Road Remains

2. The Town, Alupotha

Alupotha means Middle Town. It is a composite of everywhere in Sri Lanka, not Colombo, not a village, but the kind of semi-urban junction town that most Sri Lankans either come from or pass through. There is a kovil on one side of the main road and a temple on the other. One traffic light that is technically functional. A bus that comes when it comes. Coconut trees everywhere, including in places where coconut trees probably should not be.

The road through the centre of town has been broken since before anyone can agree on exactly when. There are three competing stories about why. Mahinda Bandara's campaign posters are everywhere. His calendar is on the wall of Mudalali's boutique, the police station, the Grama Sevaka Office, and four other locations. The road is in his manifesto. It has been in his manifesto since 2010.

The game world is a clickable illustrated town map on a 1920×1080 canvas. Twelve of the thirteen locations are accessible from the start; the thirteenth unlocks only if the player verifies three or more messages at the Elections Commission board. The week countdown and three gauges are always visible, the player is never without information about where they stand.

3. The 13 Map Locations

The map has been expanded to 13 locations to improve atmospheric depth and world-building. Interactive hubs drive the narrative, while atmospheric nodes provide texture.

Interactive Hubs

Grama Sevaka Office

Procedural core. Voter registration, NIC issues.

Uncle Sirisena's House

Main misinformation mechanic.

EC Notice Board

The verification authority. Updates automatically.

Mudalali's Boutique

Informal information exchange and junction shop.

Police Station

Election law enforcement and violation reporting.

Campaign Tent

Political promises and manifesto comparison.

Skeptics Cafe

Hidden location unlocked after 3 successful verifications.

Polling Station

Locked until Week 0. The climax of the game.

Atmospheric / Secondary Nodes

Kovil

Peaceful spot. "Whatever you came here for, it is not here."

Temple

Peaceful spot. "Whatever you came here for, it is not here."

The Bar

Quiet daytime spot. "No election talk. Owner's orders."

Community Hall

Empty space with notices for next week.

Boarding House

Kumaran's residence. Includes bilingual paperwork hurdles for his specific path.

6. The Three Gauges

All three gauges are always visible at the top of the screen. Gauges run from 0 to 100. They are shown as: a labelled bar, an icon, and a numerical value. Colour is never the sole indicator of information - gauge states are also shown with icons and numerical values (WCAG 1.4.1 compliance). All animations on gauge changes can be disabled for players with motion sensitivity.

• Civic Trust (CT): Does this community believe the election is legitimate and worth participating in? This is a community score, not a personal one. It drops when misinformation spreads, when violations go unreported, when the player chooses cynicism over engagement. It rises when the player verifies information before sharing, reports illegal campaign activity, and helps others navigate the process.
• Information Health (IH): How accurate is the player's personal understanding of the electoral process? This drops when the player accepts false information, skips verification, or follows Mahinda Bandara's instructions about voting procedure without checking official sources. It rises when the player reads the Elections Commission board, asks Nandadasa Mahaththaya direct questions, and resists the pressure to share things they have not confirmed.
• Voter Participation (VP): How many eligible people in Alupotha are going to vote? This is affected most by what the player does in the community rather than for themselves. Helping the queue people at the polling station raises this permanently. Spreading the fake story about the 4am voting time drops it. One action the player takes in Week 5 determines whether the elderly woman's family comes with her on election day.

6.1 Gauge Delta Table

Every action in the game and its exact gauge impact. CT = Civic Trust. IH = Information Health. VP = Voter Participation. Values marked with * are permanent and cannot be recovered through any subsequent action.

Glitch Prevention: Gauge increases for verifying EC notices are hard-capped to once per week/notice using the verifiedAtBoardCount flags to prevent players from artificially inflating their Information Health.

9. Linear Chapter / Scene Breakdown (Karunasena Template)

This path outlines the expected chronological flow for Karunasena from Week 6 to Week 0. This serves as the narrative map for DOM scene connections and dialogue sequencing.

10. The Misinformation Mechanic, Detailed Design

Uncle Sirisena sends content in four formats that mirror exactly how misinformation actually circulates. He is not a bot. He is not a bad person. He is a retired man with a lot of time, a phone, and 847 WhatsApp contacts who trusts him. The game does not reward blanket distrust any more than it rewards blanket trust, because one of Uncle Sirisena's messages is correct, and ignoring everything means missing it.

The educational design is in the asymmetry: the false content is faster and easier to act on. The verification requires navigating to another location. That friction is the point. Real misinformation spreads because checking takes effort and sharing takes a second.

10.1 Content Formats

• Text forward: Looks like a news article. Has a headline, a body, and a source that sounds plausible.
• Voice note: Cannot be easily fact-checked because there is no text to search. Player reads a written transcript summary, not the audio itself - because audio is inaccessible without transcripts (WCAG compliance).
• Screenshot: An image of something allegedly said by a real institution. Player must evaluate whether the institution would say this and whether the formatting looks correct.
• Video clip: Shown as a still frame with a caption. The caption may or may not accurately describe what is in the video.

10.2 Player Response Options

• Share immediately: Fastest option. Requires no navigation. If the content is false, triggers the cross-zone consequence system immediately.
• Ignore completely: Safe if content is false. Costly if content is accurate - some accurate information comes through Uncle Sirisena and ignoring everything he sends means missing it.
• Check the Elections Commission board: Always available but takes time - the player must physically navigate to the town square and find the relevant notice. This simulates the real friction of verification.
• Ask Nandadasa Mahaththaya: Slowest option. Only available during office hours (posted on the door and not generous). But he is always right. He has never forwarded anything in his life.

10.3 Uncle Sirisena's Complete Message Schedule

10.4 Interactive Decision Trees - All Six Scenarios

Click any choice to reveal its consequence and gauge impact. Each scenario maps to one Uncle Sirisena message in the schedule above.

10.5 Kumaran's Language Barrier Scenarios (Documented - Locked Path)

Kumaran's path explicitly involves trilingual inclusion mechanics that impact his ability to participate. Kumaran himself remains locked until a later phase (see Section 22.1), but these scenarios are fully designed now so they're ready to activate the moment his path unlocks.

Scenario A: The Sinhala-Only Form (Grama Sevaka Office)

Context: Kumaran attempts to transfer his voter registration. The required form is only available in Sinhala. Nandadasa is trying to help, but his Tamil is limited.

Scenario B: Polling Station Instructions (Week 0)

Context: At the polling station, the presiding officer mispronounces Kumaran's name and issues verbal instructions in rapid Sinhala. Kumaran needs to ensure he doesn't spoil his ballot.

13. Game State Specification (Vanilla JS)

The game is built entirely using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The Godot engine approach was deprecated to ensure immediate web compatibility and lightweight DOM manipulation. The game operates in a fixed 1920x1080 canvas scaled dynamically via script.js.

All progression is tracked locally and stored via localStorage (using keys: plv_save, plv_achievements, plv_completed_chars, plv_textsize).

window.gameState = {
  core: {
    character: 'karunasena' | 'kamala' | 'kumaran',
    language: 'en' | 'si' | 'ta',
    textSize: 'standard' | 'large' | 'extra-large',
    week: 6,
    sessionStart: timestamp,
    sessionId: uuid,
    sessionCount: 1
  },
  gauges: {
    civicTrust: Number,
    informationHealth: Number,
    voterParticipation: Number
  },
  flags: {
    visitedLocs: [],
    completedLocs: [],
    achievements: [],
    endingReached: null,
    secretEndingReached: false,
    registrationComplete: false,
    sharedFake4amMessage: false,
    verifiedAtBoardCount: 0,
    skepticsCafeUnlocked: false
  },
  dialogue: { active: false, currentLine: 0, lines: [] }
}

19. Achievement System - Design Philosophy

Half the achievements are funny. Half are genuinely meaningful. None of them tell the player what to do next. The funny ones should make a first-time player laugh when they read the name before they understand it. The meaningful ones should feel like quiet acknowledgments of something the player actually did, without applause.

This system exists for one practical reason: an education game that takes itself too seriously is one nobody finishes. The achievements give players a reason to replay and reward the curiosity that drives deeper learning.

Storage and Display

• Achievements are stored in the same gameState localStorage object as everything else. No external platform required for MVP.
• The Achievements screen is accessible from the main menu only. It is not accessible mid-game.
• The screen shows all 28 achievements including locked ones. Locked achievements show their name but the description is replaced with a placeholder dash. The player has to earn it to read what it says.
• Four achievements are fully hidden when locked - they appear as a blank tile with a question mark. The player does not know these exist until they unlock them.
• The screen shows a simple counter: X / 28 Unlocked. No percentage. No rarity. No global statistics. Just the number.

Notification Types

• Silent: Achievement appears in the Achievements screen with no in-game notification. Player discovers it when they next visit the screen. The majority of achievements are silent.
• Immediate pop-up: A small card appears at the bottom right of the screen for 3 seconds before fading. Used only for 5 specific achievements that benefit from immediate acknowledgment. No sound. Subtle animation only.

Hidden Achievements (4 total)

These four achievements show as question marks until unlocked. Their names and descriptions are only visible after being earned:

• The Unbroken Chain - secret ending
• Thirty Years in the Same Room - Road File
• Somebody Had to Ask - Sergeant's Transfer thread
• You Found the Cafe - Skeptics Cafe

23. Version History