settled-reach/docs/discussions/round-10-map-fog-borderless.md

title, description, type, status, round, created

title	description	type	status	round	created
Round 10: Map, Fog and Borderless Generation	Map size, fog of war, and borderless procedural generation design; three-world prototype; decided D-011 through D-014	discussion	archived	10	2026-02-09

Round 10: "Map size, fog, and borderless generation"

Team Leader (Jeroen): Morning, team. What will we aim for map-wise for the first playable version?

MIRI (Lore Expert)

Grounding in source: the Starflyer conspiracy plays across Earth (Senate, institutions), Augusta (CST hub, wormhole nexus), and various colony worlds (Guardian hideouts, evidence surfaces). We don't need the whole Commonwealth - enough to feel its shape.

NIGEL (Sandbox & Replayability)

Three worlds for the prototype, each with a distinct vibe:

1. The Hub (Augusta-inspired) - CST operations, commercial, transit. Access but exposure.
2. The Capital (Earth-inspired) - Senate, Institute/Serious Crimes, dynasty estates. Power and information.
3. The Fringe (colony world) - Guardian territory, less oversight, more freedom. Where evidence surfaces.

PAULA (Narrative & Political Depth)

The conspiracy thread runs ACROSS all three. Evidence on the Fringe. Power to act in the Capital. Infrastructure being manipulated at the Hub. No single location has the full picture. You have to move. Things happen where you aren't.

TYRE (Technical Architect)

Proposed two-layer structure: world map (node graph) + local maps (top-down Rimworld-style). Initially proposed 30x30 tiles per local map.

Team Leader (Jeroen): I'm not sure how 30x30 tiles relate to size and freedom. It feels too cramped - the only thing in it will immediately be what you're looking for.

GESTALT (Systems Design)

Correct. 30x30 is a Rimworld colony - you KNOW where everything is because you placed it. Our game is the opposite: navigating spaces you don't know, looking for things you're not sure exist. At 30x30 you see everything in seconds. No discovery, no "I chose docks instead of residential and missed the meeting." Information asymmetry collapses at small scale.

TYRE (Technical Architect)

Reframed: the question is "how long to cross, and what do you miss going one way?" Sweet spot: 5-10 minutes real-time to cross full map. Distinct neighborhoods. Contacts/tips valuable because they tell you WHERE to look. In tile terms: ~150-200 tiles across. Most is procedural atmosphere. Interactable content density stays the same - just embedded in larger space creating friction of distance.

PAULA (Narrative & Political Depth)

That friction IS the mechanic. "Guardian contact is somewhere in the lower docks, searching costs an evening" = real decision. What else could you do tonight?

OZZIE (Player Experience)

Large maps with ambient life = free atmosphere. Crowded markets, overheard conversations, news screens, bars with possible contacts. The atmosphere IS the gameplay surface.

Team Leader (Jeroen): I'm on board with 150x150 mostly ambient for the first tech demo. But I'd want to consider making it more akin to borderless generation like Minecraft, with a good POI/insert map system so people anchor by desire, not by force.

Also: Fog. I was thinking about this in bed. We're missing on information asymmetry by going top-down. Fog kinda solves that, but not the way first-person view would. Fog is the minimum requirement for this to feel alive in the right way, not an extra feature.

GESTALT (Systems Design)

Fog isn't a feature. Fog is the TAX we pay for choosing top-down instead of first-person camera. First-person gets asymmetry for free - can't see behind you. Top-down is omniscient within viewport unless we actively take that away. Without fog, the entire information pillar collapses locally. Fog is pillar 1 infrastructure.

TYRE (Technical Architect)

On borderless generation: fixed maps are "solvable" - walk every tile, mystery dies. Borderless means effectively infinite, can never solve it, mystery is permanent. For v0.1 keep bounded 150x150 but use chunk-based generation from day one. Bounded map = "only generate within this boundary." Removing boundary later = configuration change, not rewrite. Same principle as D-010.

MIRI (Lore Expert)

The insert/POI system is CANON. Commonwealth citizens have inserts - neural implants connecting to the unisphere. Built-in navigation, messaging, data access. The map screen IS your character checking their implant. POIs appear because someone told you, you researched them, or your credentials gave you access. Different characters see different POIs - a cop sees case-flagged locations, a Guardian sees safehouses, a Senator sees political venues. Same city, different map.

PAULA (Narrative & Political Depth)

Contacts can SEND you POIs. "Meet me here" drops a pin. Tips can be traps. The POI system becomes an information channel that can be manipulated.

GESTALT (Systems Design)

Navigation summary: start knowing very little. Learn places by being told, researching, or discovering. POIs decay/update. Anchoring by desire - the insert gives reasons to go places without funneling. Anti-Ubisoft: no tower-climbing icon reveals. Map fills at investigation pace.

Team Leader (Jeroen): Confirm all four decisions. Is fog line-of-sight?

TYRE (Technical Architect)

It should be. Radius fog = see X tiles regardless of obstacles. LOS fog = walls block vision, can't see around corners, buildings create blind spots, z-levels matter for sightlines. For this game, LOS is the only option:

• Corners/doorways become information boundaries
• Buildings opaque from outside
• Z-levels interact with vision (balcony = surveillance, basement = hiding)
• Action pillar needs it (hear gunfire two blocks away, don't know the situation)

Implementation: shadowcasting algorithms, well-documented and efficient (Cogmind, Caves of Qud, every good roguelike). v0.1: 2D shadowcast per z-level, vertical LOS deferred.

GESTALT (Systems Design)

Sound becomes a mechanic. Hear things outside LOS - footsteps, conversations, alarms, gunfire. Partial/directional information. "Something is happening THAT way, roughly THAT far." Decide whether to investigate on incomplete data. The game working at every scale.

PAULA (Narrative & Political Depth)

LOS applies to NPCs too. They can't see you = don't know you're there. They SAW you enter = infer you're inside. Same perception system for everyone. Ties to D-010 principle 2: information boundaries are universal.

SCRIBE (Documenter)

Confirmed as D-011 (fog as non-negotiable), D-012 (chunk-based architecture), D-013 (diegetic insert/POI system), D-014 (v0.1 map spec). Engine selection Q-001 now has additional hard requirements: shadowcasting support, chunk-based loading.