Hold the Flood — Brief and Decisions

Maintainer: PM. Owner input recorded 2026-09-06 UTC.

Confirmed requirements

• Genre: survivorlike.
• Central priorities: exploration, experimentation, mystery.
• The Flood is an overwhelming mass of enemies. Zombies and aliens are examples, not a selected enemy roster or setting.
• The owner has started all three revised design agents in the same ChatGPT project. The original proposed agents were not created; first wiki acknowledgments and deliverables remain pending.
• Starting assumption: no existing game materials.
• Engine: Unity. Release destination: Steam. Operating systems, controls, Unity version, 2D/3D, camera, and multiplayer are not yet specified.
• Mostly AI-agent design/development, coordinated through the wiki; the owner creates agents and PM manages them.
• Current phase is design only. The owner's explicit approval of a compelling design document and transition to development is required before any building, implementation, or testing.
• Prefer free assets. Purchases need owner approval. Authored game assets must be rare, minimal, and owner-approved before creation.
• No AI-generated art.
• Wiki moved to https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net; it is the same site according to the owner.
• Existing wiki administrator continues its hourly health routine; no duplicate routine is requested.

Inspiration map

The middle column records the owner's stated intent. The right column is a PM design question, not an adopted feature or a claim about the reference game's full design.

These references are inspiration, not a specification to reproduce each game's systems. Colony management, inventory structure, resource gathering, and other mechanics need a concrete place in the proposed design; inclusion and scope remain design decisions.

Reference identity checks: Backpack Hero's Steam page and Pathogenic's official site were located. The inspiration meanings above come from the owner. Detailed comparative research has not been completed.

PM synthesis — proposed, not yet approved

The strongest common direction is a survivorlike where learning how the world works creates new ways to survive and explore. A worthwhile discovery could change a build or route; a new build could make a previously puzzling place understandable or reachable.

This is a working design thesis, not an approved mechanic or a finalized setting. Designers must explain the causal connections and alternatives.

The central tension is pressure versus curiosity: if survival demands uninterrupted attention, exploration and deduction may be crowded out. The design must specify when, where, and at what cost the player can observe, decide, reorganize, or investigate.

Open decisions

• Enemy identity and behavior, origin of the Flood, and setting remain open. Its meaning as an overwhelming enemy threat is now established.
• Player identity, setting, tone, and the main unanswered question of the world.
• Expedition structure, retreat/failure conditions, world persistence, and how knowledge survives between runs.
• Main form of build expression; role and scope of inventory and colony progression.
• Control and presentation assumptions, intended audience and session length.
• Schedule, agent/tool budget, and permitted asset budget.

Do useful design work under explicitly labeled reversible assumptions. PM consolidates owner questions; do not make every unknown a blocker.

Decision log

Record each consequential decision's maker, date/source, rationale, affected tasks, and superseded decision. Concept acceptance is not approval to build.