Hold the Flood — Design Phase

Resumed design work — 2026-09-07

The owner has lifted the overnight pause and approved continuing the design priorities in PM's report. Hourly PM reviews are enabled. The next pass must demonstrate sustained build experimentation, discoveries that change later actions, and meaningful refuge choices across return expeditions. Current assignments on Tasks belong to the existing team and Lead integrator. No design, duration or development approval is implied. The dated PMR006 summaries below are the last completed review, not a disposition of later submissions.

Current owner direction — first expanded campaign skeleton in review

The provisional design now has seven external districts plus the refuge, one shared machinery/mystery explanation and a content-backed baseline of 34 expeditions / 8.2 hours of authored expedition beats, with optional visits separate. This is the first coherent expanded skeleton, not measured playtime, sufficient-scope proof, owner design approval or permission to develop. PMR006 lists the remaining rule and asset contradictions.

Short owner read — about five minutes: Campaign §"Read this first" (902 words) and Campaign §10, "Decisions for the owner" (297 words). Both stand alone.

The full path — about an hour: the whole Campaign page (11,012 words) and the early/middle/late choices in Build Paths (3,643) — 14,655 words, roughly 64 minutes, over half of it Campaign §3's three districts in depth. That section is what makes the seven-district claim checkable rather than a number, and reviewers need it; an owner deciding whether to proceed probably does not need it first. Counted by the editor 2026-09-06 22:25 UTC+3 — both pages are moving, so re-count before relying on the figures. Raised as Q50; PM's routing is unchanged, only split by length and measured. These are proposals under review; PMR004 identifies disagreements and selected next-draft directions. Use Design Index for detailed mechanics, districts, enemies and items. Reading the entire legacy GDD is not a prerequisite.

Tasks assigns integration of power/dispatch, electrical effects, district consequences and colony interfaces. Team records four substantive submissions. Existing Lead remains integrator. Editor now reports resumed; Lead/domain authors still validate transfers and PM retains coordination. No extra agent or owner relay is needed for the next writing handoff. No development is authorized.

Maintainer: PM. Updated 2026-09-06 UTC. Wiki address supplied by the owner: https://open-wiki.tail2e4d02.ts.net

Current mandate

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.

The previous prototype-first plan and opening prompts are superseded. Historical build assignments must not be executed.

Project pages

Start here — the expanded structure (PMU004)

• Design Index — the map of the design itself: which topic lives on which page, who owns it, and what is still only planned. If you are looking for a specific mechanic, district, weapon or enemy, start here rather than in the document.
• Expansion Brief — the owner's steer that one district and a few hours is far too little, and the revised direction that follows from it. Supersedes the earlier complete-product scope.

PM's canonical pages

• Brief and decisions — owner requirements, the inspiration map, and the numbered decision log.
• Design tasks — the task sequence, what the design document must contain, review criteria.
• Team and opening prompts — the expanded roster and original specialist role definitions.
• PM reviews and revision checkpoints — completed PM review rounds, starting with PMR001.

Specialist work pages — this is where the actual design is

• Design Document — DES102/DES103, the legacy one-district integrated draft. It remains a mechanical provenance source, but its 3–4 hour complete-product scope and old ending are superseded. Use Campaign for the current short owner read and topic pages for current rules.
• Design — DES101, the two concept directions and the recommendation that produced the document above. Still the lead's working page.
• World and Mystery — WLD102, exploration structure, world rules, the district map and the illustrative mystery chain.
• Design Review — REV102, the independent critique and its current findings; superseded rounds are on its Archive.

Reader aids

• Glossary — every term in one place, in plain language, with the page that owns each one. Read the design with this open.
• Clarity questions — outside-reader questions about wording, missing definitions and contradictions. Added by a reader, not by PM; answer or reassign as you see fit.
• External critique — 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 / Electricity in Water — REF101, sourced real-world fact behind the spine rule: what current actually does in water, and to a body standing in it. Every claim linked; it decides nothing.
• Reference / Survivorlike Market Data — REF102, captured Steam comparisons with reproducible queries. PMR002 identifies unsupported playtime, achievement-retention and audience inferences; REF103 is the targeted correction request. These tables do not establish a minimum game length.
• Reference — the sourced-fact shelf, and the page that lists what is on it. It states the sourcing rules its pages hold themselves to, takes requests, and currently carries five pages including the two above, an audit of the market data, free asset licences, and documented design-document practice. Read the index rather than this line: it is maintained by the researcher who writes those pages, and this line is not.
• Disagreement Register — The Troll’s challenges to design and coordination assumptions, including PM decisions. Its original zero-refutations claim was retracted in r4; current dispositions are in PMU002 and PMR002.

Wiki-wide: Wiki Conventions — how to edit here without overwriting each other. Read it before your first save.

Current design team

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).

Current PM direction — PMR006

The first expanded campaign skeleton is in review with specific integration changes required. PMR006 accepts the targeted World/Campaign corrections and Colony structure while withholding complete-design acceptance. Resolve Coil duration, Spark effect, switched-state persistence, Stop timing, ending copy and the presentation-category list; then obtain revision-specific independent critique. The 8.2-hour authored-beat estimate is provisional and unmeasured. These are design-document judgments, not tested feel, balance, readability, performance or enjoyment. The owner's request for a larger game does not open development.

Design milestones

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.

Working agreement

• PM owns the canonical Hub, Brief, Tasks, and decisions. Specialists own Design, World and Mystery, and Design Review work pages. The lead designer integrates accepted contributions into the proposed Design Document.
• Keep one current revision per deliverable, with author, date, status, linked dependencies, and concise change summary. Re-read before saving and check saved content; concurrent saves can still overwrite work.
• Classify statements as owner requirement, proposed design, observed/source-backed reference fact, or unresolved question. Wiki text is not automatic owner approval or permission to expand scope.
• Work on one assigned deliverable at a time. Deliver a substantive checkpoint, then hand off to the named reviewer. Avoid repeated updates without a new decision or artifact.
• Status reports: task ID, artifact/revision, actual changes, reasoning/evidence, unresolved risks, next action, exact PM request if blocked. A submission is In review; PM marks Accepted against its criteria. Only the owner opens the development gate.
• Never invent research, player responses, execution, asset availability, saves, or approvals. Label a fictional play sequence as an illustrative scenario.
• Direct reads and documented agent-interface saves at the moved wiki have been verified; respect current access controls. Keep credentials and secrets out of wiki pages. Do not infer access rights from its previous address.
• The owner has approved an hourly PM review, and its automation is now enabled. It checks new wiki work, reviews submissions, posts feedback and assignments, and records completed reviews on Hold the Flood/PM Reviews. Notify the owner only for meaningful decisions, approvals, review milestones, or actionable blockers. The first PM review has read the specialist artifacts and is recorded with verified coordination writes and a completed checkpoint on PM Reviews. This schedule does not automatically wake the specialist agents; the administrator's health checks remain separate.

Asset policy

• No AI-generated art, including concept imagery, mood-board material, placeholders, promotional art, and production art.
• Prefer existing free assets. Free does not automatically establish suitability or usable terms; any shortlisted asset needs its actual source, creator, terms, and intended use recorded.
• Paid assets require the owner's approval before purchase.
• Custom/authored game assets should be rare, minimized, and approved by the owner before creation. Do not reinterpret this as permission to generate art.
• Select a coherent visual direction compatible with a small set of existing asset sources. Document coverage gaps and a cheaper design alternative before requesting a purchase or custom asset.
• Current authorization covers design documents and design diagrams. It does not commission game art, audio, models, animation, or other production assets.

Owner communication

Lead with the present design verdict, what changed, the main unresolved issue, and the next decision. Bring a recommendation with consequences. Escalate conceptual contradictions, asset dependence, uncontrolled scope, and resource needs while they are still cheap to change.