M1: Playtest Town

M1 is done when a stranger joins a dedicated server hosted from the maintainer's PC and gets through the whole loop with nobody helping. They take a short guided arrival, read 1989 signs, and finish spawn → job → cash → ATM → shop → vehicle → crime → police response → arrest, fine, or jail → organization, hideout, garage. After a server restart, what they earned is still there. Every step runs on a dedicated server with several clients. Every step gives visible feedback in the world. Every step is proven from the player's view by agent-box and has a filmed clip (direction, decisions).

Baseline: main at 2bb73b2 (2026-11-07). release/next (#56), the dev gate (#71), and dedicated client state (#83) are merged. Status below is from reading the code and the audit. Nothing has been played on a dedicated server yet, so "works" means "works as Workbench host".

GitHub: milestone M1 Playtest Town, label m1; one issue per scope (§e).

Starting line: M0 in flight (not re-planned)

M1 scopes depend on these PRs by number and do not repeat their work. #71, #77, #79, and #83 merged on 2026-11-07 with full-suite runs and observed red-proofs. The rest are being finished the same way. The maintainer's answers to the plan's open questions are at the end (Decided 2026-11-08).

#97 edits the same police menu, duty, confiscation, and faction-screen files that #83 changed. Rebase #97 onto main before it merges. A wave-1 scope starts when its listed dependencies are merged. It does not wait for all of M0.

a. The player journey

Status key: works = works as Workbench host, never proven on dedicated; works (code) = fixed for dedicated in merged code, not yet seen live; broken; missing; UI = works but lives behind a menu that should be in the world (§b).

b. In-world redesign

The test is "how would this exist in the world, and does doing it in the world make it more fun or just slower?". Adopt = in M1. Later = right idea, not needed for the loop. Keep UI = the in-world version adds friction without adding play, so the UI stays and is made to look like an object.

c. Signs

Prefabs. Each one inherits a base-game prop, so the mod ships no new meshes.

Behaviour.

• LF_SignComponent holds one m_sSignId.
• LF_SignReadAction is named Read: <title>. The title shows in the interaction prompt, so a player sees what a board is without opening it.
• The Read action opens LF_SignCard, a paper card on LF_UIScreen. It has four short sections: What, How (the exact action names), Needs (items, faction, police online), and Rules (cooldowns, wanted). MenuBack or walking 4 m away closes it.
• The card is client-only and has no RPC.

Content is config. Configs/Signs/LF_Signs.conf maps id → title, what, how, needs, rules.

• A value that starts with # is a localization key (#LF-Sign_<Id>_<Field>, appended to everonlife_localization.st with translator comments).
• Any other value is shown as written. A server owner can retitle or rewrite a sign in their own config without touching the string table.
• A missing id logs EL_Debug.Error("Signs", …) and that sign's action hides.

Placement. A new Signs.layer (M1-09).

• Spawn plaza (civilian spawn ~105,134 today; M1-25 moves it to one end of the street): a LF_Sign_Board "Welcome to Everon". Its card lists the loop in order and where each site is ("Post office: east on the main street, by the red counter").
• One sign per site, within 8 m of the site: post office, traders, ATM, general store, black market, vehicle lot, garage, bank, fuel station, hospital, police station, jail, organization registry, hideout, convoy pickup and drop, and the mining and farm chains.
• Retire debug text. EL_MiningSign and EL_WhitelistSign move to LF_SignComponent. EL_TextLabelComponent is deleted.

Proof. report town (M1-02) fails a site with no sign within 8 m, or with a blank card.

Board face. The title is printed on the board itself (decided 2026-11-08). #119 prints it on LF_Sign_Board and LF_Sign_Notice as a render-target paper sheet. LF_Sign_Pub and LF_Sign_Chalkboard follow in #116.

d. Guided arrival chain

The chain runs on the existing quest system (Scripts/Game/Feature/Quests/): LF_QuestGiverComponent, LF_QuestDefinition, and prerequisite chaining with m_sRequiredPreviousQuestId.

• One addition: a generic SIGNAL event type with a string key, reported through LF_QuestManager.ReportSignal(user, key).
• Hooks are modded classes in LF_QuestHooks.c, the same pattern it already uses for gather and process. The job, ATM, and sign files are not edited.

Rules for the chain.

• Length. Five to ten minutes. After step 5 nothing is pushed.
• Signs only point. Each step's card points at the sign for the next site. The chain never adds waypoint markers.
• Returning players. Turn-ins are persisted (M1-10), so a returning player never sees the chain again.
• The giver moves. The clerk is a new QuestGiver_Clerk.et. QuestGiver_Start keeps the test quests but moves off the spawn plaza.
• The ID card. It is granted at spawn behind m_bGrantIdAtSpawn until this chain lands. Then step 1 hands it over.

e. Scopes and waves

Each scope is sized for one agent in one worktree. The issue is the full card: context, files, dependencies, acceptance proof, and out of scope. Within a wave, scopes do not touch the same files apart from the append-only ones (localization, docs/features.md, agent-box/README.md). Waves are not time boxes. A scope starts as soon as its dependencies are merged.

• Wave 1 (foundations): M1-00 street split, M1-01 sign system, M1-02 town manifest, M1-03 playtest host, M1-04 carried inventory persists, M1-05 multi-client harness, M1-06 filming, M1-07 pay at the counter, M1-08 registration + ID card.
• Wave 2 (sites): M1-25 one-street town, M1-09 signs placed, M1-10 progression persists, M1-11 police station, M1-12 player interaction menu, M1-13 counter screens, M1-14 contraband cargo, M1-15 hideout stash, M1-26 wake up in hospital.
• Wave 3 (consequence and polish): M1-16 garage + impound, M1-17 org registry, M1-18 arrival chain, M1-19 fine ticket, M1-20 alarm + dispatch, M1-21 jail slip, M1-22 town tidy, M1-27 murder and spawn safe zone, M1-28 light survival needs.
• Wave 4 (acceptance): M1-23 journey proof on dedicated, M1-24 playtest release.

Wave 1

Wave 2

Wave 3

Wave 4

f. Not in M1

Do not build these in M1. File them for later.

• Buy and furnish property (decision recorded; after M1, on the house lock and key code).
• Licenses as cards, a gun shop, the weapon license desk. The weapon decision stands; it ships with the gun shop.
• Goods on shelves and shop stock. NPC prices that follow supply and demand (decision: after M1).
• ATM cards and receipts. A pay-slip item.
• The org fund as a physical safe. An evidence locker for confiscated items.
• Payphones and pagers as new items. M1 uses the vanilla radio for dispatch.
• AI police when officers are offline. Tiered crime thresholds.
• Configurable death drop. M1 keeps the flagship rule: the body keeps everything it carried.
• Heist state across a restart. An open breach and bank bags on the ground reset on restart, by design. Sentences persist through #77.
• Everon placement, reusable site prefabs, MainWorld (M2).
• Name tags. A phone UI. Custom meshes or textures for signs.
• New jobs, crafting, revive, police missions, world events.
• Rented hosting. Monetization.
• In-jail work that shortens a sentence (#127). The police application form (#128). The day and night cycle (#129).
• Money sinks beyond M1: paying for fuel, vehicle repairs, property upkeep, rent, and taxes, and licences as paid cards. M1 has food and medicine, the hospital bill, fines, and impound fees.

Hot files (read before taking a scope)

Top risks

1. One rendering machine. 19 of 25 scopes need the game, and only the maintainer's PC has it. Workbench builds hold a machine-wide lock. The real limit on parallelism is game time, not agents.
   • Mitigation: write code and LOGIC tests headless, then batch the needs-game proofs into scheduled play sessions. Treat a second game machine as an M1 enabler.
2. Several clients on one PC. M1-05 assumes a dedicated server plus two or three game clients run side by side with their own profiles. If Steam or memory refuses, every multi-client proof (M1-05, M1-11, M1-12, M1-19, M1-20, M1-23) needs a second machine.
   • Mitigation: spike this first in M1-05.
3. M0 is unverified. Six open PRs are "code only, suite not run", and #97 overlaps files #83 just changed. M1 builds on them.
   • Mitigation: M0 must land green on the full tier before wave 2 starts.
4. Saving carried inventory. Nested storage, quantity stacks, hand-carry items, and death all have to save at the right moment. A mistake makes dupes: die, restart, get it back.
   • Mitigation: M1-04 needs a real restart proof, not an in-session round trip.
5. The harness on a dedicated server re-opens the hole #71 closed. Teleport and remote use must stay behind EL_DevGate. The playtest mission and any Workshop build must keep that gate closed.
   • Mitigation: a test pins it (M1-05).

Decided 2026-11-08

The maintainer answered the plan's six questions and made more calls. Each answer is an entry in decisions.

• Q1. Sign titles: printed on the board, not only in the prompt. Done in #119 for the board and notice; pub sign and chalkboard in #116. (decision)
• Q2. Faction choice: no faction screen. Everyone spawns civilian; whitelisted players become police by clocking in at the duty desk, which sets the loadout (M1-11, M1-08). (decision)
• Q3. Passive paycheck: deleted; unemployment benefit for broke players at the job counter (M1-07). (decision)
• Q4. Fines: a paper ticket paid in cash at the police desk within N minutes; it doubles once at the deadline, then +1 wanted. Never from the bank (M1-19). (decision)
• Q5. Police minimums: major crimes always allowed; louder alarm when no officer is on duty. Flagship minimum 0, configurable per crime (M1-20). (decision)
• Q6. Town layout: every M1 site moves onto one street now (M1-25, #120). (decision)
• Respawn: you wake in a hospital bed and pay a small bill from the bank; debt if broke (M1-26, #121). (decision)
• Names: after an introduction, a name shows only up close, never over a crowd, and is remembered across sessions (M1-12). (decision)
• Police gear: clocking in swaps in a separate police inventory and clocking out swaps it back; both persist across a restart (M1-11, M1-04). (decision)
• Town style: a small 1989 Everon village with a real road and a square at the spawn, plus a fenced test annex for dev fixtures (M1-25, M1-22). (decision)
• Wanted: a crime makes you wanted at once; police get a vague description, not a name, until they identify you (M1-11, M1-20). (decision)
• Violence: killing anyone is murder and makes you wanted; the spawn plaza is a safe zone; admins handle repeat offenders (M1-27, #125). (decision)
• Survival: hunger and thirst drain slowly, cap health near 75% and cut stamina, and never kill (M1-28, #126). (decision)
• Jail: the sentence ticks only while the prisoner is online (M1-21); in-jail work that shortens it is after M1 (#127). (decision)
• Money sinks: fuel and repairs; food, medicine, and hospital bills; property upkeep, rent, and taxes; licences, fines, and impound. M1 ships the food, hospital, fine, and impound sinks. (decision)
• Police whitelist: an application form at the station desk, approved by admins or chiefs; after M1 (#128). (decision)
• Time of day: accelerated day and night by default, real time as an option; after M1 (#129). (decision)
• Release: two or three private playtests with friends and fixes, then the public Workshop release with a showcase video (M1-24). (decision)
• Quality bar: a physical interaction without a fitting animation and sound is not done on the flagship. Every M1 clip shows them. (decision)
• Open source and dependencies: permissive work may be copied with its notice and credit; share-alike and unlicensed work is never copied. A very small number of Workshop dependencies is acceptable, each recorded as a decision. (decision)