aetherbound-guild/AGENTS.md

Aetherbound Guild Agent Contract

This file narrows the portfolio rules for this repository.

Current Stage

Phase 8 design is Owner-accepted. Phase 9 Godot vertical-slice development is authorized only through the active Goal named by CURRENT_CHECKPOINT.md. Runtime source belongs under runtime/; accepted HTML design authority remains under prototype/ and may not be silently rewritten to fit implementation. P9.0R3 is the Owner-accepted baseline for tutorial-battle pacing and event-bound combat feedback inside the preserved Title -> Guild Yard -> tutorial battle -> victory flow. Its source is frozen. It shortens dead holds between accepted authored animation states and adds bounded damage/heal number pops, impact nudge and existing VFX timing without changing HP results, roles, victory, animation assets or the opening flow. Contract, difficulty, Market, equipment, Party order, authoritative combat, persistence, chapters, device packaging, stores and release remain frozen.

Originality Boundary

• Authorized private reference material may be inspected only to identify systems, player decisions, content categories, pacing patterns, and production scope.
• Do not copy reference names, prose, formulas, layouts, progression trees, source code, art, music, sound effects, or other expressive assets.
• Do not place third-party commercial assets in this repository.
• Every product-facing design must be independently authored and traceable to this game's approved product contract.

Design Completion Gate

Formal development remains frozen until all of these are complete, mutually consistent, independently reviewed, and owner-approved:

1. Product and player-experience contract.
2. Core loop, battle, profession, skill, progression, economy, failure, save, difficulty, and postgame specifications.
3. Complete generated-recruit rules; 12 base, 24 advanced, and 6 hidden professions; 36 mechanical traits; 320 equipment items; 60 artifacts; 100 ordinary/elite enemies; 16 bosses; and 8 regions, with no filler rows. Recruits are not fixed story protagonists and do not require relationship, affinity, romance, personal-arc, or individual voice-content systems.
4. Complete screen/state map, onboarding, accessibility, localization, input, error, empty, confirmation, settings, and endgame states.
5. Art direction, asset inventory, animation matrix, VFX language, music plan, and SFX event catalog.
6. Landscape HTML design gallery showing every player-facing page and key state.
7. Economy/build simulations and a decision-density audit.
8. Interactive design prototype and owner review.

Owner visual/feel acceptance applies only to the bounded P9.0R3 tutorial battle presentation. Human listening, broader comprehension/fun, device, packaging, store, and release acceptance remain separate gates. P9.0R3 does not authorize the later authoritative battle system.