aetherbound-guild/docs/reviews/PRE_DEVELOPMENT_READINESS_AUDIT.md

Aetherbound Guild Pre-Development Readiness Audit

Date: 2026-08-11 Status: PHASE5_REFERENCE_FIDELITY_CANDIDATE_READY Integrated product source: e7cdbfd8d4205d98d60302d38adc654c12077dfe Frozen specification: .agent-taskgraph/spec.md revision design-spec-r3

Decision

e7cdbfd8d4205d98d60302d38adc654c12077dfe is the unique current pre-development product candidate. It integrates the complete design authorities, deterministic validators and simulations, the 50-page landscape HTML prototype, seven Owner review groups, and the 15-entry reference fidelity map. The reference map transfers functional structure only; it contains no commercial screenshots, media, names, prose, formulas, code or copied layout.

All local machine gates pass. The package is ready for Owner review of product direction, comprehension, visual composition and choice quality. It is not yet Owner-approved and does not authorize engine development, final asset/audio production, packaging, device work, store submission or release.

Earlier R4 and R5 failures and repairs remain below as append-only design history. They are not the current status. In particular, the seed-first run-creation transaction, hidden-profession art bindings, deterministic outcomes, anti-dominance fixture and validator negative cases are integrated and covered by the current 28-case self-test.

Integrated Candidates

Workstream	Candidate	Scope
Core systems	b0f9033, repair e598eed -> f55906e, 9be1927	four files under docs/product/
Content matrix	4e07a91 + 6a41189 -> 65f316d + 30fb0b9	docs/content/ only
UX and screen states	c364a5e, repair c64b99e -> dc8d654, ec4863a	two named presentation files
Art, animation and VFX	ca4d3df -> 4b6270a	art catalog only
Audio	1d51137, repair ff4101a -> 8b26e0a, f0095af	audio catalog only
Design validator	493e714, repair e7f80d0 -> b2d8f7b, 83bba23	validator contract and executable only
Deterministic outcome authority	5a05ffc -> f2a3f3c	battle systems authority only
Content outcome sync	d5fd2fc -> edbd281	four content catalogs only
Art outcome sync	8c8c1b7 -> f8d5bfe	art catalog only
Audio outcome sync	ea69bc7 -> 404e996	audio catalog only
R3 onboarding and screen repair	388d90b -> 14ea46e	two UX authorities only
R3 art schema/order repair	7f8d4b4 -> 03547a7	art catalog only
R3 audio coverage repair	9f63e46 -> 7071887	audio catalog only
R3 reference-scope repair	565ba2e -> 96ea49a	transferable lessons only
R3 validator gate + H1 integration repair	ec5e234 -> 8a6f0c8; 49e128f -> bcb2931	validator contract and executable only
Fixed-seed anti-dominance simulation	cb53794 -> b65646c	economy authority, one fixture and one simulator
R4 seed/transaction repair	ad0a57d -> bba0c43	product, save/failure and Recruit-generation authorities only
R4 hidden-profession art repair	fef9057 -> 8102bd2	art catalog only; invalid c558d19 excluded
Phase 5 reference fidelity	e60191b -> e7cdbfd	15-entry structural map, integrated Market, Gallery review surface and browser verifier

The content worker's exact identity ACK was observed at candidate close instead of before implementation. Runtime configuration, isolated worktree, exclusive write scope, two candidate commits and clean terminal are all independently recorded. This is a process-order deviation for reviewer awareness, not hidden evidence or a reason to upgrade product acceptance.

Verified Envelope

Domain	Verified count or boundary
Professions	12 base + 24 advanced + 6 hidden = 42
Recruit traits	36
Equipment	320
Run artifacts	60
Ordinary/elite enemies	100
Bosses	16
Regions	8
Player-facing pages	50 complete screen definitions
Audio production IDs	32 music, 76 ambience, 228 shared SFX, 32 voice intents
Integration bindings	34 declarations; zero unresolved values

The product authority now uses generated recruits, repeated shop decisions, a single ordered horizontal party line, automatic combat, recruitment, dismissal, permanent casualty and replacement. Fixed protagonists, relationships, fixed six-person grid combat, three lanes and manual Directive/Anchor/Cache battle authority are retired.

The first independent review of fixed revision 7ffd6b0 failed because an ordinary dismissal could remove the final live Recruit and expose an undefined zero-Recruit Market. The forward repair now evaluates one canonical live_recruit_count at preview and commit, rejects final-survivor, stale, duplicate and interrupted dismissal without rebate or state mutation, and keeps casualty recovery and explicit run abandonment as separate transactions. UX exposes the rejection and a distinct OUT-006 abandonment confirmation that routes directly to run end rather than an empty Shop.

Systems R2 then failed fixed revision 7054fe6 because PF-A04 depended on undefined probabilistic hit/miss/evasion semantics. The forward repair keeps the product rule of no hidden miss chance, defines 12 deterministic AO_* terminal outcomes, and binds Turnblade, affected equipment/traits/enemies, VFX shapes, SFX and captions to those outcomes. Experience R2 was INVALID because its context named a nonexistent reference file; R3 must use the actual authorities docs/reference/REFERENCE_RUNTIME_CENSUS.md and docs/reference/TRANSFERABLE_STRUCTURE_LESSONS.md.

Systems R3 failed fixed revision d454120 only because the declared anti-dominance promise lacked executable fixed-seed inputs and per-policy outcomes. Five exact states now replay four legal policies with winner spread refresh_first=1, hire_first=2, dismiss_first=1, no_replace=1; a deliberately dominant in-memory matrix is rejected. Experience R3 failed the same revision on provisional choose-two presentation, party direction, recruit-art schema mapping, OUT-006/50-screen audio coverage and obsolete fixed-cast reference lessons. Those authorities are repaired. The first validator integration candidate then produced three parser false negatives against the real repaired document shapes; H1 now accepts semantic-equivalent staged rows, endpoint clauses and four-column crosswalks while preserving all five negative diagnostic families.

Reproducible Checks

Run from the repository root:

python3 tools/validate_predevelopment_design.py --self-test
python3 tools/validate_predevelopment_design.py
python3 tools/validate_predevelopment_design.py --json
python3 tools/simulate_anti_dominance.py --self-test
python3 tools/simulate_anti_dominance.py
git diff --check

Expected markers and counts:

ABG_PREDEVELOPMENT_DESIGN_SELF_TEST_OK cases=28
ABG_PREDEVELOPMENT_DESIGN_OK errors=0
ABG_ANTI_DOMINANCE_SELF_TEST_OK seeds=5 dominant_matrix_rejected=1
ABG_ANTI_DOMINANCE_OK no_weak_dominance=1
ABG_R6_BROWSER_OK screens=50 flow_states=23 reference_maps=15 review_groups=7

The JSON result must contain "ok": true, an empty diagnostics array and the exact counts above. The combined fixed-seed replay result SHA-256 is 17154371d4b93035296d1219f012f381af2e10a5f2c1b3f66bcfcd7ad4d85352.

The current prototype/site/ and self-contained Gallery bundle are the Owner-facing representation of this candidate. They are a design prototype, not runtime evidence, final art, an engine build or proof of human acceptance. tools/validate_design_contracts.py remains historical; the current authority is tools/validate_predevelopment_design.py plus the browser verifier named in docs/prototype/INTERACTIVE_PROTOTYPE_SPEC.md.

Review Questions

1. Does the ten-minute loop remain immediately understandable: inspect offers, recruit or buy, equip, reorder, choose risk, watch automatic combat, read casualties/rewards, then make the next shop decision?
2. Does party order materially change protection, reach, movement, healing and replacement without recreating a hidden lane grid?
3. Do permanent loss and price pressure create recoverable adaptation instead of an unrecoverable run collapse or a trivial dismissal exploit?
4. Are all 42 professions, 36 traits, 320 equipment, 60 artifacts and 116 enemy identities decision-bearing rather than name-only filler?
5. Are the five pacing profiles, save/failure transaction rules and postgame loop executable and mutually consistent?
6. Can the 50-page landscape UX teach the loop without relying on prose-heavy documentation, unexplained icons or manual skill controls?
7. Are the modular art and audio scopes feasible, original and consistent with generated recruits rather than fixed protagonists?
8. Do any transferred structural lessons reproduce commercial expression, names, formulas, layouts, source or assets?

Questions 1-5 remain covered by deterministic design validation and simulation; questions 6-8 require Owner judgment through the current Gallery. Historical reviewer terminals remain evidence for their fixed revisions only and are not substitutes for Owner approval of e7cdbfd.

Open Gates

• Owner review of the 15 reference mappings, especially integrated Market, battle payoff, Guild Charter and completion-versus-continuation choice.
• Owner acceptance of game direction, comprehension, choice quality and scope.
• Final art/audio generation, integration, human visual review and listening.
• Engine implementation, simulations, runtime, physical device and persistence.
• Packaging, signing, stores, submission, publishing and release.