Lanternhold

STATE

Scores

# Rubric item Score Evidence (one line) Last touched
1 First hour cozy, clear, hooky 3 Flux timings now support §14 (broken shed tinged at 6.5 min, so the first-Deep-watch gleaner is reachable); no pacing sim or playtest proxy yet i1
2 Automation satisfying, clear progression 3 AE unit makes factory sizing legible ("this lamp keeps 6 alembics clean", S01 §3b); unlock timing (S06) unproven i1
3 Emergence is real, with sim evidence 4 S09: tipping point at 13 AE with hysteresis; rain return at each front; the same factory fails three different ways by site; flux sinks the island 44 fathoms without mining; roots loop and acting entities not yet modelled i2
4 Vertical tension drives decisions 3 New: deep factories cost buoyancy via crystal taint (S09 E3); the log buoyancy curve and tide are still unsimulated (S03) i1
5 10+ recurring decisions with real tradeoffs 3 16 decisions; K2 (vent/scrub/none) and K4 (siting) now shown real with costs and the dominant scrubber fixed (D35); others unchecked i1
6 Dread without combat, systemic and fair 3 Gleaner-eligible territory is now a measured function of layout (S09); the V formula is rescaled but entity behavior is unsimulated (S07) i1
7 Research is a satisfying puzzle that replays 4 S05: with pools shown and a partial Prism, thinking needs 49% fewer failed tests than guessing; 69% aha; a 3-currency frontier (flux, warp, clues); stable difficulty (p90 16 vs median 12); worked example; whisperer and arranger clues not modelled, no playtest i3
8 Endings earned; the arc lands 3 Three mutually exclusive sustained-state accumulators; thresholds untested i1
9 Replay value across seeds 3 S05: 400/400 distinct recipe graphs, 25% overlap between seeds, gate ancestry varies (Metal needs Hush in 15% of seeds, Breath in 14%); island shape, keeper and charter variety still unmeasured i3
10 Art bible cohesive, matches reference, readable 3 m01 palette; new trace-haze band and poisoned-cloud signal; LUT untested (m02) i2
11 Art production plan realistic, no purchases 3 Asset list now split per milestone (S10: 76 code / 27 procedural / 125 AI, 18 hand); D41 removes the dependency on an image model with placeholders and an owner drop folder; still no lanternforge prototype i4
12 Scope realistic, first slice small 4 S10 audit (228 assets, about 33 kLOC, within the 25–45 kLOC band); 1.0 core vs layers vs cuts decided; exact M1 manifest (79 assets, about 12 kLOC) with a not-in list; 3 deployable checkpoints, the first tiny i4
13 Build-ready, no questions needed 4 docs/data/ canonical JSON (176 records, validator: 0 problems, S01 and S05 parity); GDD §20.6–20.12 specify worldgen, controls, UI flows, entity navigation, save format, physics and M1 state machines; M2+ machine behaviours are still table prose i5

Next focus

Everything else sits at 3. Least recently touched (i1): #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #8. The rubric order gives #1 First hour: build S06, a pacing sim of the first hour (chores, timings, unlocks), and tighten §14.

Pivot notes

None yet. A pivot candidate worth watching: if S05 shows the deduction puzzle is shallow, revisit D20 (add a light theory layer, or restructure the clues).

Environment notes