeded in P2" (branch only) | optional |
| F16 | Caroline's C1b tip as text with a real "Yes sir" sound; listen to the speech-to-text Caroline lines before using any, esp. "I don't want this!" (H72) | She has no advice lines; 15 of 20 lines are STT (Ezra; Ravi clashes on the dark line) | Display text; a listening pass | none | implement |
| F17 | Use the Perpetual Testing Initiative Caves (81 cave_dlc2_* lines) as the brain-mapped Cave's glitches in P4 (H74) |
Canon material for exactly this Cave (Ravi) | Sound editing (long lines need cuts) | none | optional |
| F18 | E3's "your era" = Bring Your Daughter to Work Day ("200-"), tied to the "By Chell" hint (H75) | Gives E3 a concrete, bittersweet meaning (Ezra, Ravi) | One scene's text and 2 lines | none | optional |
| F19 | The cake and Still Alive in the last images of E1/E6; Want You Gone after the Wheatley branch's E1 (H77) | A Portal machine without them at the end (Ravi, Sanne) | Art + music already in the library | none | implement |
| F20 | "Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out" on the first fast portal/orbit or Faith Plate shot in 1A/1B (H78) | The machine's own physics, explained by canon (Ravi) | One line (9.75 s: ball-held or split) | none | implement |
| F21 | Chapter-select starts get a PREVIOUSLY card and stated defaults; the Wheatley chapters unlock after the branch is played once (H81) | Starting at 3A or 4 makes no sense without context; choice state is undefined (Sanne, Marta) | One card per chapter + default variables | none | implement |
| F22 ★ | Build order: the trunk first (P1 + sign + small endings), then P2, P3 refuse + E1, P5, P4; the Wheatley branch, the co-op courses and the playfield screen are stretch. C0 isn't offered until the branch exists. Every dropper beat (SC-S6, ID-2, P5-10) gets a load-by-shot fallback until the launch-lane diverter exists | Build size; the dropper refill is an unobtained part (D6) under three peaks (Marta; Sanne on C0) | Sequencing only; lowers risk | none | implement |
| F23 | Co-op v1 = the main periods with co-op voices + the vault ending; the five courses as v2 (H76) | Seven co-op acts is a second game (Marta; Ravi prefers the courses) | Halves co-op's first build | D15's build order, not the decision | optional |
| F24 | Add target times to PT-5: an expert reaches the final ending in ~20 min; frame P4/P5 as "EPILOGUE" on the sign | Full run ~20-25 min; P4/P5 are quieter than P3's climax (Marta) | Balance targets, measured on the cabinet | none | implement |
| F25 | A Space Core cameo on the main path (attract, a rare pop-bumper easter egg) | "SPACE!" is branch-only (Sanne, Ravi) | A few space_core_* lines |
none | optional |
| Open item | Marta | Ezra | Sanne | Ravi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P5-17 for round 2 review (D16) | Holds; keep H56's one sting, one red | Holds; keep Rattmann's illness handled gently | Show me the arrow on the sign or I'll think it's broken | Add the "200-" scrawl (H53) |
| Up2's position (D5) | Put it where F2's P3 climax flows, not on the turret waves | No canon stake | - | The shortcut is Rattmann's crawlspace (RA-5) |
| Round 2 scoring | Score F1-F6, F8 and F22 first: they decide what gets built | F1, F2, F9 are fixes, not taste | F6 and F21 are what I'd feel | F9, F19, F20 are cheap canon wins |