34f84ab162
GDD v1 (flow-locked hybrid movement, 5 biomes + secret, boss roster), TECH contracts (world API, level schema v0, bus events, manifest law), ART_BIBLE (synthetic scanner look), PIPELINE (MODELBEAST-first, fal gated), PROCESS (PROCITY lane/round law), charters A-F + ROUND1 instructions. Seed code: shell + boot + core (rng/bus/flags) + stub world (peristalsis shader tube, 1 draw / 102k tris, contract-complete) + qa.sh (GREEN). Verified in-browser; evidence docs/shots/laneF/round0_stub_tube.png. Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
96 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
96 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
# GUTS — Game Design Document (v1, round 1)
|
||
|
||
Owner: Lane C (with F sign-off). This v1 settles the open questions from the original
|
||
concept discussion; C refines numbers/encounters in-lane, but the **decisions** below are
|
||
integrator-settled for v1.
|
||
|
||
## Fantasy & tone
|
||
|
||
You are ENDO-1, a one-pilot micro-probe injected to clear a patient's digestive tract of a
|
||
hostile infestation, mouth to exit. Tone: playful-gross medical sci-fi — *Fantastic Voyage*
|
||
wonder, *Star Fox* arcade flow, a wink of *Osmos*-y biology-nerd humor. The body is not the
|
||
enemy; it's the weather. Enemies are the infestation + an immune system that can't tell
|
||
you're friendly.
|
||
|
||
## DECISION — movement model: "flow-locked" hybrid
|
||
|
||
Neither pure rail nor pure 6DOF — **the anatomy picks the mode**:
|
||
|
||
- **Tube mode** (esophagus, intestines): peristalsis is a forward current you cannot fully
|
||
fight. Base flow speed comes from the biome (`world.biomeAt(s).flow`); throttle gives
|
||
±40%, boost gives short +120% bursts. Full analog movement in the cross-section disc
|
||
(mouse/stick aims, ship banks). You steer *within* the tube; the tube carries you. This is
|
||
the Star Fox layer: readable, forward, fast.
|
||
- **Arena mode** (oral cavity, stomach, boss lairs): the same controller unlocked to free
|
||
6DOF, Descent-style, no gravity. Slower, spatial, exploratory. This is where fights and
|
||
secrets breathe.
|
||
- Transitions are diegetic: sphincters are literal gates between modes.
|
||
|
||
Rationale: pure rail wastes the stomach; pure 6DOF makes the esophagus a boring corridor.
|
||
The hybrid also keeps collision cheap in the 90% case (tube = radius test).
|
||
|
||
## DECISION — structure: 5 levels + gates + 1 secret
|
||
|
||
Each level ends at a real anatomical valve, staged as a gate ritual or boss:
|
||
|
||
| # | level | mode | signature mechanic | exit gate |
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||
| 1 | **Oral Cavity** | arena (tutorial) | dodging molar crush-cycles, saliva tides | **Epiglottis** — timing gate: dive on the swallow |
|
||
| 2 | **Esophagus** | tube (speed run) | ride peristalsis rings for boost; **reflux surge** chase finale | **Cardiac sphincter** — outrun the acid wall through it |
|
||
| 3 | **Stomach** | arena (the acid sea) | pH as environmental damage; mucus shallows are safe lanes; churn cyclones | **BOSS: Pyloric Guardian** — the sphincter itself |
|
||
| 4 | **Small Intestine** | tube (the long maze) | villi forest occludes sightlines; bile slicks; immune hunters | **MINIBOSS: Tapeworm chase** → ileocecal valve |
|
||
| 5 | **Large Intestine** | tube→arena (gas swamps) | flammable gas pockets: shooting inside one detonates it (hurts everyone — risk/reward); darkness + your scanner light | **BOSS: The Blockage** — then triumphant ejection finale |
|
||
| S | **Appendix** (secret) | arena | hidden lair off the cecum, bonus loot + lore | — |
|
||
|
||
Target: 6–10 min/level first playthrough, ~45 min campaign, built to replay for medals.
|
||
|
||
## Player systems
|
||
|
||
- **Hull** (HP, pickups only) + **Mucus coat** (regenerating shield; drained continuously by
|
||
ambient pH/enzymes — biome-dependent — and by hits). The coat is the pH mechanic: in the
|
||
stomach open acid, coat drain is brutal; hugging mucus shallows pauses it.
|
||
- **Weapons:** primary **lysozyme cannon** (fast pellet stream, infinite, heat-limited);
|
||
secondary **antacid torpedo** (limited ammo, AoE, *also neutralizes an acid zone for ~10 s*
|
||
— the dual-use is the interesting bit).
|
||
- **Boost** with a short i-frame window at spend; recharges from nutrient orbs.
|
||
- **Pickups:** nutrient orbs (score+boost), mucin globs (coat refill), B12 cell (hull),
|
||
antacid ammo, **biopsy samples** (3 hidden per level — the collectible).
|
||
|
||
## Enemies (v1 roster — B implements behaviors, D makes them pretty later)
|
||
|
||
All emissive-coded (ART_BIBLE): hostile = hot amber/red, projectiles = white-hot,
|
||
neutral flora = cyan (turns hostile if shot).
|
||
|
||
| enemy | biome | behavior archetype |
|
||
|---|---|---|
|
||
| amylase droplet | mouth | slow floater, corrosive contact aura |
|
||
| bolus chunk | esophagus | tumbling debris in the flow (crush) |
|
||
| pepsin swarm | stomach | small fast seekers, dissolve on kill |
|
||
| churn cyclone | stomach | environmental vortex, flings you |
|
||
| macrophage | small int. | big slow hunter; grab → mash to escape; eats other corpses to grow |
|
||
| antibody turret (Peyer's patch) | small int. | wall-mounted, fires homing Y-shaped darts |
|
||
| gut flora colony | large int. | neutral biofilm; shot ⇒ angry E. coli swarm |
|
||
| gas vent | large int. | hazard: thrust-shove + flammable cloud |
|
||
|
||
Bosses: **Pyloric Guardian** (armored sphincter; destroy mucosal nodes during open-cycles
|
||
while dodging acid spouts, arena slowly churns), **Tapeworm** (tube chase; shoot segment
|
||
weak-points as it coils around the canal ahead/behind), **The Blockage** (compacted-mass
|
||
fortress with embedded turrets and gas pockets; peel it layer by layer, finale = the canal
|
||
itself expels you both).
|
||
|
||
## Scoring & replay
|
||
|
||
Star-Fox-style medals per level: score (kills × style multiplier, chained kills), par time,
|
||
biopsy samples, damageless-gate bonus. Combo meter feeds the music layer (E). Endless
|
||
"colonoscopy run" mode is V2 (see V2_IDEAS.md).
|
||
|
||
## Difficulty & assists
|
||
|
||
Three difficulties scale coat-drain, enemy density, boss timing windows. Assist toggles
|
||
(flow auto-center, aim magnetism) — arcade games live or die on feel accessibility.
|
||
|
||
## Open for C to design in-lane (not settled)
|
||
|
||
Exact level lengths/pacing curves, encounter tables per segment, par times, pickup economy,
|
||
boss phase timings, secret placement, tutorialization beats of level 1.
|