Act - 开演

What it controls

An act is a stage of the story. It limits which characters and locations may appear, states what changes, and explains when the stage can end. In Letter from Mist Harbor, the first act is Tide Before Midnight. It takes the player from receiving the letter to confirming that it came from someone still in the harbor.

Act panel with act name, characters, locations, progress direction, and closure basis — Chinese UI screenshot: act core fields

Act core

Field	What to write	Example	Player sees the result
Act name	A name that makes the stage easy to identify	`Tide Before Midnight`	Usually not shown as a page title
Main route	The previous and next connection	`Entry → Tide Before Midnight → Whether to Visit the Old Pier`	The player enters the connected stage
Available characters	People who may appear in this act	`Lin Zhou`	The player can meet these characters
Available locations	Places allowed in the act	`Tidebound Post Office`	The player can use the location
Progress direction	The causal change this stage must create	`Move from receiving the letter to confirming the sender is still in the harbor.`	Appears through scenes and actions
Closure basis	Observable facts and what the next stage inherits	`The salt mark is found; the next stage inherits the old-pier direction.`	The story moves on without inventing a jump

Write progress as the change, the direction, and the different actions that can reach it. Write closure as normal completion, early exit, and inherited facts. “Task complete” is not enough; state what the player can actually observe.

Foreshadowing

Field	Example
Foreshadowing name	`Salt mark on the envelope`
Content	`Salt appears only on the edge facing the old pier.`
Effect	`At the old pier, the tide mark matches the envelope.`

Events inside an act

Field	Example
Event summary	`Lin Zhou denies seeing the letter; the player checks the register; the time of delivery is confirmed.`
Suggested turns	`2–5 turns`
People	`Lin Zhou`
Location	`Tidebound Post Office`
Narrative intent	`Show that the letter was deliberately placed.`
Entry situation	`The player holds the letter in the dark lobby.`
Required question	`Was it placed tonight?`
Allowed result boundary	`Confirm delivery time, but do not reveal the sender’s identity yet.`

These are background fields. The player experiences the result through dialogue, observations, clues, and changed access—not through the field labels.

Player-facing check

If the act allows a player-visible location, character, item, clue, intelligence, or state, open the corresponding player page in a test session and confirm when it appears. The act name alone is not enough to explain what the player sees. Next: Branch.