Short vs Long Game summary (see the two init routines for full detail): AlienTargetID (33703): - Short Game = 9, hard-wired at 44751. Crucially, this is >= 8, which the alien-event guard at 41274 (TriggerAlienEvent's "CP 8 / RET NC") treats as "no valid target" — so the alien's targeted- stalk logic is effectively disabled in Short Game and the alien just roams. - Long Game = random pick from 41390 (LongGameTargetTable, values in {1, 2, 4, 6}) at 42357. Always < 8, so the alien actively hunts the chosen crew member. Chestburster host slot (HostMarker = byte+1=$FF, byte+7=$FF): - Long Game = exactly ONE slot, picked randomly via 41374 (LongGameHostSlotTable, values {1,2,5}). That crew is the chestburster host — message #33 enqueued at startup ("Alien has hatched from {actor}") substitutes this crew's name in. - Short Game = FOUR pre-stamped slots in the template: Dallas (1), Kane (2), Ash (4) and Brett (7) are out of play, leaving only Ripley, Lambert and Parker — the film's final act — and no host subplot. (The in-game "Android" of message #32 "{actor} hits the Android" is the crew slot selected into AlienTargetID 33703 — see the notes at 41390 and the activation logic in 40826.) Starting crew/alien record state at $7376: - Short Game = 41508 (ShortGameCrewInit) — four slots pre-stamped with the HostMarker, yielding a smaller "active" starting cast - Long Game = 41444 (LongGameCrewInit) — every slot starts with normal (non-$FF) data; LongGameInit then picks ONE slot via 41374 (LongGameHostSlotTable, values in {1, 2, 5}) and stamps the HostMarker on that record's bytes +1 and +7 Script-driven startup message: - Short Game does not enqueue any startup message - Long Game enqueues message #33 ("Alien has hatched from {actor}") carrying the host slot index via 37176 — the long game's opening narrative beat naming the chestburster host Both modes then fall through to 42380 (CommonGameInit), which finishes the per-session setup identically (alien position, animation tables, room mode = 1 corridor view). In short: the Short Game is a deterministic, abbreviated scenario; the Long Game uses the ROM-traversal script (33589) to randomise both the alien's first target and one tagged crew slot per run, producing a longer and more varied game.