# Credits Written by Autumn Chen Cover created using Canva. Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/5091415583 A Paradox Between Worlds was written using Choicescript by Dan Fabulich: https://github.com/dfabulich/choicescript Choicescript Save Plugin: https://github.com/ChoicescriptIDE/ChoiceScriptSavePlugin Source code: Will be released Testers: Thanks to annwu23, catgyrle, Kit Riemer, Felicity Banks, Travis Moy, Lyricismwithouttears. Thanks to the Choice of Games Forum community. A Paradox Between Worlds includes many references and allusions to real-life media, including some tumblr posts/copypasta that are included verbatim. A detailed list of references is below the walkthrough. # Settings Click "Settings" on the top bar. Here, you can disable page animations or change the color scheme to dark mode. Toggle "microblogging interface" to change the color scheme to resemble a certain microblogging site (or undo that). # Known Bugs (choicescript issues) If you reload the page, then you might see a premature game-over at the end of a chapter. To fix this, create a new save, restart, and load the save. In general, to fix errors, try creating a new save, restarting, and loading the save. You should be able to save even after an error has occurred, though some information might be lost. **************************************************** # Walkthrough ## Gaining followers Here is how you can gain followers: - reblog a lot, but not too much (between 10-20 per session is optimal) - reblog consistently: stick to one alignment and ship, and one or two characters. Get that one alignment as high as possible. - for your favorite ship, pick the most popular ship, and pick the characters for that ship as your top characters. - in the fanfiction, pick the most popular ship. - Don't pick Tycho as your favorite character at the start. No one cares about Tycho :( ## Getting the endings Note: the endings are not necessarily exclusive. ### Ending 1 Luna ending - this is the most likely ending. Just like and reblog Luna's posts, join her groupchat, and help her out when she needs it. ### Ending 2 Neutral ending - avoid joining the groupchats and don't help Luna out. ### Ending 3 Claire ending - get a high relationship with both Claire and Sofia by liking/reblogging their posts, and join Claire's groupchat. Respond to all their messages and message whenever you have the chance, help them out, and agree with them against detractors in the groupchat. ### Ending 4 Sofia ending - get a high relationship with both Claire and Sofia by liking/reblogging their posts, join Claire's groupchat, respond to all her messages and message whenever you have the chance, and don't reveal her secret. ## Other achievements - Reading all the nebulaverse info: go to Show Stats -> Nebulaverse Background and click all of the options. - Reading all the blog posts: self-explanatory; don't get yourself blocked, and keep track of URL changes. - Send a callout: reblog one of the callout posts that will come around eventually. - Getting blocked: get someone's Green higher than their Blue, and get Green above 20. The simplest way to do so is to reblog posts tagged something like "do not reblog". ## Secret Achievements - People are talking: join two groupchats. You'll have to have a high relationship with both Luna and Claire by the end of the first chapter or the first half of the second. - I've never felt more alone: finish the game without joining any groupchats or messages after the first chapter. - Never think about death: Help Luna out in MV4. - A love they won't receive: make a fumbling romantic gesture in MV1 with Luna, or MV2 with Lux. These are probably the two most involved achievements: - Nothing's wrong...: Discover Sofia's secret, and tell it to Karla. You have to: - join both Luna and Claire's groupchats - Get high relationships with Karla and Sofia - In MV3, in Luna's chat, agree with Karla over Stella. If you have a high enough relationship with Karla, Karla then messages you telling you that she thinks Stella is sus. Agree to help her investigate. - say you'll help out Claire with Nebulacon in MV3. Following this, if you have a high enough relationship with Sofia, she'll message you asking to help out with Nebulacon. Say yes (or lie and say yes). Afterwards, message Karla about what Sofia said. - In MV4, look at Claire's groupchat (you don't have to agree with either of them). Then message Sofia and ask about Claire's plagiarism allegations. Then ask about Karla's suspicion. This should also get you the hidden achievement. - In MV5, message Karla, and tell her about Sofia's secret. - ...when nothing's true: Discover Sofia's secret, and don't reveal it. Same as above, but don't tell Karla the secret at the end. Alternatively, ignore Luna and Karla's paths entirely (this will also get you Sofia's ending). **************************************************** # Chapter-by-chapter references In which I explain almost every reference in extremely tedious fashion... (spoilers) ## Achievements All of the endings are named after songs from the album Pure Heroine by Lorde, and the other achievements are named after lyrics from that album, with the exception of the secret achievement. ## MV1 Opening quote: http://www.mammonmachine.com/mammon-machine-central-routing/2015/2/27/who-writes-us Second opening quote: https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/621845003063492608/spirit-money-lexxiechan-samfuckingb3ttl3y ### Names and URLs Many of the "poetic or meaningful expressions" are song lyrics. tender-is-the-night: Space Song by Beach House, or an F. Scott Fitzgerald book madeofstarstuff: Cosmos by Carl Sagan shadows-of-your-heart: a line in Cosmic Love by Florence and the Machine. beautyinthemoonlight: a riff on a line from Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen carry-on-my-wayward-children: Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas heads-inside-a-dream: from Buzzcut Season by Lorde Other hobbies or interests: nick-carraways: obviously a ref to The Great Gatsby defying-gravity: from the musical Wicked eclair-de-lune: Debussy! faberryunofficial: the faberry (Quinn/Rachel) ship from Glee moonlight-sonata: (funny how clair de lune just means moonlight in french... Claire and Luna... makes you think) stuckystan96: stucky is the ship of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes from Marvel destiel-johnlocked-in-the-tardis: Superwholock (Supernatural, Dr. Who, Sherlock - a major tumblr fandom from the early-mid-2010s) officialclassof2013: class of 2013 by Mitski (due to timeline stuff the protagonist is probably younger than the actual HS class of 2013) pureheroinebylorde: the album is basically the game's unofficial soundtrack. Memes: mostly self-explanatory. Immature jokes: mickeysdicksmasher: https://splendidland.tumblr.com/post/69619663115/my-idea-for-a-new-disney-world-ride-please-signal ### MV1 blog posts @lunan0va: "kin" was originally short for fictionkin or otherkin which is... uhh... The term has undergone some linguistic evolution. To "kin" a character can mean that you believe that you're literally the fictional character, or it could mean that you just strongly identify with the character. Lux kins (sense 1~2) Bruno, while Karla kins (sense 2) Capella. I've shied away from the concept of "kin drama" in this story despite it being a big part of some fandoms because it's basically incomprehensible. @nebulascribbler: "Do you love the color of the sky" - https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/623202863013822464/nurmengardx-not-enough-fandom-boywonder99 "Half full, half empty" - this is a reference to "All or Nothing", a well-known tumblr crowdfunding operation. https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/620847424386301952/mosticonicposts-spacedyke-turntechkhaleesi @apocalypse-hoarder: "my lover's the sunlight" - Take Me to Church by Hozier @trappedinspace: @dinglings is a reference to Chinese writer Ding Ling. @luxemburgs is obviously a reference to Rosa Luxemburg. #gpoy stands for "gratuitous picture of yourself" and was a common selfie tag on tumblr in the old days. #girlslikeus is often used as a hashtag by trans women. Titles for your fanfic: obviously the lyric titles are from Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. In general: The multiversal-travel conceit for "your fanfic" was loosely inspired by the Homestuck fanfic "Worlds Like Breaking Mirrors" https://archiveofourown.org/works/16410167/chapters/38416442, which was in turn inspired by the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire. The idea for Luna's trans!Gali headcanon was inspired by June Egbert from Homestuck, as well as by the trans princess Marco headcanon from Star vs the Forces of Evil. Luna's fanfic was very loosely inspired by the Homestuck fanfic "An Earth-Shattering Confession" https://archiveofourown.org/works/999745/chapters/1979475. *** ## MV2 Opening quote - https://charlottelennox.livejournal.com/887.html ### MV2 blog posts @lunan0va/@trappedinspace: "Beneath the Stars" - vague reference to Samson by Regina Spektor. @shadow-protectrix: The "ball pit" is a reference to Dashcon, a real-life tumblr convention in 2014. @nebulascribbler: "Jupiter in her hair" - Drops of Jupiter by Train @apocalypse-hoarder: "This is someone dying while having an MRI scan" - verbatim copypasta from https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/643400444682567680/weedox-teenage-dramass-cryptic-voices The URL @sevenpennies is a reference to tumblr user sixpenceee. The post that starts with "Predictions for End of the Shadow Nebula" is full of references: @komm-susser-todd - Neon Genesis Evangelion @anillusivewoman - Mass Effect @blick-winkel - Ever17 @tjlc-johnlocked - Sherlock (BBC) @puellainsomnio - Puella Magi Madoka Magica The entire "metaphor for the Obama administration" post is ripped off a homestuck meme/copypasta: https://68.media.tumblr.com/0023dc274f29e7589cf19e102782a44d/tumblr_inline_o5jba3V6nl1rfpayp_540.png @trappedinspace: @kshamasawantofficial - a reference to US politician Kshama Sawant. @evelyn-ecstasy - a character in Slammed! from Choice of Games. Others: the "shipficator" was inspired by the quadrants from Homestuck. ### MV2 blog posts, part 2 "The Entire Script of Bee Movie" was a common tumblr meme back in the mid-2010s: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bee-movie-script-according-to-all-known-laws-of-aviation OT5 Thursday was inspired by this tumblr post: https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/644571901448077312/heritageposts-heritageposts-heritageposts "Mars, Bringer of War" is a reference to The Planets by Gustav Holst. "Blue Lips" by Regina Spektor was used in a number of very popular fandom videos - for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWC16tibFcE "Hatsune Miku wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow Nebula" was inspired by a genre of tumblr posts of the form "Hatsune Miki made Minecraft". Alexandria's Genesis is an old internet copypasta: https://heritageposts.tumblr.com/post/624573111221862401/lmprovident-theprettychoice-deactivated2015 *** ## MV3 Opening quote: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3275858 ### MV3 blog posts "the beauty queen in tears" is from Tennis Court by Lorde. The post that starts with "Yeah I love the dark nebula universe by gt macintosh" is a reference to this tumblr post from thebootydiaries: https://thebootydiaries.tumblr.com/post/139810553977/causeilovejesus-thebootydiaries I'm pretty sure the campfire save point post was another genre of tumblr posts. For the backstory on "All or Nothing", see https://schrodingersnerd.tumblr.com/post/166983628063/all-or-nothing-what-happened-to-the-5899. *** ## MV4 Opening quote: https://kumagawa.tumblr.com/post/149460046939/had-a-dream-obama-and-the-guy-who-plays-air-guitar @gnosticgardener is a reference to gardenGnostic, Jade Harley from Homestuck. "are you the hero of this story?" - loosely based on Hero by Regina Spektor "lorde was right." - this post references Buzzcut Season and Royals by Lorde. *** ## MV5 "La mort de l'auteur" is Roland Barthes' famous essay "The Death of the Author". Opening quotes: http://www.mammonmachine.com/mammon-machine-central-routing/2015/2/27/who-writes-us, https://www.homestuck.com/story/5642 [cartoon image of a dog in a burning room saying "This is fine"] - this is a reference to KC Green's comic: http://gunshowcomic.com/648, https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-fine "Why frick-frack when you can snick-snack": this phrase originated on tumblr (I can't find the origin). You too can buy shirts with this design (I can't seem to find the original artist). ************************************************** # Inspirations + Reading List Some of these are direct influences that I took conscious inspiration from. Others are just stories that are somewhat similar, or possible subconscious inspirations. Some are stories I read after writing APBW that seemed to be relevant. ## Fandom history - Kaavya Viswasnathan/Opal Mehta: https://lithub.com/getting-inside-the-mind-of-a-plagiarist/?single=true - Msscribe: https://fanlore.org/wiki/List_of_MsScribe%27s_Socks - Cassandra Claire: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Cassandra_Claire - TJLC (the Johnlock conspiracy): https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Johnlock_Conspiracy - hivliving: https://fanlore.org/wiki/What_happened_with_hivliving - Dashcon: https://fanlore.org/wiki/DashCon, https://dashcon.tumblr.com/ - Destiel 2020: https://www.insider.com/destiel-is-canon-supernatural-dean-castiel-memes-tumblr-2020-11 - fanlore.org in general - heritageposts.tumblr.com - memedocumentation.tumblr.com ## Books - Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (I stopped reading halfway through but this book was probably the single biggest inspiration for APBW.) - Enter Title Here by Naomi Kanakia - Every Heart a Doorway + The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire - Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian) by Hazel Jane Plante - The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood I read the books below after much of APBW had already been written (I kind of went on a YA-reading binge). It just so happens that there are a lot of YA books about fandom-adjacent drama and tumblr in particular. - Ship It by Britta Lundin - Radio Silence by Alice Oseman - Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - Scarlett Epstein Hates It Here by Anna Breslaw - Beauty Queens by Libba Bray ## Games/IF - Secret Little Haven - Creatures Such as We - Lore Distance Relationships - Don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story - Digital: A Love Story - Analogue: A Hate Story/Hate Plus - Lost Memories Dot Net - Cibele - Excalibur (Spring Thing 2021) - Photopia - A Normal Lost Phone - Lifeline 1/2 ## Fanfiction - THEATRE OF COOLTY: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3275858 - Let There Be Light/An Earth-Shattering Confession: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999745/chapters/1979475 - Worlds Like Breaking Mirrors: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16410167/chapters/38416442 ## Music Here's a playlist that includes almost all of the songs referenced: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2H12L5BbBrOxsiApjdvwBz Pure Heroine by Lorde is the de facto soundtrack to this game. I listened to the album on repeat as I wrote it. ## Major fandoms Homestuck, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Superwholock (Supernatural, Dr. Who, Sherlock), Star vs the Forces of Evil (only for the headcanon), Glee ## Other media - Sarah Z's youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/SarahZ/videos - Strange Aeons' youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3SCCWI_mdE - TJLC Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAuSka6bMks - https://emilyvdw.letterdrop.com/p/rainbow-cake-recipe