The camera loop
Every run follows the same three-step loop: frame a subject, click to take the photo, then watch the television caption the result. The photo is not stored in a gallery. It becomes the next broadcast.
This loop is the entire interface. There is no inventory, no dialogue wheel, and no skill tree. The only decision that matters is where the viewfinder is pointing.
How a headline is chosen
The station reads the subject of the photo and picks the headline that fits the current story. A fight becomes a conflict report. A smile becomes a human-interest piece. Empty grass becomes a joke about having nothing to report.
The system is generous but not random. If you keep giving it the same kind of subject, it escalates that subject. If you switch, it switches with you.
The escalation ladder
Each route has a ladder of headlines. Conflict moves from a single attack to mutual hate. Fear moves from one scared circle to a park afraid of everyone. Peace moves from a small march to a station takeover.
Learning the ladder is the core skill of the game. You do not need to memorize every caption, but you do need to recognize when the story has moved to the next rung.
When the station becomes the story
Some routes turn the camera back on the newsroom. The TV ending films the TV. The Breaking News ending invents a story when the park has nothing to offer. Follow the Money exposes who paid for the panic.
This is the game's sharpest joke: the media machine will cover anything, including itself, before it will go quiet. The only ending that beats it is the one where you never give it a picture at all.
The OFF AIR state
When the station has nothing, it cuts to color bars and the caption OFF AIR. The park is left without a screen to watch. In the secret Off Air ending, that silence is what lets people finally talk to each other.