settled-reach/docs/sprints/sprint-8/joint.md

title, description, type, status, sprint, team

title	description	type	status	sprint	team
Sprint 8 — Joint Briefing	End-to-end dialogue pipeline activation, NPC conversations, world reactions	sprint	archived	8	joint

Sprint 8: React — Joint / Integration Tasks

Goal: Activate the dialogue pipeline end-to-end — player talks to NPCs, NPCs respond, the world reacts.

Teams: Server + Client Agents: All implementation agents

Pre-Sprint

None. All required decisions (D-028, D-060, D-062, D-063, D-064) are confirmed.

Sprint Completion Proof

Concrete observable criteria when Sprint 8 is done:

1. Dialogue flow works end-to-end:

   • Player walks to Kael (or any NPC), presses [E], selects Talk
   • NPC greeting appears in dialogue box (bottom 20% screen, max-width)
   • 2-3 player response options visible below NPC text
   • Player clicks response → NPC replies with new text + new options
   • Conversation continues until player walks away (WASD)

2. Walk-away triggers visual + server recording:

   • Player in dialogue with NPC, presses WASD (any direction)
   • Dialogue box fades out over 300ms, silence
   • Server logs incomplete interaction in KG (verify via debug print or db query)
   • Player can walk away mid-conversation without crash

3. Confrontation option appears and feels different:

   • Detective character approaches Sera Venn after observing corridor contradiction
   • Talk → response options include at least one confrontation line (italic, first-person: "I saw you avoiding Torek...")
   • Click confrontation → 1-2s pause, monologue appears ("This changes things..."), ambient audio dips to 50%
   • After pause, NPC responds (text changes, relationship may shift color on next observation)

4. Fog entity recognition timing:

   • NPC enters fog (outside vision cone but within sound/thermal range)
   • Grey blob appears for 0.6s (6 ticks normal, or 0.3s/3 ticks if anomaly)
   • During delay, monologue fires ("Those footsteps... that's Kael's walk")
   • After delay, grey blob transitions to D-033 color + faint silhouette over 0.3s

5. Sound ping rendering:

   • NPC makes loud sound outside LOS (door slam, footsteps, voice)
   • 2-3 concentric rings expand from sound direction on insert overlay (white-blue, sonar aesthetic)
   • Rings fade over 1.5s
   • No crash, no visual glitches

6. Invisible locks work:

   • Player talks to Sera with Surface trust level
   • Gets 2-3 response options (small talk, routine questions)
   • Player CANNOT see that Real/Secret tier options exist (no grayed-out text, no lock icons, no hint)
   • After trust increase (via repeated positive interactions or evidence discovery), new options appear on next Talk — player realizes "wait, there's more now"

Test Plan Alignment (D-030 phases)

Phase 2 (Sprint 3-4): Integration tests

• Sprint 8 falls in integration test phase
• Required: End-to-end dialogue pipeline integration test (server sends dialogue_response, client renders, player input returns, server logs)
• Required: Walk-away flow integration test (client sends WalkAway, server records KG, dialogue state clears)
• Negative test: Locked dialogue options are NOT sent to client (server filters before protocol, client never sees them)

Cross-Team Dependencies

Ticket	Team	Depends on	Delivers to
#305	server	(none)	Client #435 consumes dialogue_response protocol field
#427	server	#452 (ContentSlug)	Client #437 triggers via WalkAway input
#435	client	#434 (done)	Server #305 sends data to render
#436	client	#435	Uses dialogue box from #435
#437	client	#435	Pairs with server #427
#450	server	(none)	Enables urgent recognition for #431
#451	server	#450	Pairs with client #431 fog visualization
#431	client	Protocol v7	Consumes pending_recognitions from server

Critical path: Server #305 (dialogue pipeline) + Client #435 (dialogue box) are the headline integration. Everything else is enhancement/polish around that core.

Parallel tracks:

• Track 1 (dialogue): #305 (server) ↔ #435 (client) → #436 (confrontation styling) → #437 (walk-away) ↔ #427 (server KG)
• Track 2 (perception): #450 (server anomaly) → #451 (server monologue) → #431 (client fog viz)
• Track 3 (infrastructure): #452 (server ContentSlug) → used by #427

Integration Risks

1. Protocol version mismatch: Client #431 bumps protocol to v7 (pending_recognitions field). Server must match. Verify protocol.gd PROTOCOL_VERSION == server bridge/types.rs PROTOCOL_VERSION after merge.

2. Dialogue response format: Server #305 populates dialogue_response: Vec<DialogueOption> in ObserverSnapshot. Client #435 must decode this correctly (MessagePack array of maps). Test with 0 options (no dialogue), 1 option, 3 options, and 5+ options (client shows top 3).

3. Walk-away during network lag: Client sends WalkAway input. Server may send 1-2 more dialogue snapshots in flight before WalkAway is processed. Client should handle: fade dialogue box, ignore late dialogue_response updates.

4. Cognitive delay + monologue timing: Server #451 fires monologue at delay START (when grey blob appears). Client #431 must show monologue DURING the 0.6s grey-to-color transition. If monologue arrives after transition completes, timing feels wrong. Verify monologue timestamp is within delay window.

5. Confrontation italic rendering: Client uses BBCode [i]...[/i] for italic. If NPC name or response text contains special BBCode chars ([, ]), text will break. Server should escape BBCode in dialogue text, or client should use bbcode_text.c_escape() before rendering.

Notes

Server-side dialogue filtering (D-062 invisible locks):

• Server filters dialogue options BEFORE sending to client. Client never sees locked options in protocol.
• Access tier filter: RelationshipState → AccessTier mapping must be shared understanding (or document in decisions/content.md amendment)
• Trust tier filter: KG.relationship → TrustTier. Unknown = Surface, Known/Friend = Real, PersonOfInterest+Secret fact = Secret.
• Situation filter: Game state (time, location, NPC routine) → active Situation tags. Document the mapping function (or make it data-driven YAML config).

Client-side dialogue rendering (max 3 visible, D-061 20% height):

• If NPC sends 5 valid options (all unlocked, all pass filters), client shows top 3 by priority.
• If later in conversation NPC sends 2 options, client shows 2.
• Dialogue box height scales with content (NPC text + options) but never exceeds 20% viewport height. If content overflows, scroll NPC text, keep options visible.

Monologue + dialogue spatial separation (D-061, D-063):

• Monologue floats above dialogue box on z-layer 7.
• During confrontation beat: monologue visible ("This changes things..."), dialogue box dimmed to 70% opacity.
• After beat: monologue fades, dialogue box returns to 100% opacity, NPC response appears.

Audio dip during confrontation (D-063):

• Client-side: When player clicks confrontation option, AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(ambient_bus, -6.0) (50% volume).
• After monologue beat + response sent, restore: AudioServer.set_bus_volume_db(ambient_bus, 0.0).
• Duration: ~1-2 seconds (duration of monologue beat). Not tied to NPC response arrival.

Open Questions

None. All design decisions confirmed. If blockers arise during implementation, escalate to Team Leader (Jeroen).

Files Written

• /var/mnt/data/projects/settled-reach/main/docs/sprints/sprint-8/server.md
• /var/mnt/data/projects/settled-reach/main/docs/sprints/sprint-8/client.md
• /var/mnt/data/projects/settled-reach/main/docs/sprints/sprint-8/audio.md
• /var/mnt/data/projects/settled-reach/main/docs/sprints/sprint-8/joint.md