#tim stevens

i got permission from jay tholen to post this, last year he showed off to the official hso server a document from the development period of the endgame with a TON of unused dialogue, emails and interactions from HAP staff as well as an unused final news segment after dylan's confession and new game+ email! know that none of this is CANON, as it didn't make it into the final game and there are a lot of things that changed, but it is a REALLY cool read with a lot of interesting characterization to see what could have been!

some highlights i enjoy, though i do recommend reading all of this for yourself if you're interested:

originally the HAP members were going to email both eachother and you much more frequently and have more in-depth conversations with eachother, and clues would be hidden in those emails (no mention of re3koning, i assume this was a period of development before they became plot-relevant) - i see why this was changed as this could've easily become overwhelming and jay tholen has expressed that he prefers less text-heavy stuff (like the short eulogies in the final game), but still really neat from a characterization standpoint

the mindcrash seems to have originally been more of a brain damage thing, reference to hypnospace making people "crazy" and one survivor of the mindcrash being described as speaking nonsense and not remembering any of it

riots after the mindcrash?! this is implied in canon (merchantsoft getting raided) but outright stated here. the mindcrash is also described as killing dozens, presumably more than the victims we're familiar with - one of which was originally going to be the trennis lady!

HAP seems to be a larger-scale operation here, described as being a few years old, after dylan's confession interest in hypnospace is revived and HAP becomes very well-known

dylan reveals he and roddy weren't actually childhood friends and it was a pr maneuver to come up with an explanation for why dylan was using his code, but they grew to be genuinely close

in general dylan's characterization leans a bit more into the "unhinged rich guy" aspect, outright described as a billionaire, and when you start investigating he freaks out and cancels an entire cruise, which is something he has the power to do (LOL???)

tamara had a crush on chowder man :'] i'm sorry girl your secret is not safe with me

tim getting really heated about chowder man's rebrand, because "chowder isn't even krunchy. i mean what the heck" - also asks for a game like the freelands, aw

sam showing the bullring to her dad :']

fre3zer's songs become lost media?!?

tim looking at his old hypnospace account after being let out of prison, finding m1nx actually wanted him in now because the mindcrash hurt people! (again, no mention of re3koning so i assume this was before m1nx had more of an antihero role, still, that is so dark!)

sam expresses a lot of guilt for working at merchantsoft, saying people suffered and died because she kept her head down and didn't speak up :(

tim giving a heartfelt email about tiffany and thanking the archival team for letting him be a part of it and preserving her life :((

artie calling the internet a mistake after seeing porn of the hypnospace logo and apologizing after "realigning his chakras" lol

artie emailing the others limericks and haikus to keep spirits up aw

dylan talking about how he never appreciated hypnospace at the time, lamenting that it wasn't "his" anymore but growing to appreciate its community in retrospect

tim talking about his relationship with religion, having christian family and being confused by how bitter christians on hypnospace were, not reconnecting with his faith until prison, the others all weigh in, really interesting conversation

tamara opens all her subject lines with "good heavens!", cute - talks about misogyny on hypnospace, expresses sympathy for people in the open-eyed zone, in general talks the most about the community on hypnospace, and the safety she found in the cafe zone :']

there was originally going to be a more formal postgame, as opposed to just letting you freeroam after the credits, the in-universe explanation being that HAP has gotten very popular after the news about dylan breaks and you need to sort through all the stuff people have been sending in!

*phil spencer voice* this week we'll be helping a rugby-playing welsh wizard find out where his priorities lie; is it really location, location, location, or is his heart just not really in it?