aetherbound-guild/docs/goals/PHASE9_0R8_FRONT_DOOR_GOAL.md

Phase 9.0R8 Front-Door Module Goal

Owner Decision And Role

On 2026-08-13 the Owner required development to proceed by player-facing modules and identified the missing front door before further combat expansion.

• Role: development task.
• Repository: aetherbound_guild only.
• Baseline: clean/upstream P9.0R7 closure d008c792ee8bc819fd642533a386cc54f85ce36d.
• Preserved playable product source: b7d50af403d3fe5d3fcc92943bc21d1d1748ae3d.
• Active contract: docs/runtime/PHASE9_0R8_FRONT_DOOR_CONTRACT.md.
• Active ledger: docs/reviews/PHASE9_GODOT_VERTICAL_SLICE_LEDGER.md.

Player Problem

The runtime verifies resources and shows a visual title, but it currently combines entering the game with starting a run. Language, text, motion and sound appear as unexplained title icons. There is no explicit main menu, game introduction or settings page. A player cannot first understand what the game is, choose presentation preferences, and then deliberately begin.

Owned Module

resource initialization -> title entry -> main menu

The main menu owns three independent routes:

1. Start New Game clears transient run state and opens the preserved Guild Yard.
2. Game Introduction explains the fantasy, immediate objective and the currently playable decision loop, then returns without mutation.
3. Settings exposes language, text size, reduced motion and mute with named values, live preview and a Back action.

No Continue button is shown because authoritative persistence does not yet exist. A disabled or fake continue action would teach a false product promise.

Acceptance

• Successful Boot still presents its verified state before Title.
• Title has one clear Enter Game action and no unexplained settings strip.
• Main menu has exactly three primary routes: New Game, Introduction and Settings.
• Introduction states what the player does now, why battles are automatic, and how adaptation, routes and individual growth form the current loop.
• Settings use readable named rows rather than bare icons; every change is immediate, reversible and session-local.
• Introduction and Settings Back return to the unchanged main menu.
• New Game is the only route that clears/starts the transient experience.
• In-game Home and confirmed Restart return to the main menu and leave no transient Company, Coin, battle, route or training state.
• Real parsed ScreenTouch proves the complete front-door navigation with fallback=0 direct=0.
• 844x390 Simplified Chinese and English/130% normal-render pages fit without scrolling, clipping or controls below 44px.
• The complete P9.0R7 playable path remains available after New Game.

Frozen

• P9.0R3-R7 combat, economy, route and growth values.
• Character/background/VFX/animation assets and paid generation.
• Save/Continue, account, cloud, slots, profile, credits, privacy links and platform services.
• Authoritative XP, Market, chapters, content expansion, packaging and release.

Legal Terminals

Aetherbound Guild P9.0R8 front-door H5 preview ready

or

Aetherbound Guild P9.0R8 redesign required: <earliest failed front-door boundary>

Fast H5 Result

Product source 3bed822dc1e69ed9a5f05c87d1931eaadaf9bd7d is clean, upstream and implements the complete owned module:

Boot -> Title -> Main Menu -> Introduction / Settings / New Game -> preserved R7 gameplay

The fast gate passes:

• ABG_P9_0R8_FRONT_DOOR_OK pages=5 menu_routes=3 intro_beats=4 settings=4 no_continue=true mutation=intro0,settings0 new_game=clear home=menu restart=menu;
• ABG_P9_0R8_FRONT_DOOR_TOUCH_OK touch=10 fallback=0 direct=0 for Title entry, both information-page round trips, four settings and New Game;
• the complete declared P9.0R1-R7 regression set, including the updated real Title -> Main Menu -> New Game route through the preserved battles;
• six normal-render 844x390 states covering verified Boot, Title, Main Menu, Introduction, Chinese Settings and English/130% Settings, with 44px controls and no clipping, overlap or scrolling; and
• a fixed-source runtime-only PCK with tests/evidence/build absent, nine delivery payloads verifying against export.sha256, local Chrome Title and remote signed Chrome Title with browser warning/error logs empty.

The ignored delivery is runtime/build/web-preview/3bed822-r8-fast/. export.sha256 has SHA-256 5012b7e90726b332f0597f65a576816dad2b25e05a52b0f106db54de2c2f84ba. The new private Artifact Gallery item is Fb1N2BuvoC7f; it does not overwrite R7. The remote cold start took roughly three minutes because the unchanged roughly 53 MB Web bundle remains uncompressed. This is fast preview evidence only. Owner front-door comprehension/visual acceptance, listening, persistence, physical device, packaging, stores and release remain open.