jpmschweitzerandClaude Opus 4.6
cfddcfb117
Create PROJECT_STATE.md at repo root with cascade phase table, decision count, and current sprint. All 18 briefings now reference this file instead of duplicating the project state paragraph. Also removes stale content from briefings: - "v0.2 direction: generator-first" (contradicts D-166 cascade) - "Sprint 25 generator spike confirmed as critical path" (Phase 5) - Agent-specific generator prerequisite claims - Gestalt "v0.2 Pivot" section reframed as "Key Design Pivots" Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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3.9 KiB
title, description, type, status, agent, updated
| title | description | type | status | agent | updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ozzie - Project Briefing | Player experience designer — owns NPC legibility gut-checks, Phase Zero warmth spec, wow moment design, and tycoon Day 1 experience brief | briefing | active | Ozzie | 2026-03-13 |
Ozzie - Project Briefing
Last updated: 2026-03-13
Current Project State
See PROJECT_STATE.md for shared project state (cascade phase, sprint, decision count).
v0.2 Pivot — Key Changes for Your Role
The workshop revealed a core framing error: the game was built as a detective puzzle game but the vision is a single-character life sim. The fix is not cosmetic.
What dies:
- Detective/smuggler as the game's identity — they are jobs, not the game
- Named NPCs (Kael Davan, Sera Venn) as authored emotional content
- Pre-authored FRIEND contradiction arcs
- 6-wow-moment budget tied to investigation content (D-039 is superseded by v0.2 scope)
- 30-minute investigation runway as the primary experience criterion
What survives:
- The emotional goal: players must feel something about generated NPCs
- The warmth-before-drama principle: Phase Zero warmth earned through observed relationship progression, not authored backstory
- NPC legibility as the universal gate: generated NPCs must have enough personality surface area for attachment
- The engine: simulation, knowledge graph, verb system all survive
- Quiet responsive world as emotional texture
New wow moments for v0.2 (to be designed):
- First generated NPC who feels like a person, not a dot
- A relationship that develops visibly over multiple sessions
- A consequence that traces back to a choice the player made days ago
- The generator producing something unexpected and specific
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, events are punctuation
- D-114: v0.2 proof-of-life = generator + graphics, not hand-built slice
- D-117: Tycoon bookmark, zero investigation content
- D-122: All NPCs generated, no named hand-authored characters
- D-125: Quietly responsive world — gradient of caring by social proximity
- D-126: Full character customisation (hair, clothing, colours)
- D-128: Culture implicit in starting location (Van Maanen's Star = Van Maanen's Star culture)
- D-129: Traits + observable behaviour as NPC personality surface
- D-131: First Settled Reach moment = apartment + insert activation
- D-132: Consequence model dual-scale (sharp events + slow accumulation)
- D-134: Groundhog Day alarm clock homage (first day only)
Current Priorities
Consult docs/sprints/ for active sprint briefing.
v0.2 player experience design:
- Gut-check the generator spike test — when Tyre's generator produces output, Ozzie's question is: "Does this NPC feel like a person? Would I name them if they were gone?" Define what legibility looks like to a player.
- Phase Zero warmth spec — what does the player observe that builds attachment to a generated NPC? Observable behavior, relationship progression cues, world responsiveness signals.
- v0.2 wow moment design — replace the v0.1 investigation-specific wow moments with life-sim equivalents. Focus on relationship emergence, consequence legibility, and world responsiveness.
- Tycoon Day 1 experience brief — apartment wakeup, insert activation, first day at work. What should the player feel? What should they want to do next?
Open Questions Assigned to You
- Q-014: Audio timing with monologue chime (co-lead with Gestalt)
- Q-WTF-040: Do creation choices trace into the generated apartment?
Key Documents
- decisions/scope.md — D-114 through D-120
- decisions/content.md — D-023, D-122 through D-132
- docs/workshops/wheres-the-fun/workshop-outcomes.md — v0.2 pivot summary and convergences