settled-reach/decisions/questions.md

Open Questions

Tracked questions awaiting discussion or resolution.

---

Q-001: Game engine selection

• Status: Resolved → D-020

Q-002: Scope of v0.1 playable prototype

• Status: Map spec resolved (D-014). Remaining: mechanics, characters, interactions for minimum playable build.
• Assigned to: Full team

Q-003: Art direction / presentation style

• Status: Further resolved for v0.1 via Content Gap Analysis Workshop. Araminta's v0.1 Visual Grammar proposal covers: entity color palette (D-033), zone-specific color palettes (3 zones with hex values), fog rendering (4 states), monologue presentation spec, insert dual-character variants. Long-term art direction beyond v0.1 remains open.
• Remaining: Long-term art direction, sprite replacement timeline, full visual identity.
• Assigned to: Araminta (lead)

Q-004: One campaign spanning all eras or separate era scenarios?

• Status: Not yet discussed
• Context: Gore raised that Commonwealth Era and Void Era play very differently. Prototype focuses on pre-Starflyer War era.
• Assigned to: Gore, Miri to lead discussion

Q-005: Scale for prototype - locations, characters, factions

• Status: Partially scoped
• Early signal: Institute/Armstrong City hub, ~10-20 characters, Guardians + institutional + political factions
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Tyre, Miri

Q-006: Multiplayer or single-player only?

• Status: Resolved → D-009

Q-007: Target platform(s)

• Status: Not yet discussed
• Context: Team Leader has Linux background (Fedora). Cross-platform considerations?
• Assigned to: Tyre

Q-008: Licensing / distribution model

• Status: Not yet discussed
• Question: Open source? Free? Commercial? This affects engine choice and asset decisions.
• Assigned to: Team Leader

Q-009: Time system

• Status: Resolved → D-031

Q-010: Storyteller AI design

• Status: Not yet discussed
• Question: How does the Rimworld-style storyteller work? What are the pacing rules? How much structural randomness vs dramatic randomness?
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Nigel

Q-011: Character selection and playable characters

• Status: Not yet discussed
• Question: Which characters are playable in the prototype? How different are their starting positions? Can you play canon characters or only original ones?
• Assigned to: Miri, Paula

Q-012: Generation expansion method for dialogue

• Status: Open
• Question: How does the 4x generation expansion pass work? LLM-based, template-based, or rule-based? Affects how base lines are authored — LLM needs style-strong anchors; rules need substitution patterns.
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Mellanie
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Mellanie R2)

Q-013: Line previewer temporal progression

• Status: Open
• Question: How does the line previewer (#193) handle THE FRIEND's multi-visit contradiction arc? Needs sequence mode to simulate interaction progression over multiple encounters.
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Dudley
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Mellanie R2)

Q-014: Audio timing with monologue chime

• Status: Open
• Question: When does the monologue chime fire relative to text appearance? Before, simultaneous, or overlapping? Affects monologue line writing rhythm.
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Ozzie
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Mellanie R2)

Q-015: Generation expansion for THE FRIEND content

• Status: Open
• Question: Does the 4x generation expansion apply to THE FRIEND's custom lines, or are all ~70-100 lines per FRIEND hand-authored? Recommendation: no expansion on FRIEND lines — risk of flattening hand-crafted voice.
• Assigned to: Mellanie, Gestalt
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Ozzie R2, Gestalt R2)

Q-016: Knowledge hierarchy for monologue prerequisites

• Status: Open
• Question: Monologue prerequisites currently use binary flags (knows: smuggling_operation). Need a hierarchy: suspects < knows_of < knows_details. How granular?
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Paula
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Gestalt R2)

Q-017: Triangle pressure threshold

• Status: Open
• Question: Triangles need a numeric pressure value that increases based on events. When it crosses a threshold, confrontation situation activates. What events increase pressure? What's the threshold?
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Paula
• Source: Content Gap Analysis Workshop (Gestalt R2)

Q-018: Shadowcasting algorithm selection

• Status: Open
• Question: Which line-of-sight algorithm should be used? Symmetric shadowcasting (Albert Ford) vs recursive shadowcasting. Both are proven but differ in symmetry properties (symmetric: if A sees B, then B sees A) and implementation complexity. Requires benchmarking at 150x150 map scale with 30 entities to validate performance within 100ms tick budget.
• Context: D-011 mandates LOS shadowcasting for fog of perception. Architecture review identified this as unspecified (audit section 2.2). Critical for Sprint 2 perception pipeline.
• Assigned to: Tyre, Dudley
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

Q-019: Entity ID stability strategy

• Status: Open
• Question: How are stable entity_id: u64 values generated from bevy_ecs Entity handles? Must IDs be stable across save/load cycles? How does the client map entity IDs to scene nodes for entity lifecycle management (creation, updates, despawning)?
• Context: VisibleEntity.entity_id is a u64 in the protocol (server/src/bridge/types.rs). bevy_ecs Entity is a generational index that may not be stable. Architecture review flagged this as MEDIUM severity gap (audit section 2.2).
• Assigned to: Tyre, Dudley
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

Q-020: Multi-entity collision resolution

• Status: Open
• Question: When two NPCs attempt to move to the same tile on the same tick, what is the resolution policy? Options: first-write-wins (deterministic with system ordering), both fail (conservative), priority-based (e.g., player > NPC, Active tier > Background tier).
• Context: D-012 defines tile collision. WalkabilityMap exists (server/src/simulation/movement.rs) but handles single-entity validation. Architecture review identified multi-entity collision as unspecified.
• Assigned to: Gestalt, Dudley
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

Q-021: Tick budget overflow policy

• Status: Open
• Question: When a simulation tick exceeds the 100ms budget, what happens? Options: (1) slow down real-time and preserve determinism (tick completes fully before next), (2) skip ticks and break determinism, (3) cap work per tick and defer to next tick. Must align with D-010 principle 4 (deterministic simulation).
• Context: D-026 defines 100ms tick budget for Active tier at 10 tps. Architecture review consensus recommendation proposes "slow real-time, don't skip ticks." Needs formal decision.
• Assigned to: Tyre, Dudley
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

Q-022: NPC pathfinding cache eviction

• Status: Open
• Question: With 80 Active-tier NPCs each caching ~3 pathfinding routes, the cache holds ~240 paths. What is the eviction policy? LRU? Time-based expiration? Fixed size per NPC? How are paths invalidated when walkability changes (doors lock, areas become restricted)?
• Context: Architecture review identified pathfinding as MEDIUM gap (audit section 2.2). Cache management needs specification regardless of algorithm choice.
• Assigned to: Tyre, Dudley
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

Q-023: Debug visualization scope

• Status: Open
• Question: What information should the debug overlay display? Candidates: LOS rays, pathfinding waypoints, vision cones, information boundary tags (who knows what), tick timing breakdown, spatial partition grid cells. Dev-only tool, or accessible for mod development?
• Context: Architecture review (Troblum) identifies debug visualization as missing operational infrastructure. Needed for debugging perception system, information boundaries, and performance issues.
• Assigned to: Tyre, Stig
• Source: Architecture Review Audit 2026-02-11

---

23 questions (3 resolved, 2 partially resolved, 18 open). Last updated: 2026-02-11