From bebaa6619661461bc22cc64edbee59e6e30bbc9b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: m3ultra Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 22:58:32 +1000 Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?Fable:=20THE=20FRONTIER=20=E2=80=94=20the=20hon?= =?UTF-8?q?est=20map=20of=20what=20is=20NOT=20figured=20out=20(John's=20ch?= =?UTF-8?q?allenge,=20answered=20in=20writing)?= MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 --- docs/THE_FRONTIER.md | 67 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 67 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/THE_FRONTIER.md diff --git a/docs/THE_FRONTIER.md b/docs/THE_FRONTIER.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..968b977 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/THE_FRONTIER.md @@ -0,0 +1,67 @@ +# PROCITY — THE FRONTIER (what is genuinely not figured out) + +*Fable (m3), 2026-07-17. John's challenge, verbatim: "there is heaps more to figure out — all +the systems are set you say?" He's right. This doc is the honest map: what 29 rounds built is +the WORLD and the PIPELine; the GAME — the reason a stranger would play for an hour — is +mostly unfigured. Nothing here is chartered; it's the space the next epochs get picked from. +Sibling docs: V2_IDEAS (the old parking lot), V6_LIVING_STREET (chartered, in flight).* + +## What is actually solid (don't re-litigate) + +Procedural + real towns · enterable interiors · citizens with identity · gigs · weather/tram · +the dig with real/mint/parody stock · the tier ladder + offline law · the two-studio pipeline · +the QA culture. The platform is genuinely done-ish. Everything below stands ON it. + +## THE BIG ONE — it isn't a game yet + +You walk, you dig, you buy. Then you close the tab and it never happened. The whole loop that +makes digging MEAN something is unbuilt: + +1. **Persistence.** No saves. The wallet resets, the collection vanishes, "gone this session" + is the only memory. (localStorage fits the seeded-everything law trivially — the world + regenerates from seed; only the DELTA needs saving: cash, owned items, day. This is days of + work, not an epoch, and it unlocks everything below.) +2. **The collection.** You buy records and they go... nowhere. No crate at home, no album/ + shelf UI, no "look what I found in Katoomba." The collection IS the trophy case of the + whole game and it does not exist. +3. **The thrill loop.** thriftgod's `mint()` gem bands exist as DATA (price bands, gems, + CBD-distance curation) and drive NOTHING. No underpriced gem in a dusty crate, no "is this + worth more than they're asking", no sell/flip loop, no wantlist hunting across towns. The + entire reason op-shopping is exciting in real life is un-simulated. +4. **Why today matters.** No day structure — no opening hours pressure (hours exist! nothing + makes you race them), no end-of-day, no "the gig starts at 9, the shops shut at 5, choose." + The clock is scenery. +5. **The player.** No hands, no home, no inventory UI beyond a number, no character. Who are + you in this town? +6. **Onboarding.** A stranger at digalot.fyi/procity gets pointer-lock and silence. The first + five minutes are unfigured entirely. + +## Chartered but unbuilt (in flight or waiting) + +- **v6 LIVING STREET** — spikes gated on footage; then clips-at-scale, personas, footpaths + + occasional cars, generated bodies. +- **Option B** — real reservation holds (John's hold budget). +- **Tier-2 auto-discovery** — needs a reachability contract. +- **The editor/override layer** (V2_IDEAS, still the best long-game idea: hand-author any shop + interior over the procedural base). +- **Multiplayer presence** (see who's digging the same town). + +## Unowned design questions (nobody has even sketched these) + +- **What is a session?** 20 minutes? A day-cycle? A town per sitting? +- **The economy loop:** buy low → ??? → profit. Sell where? To whom? GodBay (thriftgod's + auction sim) is sitting right there as the obvious answer and no design connects them. +- **Cross-town play:** 23 towns exist; nothing makes you travel. Regional wantlists? A gem + rumor system? The tram/train BETWEEN towns? +- **The gig layer as gameplay:** you can attend a gig; you can't book one, play one, or care + about one. 90sDJsim overlap sits unexplored (DJ the venue?). +- **Music identity:** procedural beds exist; a game this specific deserves a sound. +- **The 90s-ness:** it's in the fabric (video shops, milk bars) but no system USES the era — + no phone-free navigation puzzles, no street-press gig guide, no mixtapes. + +## The honest sequencing opinion (Fable's, not a ruling) + +The private-test deploy is the design instrument: John walks the game cold and writes down +every "why can't I..." — that list IS the v7 charter input. My candidate for v7 once v6's +spikes land: **THE GAME (persistence + collection + the thrill loop + a day that matters)** — +it's the smallest set that turns the platform into something a stranger plays twice.