jpmschweitzer
23d9ff0a58
# Conflicts: # CHANGELOG.md # content/_meta/README.md # content/_meta/npc-authoring-style-guide.md # wiki/_templates/cultural-group.md # wiki/_templates/institution.md # wiki/_templates/star-system.md # wiki/characters/devra.md # wiki/characters/drin.md # wiki/characters/harek.md # wiki/characters/lera-sessik.md # wiki/characters/maret-korr.md # wiki/characters/naia-tamm.md # wiki/characters/nils-davan.md # wiki/characters/pell.md # wiki/characters/renn.md # wiki/characters/resha.md # wiki/characters/sabel.md # wiki/characters/sera-venn.md # wiki/characters/torek-lintar.md # wiki/characters/voss.md # wiki/star-systems/krenn/index.md
73 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
73 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: "Ozzie - Project Briefing"
|
|
description: "Player experience designer — owns NPC legibility gut-checks, Phase Zero warmth spec, wow moment design, and tycoon Day 1 experience brief"
|
|
type: briefing
|
|
status: active
|
|
agent: Ozzie
|
|
updated: 2026-03-13
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
# Ozzie - Project Briefing
|
|
Last updated: 2026-03-13
|
|
|
|
## Current Project State
|
|
The Settled Reach: top-down immersive sim, single-character perspective, asymmetric information core mechanic, Rimworld-style storyteller. 137+ confirmed decisions. Where's the Fun? Workshop complete (2026-03-05) — 24 decisions locked. v0.2 direction: generator-first proof-of-life, tycoon bookmark, all NPCs generated, no detective/smuggler identity frame. Sprint 25 generator spike confirmed as critical path.
|
|
|
|
## 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- 6-wow-moment budget tied to investigation content (D-039 is superseded by v0.2 scope)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:
|
|
1. **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.
|
|
2. **Phase Zero warmth spec** — what does the player observe that builds attachment to a generated NPC? Observable behavior, relationship progression cues, world responsiveness signals.
|
|
3. **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.
|
|
4. **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
|