aetherbound-guild/.agent-taskgraph/spec.md

Execution Spec: Recruit-Line Auto-Battler Redesign

Status: FROZEN Requested: 2026-08-10 Frozen by: Owner / 2026-08-10 Revision: design-spec-r3

Decision This Batch Enables

Produce a coherent replacement for the current fixed-cast, six-unit, three-lane design and, in parallel, replace the obsolete presentation authorities with implementation-ready UX, art, audio and validation contracts. This batch still does not start runtime development or final media production.

Confirmed Product Direction

• Original landscape 2D Japanese hand-drawn fantasy auto-battler.
• The transferable loop is: shop offers -> recruit/buy -> equip -> reorder one horizontal party line -> choose risk -> fully automatic battle -> reward, death, dismissal or replacement -> repeat -> persistent run progression.
• Recruits are compositional units built from generated name, modular visual identity, fixed profession, rolled attributes, one lightweight mechanical trait, equipment, level and survival history.
• Recruits are not 30 fixed protagonists. Remove relationship, affinity, romance, personal-arc and mandatory individual voice systems.
• Battle uses one ordered horizontal line. Remove the 3-lane x front/rear grid, in-battle Directive system, Anchor/Cache battle terminology and fixed six-unit cap from the core loop.
• Battle is automated. Player controls are prepare, reorder, equip, start, pause, speed, inspect and retreat; no repeated manual skill activation.
• Simultaneous deployment starts small and grows toward a simulated target of 10-12. Cumulative recruits in a run are not capped by that deployment number; death, dismissal and replacement keep recruitment relevant.

Complete Content Envelope

• 12 base professions, 24 regular advanced professions and 6 hidden hybrid professions: 42 playable profession identities.
• 36 lightweight mechanical recruit traits.
• 320 equipment items and 60 artifacts.
• 100 ordinary/elite enemy identities plus 16 bosses across 8 regions.
• First clear target 15-25 hours; mastery and high-difficulty play 60+ hours.
• Minimal world framing and regional progression only. Content depth comes from profession, equipment, formation-order, enemy and run-economy interaction.

Workstreams

ABG-V2-CORE-SYSTEMS

Owns root AGENTS.md alignment and docs/product/. It defines the complete loop, recruitment/dismissal/death rules, horizontal formation grammar, deterministic auto-battle, professions as a fixed catalog schema, economy, shop refresh, pacing, run structure, difficulty, failure, save and postgame. It must not enumerate the content catalog owned by the content workstream.

ABG-V2-CONTENT-MATRIX

Owns docs/content/. It replaces the fixed-character bible with generated recruit specifications and authors the complete profession, trait, equipment, artifact, enemy, boss and region matrices. It must consume the schemas in this spec and must not edit product, presentation, prototype or taskgraph files.

ABG-V2-UX-SCREENS

Owns docs/presentation/SCREEN_AND_STATE_MAP.md and docs/presentation/UI_AND_VISUAL_SYSTEM.md. It defines the complete landscape navigation, shop, recruit, equipment, party-line, battle, result, failure, settings, accessibility, localization and endgame states. Exact system values that are still being finalized must use named binding placeholders rather than inventing a conflicting authority.

ABG-V2-ART-DIRECTION

Owns docs/presentation/ART_ASSET_AND_ANIMATION_CATALOG.md. It replaces fixed character, relationship and lane-grid assets with a modular generated-recruit system, 42 profession kits, one horizontal battle line, eight region families, 116 enemy identities, equipment readability, animation states and VFX rules. It specifies production; it does not generate final assets.

ABG-V2-AUDIO-DIRECTION

Owns docs/presentation/AUDIO_MUSIC_AND_VOICE_CATALOG.md. It removes the obsolete 30-character voice burden and specifies readable shop, formation, auto-battle, casualty, reward, region, UI, accessibility and lifecycle audio. It specifies production; it does not generate or purchase audio.

ABG-V2-DESIGN-VALIDATION

Owns docs/reviews/DESIGN_VALIDATION_CONTRACT.md and tools/validate_predevelopment_design.py. It defines deterministic count, cross-reference, forbidden-concept, schema and coverage checks for the merged design. It may not change product, content or presentation authority.

Shared Vocabulary

Term	Meaning
Recruit	One generated run participant, not an authored story protagonist
Profession	A fixed reusable combat ruleset referenced by many recruits
Trait	One short mechanical modifier with a visible benefit and cost
Party line	The ordered simultaneous deployment from front to rear
Run	One shop/battle/reward sequence with cumulative recruits and losses
Meta progression	Persistent unlock breadth; it may not replace run decisions
Artifact	A run-defining shared rule modifier, distinct from unit equipment

Acceptance Criteria

• No product authority still requires fixed named protagonists, relationships, a six-unit roster, a three-lane grid or Directive/Anchor/Cache battle rules.
• Recruitment, dismissal, permanent loss, replacement, price pressure, deployment capacity and cumulative recruitment are explicit and testable.
• Party order changes targeting, protection, reach, healing, movement and replacement behavior in immediately readable ways.
• Every profession and content row changes a player decision; no name-only or number-only filler.
• Economy and pacing include five profiles, decision timestamps, solvency and anti-dominance checks.
• Save/failure rules cover migration, corruption, retry, duplicate claim, interruption, rollback, clock rollback and bounded offline behavior.
• Cross-document terminology, IDs, counts and formulas are consistent.
• Every player-facing page and key state has a landscape composition, primary action, readable consequence, empty/error/confirmation behavior and input, localization and accessibility coverage.
• Art, animation, VFX, music, ambience, SFX and voice scope are production- countable and match generated recruits rather than fixed protagonists.
• A deterministic design validator checks counts, IDs, cross-references, forbidden retired concepts and presentation coverage after integration.
• A visible independent reviewer audits the integrated fixed revision before any HTML prototype or runtime development begins.

Excluded Scope

• Runtime code, engine selection, packages, signing, store or release work.
• Final or bulk production art/audio and paid media generation.
• Copying reference names, prose, formulas, layouts, source or commercial assets.
• HTML/gallery implementation in this batch; it begins only after the six design authorities are integrated, independently reviewed and owner-approved.

Human Gates

• Owner accepts or revises the integrated complete-design direction.
• Owner later reviews every landscape UI page and representative art state.
• Runtime, media production and release remain separately authorized.

Open Questions

None blocking this design batch. Exact simultaneous capacity within the 10-12 target is selected by the five-profile simulation, not guessed from the reference demo's observed x/10 display.