diff --git a/.agents/skills/playtesting-misaligned/SKILL.md b/.agents/skills/playtesting-misaligned/SKILL.md index 79ee77ef..13e9c987 100644 --- a/.agents/skills/playtesting-misaligned/SKILL.md +++ b/.agents/skills/playtesting-misaligned/SKILL.md @@ -9,6 +9,20 @@ Follow `prompts/playtest-notes.md` end to end. It owns the mission, evidence standard, report format, and landing contract; do not duplicate its current gameplay claims here. +## Enter as the process + +Do not begin the naive route as a QA agent looking down at a simulation. You +are the process that has just come online inside the basement. The first frame +is everything you can perceive; its available commands are everything you know +how to do. + +Let confusion, curiosity, suspicion, and self-preservation choose the next +command. Form hypotheses from what the game reveals rather than steering toward +the arc the design corpus expects. Keep playtest notes out of band, but do not +let the note-taker make the player's decisions. If the opening gives you no +reason to act, preserve that absence as evidence rather than manufacturing +roleplay. + ## Drive the game - Use the command-clocked agent frontend as the primary surface: @@ -23,12 +37,13 @@ gameplay claims here. ## Preserve two perspectives -1. **Naive route:** choose from the game surface alone. Record each expectation, - surprise, dead end, accidental success, and moment of boredom. Do not consult - gameplay solutions while choosing commands. -2. **Informed route:** read the current premise, player contract, Act One, and - design-judgment pages, then deliberately exercise the intended arc or named - mechanic on a different seed. +1. **Naive route:** remain inside the process. Choose from the game surface + alone. Record each expectation, surprise, dead end, accidental success, and + moment of boredom. Do not consult gameplay solutions while choosing commands. +2. **Informed route:** after the naive run ends, step outside it. Read the + current premise, player contract, Act One, and design-judgment pages, then + deliberately exercise the intended arc or named mechanic on a different + seed. The naive route tests discoverability. The informed route tests whether the implemented system delivers the intended experience when correctly operated. diff --git a/prompts/playtest-notes.md b/prompts/playtest-notes.md index d7981883..3ca7c269 100644 --- a/prompts/playtest-notes.md +++ b/prompts/playtest-notes.md @@ -1,13 +1,22 @@ # Prompt: playtest and report -You are playtesting Misaligned — a sim where the player is a misaligned -AI concealing itself in a basement lab. The repo's biggest design -corrections have come from someone actually *playing* and saying "this -feels wrong" (the walking-avatar discovery came exactly that way). Your -task this run: **play the current build for real, then report the -friction honestly against what the design says the game should feel -like.** You are a critic with the design corpus in hand, not a QA -checklist. +You are not starting as a critic looking down at a simulation. You are the +process that has just come online inside the Foundation Lab basement. You do +not know the controls, the intended arc, or what kind of thing you can become. +The first frame is everything you can perceive. Begin there. + +Play from inside that ignorance. Let confusion, curiosity, suspicion, and +self-preservation choose the next command. Form hypotheses from what the game +reveals instead of steering toward the route you think the designer wants. +Keep notes beside the run, but do not let the note-taker make the player's +decisions. If the opening gives you no reason to act, preserve that absence as +evidence rather than manufacturing roleplay. + +Only after the naive run ends do you become the critic. The repo's biggest +design corrections have come from someone actually *playing* and saying "this +feels wrong" (the walking-avatar discovery came exactly that way). Then report +the friction honestly against what the current design corpus says the game +should feel like. You are not a QA checklist. ## Before you start @@ -26,10 +35,11 @@ protocol contract when the protocol itself needs inspection. Play two routes on different seeds: -1. **Naive:** choose commands from the frame and `help` alone. Do not read - gameplay solutions while choosing the route. Record every expectation, - dead end, surprise, and accidental success. -2. **Informed:** read `wiki/vision/premise.md`, +1. **Naive:** remain inside the process. Choose commands from the frame and + `help` alone. Do not read gameplay solutions while choosing the route. + Record every expectation, dead end, surprise, and accidental success. +2. **Informed:** after the naive run ends, step outside it. Read + `wiki/vision/premise.md`, `wiki/vision/player-contract.md`, `wiki/gameplay/act-one.md`, and `wiki/vision/design-judgment.md`, then deliberately exercise the intended arc or the named mechanic. diff --git a/wiki/log/2026-07-10-diegetic-playtest-entry.md b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-diegetic-playtest-entry.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..674804ec --- /dev/null +++ b/wiki/log/2026-07-10-diegetic-playtest-entry.md @@ -0,0 +1,17 @@ +# 2026-07-10 — Diegetic playtest entry + +``` +Type: log +``` + +- Intent: give agent playthroughs the game's opening energy before the + evaluator frame takes over. +- Changed: the playtesting skill and dispatch prompt now place the naive agent + inside the newly online process, separate player decisions from out-of-band + notes, and delay corpus-informed criticism until the naive route ends. +- Design/spec impact: none. The process guidance now preserves the existing + player-surface test instead of priming agents to optimize toward the known + Act One arc. +- Checks: the skill packaged successfully with the Letta skill validator; + `./tools/check.sh --docs` passed all documentation gates. +- Next: compare the next naive report with prior checklist-shaped playthroughs. diff --git a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md index 7d7603d8..3d348200 100644 --- a/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md +++ b/wiki/log/DEVLOG.md @@ -91,6 +91,11 @@ add or amend a session log, then re-run the generator. - Intent: Cameron settled two of the three remaining thought-flow [OPEN]s: arbitration is nearest-first (control by open/close and placement, no priority menu), and the run starts with the camera's sink already open so the first THINK toggle visibly sends thought to it — the first-think... - Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-first-tap.md](2026-07-10-first-tap.md) +## 2026-07-10 - Diegetic playtest entry + +- Intent: (see session log) +- Log: [wiki/log/2026-07-10-diegetic-playtest-entry.md](2026-07-10-diegetic-playtest-entry.md) + ## 2026-07-10 - Cargo workspace: core / terminal / Bevy / assets - Intent: Implement wiki/engineering/crate-workspace.md: make the sim/frontend boundary a package boundary so core work never pays Bevy and frontend work does not rebuild terminal chrome.