Fighting Game · Guides & deep dives

V2 to Hathor Narrative Authoring Contract

V2 may request a published Hathor world by immutable worldId and

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V2 does not author Story, Side Story, Krypt, Chronicles, or DJ Story source content in the Unreal editor. Hathor owns the source in apps/hathor/studio-web/; V2 consumes only compiled artifacts emitted by @hathor/lore-compiler and cooked by Bellona into generated UE assets.

Ownership Boundary#

Surface Source owner V2 input
Cinematic Story apps/hathor/studio-web/ compiled dialogue, Sequencer outlines, quests
Per-fighter Side Stories apps/hathor/studio-web/ compiled timelines, rivalry edges, endings
Krypt / reward-vault lore apps/hathor/studio-web/ compiled codex, quest graph, localization
Chronicles / Weapon Master campaign apps/hathor/studio-web/ compiled quest graph and strategy scenes
DJ Story / street career apps/hathor/studio-web/ compiled crew/faction arcs and cinematics

V2 may request a published Hathor world by immutable worldId and versionHash, but it must not ingest mutable authoring metadata into rollback or gameplay snapshots.

Required Authoring Records#

FighterTimeline#

Every launch fighter has one canonical per-fighter timeline record. Required fields:

Field Meaning
fighterId Stable roster id matching the V2 fighter data asset id
canonEvents Shared-canon events used by Story, intros, codex, and sequencer refs
storyChapters Main Story chapter ids where the fighter appears
sideStoryArcs Non-canonical or branchable character episodes
arcadeEndingIds Ending graphs this fighter can resolve to
careerForkInputs MyRISE / MyCAREER branch seeds that can fork player-specific history
compiledOutputKey V2/ue/Content/Generated/Timelines/<fighter>.uasset target key

Validation:

  • fighterId must resolve to a V2 roster id.
  • Every storyChapters entry must exist in the Story content pack.
  • Every arcadeEndingIds entry must resolve to a LadderEndingGraph.
  • Canon events are append-only once a Hathor world version is published.

RivalryMatrix#

The rivalry matrix is a roster-level relationship graph. Each edge contains:

Field Meaning
a, b Fighter ids; unordered for symmetric relationships
type nemesis, rival, friendly-rival, mentor, student, family-ally, family-nemesis, love-interest, respect, neutral
intensity 0.0 to 1.0 value used by intros, Story branches, and barks
motif Short stable motif key, such as ice-vs-fire
canonScope canon, what-if, career-fork, or post-launch-crossover

Validation:

  • No duplicate unordered pair exists in the same canonScope.
  • intensity must be numeric and clamped to [0.0, 1.0].
  • A non-neutral edge must reference at least one dialogue bank or Sequencer beat.
  • Cross-franchise edges must be gated by a release flag.

FactionMatrix#

The faction matrix maps fighters, crews, realms, stables, gyms, labels, and Chronicles kingdoms into relationship edges. Each edge contains:

Field Meaning
sourceFactionId Stable Hathor faction id
targetFactionId Stable Hathor faction id
stance ally, tense-ally, neutral, rival, war, or vassal
modeScopes V2 modes where the stance is active
unlockConditions Optional quest, timeline, or player-career gates
compiledOutputKey V2/ue/Content/Generated/Rivalry/FactionMatrix.uasset target

Validation:

  • Every faction referenced by Story, Krypt, Chronicles, or DJ Story appears in at least one matrix edge.
  • Directed stances such as vassal must declare direction explicitly.
  • Player-mutated career forks are emitted as save-scoped overlays, not changes to the published canonical matrix.

LadderEndingGraph#

Every fighter has at least one ladder ending graph. Required fields:

Field Meaning
endingGraphId Stable graph id
fighterId Fighter this graph belongs to
encounterNodes Ordered or branched fight nodes
bossNodeId Required final boss encounter
endingCinematicId Required Sequencer outline id
canonScope canon, what-if, joke, crossover, or career
compiledOutputKey V2/ue/Content/Generated/Quests/Arcade/<fighter>.json

Validation:

  • The graph is acyclic except for explicit challenge-loop nodes.
  • Every terminal path reaches bossNodeId and then endingCinematicId.
  • Non-canonical endings are tagged so Story Theater and codex do not present them as canon.

SideStorySequencerOutline#

Side Story cinematics are authored as Hathor Sequencer outlines, not UE Level Sequence source assets. Required fields:

Field Meaning
outlineId Stable scene outline id
surface story, side_story, krypt, chronicles, or dj_story
participants Fighter, NPC, faction, or venue ids
shots Ordered shot ids with camera intent, dialogue ids, and timing
branchHooks Optional player-choice or career-fork hook ids
localizationKeys String-table keys emitted with the compiled package
compiledOutputKey V2/ue/Content/Generated/Sequencer/<outline>.uasset target

Validation:

  • Each shot has a deterministic order, stable id, and non-empty camera intent.
  • Dialogue ids resolve to Hathor dialogue-bank records.
  • Branch hooks name authored branches only; V2 does not invent branches in UE.

Compiler Handoff#

@hathor/lore-compiler emits:

  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Dialogue/<surface>/
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Sequencer/<outline>.uasset
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Quests/<mode>/
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Timelines/<fighter>.uasset
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Rivalry/Matrix.uasset
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Rivalry/FactionMatrix.uasset
  • V2/ue/Content/Generated/Codex/
  • UE localization string-table exports

The compiler package must include a content-addressed manifest with worldId, versionHash, compiler package version, artifact hashes, and Bellona cook lineage ids. V2 stores only immutable ids and hashes in gameplay-facing snapshots.

Reciprocal Hathor Work#

The reciprocal Hathor backlog lives in docs/domains/hathor/deep-dive/specifications.md § 9.6. At minimum, Hathor must extend @hathor/domain-models, @hathor/narrative, and @hathor/lore-compiler with FighterTimeline, RivalryMatrix, FactionMatrix, LadderEndingGraph, and SideStorySequencerOutline before V2 Story Mode, Side Stories, Krypt, Chronicles, or DJ Story can ship.