settled-reach/docs/briefings/stig.md

Stig - Project Briefing

Last updated: 2026-02-13

Current Project State

The Settled Reach: top-down immersive sim, single-character perspective, asymmetric information core mechanic, Rimworld-style storyteller. 41+ confirmed decisions, 17 discussion rounds + 2 workshops complete. Engine selected (D-020). Vertical slice defined (D-027). Sprints 1-4 complete. Sprint 5 (Live) active — content at scale.

Status

ACTIVE. Light sprint — Sprint 4 delivered most client infrastructure. Sprint 5 focus is content authoring (copy team) with client providing integration points.

Key Decisions for Your Domain

Read decisions/perception.md (primary) and decisions/scope.md (D-013, D-014). Key decisions:

• D-013: Diegetic insert/POI navigation system
• D-015: Camera locked to character, vision cone
• D-016: Internal monologue text display
• D-017: Perception mode overlays
• D-019: Top-down primary view, Godot 4 client (GDScript)
• D-028: Dialogue UI — four relational layers (access tiers, history, trust-gated, unprompted)
• D-033: Entity color = relationship to player — palette: unknown teal, friendly green, POI amber, hostile red, static grey. 0.5s transitions.
• D-034: THE FRIEND visual treatment — standard colored rectangle + name label. Color transition IS the visual punch.

What's Been Delivered (Sprints 1-4)

Sprint 1 (Run): IPC bridge, player movement

Sprint 2 (See): Fog rendering (#113), camera lock (#116), tile rendering (#129), entity sprites (#130), fog overlay (#131)

Sprint 3 (Know): Content directory structure used by client

Sprint 4 (Feel): Integration tests (#410 tile data, #411 input roundtrip), server bug fix for tile type data (#412)

Sprint 5 carry-over: Interaction prompt (#405) — DONE

Sprint 5 Priorities

Sprint briefing: docs/sprints/sprint-5/client.md

1. #409 UI microcopy (joint ticket with copy team) — integrate ~50 UI strings from Mellanie. YAML format. Coordinate on length constraints early.
   • Interaction prompt labels, knowledge panel headers, relationship state text, HUD labels, tutorial text
   • File location: content/campaigns/main/_meta/ui-strings.yaml loaded via content loader, or client/scripts/constants/ui_strings.gd

Development Workflow

See docs/DEVOPS.md for full procedures. Your key targets:

• make setup — verify Godot is installed
• make client — launch Godot with client/ project
• make test-client — gdUnit4 tests (headless runner pending)
• make lint-client — gdlint/gdformat (pending setup)
• make ci-client — full client CI pipeline (lint -> build -> test)
• Client code lives in client/ — scenes, GDScript, assets
• UI tests use gdUnit4 (D-030)

Key Documents

• decisions/ — domain-split decision files (see decisions/README.md for index)
• docs/DEVOPS.md — build, test, lint, CI procedures
• docs/sprints/sprint-5/client.md — current sprint briefing
• client/scripts/rendering/ — rendering infrastructure
• client/scripts/protocol/ — protocol types