settled-reach/decisions/scope.md

Scope Decisions

What we're building: game concept, design pillars, prototype definition, map specs, POI system.

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D-001: Build a custom game, not a mod

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: We are building a standalone game, not a Stellaris mod.
• Rationale: No existing game provides the right combination of character-driven dynasty play, wormhole-centric space map, and deep internal politics that the Commonwealth universe demands. Stellaris gets the map right but characters wrong. CK3 gets characters right but the map wrong. Neither supports wormhole-as-infrastructure as a core mechanic.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen), after team debate across Rounds 1-3.
• Dissent: None. Team unanimously supports after discussion.

D-003: Commonwealth is the first campaign, not the only possible one

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: Build a character-driven space grand strategy framework/engine, with the Commonwealth universe as the first campaign/scenario.
• Rationale: Avoids locking into one IP. The framework has broader value. The Commonwealth provides a rich, opinionated first use case that forces good design decisions.
• Raised by: Gore (Transhumanist Fan), endorsed by team.

D-005: Core concept - single character, first-person, story-generator

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: The game is a first-person, single-character experience. You select a character at game start and play from their perspective. The world is a rich simulation experienced through one person's keyhole view.
• Supersedes: D-002 (dynasty grand strategy concept)
• Elevator pitch: "Pick a character. Step into the Commonwealth. Figure it out."
• Key pillars:
  • Single character selection - who you pick determines where you start, what you know, what you can do, and what you care about
  • Asymmetric information as core mechanic - you only know what your character knows. Others lie, withhold, reveal. The same world-state looks completely different from different characters
  • Rimworld-style story generator - an AI storyteller paces events for dramatic tension. Structural randomness (who's compromised, where evidence is) set at game start. Dramatic randomness (when things happen) driven by pacing
  • Wormhole network as traversable infrastructure - you physically move through wormholes between locations
  • Crisis events emerge from simulation - not timers, not scripted, but consequences
  • Replayability through perspective - same conspiracy, different character, completely different game
• Design references: Rimworld (storyteller/systems), Disco Elysium (character-driven investigation), Sunless Skies (atmosphere/travel), King of Dragon Pass (event-driven decisions)
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen), evolved through Rounds 4-6 with full team input.
• Dissent: None. Team unanimously energized by the pivot.

D-002: Dynasty grand strategy concept [SUPERSEDED]

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: Original concept was a dynasty-based grand strategy game where the player controls a family/faction across generations.
• Superseded by: D-005 (single character, first-person concept)
• Rationale for change: The dynasty model spread the player's attention across multiple characters, diluting the information asymmetry mechanic. Single-character perspective makes "what you know" the central gameplay tension.

D-006: Prototype scenario — Institute/Armstrong/Guardians [SUPERSEDED]

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: The first playable prototype focuses on the Starflyer conspiracy arc, scoped to the investigative/political hub: the Institute, Armstrong City, and the Guardians of Selfhood. This tests the core mechanic (asymmetric information in a conspiracy) with controllable scope.
• Rationale: The conspiracy arc IS asymmetric information. If it's not compelling at this scale, a galaxy won't fix it. If it works, everything else is expansion.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen).
• Superseded by: D-027 (smuggler + detective vertical slice, 2026-02-10)

D-007: Five pillars of game design

• Date: 2026-02-08
• Decision: The game rests on five core design pillars. All systems must serve at least one.
• Pillars:
  1. Characters & Information - who you are, what you know, who you know. Asymmetric information is the master mechanic.
  2. The Wormhole Network - where you go, how you move through the world. Physical traversal of infrastructure.
  3. Society & Factions - the political landscape you navigate from inside, not above.
  4. Crisis & Storyteller - what the world throws at you and when. Rimworld-style AI pacing with structural + dramatic randomness.
  5. Action & Spectacle - what happens when it all goes loud. The punctuation, not the sentence.
• Raised by: Gestalt (pillars 1-4), Team Leader (pillar 5, citing Rimworld's shooter pedigree).

D-013: Diegetic insert/POI navigation system

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: The player's map interface is diegetic - it IS the character's neural insert (Commonwealth technology). Not a game UI bolted on, but the character literally checking their implant's navigation overlay. Points of interest appear on the map only when learned through gameplay.
• How POIs are learned:
  • Character background (starting knowledge based on who you are)
  • NPC interactions (contacts send locations, tips, "meet me here" pins)
  • Research (unisphere searches, case files, institutional databases)
  • Physical discovery (finding something while exploring)
• Different characters see different maps: A cop sees flagged locations from case files. A Guardian sees safehouses and dead drops. A Senator sees political venues. Same city, different POI layer.
• POIs can be manipulated: Tips can be traps. Locations can be outdated. Information channels through the insert system carry the same trust/deception dynamics as verbal information.
• Anti-Ubisoft: No "climb tower to reveal icons." Map fills at the pace of investigation. Early game: sparse, frightening. Late game: dense, and you realize how much you missed.
• Cross-reference: Perception mode overlay in D-017. Time display on insert in D-031.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen) proposed borderless + anchoring concept. Miri confirmed canon basis. Full team contributed mechanics.

D-014: v0.1 map specification

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: First playable tech demo map spec:

Layer	Spec
World map	3 worlds (Hub/Capital/Fringe), node graph with wormhole connections
Local maps	1 per world, ~150x150 tiles, 2-3 z-levels, chunk-based
Key locations	5-8 hand-crafted buildings/rooms per world embedded in procedural space
Ambient fill	Procedural from templates (district types vary per world)
Wormhole gates	Physical locations on local map, observable/traversable, social chokepoints
Fog	LOS-based shadowcasting with vision cone (forward/peripheral/blind), fog returns on departure
Sound	Stereo close-range + visual fog-edge indicators for medium range
Navigation	Diegetic insert minimap - dots when close, border arrows for known distant POIs
Camera	Locked to character, no panning, no rotation in v0.1
Monologue	Internal character voice for non-visual perception, atmosphere, diegetic hints
Perception	Natural vision + basic audio only. Thermal/cameras/tracking deferred to milestones
NPCs	~15 total across all worlds, on schedules, moving between locations
Art	Functional boxes with labels. Atmosphere carried by monologue and interaction models.

• Raised by: Full team across Rounds 8-10.

D-027: Vertical slice — smuggler + detective, two-character proof

• Date: 2026-02-10
• Decision: The proof-of-concept vertical slice is one station district containing: 1 workplace social site, 1 social venue (bar), 1 smuggling ring template, shared NPCs. Two playable characters: smuggler (logistics worker, insider access to criminal templates, social camouflage) and detective (institutional investigator, authority access, analytical). Success criteria: (1) 30 minutes of daily-life breathing room before contamination activates, (2) both playthroughs feel like fundamentally different games, (3) after each playthrough player names an NPC they felt conflicted about, (4) the observe→notice→follow→discover sequence emerges from systems not scripts.
• Supersedes: D-006
• Rationale: Smuggler + detective creates adversarial divergence — the detective's target IS the smuggler's daily life. Same templates, same NPCs, inverted relationships. Proves character-as-lens, contamination, life-sim attachment, and replayability simultaneously. Tyre confirms: ~20% more effort than single-character, no new architecture.
• Raised by: Team Leader (smuggler+detective choice), Nigel (two-character requirement), Ozzie (30-min runway), Gore (emotional criterion), Gestalt (systems criterion)
• Dissent: None

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9 decisions (7 active, 2 superseded). Last updated: 2026-02-11