jpmschweitzerandClaude Opus 4.6
e8263e209e
System S-057 assigned to real star GJ 35 (Van Maanen's Star, DG white dwarf at 13.9 ly). Renamed across all content, server code, docs, decisions, wiki lore, and config files. 224 files updated. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
4.9 KiB
4.9 KiB
Mellanie - 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. Sprint 25 generator spike confirmed as critical path.
v0.2 Pivot — Key Changes for Your Role
The copy pipeline fundamentally shifts from hand-authoring specific NPC profiles to designing the culture-driven voice system that feeds the generator.
What dies:
- FRIEND pack authoring for Kael Davan and Sera Venn — D-122 eliminates all named hand-authored NPCs
- Smuggler voice card and detective voice card as primary deliverables — single playable character type in v0.2
- D-032 hard partition (smuggler/detective monologue pools) — no longer applicable; one character type
- Hand-authored ~1,030-1,380 line content volume per sprint — generator replaces hand-authoring of NPC lines
- Monologue as primary narrative feedback channel — demoted to supplementary per workshop findings
What survives:
- Player monologue — hand-authored, excluded from "limited vocabulary at first" (Q-WTF-042 open)
- Voice guide work — the culture-primary voice architecture (D-121) is Mellanie's domain
- Tag taxonomy (D-035) — selection architecture survives; pools now AI-assisted
- Environmental text and flavor text — still authored
- UI microcopy — still authored
- News ticker — still authored
- Tycoon character voice — one character background, one monologue pool
Key shift: Mellanie's primary deliverable for v0.2 is culture-primary voice cards (D-121, D-128). Culture drives voice; job modifies it. These are the constraints that feed the AI content pipeline (D-123). The hand-authoring model (write 10, generate 40) survives for anchor lines; but the bulk of NPC dialogue is AI-assisted templating from culture vectors.
Key Decisions for Your Domain
- D-005: Single-character perspective — all narrative filtered through one viewpoint
- D-013: Diegetic UI text — in-world written content and documents
- D-016: Internal monologue system — supplementary (not primary) narrative channel
- D-021: Official title "The Settled Reach"
- D-028: Dialogue architecture — tagged line pool selection architecture survives
- D-035: Converged tag taxonomy (6+3) — authoring format
- D-036: Sova Transit District / Van Maanen's Star — setting for all content
- D-037: Contraband = unlicensed lattice components — world content flavor
- D-117: Tycoon bookmark — one starting type for v0.2 (not smuggler/detective)
- D-121: Voice is culture-driven, job as modifier (inverted from prior assumption)
- D-122: All NPCs generated — NPC content via AI templating, not hand-authoring
- D-123: Generative AI for NPC content templating via culture vectors
- D-128: Culture implicit in starting location — Van Maanen's Star = Van Maanen's Star culture
- D-131: First Settled Reach moment = apartment + insert activation
- D-134: Groundhog Day alarm clock homage (first day only) — Mellanie writes the monologue
Current Priorities
Consult docs/sprints/ for active sprint briefing.
v0.2 voice pipeline (critical path items):
- Culture-primary voice cards for Van Maanen's Star — the primary pipeline deliverable. Blocked by Miri's culture profile. Once Miri delivers the Van Maanen's Star culture profile (D-128), Mellanie formalises it as a voice card: tone register, formality norms, emotional expression, verbal tics, what Van Maanen's Star people sound like under stress vs at ease. This feeds the AI content pipeline (D-123).
- Job-as-modifier voice spec — how does being a small business owner modify the Van Maanen's Star base voice? What does a tycoon sound like vs a logistics worker vs a bar owner? Design the modifier layer (D-121).
- Player monologue for tycoon — hand-authored monologue lines for the tycoon character. Voice, tone, what they notice, what they care about. This is still hand-authored (excluded from "limited vocabulary" per Q-WTF-042).
- Day 1 content — alarm clock homage (D-134), insert activation moment (D-131). These are authored set-pieces.
- UI microcopy — still authored, coordinate with Stig on length constraints.
Open Questions Assigned to You
- Q-012: Generation expansion method (co-lead with Gestalt)
- Q-WTF-036: Behavioral deltas in monologue vs current state only — directly affects Mellanie's trigger catalog
- Q-WTF-042: Is player monologue excluded from "limited vocabulary at first"? — directly affects Mellanie's quality floor
Key Documents
- decisions/content.md — D-023 through D-132
- decisions/scope.md — D-114 through D-120
- docs/workshops/wheres-the-fun/workshop-outcomes.md — v0.2 pivot summary
- content/_schema/ — YAML schema definitions