settled-reach/decisions/perception.md

Perception Decisions

How the player observes and interacts with the world: camera, fog, line-of-sight, sound, monologue, perception modes.

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D-011: Fog of perception is non-negotiable (Pillar 1 infrastructure)

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: Fog of perception is not a feature - it's the minimum requirement for information asymmetry to work with a top-down camera. Without it, the player is omniscient within their viewport and the entire information pillar collapses at the local map level. First-person camera gets this for free; top-down must enforce it.
• Implementation: Line-of-sight based (shadowcasting), not simple radius. Walls block vision, buildings are opaque, corners create blind spots, z-levels interact with sightlines.
• Sound as secondary information channel: Events outside LOS can be heard - footsteps, conversations, gunfire, alarms. Sound gives partial/directional information, prompting decisions based on incomplete data.
• Applies to ALL entities: NPCs use the same LOS/perception system as the player. An NPC who can't see you doesn't know you're there. NPCs have memory and inference (saw you enter a building → knows you're inside). Ties to D-010 principle 2: information boundaries are universal, the player's isn't special.
• Fog returns when you leave: Previously explored areas revert to fog over time. Information about locations decays. What you saw at the docks yesterday may not be true today.
• v0.1 scope: 2D shadowcast per z-level + sound propagation. Vertical LOS (looking between floors) deferred.
• Rationale: Team Leader identified overnight that top-down without fog is a fundamental gap in the information asymmetry design.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen), with technical framing by Tyre and Gestalt.

D-015: Camera locked to character, rotation as future option

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: Camera is locked to the character at all times. No panning. Optionally rotates to character facing direction (player option, later version).
• Rationale: Pannable camera breaks the information model - you become a surveillance drone, not a character. Locked camera reinforces "you ARE this person." Rotation with facing direction restores directional audio mapping (binaural becomes viable again) and creates a natural vision cone (front = detailed, peripheral = reduced, behind = blind).
• Vision cone model:
  • Forward: full LOS, full detail
  • Peripheral: reduced range, dimmer
  • Behind: fog / blind spot. You can be snuck up on.
• Reference: Hotline Miami's camera made that game terrifying with the same principle.
• v0.1: Locked camera, no rotation. Vision cone still works on fixed-north map. Rotation deferred as player option.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen).

D-016: Internal monologue as core perception/atmosphere system

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: The player character has an internal monologue that narrates sensory information the camera can't show, creates atmosphere, provides diegetic hints, and can be an unreliable narrator.
• Functions:
  • Perception bridge: Translates non-visual senses into character voice. "Footsteps behind me. Two people, unhurried."
  • Atmosphere: Character's running commentary on environment, mood, situation.
  • Diegetic tutorial: Character thinks about what they might do. "That terminal might have access logs." No "press X" popups.
  • Unreliable narrator: Monologue is character's INTERPRETATION, not ground truth. Can be wrong. "Seems quiet. Safe to move." (It wasn't safe.)
  • Character voice: Varies by character background, mood, knowledge. Paranoid Guardian vs confident Senator walking the same street = different monologue = different experience.
• Production note (Nigel): Cheapest feature on the list - it's text. Thousands of contextual lines, AI-assistable generation, character-specific variants.
• Raised by: Emerged from team discussion. Tyre proposed text/log as sound option, team recognized broader potential.

D-017: Perception modes as character-build system

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: The fog/vision system supports multiple perception modes that vary by character build, equipment, and ascension level. Each mode reveals different information with different trust/quality tradeoffs.
• Confirmed modes:
  • Natural vision - detail, color, identity. Blocked by walls. Everyone has it.
  • Thermal - heat signatures through walls. Body count but no identity. Higher biononic / military gear.
  • Camera feeds - remote visual from fixed positions. Only where cameras exist. Feed can be spoofed/looped. Hacker, institutional access, insert exploit.
  • Unisphere tracking - location pings of known individuals. Only active inserts, can be masked. Law enforcement / intelligence access.
  • Audio analysis - sound signatures, direction, classification. No visual. Insert processing, trainable skill.
• Ascension scaling:
  • Baseline: natural vision + carried gear
  • Enhanced: insert-based modes, camera access, audio processing
  • Higher: biononic thermal, enhanced spectrum, passive scanning
  • ANA-touched: pattern recognition across all feeds, predictive awareness
• Playstyle implications (Nigel): Low-tech Guardian playthrough = survival horror (blind, relying on contacts and paranoia). Senator playthrough = information overload (cameras and tracking but drowning in data). Perception modes are playstyle selectors.
• v0.1: Natural vision cone + basic audio indicators + insert minimap only. Additional modes are milestone features, each self-contained and modular.
• Engine implication: Each perception mode is an observer query against the information boundary system (D-010 principle 2). Engine doesn't distinguish between eyes/thermal/camera - all are "given this sensor, what state is visible?"
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen) proposed thermal and camera hacking. Full team developed into perception mode framework.

D-018: Three-range sound model

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: Sound information reaches the player through three ranges with decreasing accuracy and trust:

Range	Method	Info quality	Trust level
Close (near/in LOS)	Stereo audio (maps to facing direction with camera rotation)	High accuracy, identity possible	Raw sensory, reliable
Medium (outside LOS, nearby)	Visual indicators at fog edge + internal monologue	Directional, imprecise, type classification	Sensory impression, reliable but vague
Long (across map)	Insert notifications, text alerts	Specific but delayed, location data	Network-dependent, spoofable, manipulable

• Key insight: Each range is a different information QUALITY, not just distance. Close = trustworthy. Long = potentially compromised. The Starflyer's agents would absolutely spoof long-range feeds.
• v0.1: Screen-space stereo for close + visual fog-edge indicators for medium. Long-range insert alerts as stretch goal.
• Raised by: Full team discussion.

D-019: Top-down confirmed as primary camera, 3D cutscenes for key moments

• Date: 2026-02-09
• Decision: Top-down is the gameplay camera. Final. 3D cutscenes can be used for significant narrative moments (wormhole traversal, Dyson barrier opening, first contact, major reveals).
• Rationale after full honest review:
  • What first-person would give us (visceral traversal, face-to-face conversations, natural asymmetry, spatial horror) is real but compensated by: vision cone + fog, internal monologue, perception mode overlays, sound model
  • What top-down gives us that first-person can't: multi-layer information observation, tactical combat clarity, system legibility, NPC simulation visibility, strategic UI coexistence, 5-10x faster prototype
  • Key insight (Gestalt): the fun is systems interacting - observation → insert check → thermal → monologue → mental note → exploitation. That sequence is BETTER top-down.
  • Key insight (Paula): monologue interpreting faces/conversations is arguably richer than player reading 3D faces, and more faithful to Hamilton's close-POV writing style
  • 3D cutscenes recapture the visceral moments without burdening gameplay engineering. They're decoupled, can be added as polish, game ships complete without them.
  • Camera change to 3D IS the dramatic signal - player knows something significant is happening (Gestalt)
• Architecture note (Tyre): Client-server separation means the renderer is swappable. A full first-person client is architecturally possible in the future. Top-down now doesn't mean top-down forever.
• v0.1: Top-down only. No cutscenes. Those are milestone features.
• Raised by: Team Leader (Jeroen), after full team review of tradeoffs in Round 12.

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6 decisions. Last updated: 2026-02-11