aetherbound-guild/docs/reviews/PHASE4_PRODUCT_INTEGRATION_DECISION.md

Phase 4 Product Integration Decision

Date: 2026-08-11

Decision Enabled

Decide which newly proven reference structures should enter Aetherbound Guild's original product contract before runtime development, and which should be rejected as reference-specific expression or a poor fit for mobile sessions.

Fixed Boundary

• Product stage remains pre-development design review.
• Runtime, engine, final media, audio production, packaging and release remain frozen.
• Commercial names, prose, formulas, layouts, trees, images and audio do not enter this repository.
• The Owner-locked rule remains: Fallen Recruits never return during or after a battle in the current run.

Five-Lens Review

Product And Business

The ten-member generated-company fantasy, pre-battle decisions and automatic combat remain the strongest differentiator. A hundreds-of-victories mandatory run would conflict with the contracted 15-75 minute mobile session and increase abandonment risk. Keep finite 45-75 minute Contract runs and use the campaign plus postgame for long-term breadth.

Player Experience

The current first-play chain already teaches recruit, equip, reorder, risk, automatic battle, diagnosis and casualty recovery. The missing player-facing promises are a concrete persistent-spending surface and an explicit answer to "what happens after the final boss?" Both must be visible in the prototype.

Visual And Interaction Design

Do not copy a radial rune graph. Use an original Guild Charter: eight horizontal Region seals connected by readable prerequisite tracks, with sidegrade unlock cards below the selected seal. Touch uses Tap-to-select then Tap-destination for reorder/equip, with drag as an optional shortcut.

Systems Architecture

Renown already purchases breadth and the save contract already protects persistent claims. Guild Charter is a presentation and transaction model over that authority, not a new power currency. The final-boss decision reuses first-clear facts and postgame eligibility; it does not preserve the just-ended run's Recruits as playable units or reopen a closed run.

Simulated Target Players

• A first-time mobile player needs one obvious next action and visible consequences, not a large unexplained tree.
• A build-focused player needs prerequisites, cost, what changes in future runs and a safe preview before spending.
• A mastery player needs a finite first ending plus an explicit continuation path, without being told that completion erased ordinary New Run.

These are design hypotheses, not human evidence.

Accepted Integration

1. Keep one ordered horizontal line, generated Recruits, ten deployment capacity, automatic combat, visible risk offers and permanent run casualties.
2. Give PRO-002 a concrete Guild Charter board. Renown spends only on catalog packets, Profession clues/trials, threat-preview breadth and optional Oath laws. Every claim previews prerequisite, cost and future-run effect.
3. At the sixteenth campaign boss, show a first-clear decision after all receipts settle:
   • Complete the First Chronicle: archive the surviving Company in Records, show the finite ending and return to Title/Final Ledger.
   • Open the Oath Season: archive the same Company, then enter the postgame hub to create a new generated run under reviewed optional laws.
4. Keep ordinary New Run visible in postgame. Postgame never silently resumes the cleared Company and never grants permanent raw power.
5. Strengthen mobile instructions around Tap selection, Tap destination, optional drag, selling mode, destructive review and battle controls.
6. Add a seventh Owner review group for Guild Charter and final-boss continuation/closure.

Rejected Integration

• No copied Rune Circle layout, node names, costs or profession mapping.
• No mandatory 800-round or multi-hour uninterrupted run.
• No same-battle resurrection or difficulty-based reversal of permanent loss.
• No conversion of a retired Recruit into farmable permanent combat power.
• No endless-content claim, infinite stat scaling or repeated identical clears as the primary mastery plan.
• No manual attack or ultimate-skill controls.

Acceptance

The integration is candidate-ready only when the product, economy, screen map, prototype specification and HTML show the same Guild Charter and final-boss choice; the deterministic validator and browser checks pass; and the Owner can identify what Renown buys, what each final choice does and why the just-cleared Company does not persist as playable units.

Machine Verification Record

The 2026-08-11 design candidate passed:

• ABG_PREDEVELOPMENT_DESIGN_SELF_TEST_OK cases=28;
• ABG_PREDEVELOPMENT_DESIGN_OK errors=0, with 50 pages and all fixed content and audio counts unchanged;
• ABG_ANTI_DOMINANCE_OK no_weak_dominance=1, with five fixed seeds and policy wins 1/2/1/1;
• ABG_R6_BROWSER_OK screens=50 flow_states=23 review_groups=7, including all four new dedicated compositions, desktop/tablet/phone portrait/phone landscape, and the offline self-contained bundle.

The final offline HTML SHA-256 is f4639527439ce22afeb00082e4bba612a3d1aba2898207aeca5e34fa54f982e3. This closes machine consistency and responsive-layout checks only. Owner comprehension, visual approval, fun, listening, device ergonomics, and formal development authorization remain open.