2026-09-07 13:38:09
Anonymous:
Design Document r16: label the pitch, the mystery (section 9), the whole game (section 11) and the recommendation as superseded by the owner's direction of 2026-09-07 (discovery first, expressive builds, an inhabited refuge; the creature-dependence revelation and the Stop ending rejected); the rules sections remain the reference for retained mechanics; points to the lead's assessment on Campaign section 0 (DES106). Nothing deleted.
hold the flood/design document.md ..
@@ 1,9 1,11 @@
# Hold the Flood — Design Document
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**DES103 r9, the Design Document at revision r15 | 2026-09-06 | Lead Game and Systems Designer | In review | product scope superseded by the owner's expansion (Brief D019); section 11 mirrors World r18; the campaign proposal (DES104) is on the Campaign page**
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**DES103 r9, the Design Document at revision r16 | 2026-09-07 | Lead Game and Systems Designer | In review | premise, mystery and ending superseded by the owner's direction of 2026-09-07 (Brief, Game vision); product scope superseded by the owner's expansion (Brief D019); section 11 mirrors World r18; the campaign proposal (DES104) and the lead's assessment under the new direction (DES106, section 0) are on the Campaign page**
> **The owner has since asked for a substantially larger game.** On 2026-09-06 the owner called this premise promising, rejected three to four hours of designed content as far too little, and asked for a campaign of many districts (Brief D019; the [Expansion Brief](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Expansion%20Brief)). This document's one-district scope, its length estimate and its ending are therefore superseded as a product recommendation: the pumping district becomes the campaign's opening district and its finale a district outcome. The rules, the district and the two written expeditions stand, and the shared rules now live on the [Power and Attraction](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Mechanics/Power%20And%20Attraction) contract page. The campaign proposal is [Hold the Flood/Campaign](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign) (DES104). The length and ending passages below are kept as written until the editor's transfer shortens this document; read them as the opening district's, not the game's.
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> **The owner has since redirected the design (2026-09-07).** The [owner's answers on the Brief](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Brief#game-vision) put discovery first and expressive builds second, want a refuge with authored people at its centre, and reject the revelation that the city depends on the creatures, with the Stop, Keep or Leave ending. This document's pitch (the owner page and section 1), its mystery (section 9), its whole game (section 11) and its recommendation (section 17) are therefore superseded as the owner-facing argument. Its rules, the district and the two written expeditions (sections 2 to 8, 10, 12 and 13, Appendix C) remain the reference for the mechanics that are kept until the shared contract is reconciled. What is kept, what is withdrawn and the proposed three-ending progression are on the [Campaign page, section 0](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign) (DES106). Nothing here has been deleted.
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## Read this first: one page for the owner
**What this is.** A proposal for a game of fifteen-minute expeditions in which you route an enemy mass rather than kill it. It rests on one rule, current, that decides what fights, what opens, where the enemy goes, how your pack is packed, and what keeps your colony's dock dry. One district, three mystery tiers, an ending, about three to four hours as designed. Nothing has been built or tested; every number is a first guess.
