The 4,000 words I wrote for the story ended up only being the first chapter, or even just an introduction to the world, characters and plot I created. I tried to think of a way to boil down all the events of the entire story into the word count, but couldn't find a way to do it and still keep a multiple choice story framework going. So instead, I just wrote a basic first act, or even just the elements leading up to the culmination of the first act.
So, to summarise the entire plot into a three act structure, I wrote some notes which have been transcribed into the following:
Act 1
(First off, the inciting incident, is the struggle between the Order and the Resistance itself, a big part of the backstory and current story, therefore, I haven't actually included an inciting incident in the narrative, with a higher word limit and more time, I would have included a chapter before the narrative that summed up the basics of the setting and better introduced the characters and concepts).
We are introduced to the protagonist (who I intentionally haven't described, so that the player can choose for themselves what the character looks like) and the goal of the protagonist. We are introduced to the "Order" who run the world in which the story is set, a political organisation who run their territories much like the antagonists from Orwells' 1984. I like the idea of an all encompassing bureaucracy that controls it's people with an iron grip, and it gives the story a goal, one that can allow us to perhaps get behind the main character and their objective. We find out that the protagonist is from a resistance group out to take down the Order by removing their leader the enigmatic "Prime Marshal". Little is revealed about the Order during the first act, other than they have an all encompassing bureaucracy and use some shady techniques to bring their rule to the world. We are introduced somewhat to the setting, that the Order uses a form of genetic manipulation to create their guards, who are essentially vat grown, fleshy automatons, almost under the direct control of those in the order, (this would later be revealed to be true, but I couldn't find a way to put this concept into the 4,000 word limit). I wanted to conjure up the thoughts of 1984 and the antagonists in the Half Life series, and these were at the forefront of my thoughts when I came up with the basic ideas for the plot (I had struggled to come up with a concrete idea, and have about 3 different, half written drafts which contained a multitude of different settings, I ended up settling for this one, as time for the project was running out, and it was probably the best one I had thought of so far). Anyway, back on to the plot, the protagonist (whom the player gives a form of their own choosing) is on a mission from his rebel organisation to assassinate the Prime Marshal at one of the Order's headquarters buildings in the city in which this part of the story is based (I have another document that details more about the setting and events leading up to the narrative). The protagonist uses his/her skills in stealth and subterfuge to infiltrate the building (via a choice of methods, I did this to give some form of audience participation as the routes all ultimately lead to the same conclusion) make his/her way through the tower complex and up to the tenth floor (I would have done more, but word count was growing and I needed to find a way to end the story) where they enter the offices of the Prime Marshal. As the protagonist enters the empty office's we find out that the Prime Marshal allowed the protagonist to make it this far, and has been aware of their presence in the area since they first entered the square in which the Order's building is situated. The story leaves on a cliffhanger with the character being captured and thus to plot point one, that culminates into the end of the first act. I would have liked to have included more details about both the Order and the Resistance in this act, but I wanted to allow player choice in their way through the narrative and thus, didn't have enough words to mention any further information.
Act 2
In act two we are introduced further to other characters and places. After being placed into a re-education centre, the players stumbles upon another plot, but this time from within the re-education facility. The player meets other members of the resistance here and ultimately breaks out of the facility with their new allies. The player then must make their way back to the resistance headaquarters (which we find out is the place he was set his task for the first act). When back home, the player speaks to the leader of the resistance and finds out that the Prime Marshal will be in another location soon, and will be vulnerable to attack, the leader tells the player that they knew nothing about what happened to them at the tower in the first act, and assumed the player to have died there. During the conversations, we see that the leader of the resistance might not be fully commited to the cause that they lead, through some subtle hints. It isn't explicitly revealed that the resistance leader is in league with the order, but it is left open to interpretation of the player, the truth of this won't be revealed yet. The act continues with the player sent on a second mission to get the Prime Marshal, but this time has some allies along with him (one of which, was directly appointed to the group by the resistance leader himself). The team is sent to a military installation in which the Prime Leader is apparently inspecting. There are a few obstacles, and the player and the team, fight their way through guards (or again, approach using stealth) to the location of their target. The Prime Leader is cornered and at the player's mercy, but doesn't seem to be concerned by his situation, he then reveals his hand, a member of the protagonist's group first shoots your other 2 allies and then turns his weapon upon the protagonist, revealing themselves as secret member of the Order and that the Resistance itself is led by an agent of the Order, the Prime Marshal now takes a gun and shoots the player taking them out into the wilderness and leaving them for dead (as is usual for villains, he doesn't make sure the protagonist is dead). This is plot point two and the end of the second act.
Act 3
The player, having been left for dead, struggles to get out of their current situation, (they are now at their lowest point in the story, being without allies, broken and bleeding and without the purpose they had when they thought the resistance was helping them). The player does have one advantage now though, the Prime Marshal, thinks them dead, and the resistance's attempts on his life to be at an end. The protagonist goes back to the city, is patched up by an old friend, and then goes back to the scene of the first act, the tower of the Order in the city. Once more they scale the tower and once more they make it to the offices of the Prime Marshal, this time totally undetected, the player finds within the offices, the Prime Marshal having a meeting with the leader of the Resistance and they are discussing the success of their plans. The player confronts the pair, and the final battle begins, the player fights through a legion of guards, dispatches the resistance leader and has the Prime Marshal at his mercy. They then have a choice, as the Prime Marshal explains the situation to the player, the Marshal says that the Order must exist for there to be any form of peace in the world that killing him would result in chaos and disorder the likes of which would be worse than the situation currently facing the player. There would then be two endings, in one of which the player kills the Prime Marshal, bringing a new beginning to the setting, in the other, the player heeds the Prime Marshal's words, and joins him as his new right hand, continuing the tyranny of the setting.
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