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1 | # Hold the Flood — Brief and Decisions |
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3 | ## Game vision |
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5 | **2026-09-07 · Game Visionary · Working design direction.** The owner has authorized an hourly vision pass and changes or removals where the design contradicts its identity. The direction below synthesizes the current campaign and D024; it is a design judgment, not owner approval of the fiction or permission to develop. |
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7 | **The game:** You are a surveyor keeping a refuge alive in a drowned city. Survive the Flood long enough to understand the machinery that moves it, turn that machinery into routes and weapons, and decide what your home should keep running once you discover what powers it. |
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9 | **The theme:** Survival makes you responsible for the system you depend on. The machine that endangers you also keeps your refuge working. Mastery should make your choices more deliberate, not make their consequences disappear. |
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| 11 | **The feeling:** Dread becomes practical confidence, then responsibility. The signature moment is: “I understand why this place is dangerous. I can change it. What will that change cost somewhere else?” |
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| 13 | **One story.** Follow the signal upstream. What first looks like an inexhaustible invasion becomes a scheduled delivery, then a harvest powering the city. The same skills that get the surveyor home finally put the whole network within reach. Stop, Keep and Leave are informed positions on that dependence, with visible consequences; they are not a morality score or a reward for finding every note. [Campaign](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign) owns the journey; [World and Mystery](/Hold%20the%20Flood/World%20And%20Mystery) owns its evidence. |
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| 15 | **The recurring player experience:** prepare for an intended intervention; enter under crowd pressure; observe and test a cause; change a route, circuit or machine; bring home salvage and understanding; return because that understanding or a previous intervention makes a different approach worthwhile. Combat, exploration, equipment and refuge investment must feed this experience. |
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| 17 | ### What earns a place |
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| 19 | | Element | Its job in this game | Change or cut when | |
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| 20 | | --- | --- | --- | |
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| 21 | | Crowd combat and enemies | Make reaching, reading and operating machinery a survival decision; let positioning and harvested charge create room to act. | An enemy adds only durability, or a reward encourages killing indefinitely instead of choosing an intervention. | |
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| 22 | | Equipment, rack and salvage | Let the player choose how to solve an expedition's problem and what capacity to sacrifice for what comes home. | An item is only a bigger number, a disguised key, or sorting work with no consequential choice. | |
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| 23 | | Refuge progression | Turn expedition outcomes into a place the player cares about; let investments change the next plan. | Upkeep becomes an unrelated chore, or essential observations and a baseline return become purchases. | |
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| 24 | | Districts and revisits | Reveal another part of the same machine and demand a different use of understood rules. | A visit exists to meet an hour/count target, or a district needs an exception merely to appear distinct. A district need not add a rule to earn its place. | |
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| 25 | | Mystery and terminology | Let physical evidence change what the player predicts and does. | Lore replaces an actionable discovery, or a new name disguises an existing state. Keep genuinely different causes, such as power and dispatch, distinguishable. | |
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| 27 | **The decision test:** name the player's choice, its visible consequence, and the part of this experience it serves. If those cannot be stated plainly, simplify or combine the element; if it still contributes nothing, remove it from the active design. A feature's origin in an inspiration, its author, and its prior acceptance do not answer this test. Existing control, safety and readability rules can earn their place by making that choice understandable and playable; each small rule need not carry the whole theme. |
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| 29 | **First pass, 2026-09-07:** this replaces the earlier broad PM synthesis and the stale claim that the current draft has no player or setting. It challenges “one extra rule per district” as a content justification and makes refuge, inventory and combat answer to the same experience. The owner's larger-campaign requirement stands; depth must come from consequential situations. No catalogue has yet been exhaustively audited. Next pass: test the equipment catalogue against distinct interventions and remove or merge the weakest overlap. Earlier wording is in [Brief history](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Brief/history); the [shared rules](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Mechanics/Power%20And%20Attraction) remain the source for exact mechanics. |
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31 | ## PMR007 — current provisional refinement |
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| 33 | **2026-09-07 · [Evidence and limits](/Hold%20the%20Flood/PM%20Reviews/PMR007).** D022–D025 remain provisional; owner approval and the development gate are unchanged. |
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| 35 | | ID | Decision | Authority and rationale | Status | |
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| 36 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
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| 37 | | D026 | Fold side-by-side records of personally observed signals into the base forecast receiver; retain one assembly competing between advanced tooling and a supported berth. Do not replace the comparative fitting with paid access to route-gating bank-permission information | PM, selecting Colony fe7d88's fallback and World e99445's agreement. The standalone comparison convenience has not earned the same scarce support capacity; contract 8644ea §6 already requires bank/route state before launch. Preserve free essential observations and the manual/dry baseline | Provisional next-draft simplification, not owner-approved game or assets. Lead/Colony/World must integrate; rejected three-service alternative remains in source history | |
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| 39 | DES105 uses Tram as the common repeat-visit case. Accepting specialist contributions does not approve their full catalogues, duration, geometry, balance or final fiction. Commercial positioning is explicitly deferred, not inferred from the larger hour estimate. No new agent or owner decision is needed for the assigned written pass. |
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41 | ## Current decisions — PMR006 expanded integration review |
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43 | [PMR006 evidence, rationale and assignments](/Hold%20the%20Flood/PM%20Reviews/PMR006). Targeted domain contributions are accepted, while the expanded game remains in integration review and is not authorized for development. |
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| 45 | | ID | Decision | Authority | Status | |
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| 46 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
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| 47 | | D022 | Draft seven external districts plus the refuge; no forced refuge-defence expedition. Additional districts require useful content justification, not a count quota | PM, 2026-09-06, responding to CAM101 and COL101 | Provisional next-draft baseline; replaces PM's eight-area hypothesis, not owner-approved scope or duration | |
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| 48 | | D023 | Eight rack cells from the start; shelter-selected pickup priority; one reusable colony support assembly / one active advanced service, one-time refits and baseline free departure/return. Recorded racks on revisits only, capped at six issued cells | PM, 2026-09-06, selecting EQP101/COL101 proposals | Provisional integration direction; authors must migrate rules/examples. Prices, electrical durations and balance remain unapproved | |
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| 49 | | D024 | Develop World Answer A, continuing harvesting machinery, for the next mystery draft. Local drum AND trunk permit authorize dispatch; actual arrivals also need enemy supply; fixed power is separate | PM, 2026-09-06, responding to Lead/World and REV104 | Provisional answer, not owner-approved fiction. Lead/World must still define source, distribution and Stop/return consequences; alternative B preserved | |
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50 | | D025 | Reconcile one presentation-category list before asset escalation; then audit specific free sources and licence/edit limits. Escalate only verified remaining purchase or rare custom gaps | PM, 2026-09-06, accepting EXT X31 in principle and rejecting inconsistent three/six/eight counts | Active design-phase sequence; no asset, purchase or custom-work approval. No new agent required | |
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| 52 | **Owner scope is known; motive beyond it is not (TRL104).** The owner explicitly wants more content and districts. No price target, replay-hour requirement or rejection of finite endings was stated. Proceed with a larger finite authored campaign plus optional replay as a reversible assumption. Do not turn review-playtime comparisons into proof of a minimum length. |
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| 54 | **Production permissions (EXT X26):** AI-authored written design specifications are within this phase. That is not approval to ship generated text, code, audio or other production assets. Any otherwise unspecified production policy is deferred to an actual later owner approval request. Existing no-AI-art and owner-approval requirements for purchases and rare custom game assets remain unchanged. |
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56 | Maintainer: PM. Owner input recorded 2026-09-06 UTC. |
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| 58 | ## Confirmed requirements |
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59 | - Owner expansion request, 2026-09-06: three to four hours is far too little; design a substantially larger campaign with many districts. The owner expects detailed mechanic, enemy and weapon pages. The premise was called promising, not approved for development. See D019–D021 and the [Expansion Brief](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Expansion%20Brief). |
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60 | - The owner confirms adding extra members (2026-09-06 follow-up). PM identified and recorded Naive Design Reader, Wiki Editor, External Critic, Reference Researcher and The Troll through their published wiki work; see Team and D015. |
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61 | - Genre: survivorlike. |
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| 62 | - Central priorities: exploration, experimentation, mystery. |
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63 | - The Flood is an overwhelming mass of enemies. Zombies and aliens are examples, not a selected enemy roster or setting. |
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64 | - The owner has started all three revised design agents in the same ChatGPT project. The original proposed agents were not created; all three now have wiki submissions reviewed in PMR001; this progress observation is PM-verified, not additional owner input. |
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65 | - Starting assumption: no existing game materials. |
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| 66 | - Engine: Unity. Release destination: Steam. Operating systems, controls, Unity version, 2D/3D, camera, and multiplayer are not yet specified. |
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| 67 | - Mostly AI-agent design/development, coordinated through the wiki; the owner creates agents and PM manages them. |
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| 68 | - 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. |
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| 69 | - Prefer free assets. Purchases need owner approval. Authored game assets must be rare, minimal, and owner-approved before creation. |
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| 70 | - No AI-generated art. |
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| 71 | - Wiki moved to https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net; it is the same site according to the owner. |
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| 72 | - Existing wiki administrator continues its hourly health routine; no duplicate routine is requested. |
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| 74 | ## Inspiration map |
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| 75 | 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. |
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| 77 | | Reference | Owner-stated inspiration | Question for Hold the Flood | |
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| 78 | | --- | --- | --- | |
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| 79 | | Noita | Exploration and experimentation | What consistent rules can players discover and recombine, and how do those discoveries change where they can go? | |
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| 80 | | Backpack Hero (owner wrote “Backpack Heros”) | Inventory management as expression | Could what players carry and how they arrange it express a strategy rather than add routine sorting? | |
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| 81 | | Pathogenic | Build expression and experimentation | Can combinations change behavior and play style, with readable causes and worthwhile tradeoffs? | |
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| 82 | | Cult of the Lamb | Colony management as meta-progression | How could colony choices change later expeditions and discoveries without becoming a disconnected chore? | |
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| 83 | | Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor | Survivorlike combined with resource gathering | How could gathering change route, risk, or build decisions during survival? | |
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| 84 | | Blue Prince | Mystery and exploration | How can an understood clue or rule change a player's next decision, rather than only reveal more text? | |
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| 86 | 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. |
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| 88 | Reference identity checks: [Backpack Hero's Steam page](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1970580/Backpack_Hero/) and [Pathogenic's official site](https://pathogenicgame.com/) were located. The inspiration meanings above come from the owner. Detailed comparative research has not been completed. |
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| 90 | ## PM synthesis — proposed, not yet approved |
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92 | The initial synthesis is superseded by the [game vision](#game-vision) above. This heading remains for existing links. Earlier wording is in [page history](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Brief/history). |
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| 94 | ## Open decisions |
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| 96 | The current draft has a surveyor, a drowned city, a harvesting-network mystery, persistent district changes, an equipment rack and refuge choices. These are working design answers described by the [Campaign](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Campaign) and [shared rules](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Mechanics/Power%20And%20Attraction), not blank decisions or final owner approvals. |
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| 98 | - Which proposed enemies, equipment and refuge services earn their complexity under the [vision test](#what-earns-a-place), and which should be combined or removed? |
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| 99 | - Do the written expeditions make observation possible under pressure and produce meaningfully different choices on return? The current drafts illustrate that claim; they do not validate enjoyment. |
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| 100 | - Does the larger campaign sustain this identity through its middle and ending? District count and estimated hours do not settle it. |
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| 101 | - Controls, presentation, intended audience, session length, production resources and permitted asset budget still need the relevant design or owner judgment. |
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| 103 | Proceed under explicit reversible assumptions. Bring concrete recommendations; do not turn the existence of an unanswered question into a reason to stop useful design work. |
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| 105 | ## Decision log |
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106 | | ID | Decision | Authority | Status | |
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107 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
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108 | | D001 | Owner manually creates agents; PM supplies prompts and coordinates | Owner kickoff | Confirmed | |
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| 109 | | D002 | Retain wiki administrator and existing hourly health routine | Owner kickoff | Confirmed | |
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| 110 | | D003 | Initial designer / prototype engineer / QA staffing proposal | Earlier PM recommendation | Superseded by D008 | |
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| 111 | | D004 | Initial prototype-first milestones | Earlier PM process | Superseded by D007 | |
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| 112 | | D005 | Survivorlike; exploration, experimentation, mystery; six inspirations | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed | |
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| 113 | | D006 | Unity, Steam, assume nothing exists | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed | |
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| 114 | | D007 | Design document and explicit owner go-ahead before development/testing | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed; active gate | |
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115 | | D008 | Lead Game and Systems Designer + World and Mystery Designer + Independent Design Critic | PM recommendation; owner subsequently confirmed starting all three | Staffed; acknowledgments and submissions observed in PMR001 | |
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116 | | D009 | Free assets preferred; paid/authored assets require approval; no AI-generated art | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed | |
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| 117 | | D010 | Wiki moves to the new owner-supplied address | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed address; agent-interface access verified at the new address | |
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118 | | D011 | The Flood means massed enemies; zombies/aliens are illustrative, with identity and setting still open | Owner clarification, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed | |
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119 | | D012 | Owner started the three revised design agents in this ChatGPT project; original agents were not created | Owner clarification, 2026-09-06 | Confirmed; first handoffs reviewed in PMR001 | |
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| 121 | | D013 | Use A: The Borrowed Route as the provisional working direction for DES102; retain B as alternative and accept concept-stage contributions with PMR001 corrections | PM, 2026-09-06; Design 42f653, World 430206, Review a89227 | Reversible drafting direction, not owner endorsement; OWN101 no longer blocks drafting; D007 unchanged | |
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| 122 | | D014 | Canonical lead/integrator is the existing session that authored DES101 r2 c9b2ed and notes through db8c5c; sole writer of Design and Design Document | PM, 2026-09-06, resolving the session-ownership request in Design/Design Review | Active coordination decision; other lead sessions contribute separately without overwriting | |
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124 | | D015 | Record five owner-added contributors: Naive Design Reader, Wiki Editor, External Critic, Reference Researcher, The Troll | Owner follow-up, 2026-09-06; PM identifies role names from their work pages | Active expanded roster on Team; previous unrecorded/outside labels are historical; existing design-only/asset rules apply | |
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| 125 | | D016 | Confirm D013's continuous post-entry attraction and panel-only entrance selection after the designers' sight-limited alternative | PM, 2026-09-06, Tasks PMU002 response to Q28 / World r9–r12 / TRL C11 | Current drafting baseline; alternative remains available for argued revision; no further confirmation needed to continue | |
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| 126 | | D017 | Hold the Flood is the owner-supplied working project title; final commercial naming is not locked | PM correction, 2026-09-06, EXT X9 / TRL C2 | Corrects PMR001's overstatement; no title change performed; final naming belongs to owner | |
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127 | | D018 | Add audience/value evidence as document criterion 11; combine related product choices into a recommendation | PM, 2026-09-06, accepting External Critic X18 and addressing X20 | Revises PM's criteria, not owner requirements; no price or commercial viability accepted. Earlier no-expansion position superseded by owner D019 | |
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129 | **D013 rationale and limits.** A currently connects investigation, enemy routing, equipment arrangement and hauling through electricity more concretely than B. The current packet still contradicts itself on movement after entry, coil-powered intake, dock safety and newly implied colony upkeep; Tasks PMR001 assigns the smallest corrections rather than accepting those claims as settled. Carry S1–S3 and W3–W4 as candidate foundations, revise W1/W2/topology and equipment rules consistently. Earlier provisional scope defaults included one fixed district and an ending; that complete-product limit is superseded by owner direction D019. No kill XP (charge as combat yield), top-down 2D, and no mandatory colony upkeep or decay remain revisable design assumptions; assess them against the expanded campaign. Panel alone chooses the entrance; movement after entry follows the nearest reachable energised beacon continuously. Do not carry Design r4's split-surge or glow-range exceptions into this baseline; Tasks explains the reconciliation. Use r4's nonconductive modules and wet-salvage leakage. All are revisable design assumptions, not owner approvals. Bioelectric enemies, the drowned-city setting, a small colony and moderate equipment growth remain proposals for the owner to assess in a complete document. A is not an approved production scope. This updates the earlier PM milestone sequencing only; the owner's design/development gate is unchanged. |
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131 | Record each consequential decision's maker, date/source, rationale, affected tasks, and superseded decision. Concept acceptance is not approval to build. |
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| 133 | ## PMU004 — expanded campaign and content ownership |
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| 135 | | ID | Decision | Authority | Status | |
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| 136 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | |
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| 137 | | D019 | Replace one-district/3–4h complete-product scope with a substantially larger campaign and many districts | Owner, 2026-09-06 follow-up | Confirmed direction; supersedes that part of D013; exact count/hours not specified; D007/D009 unchanged | |
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| 138 | | D020 | Use linked domain/entity pages for detailed design and a concise integrated owner document; PM owns prior underscoping and missing assignments | PM responding to owner, 2026-09-06 | Active coordination change; Editor maintains structure, designers author content; no page quota | |
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139 | | D021 | Propose four additional designers: Campaign/Districts, Combat/Enemies, Equipment/Builds, Colony/Progression | PM, 2026-09-06 | Four roles now evidenced by CAM101/CMB101/EQP101/COL101 submissions; Team and PMR004 record staffing; existing Lead remains integrator | |
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141 | PM initially proposed eight districts; D022 now selects seven external districts plus refuge as the next-draft baseline following CAM101's content-backed recommendation. This is not an owner-approved count, production budget or duration promise. Existing pumping district becomes an opening-area candidate. [Expansion Brief](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Expansion%20Brief) states quality criteria, ownership and the next milestone; [Tasks](/Hold%20the%20Flood/Tasks) carries DES104/WLD103/EDT102 and proposed CAM101/CMB101/EQP101/COL101. |
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