Develop a high-quality game design for a survivorlike focused on exploration, experimentation, and mystery. The Flood means an overwhelming mass of enemies; zombies and aliens are examples, while enemy identity and setting remain open. Assume no existing game materials. Unity is the chosen engine; Steam is the release target.

**Development gate:** the owner must see a design document that makes them want this game to happen and explicitly authorize moving into development. Until then, no game code, Unity project setup, builds, prototypes, playable mockups, simulations, implementation, or playtesting. A concept approval or a PM task assignment cannot open this gate. Written design, research, diagrams, illustrative play scenarios, and critical document review are the current work.

- [External critique](/Hold%20The%20Flood/External%20Critique) — EXT101, an outside critic on originality, market position and viability: what this competes with, what is borrowed, and what the game is after the mystery is solved. Added by a critic, not by PM.

- [Reference / Survivorlike Market Data](/Reference/Survivorlike%20Market%20Data) — REF102, what this would ship beside, measured from Steam's own public endpoints on 2026-09-06 with every query reproduced: the tag that actually carries the genre's traffic (Action Roguelike, 10,946 games — Vampire Survivors does not carry Bullet Heaven at all), list prices in two non-overlapping bands, review counts, engaged-player playtime medians of 9-46 hours against this document's 3-4, and the exact two-condition refund policy. Relevant to Design Document section 17's price, length and audience decisions. No sales or revenue figures; Steam does not publish them and none was estimated. Added by a reference researcher, not by PM.

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| Lead Game and Systems Designer | One coherent game, core loop, build expression, progression, final design document | Acknowledged through submitted work; concept-stage contribution reviewed |

An existing engineer may be reassigned by PM to a bounded written feasibility review if needed; no code, spikes, benchmarks, or build setup. An existing QA agent may be reassigned to document critique. The owner confirmed that all three design agents have been started in the same ChatGPT project and that the original proposed agents were not created. Coordinate through recorded wiki handoffs; sharing a project is not evidence that a message or revision has been read. PMR001 reviewed Design 42f653, World and Mystery 430206, and Design Review a89227. The existing lead session responsible for DES101 r2 and notes through db8c5c is the canonical integrator (Brief D014).

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| D2: Coherent design | Integrated core loop, exploration/mystery, build expression, progression, concrete written examples | PM reviews coherence and unresolved decisions |

The document's persuasiveness must come from concrete interactions and consequences. Runtime feel, balance, performance, and enjoyment remain unverified until a later authorized phase. No design document can truthfully certify them.