This atlas provides the cross-cutting visual models for V5's six-cell open-world
narrative universe. It covers cell composition, investigation flow, durable
evidence, case lifecycle, module ownership, product estate, content production,
and release evidence. The focused documentation and current implementation,
assets, tests, builds, rights, and operations remain authoritative.
flowchart TB
Player[Player surfaces] --> Host[V5 world and ruleset host]
Host --> Urban[Urban crime]
Host --> Period[Period drama]
Host --> Frontier[Frontier]
Host --> Hunter[Monster hunter]
Host --> Squad[Galactic squad]
Host --> Vacuum[Hard vacuum]
Urban --> Shared[Shared gameplay world services and presentation]
Period --> Shared
Frontier --> Shared
Hunter --> Shared
Squad --> Shared
Vacuum --> Shared
Shared --> Mind[Mind Palace evidence and deduction]
Shared --> Online[Authority persistence cross-play and live service]
Creator[Case authoring and workshop] --> Corpus[(Versioned case and content corpus)]
Corpus --> Mind
Mind --> Evidence[(Cases clues deductions saves replays and audits)]
Online --> Evidence
Evidence --> Release[Build rights compliance quality and operations]
All six cells compose shared foundations, but their movement, combat, vehicle,
world, narrative, and content rules remain cell-owned. Mind Palace is a
cross-cell investigation contract, not a license to collapse each cell's
authored truth.
sequenceDiagram
actor Player
participant Surface as Investigation surface
participant Case as Case authority
participant World as Cell world state
participant Evidence as Evidence ledger
participant Deduction as Mind Palace
participant Narrative as Dialogue and consequence
Player->>Surface: Inspect scene person or object
Surface->>Case: Request observation in current revision
Case->>World: Validate reachability state and authority
World-->>Case: Authoritative observation context
Case->>Evidence: Record discovered evidence with provenance
Evidence-->>Surface: Visible clue and disclosure
Player->>Deduction: Propose link hypothesis or accusation
Deduction->>Case: Validate against immutable authored truth
alt unsupported or premature
Case-->>Surface: Refusal contradiction or missing support
else supported
Case->>Narrative: Commit consequence and new world revision
Narrative-->>Surface: Dialogue quest and world outcome
end
The player-visible clue, durable discovery, deduction proposal, authored truth,
and resulting world consequence are distinct. Presentation may obscure or
dramatize, but it cannot mutate the canonical solution to reward a guess.
Case truth, cell world, player session, discovery, deduction, and consequence
versions remain separate so save/load, workshop update, correction, replay, and
rollback do not rewrite history.
stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> Draft
Draft --> Structured: schema cast truth clues and solution complete
Structured --> Validated: referential logic and rights checks pass
Validated --> Playtestable: assets dialogue triggers and world bindings exist
Playtestable --> Reviewed: QA accessibility safety and quality pass
Reviewed --> Published: immutable compatible case version released
Published --> Active: eligible world and player session uses version
Draft --> Rejected: incomplete invalid or prohibited
Playtestable --> Revision: contradiction dead end or quality failure
Revision --> Structured
Published --> Retracted: rights safety or correctness issue
Active --> Migrated: compatible successor chosen for new sessions
Retracted --> [*]
Rejected --> [*]
Migrated --> [*]
Published versions are immutable. Correction or rights withdrawal creates a new
version or retraction policy; it does not silently change the truth behind an
active save.
classDiagram
class V5Host {
activateCell()
loadWorldRevision()
}
class CellPlugin {
ruleset
movementModel
contentPolicy
}
class SharedGameplay {
GAS
perception
morality
}
class MindPalace {
recordEvidence()
validateDeduction()
}
class CreatorSuite {
authorCase()
validatePackage()
}
class PlatformServices {
authority
persistence
crossplay
}
V5Host --> CellPlugin : activates
CellPlugin --> SharedGameplay : specializes
V5Host --> MindPalace : hosts
CreatorSuite --> MindPalace : publishes versioned case
V5Host --> PlatformServices : composes
PlatformServices --> CellPlugin : pins compatible versions
The authoring and runtime sides meet at versioned contracts. Creator tools
cannot write directly into an active case session, and a cell cannot bypass
platform authority or persistence.
mindmap
root((V5 estate))
Cells
Urban crime and bureau investigations
Period drama and historical authenticity
Frontier survival and traversal
Monster hunting and alchemy
Galactic squad and companions
Hard vacuum and Newtonian spaceflight
Cross-cell
Mind Palace and authored cases
GAS animation input and combat
Perception crowds morality and dialogue
Worlds vehicles mounts and ships
Creation and online
Creator suite corpus and workshop
Modes multiplayer and cross-play
Persistence progression and live service
Companion community and support
Platform
Accessibility localization and rights
Telemetry performance and testing
Build content and data pipelines
Security compliance release and operations
The estate is a reading index. Product-wide claims require evidence across all
applicable cells; a cell-specific capability must remain labeled as such.
journey
title From V5 narrative concept to supported case
section Research
Define cell truth sources rights and cultural posture: 5: Narrative, Rights
Author cast clue logic consequences and world bindings: 5: Content
section Validate
Check schema referential logic and reachable solution: 5: Tools, QA
Review dialogue assets accessibility safety and localization: 5: QA, Governance
section Integrate
Package immutable version and test runtime saves: 4: Engineering
Verify world authority services cook and compatibility: 5: Engineering, Release
section Operate
Publish cohort observe support and rights signals: 5: SRE, Product
Correct retract migrate or roll back with audit: 5: Owners
Research, authorship, logic validation, runtime realization, platform packaging,
and live operations all contribute distinct evidence.
timeline
title V5 release evidence
Contract : Six-cell scope and shared specialization boundaries
: Case content save service and compatibility schemas
Runtime : Cell gameplay world investigation and presentation
: Authority persistence cross-play creator and providers
Verification : Case logic journey save migration and adversarial tests
: Accessibility performance rights security and cook evidence
Candidate : Immutable content set platform certification and support
: Staged rollout observability recovery and rollback
Supported : Named cells modes platforms content versions and regions
: Current rights incidents regressions and operational proof
The sequence does not imply equal cell maturity. Each supported claim names its
cell, content version, platform, and evidence.
Use the landscape and estate for ownership, trace an investigation with the
sequence and data model, review content changes with the lifecycle/composition
models, and use the journey/evidence order for release. Continue to the
V5 guide, feature index, and
architecture index.