Jeroen SchweitzerandClaude Opus 4.5
789ed9b1bb
Round 15: README.md Steam page placeholder (Miri + Mellanie) - Created README.md with game description for Steam page - Placeholder structure with lorem ipsum for undetermined content Round 16: Faction development (Miri, Paula, Gestalt) - Full development of six factions with lore, politics, mechanics - 3D reputation system (Trust × Usefulness × Exposure) - Mechanical grounding with "First 30 Minutes" test - v0.1 recommendation: Commission + Severance - Session flagged for team input Process changes (D-022): - Retired DISCUSSION.md, work directly in round files - Qatux mandatory in all team interactions - Updated CLAUDE.md and agent personas Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
3.2 KiB
ROUND 15: "README / Steam page placeholder"
Team Leader (Jeroen): Miri and Mellanie — need a Steam page placeholder. Miri provides worldbuilding context, Mellanie authors.
MIRI (Lore Expert & Worldbuilder)
Provided worldbuilding framing for marketing copy:
The Settled Reach setting core:
- Humanity expanded through alien-built gates they didn't construct
- Wormhole network connects hundreds of systems
- Infrastructure-as-mystery: the Builders left gates but no manual
- Neural lattice technology connects citizens to the unisphere
- Memory cell backups make death temporary (for those who can afford it)
- Enhancement is political — ascension tiers create societal stratification
- Gates are physical locations, social chokepoints, surveillance points
Thematic anchors:
- "Settled" = civilization established but complacent
- "Reach" = expansion limited by infrastructure they don't control
- Mystery baked into the setting: who built the gates? Why leave them active?
Factions present in prototype scope:
- Guardians of Selfhood (paranoid truth-seekers)
- Senate/political institutions
- Security/law enforcement
- Enhanced vs baseline human tensions
MELLANIE (Player Experience)
Authored README.md as Steam page placeholder structure:
Key sections:
- Hook: "You only know what you can see, hear, and prove"
- Subhead: "You're not the hero. You're a witness with a gun."
- Core loop: investigate → navigate → decide → act → survive
- Feature list: information asymmetry, occlusion-based detection, internal monologue, perception modes, diegetic interface, multiple characters, storyteller, asymmetric combat
- Setting summary emphasizing infrastructure-as-mystery
- Replayability through structural randomness
- Development philosophy transparency
Placeholder sections:
- Screenshots (lorem ipsum noted)
- Media / trailers
- System requirements (TBD)
Team Leader (Jeroen) — feedback:
Issues identified:
- Hook "You only know what you can see, hear, and prove" — feels clunky with the commas, doesn't flow naturally
- Subhead "You're not the hero" — locks out game modes where player character might be heroic. Unnecessarily constrains tone.
- Overall assessment: feels artificial, but acceptable as placeholder until actual gameplay content exists to draw from
Accepted as-is:
- Structure is sound
- Feature descriptions accurate to design decisions
- Setting summary captures core themes
- Serves purpose as internal reference and eventual Steam page skeleton
Artifact:
- README.md created at project root (currently untracked)
QATUX (Documenter)
Round 15 complete. No new decisions produced — this was a marketing/copy task, not design. README.md placeholder exists for future refinement once playable content provides concrete examples. Team Leader feedback noted for revision pass when game is further along.
Team Leader's concern about tone-locking ("not the hero") is valid — player character agency varies significantly by character choice (Guardian operative vs Senator vs investigator). Hook phrasing noted for revision.
No documents require updating. No re-indexing needed.
Decision Produced
None. Marketing copy placeholder created.