The Shape of a Story: Freytag's Arc in Four 2D Panels

The 3D version of this simulator renders Freytag's Pyramid as a ribbon in space, watched through an orbiting camera. This 2D-native companion runs the exact same tension formula — a smoothstep-powered rising branch, Gaussian complication bumps, and an exponential falling branch — but reads it through four flat plots instead of one 3D shape: the tension arc itself with act flags and complication markers, a full velocity trace across the whole story instead of one instantaneous number, a segmented five-act timeline, and a tension-vs-velocity phase portrait that traces a closed loop as the reader marker travels the story. A steepness slider exposes a parameter the 3D version only reaches through its two presets, making the climb's shape directly tunable.