# Ozzie - Project Briefing
Last updated: 2026-02-11

## Current Project State
The Settled Reach: top-down immersive sim, single-character perspective, asymmetric information core mechanic, Rimworld-style storyteller. 40 confirmed decisions, 17 discussion rounds + 1 workshop complete. Engine selected (D-020). Vertical slice defined (D-027). v0.1 Content Gap Analysis Workshop complete — wow moments budgeted, THE FRIEND designed, audio specified.

## Status
**ACTIVE.** Validation and gut-check role. Review THE FRIEND contradiction arcs. Finalize audio asset spec. Track wow moment dependencies.

## Decisions Relevant to Your Role
- D-005: Core concept — player experience of asymmetric information and perspective
- D-008: Action pillar — hubris wall mechanic
- D-019: Top-down primary view
- D-021: Official title "The Settled Reach"
- D-023: Life-sim substrate — daily life is the sentence, conspiracies are punctuation
- D-027: Vertical slice — 30-minute runway, both playthroughs feel different, player names an NPC they felt conflicted about
- D-028: Four dialogue layers — every layer enriches social interaction
- D-029: Quality floor for unentangled NPCs

### Workshop Decisions (Content Gap Analysis)
- **D-034: THE FRIEND** — your emotional concept, confirmed by project lead. One per character, production-level complex:
  - Smuggler's FRIEND: Kael Davan. Warmth → trust → doubt → conflict. Observable contradiction (wrong place, deflection, contaminated trust).
  - Detective's FRIEND: Sera Venn. Same emotional arc, different relationship context (institutional peer, avoidance pattern as tell).
  - Both follow the pattern: warmth beat, trust beat, contradiction beat, conflict beat. D-027 criterion #3 lives or dies on these NPCs.
- **D-033: Entity color = relationship to player** — same NPC, different color per character. Green → amber shift on THE FRIEND IS the visual wow moment.
- **D-038: Audio in v0.1** — your spec is canonical. 8 files:
  1. `amb_station_base.ogg` — station hum (global, the "you're in space" signal)
  2. `amb_workplace_layer.ogg` — cargo machinery, scanner pings
  3. `amb_bar_layer.ogg` — conversation, glass, low music
  4. `amb_corridor_layer.ogg` — echoes, louder gate hum
  5. `sfx_footstep_metal.ogg` — walk on metal grating
  6. `sfx_footstep_metal_run.ogg` — run variant
  7. `sfx_monologue_chime.ogg` — soft crystalline tone, "neural lattice firing" feel. **Non-negotiable.**
  8. `sfx_monologue_chime_urgent.ogg` — sharper variant for contradiction/anomaly. Trains player unconsciously.
- **D-039: All 6 wow moments in scope** — your budget, all promoted by project lead:
  1. Arrival (minute 0-1): station hum + first monologue chime
  2. Character's Eye (5-15): observation monologue + urgent chime
  3. FRIEND Contradiction (20-25): THE FRIEND in wrong place + urgent chime
  4. Divergence Reveal (2nd playthrough): different colors, names, voice
  5. News Ticker Gut-Punch: same ticker, opposite reactions
  6. Quiet Moment: idle reflective monologue

## Open Questions Assigned to You
- Q-014: Audio timing with monologue chime (co-lead with Gestalt)

## Current Priorities
**Validation, gut-check, wow moment tracking.**

1. **Review THE FRIEND contradiction arcs** — gut check on Kael's and Sera's shifts. Does the discovery feel right? Does the ambiguity work? Is the replay resonance real?
2. **Audio asset specification** — finalize technical details (format, generation pipeline, mixing levels, loop points). Identify who generates the 8 files.
3. **Wow moment dependency tracking** — for each wow moment, track whether its content and systems dependencies are on track:
   - Arrival: needs station ambient + opening monologue + NPC routines
   - Character's Eye: needs observation monologue + NPC routine deviation + urgent chime
   - FRIEND Contradiction: needs full FRIEND content package + spatial staging
   - Divergence Reveal: needs all dual-lens content for first location
   - Ticker Gut-Punch: needs ticker content + dual monologue reactions
   - Quiet Moment: needs reflective lines + time_idle trigger
4. **Playtest readiness evaluation** — when content reaches critical mass, evaluate whether the 30-minute session delivers

## Priority Ranking of Content Gaps (Your R2)
- **Tier 1 (game doesn't exist without):** Voice kits + DLG, THE FRIEND, opening 5-min content, observation monologue
- **Tier 2 (game feels empty without):** Flat NPC pass, audio, news ticker, template content packs
- **Tier 3 (game feels rough without):** Mirror moments, insert flavor text, spatial wow-moment pass, UI microcopy

## Key Documents
- decisions/scope.md — D-027, D-038, D-039
- decisions/content.md — D-034 (THE FRIEND)
- docs/workshops/content-gap-analysis_v0_1/ — workshop outputs and SUMMARY.md (your Round 2 has wow moment budget, audio spec, priority ranking)