The Long Way Round · game layer · screen mockups v1
Mobile-first, because she'll open it on her phone. Same palette and type as the promo so it feels like one thing. Your answer shows first on every card; her dial sets the temperature; the narrator only writes when you've both answered. Nothing to sign up for.
yoursite.com/r/·········
No password. No account. This link is yours and nobody else's — it's how the story knows which side of the car you're on.
I know. I made a website. Five years of messages and this is what you get.
01 · The door
The token link is the only login. The persona name takes over from here once she picks one. Film link goes to the promo you already have.
The road so far
Waiting on
Nothing — it's your move. He's already answered.
Next chapter unlocks
When you both have. There's no other way to open it.
02 · The road
Five beats as mile markers; amber fills as you both go. The odometer is the points total from missions. This is home — she lands here on every visit.
Shannon Airport, 2021
His version — he went first
"She came through arrivals with her mam and her sister and I'd only been asked to drive. Ten days later I'd have driven them to Moscow."
Say more if you fancy. Or don't.
03 · Chapter card
His answer is visible before she writes a word, every time. No "why" prompts — one optional "say more" line. His copy here is a placeholder in your voice; you overwrite it.
The map · 7 films, 20 seconds each
03b · Location films
Seven HeyGen-built films, one per stop, vertical, twenty seconds, warm voiceover and captions. She watches, then adds or skips — swipe right builds her route live on the map. Replaces the rating grid.
Mile 0 of 469
“ …the closest thing America has to the Wild Atlantic Way, and the only road on the trip I'd take slower than the speed limit. ”
03c · Inside a film
Animated map draw-on opens each film, then real footage with captions and the voiceover. The Ireland callback line appears in every one. Decision buttons sit over the last three seconds so she never leaves the film to answer.
Who are we this week?
Married on Tuesday. Nobody at the front desk needs to know it was in a gas station.
From what, we never say. Cash only. Different name at every hotel.
Reviewing everything. Rating everything. Rude about the coffee.
Blank. Yours. Better than mine.
04 · Personas
Three shortlist personas plus a blank. Whatever she picks becomes the names the app uses from here on — the narrator writes you both into it.
Chapter one · How it started
Written from both your answers. It'll get things wrong. That's half the fun.
05 · The narrator
Claude writes each chapter from the two answers, in the persona voice. "Read it to me" is ElevenLabs — a warm voiceover, no talking head. This is the engine of the whole thing.
Mission deck
Not a selfie. Ask someone.
DONE · SAVANNAHGas station. Under ten dollars. Wrapped in whatever's to hand.
You'll know it when you see it. Photo required.
Session, porch, car park. Stay till the end.
06 · Missions & the dial
The dial at the top filters which cards are dealt — nudge it and hotter cards appear, drop it and they disappear. No losing; points are the odometer. Completing one stamps it with where you were.
Sealed until night two
Locked · opens Sat 5 Sept, in the car
Yours
Sealed. Even you can't reopen it now.
His
Sealed on 30 Aug. You'll read it together.
Both must be sealed before either opens. Neither is visible before the date, to anyone.
07 · Sealed envelopes
One want each. Locks on submit; unlocks on a date, opened together in the car. Server-side lock, so it's real. This carries the heat without a single clinical word.
House rules
Either of us can bail on anything.Any plan, any time, no reason given, no sulking. This is the rule that makes the rest possible.
Nothing is scheduled.No plan for when. If it's the first night, good. If it's the third because we fell asleep laughing, also good.
The dial is hers.She sets it, moves it, and it's never questioned.
Nobody loses.Points go up. They never come down.
08 · House rules
Shown once on first open, then lives under the odometer. The right to bail is first and largest on purpose. Nothing about the courts, the kids, or the last five years appears anywhere.
The last morning
His
"Slow. Coffee somewhere with a view. And a plan for the next one before you're through security."
Say more if you fancy.
09 · Last morning
Peak–end rule: the ending is half the memory. One question each, released on the last day before the trip so the narrator can write the final chapter from it.
Two tokens, one table, one narrator. The narrator can't write a chapter until both rows exist — reciprocity is enforced by the database, not by politeness.