The Scenario Tree

A Scenario Is a Tree

In KickViz V3 a scenario is a tree of branches. The root branch is the start of the play — the first thing anyone sees. From any branch you can split into one or more sub-branches, and each of those can split again. That is how a single drill becomes a whole story: the same kick-off, but what happens next depends on which branch is played.

Crucially, every branch owns a complete timeline of its own: its own length, its own tracks for every item, and its own keys. Branches are not small add-ons to one shared timeline — each one is a full timeline, and the tree is what sequences them.

A sample flow makes the shape obvious: one start, a decision at every step, and paths that end in different ways — a goal, a save, keeping the ball, or losing it. The solid line is the default (priority 1) continuation; the dashed line is the alternative.

Two Views of the Bottom Panel

The bottom panel — the band the timeline strip uses — shows one of two views:

• Edit — or double-clicking a branch row — enters that branch's timeline.
• The ‹ BACK button, in the ruler above AUTO, commits your edits and returns to the tree.

The Three Columns

The tree header shows the scenario name and how many branches it has, next to the Edit and ▶ Master Play buttons. Below it are three columns:

Splitting a Branch

1. Select the branch that should end the current stretch of play — the last thing on that path.
2. In the POSSIBLE NEXT column, click + Add sub-branch.
3. A new branch appears under POSSIBLE NEXT, and the branch you were on becomes a decision point.

• The new branch starts where its parent ended, so the story continues seamlessly.
• Adding one does not jump you into it: it simply appears, ready to be selected and edited when you want.
• A branch with no sub-branches shows a hint in POSSIBLE NEXT — add one to split the story at the end of its timeline.

To add a branch that carries on from the same point instead of from the end of this one, use + Add sibling branch at the bottom of the CURRENT · SIBLINGS column. It sits alongside the selected branch under the same parent — the right tool when one moment in the play can go two different ways from where it starts. The root has no parent, so it offers no sibling button.

What a Child Branch Inherits

A sub-branch's first keyframe at 00:00 is inherited from where its parent ended: every item continues from the exact state the parent finished in. That key is read-only — it is locked (🔒) in the timeline and edits to it are refused, because letting it move would break the join between the two branches. Edit the parent's end instead, and the child follows.

Priority and the Default Continuation

Each branch row carries a number box — its priority within its sibling set. Order 1 is the DEFAULT continuation: what plays when nothing else has been chosen. A branch at order 1 shows a DEFAULT tag on its row.

• Type a new number, or use the ▲ / ▼ buttons on the selected row to move it up or down in priority.
• Priority is only an initial value. As soon as you pick a branch yourself, your pick is what plays — see below.
• When a timeline ends, play continues into the order-1 sub-branch unless a pick says otherwise.

Renaming, Re-prioritising, Removing

Selecting a row reveals its name field; the selected row also carries its action buttons:

Reusing a Branch's Timeline

When two branches should play out the same way, build it once: open the branch you want to reuse, click ⧉ on its row, then select the branch you want it in and click ⎘. That branch's keys and timeline length are replaced by the copied ones — nothing is merged with what was there.

The branch you paste into keeps its own identity: its name, its place in the priority order and its sub-branches all stay as they were.

A paste is one undo step (Ctrl/Cmd+Z), and the clipboard only lives for your session — it is not saved with the scenario.

Selecting a Branch vs Looking at One

Clicking a row selects that branch: it becomes the current branch — the one the timeline shows and plays, and the one the viewport follows immediately. Clicking the branch that is already current changes nothing, so it never rewinds your playhead. A small ▶ marks the branch that is open in the timeline.

Switching to a different branch keeps your place in the play. The playhead's position is carried across as a fraction of the timeline, not as seconds, so half way through the branch you are leaving is half way through the branch you arrive in — whatever either length is. See The Master Timeline for what that looks like on the bar.

Your Picks Define the Path

Selecting a branch records it as your pick for that sibling set — and for every set on the way down to it, so the path a play-through follows actually reaches it. Picked branches are drawn with a green edge in the tree, so the chosen path is readable wherever you are.

• Your picks are what the master timeline plays. Sets you have not touched fall back to their DEFAULT (order 1) branch.
• Selecting a branch that is already on your chosen path only looks at it — walking back up your own path never re-chooses the default.
• Picks live in the session only: they are never saved with the scenario, and a freshly loaded scenario starts from the defaults again.

Read on: The Master Timeline & Your Path → Working in a Branch’s Timeline.