Phase 13: Classes and the v1 World

This phase is still ahead.

Ships

v0.13.0

Lesson

Content production at scale and balance tooling

Depends on

Phase 12

• Decision Class design in docs/design/classes.md: three classes (working names Warden for melee and tanking, Ranger for ranged damage, Lorekeeper for spells and healing) with roles, resources and identity.
• Owner Approve the class design.
• Five or six data-defined abilities per class, unlocked across levels 1 to 10.
• Class trainer NPCs who teach abilities for gold.
• Balance simulator: time-to-kill per class against mobs at each level, with all classes within 15% of each other solo.

• Zone 1, starting town and fields (levels 1 to 4): final layout, 12 or more quests, three or four mob types, and town services (inn, vendors, trainers).
• Zone 2, Mosswood (levels 4 to 7): 12 or more quests, four mob types and a small outpost.
• Zone 3, the Old Ruins (levels 7 to 10): 12 or more quests, four mob types, an elite area and a group boss with a simple mechanic that ends the main quest chain.
• A recurring world event (for example a creature incursion at the town gate) that pulls players together.
• Ambient life: townsfolk going about their day, critters, and a day and night cycle with lantern light in towns.
• docs/design/lore.md complete, and all quest text proofread for consistency.

• Write the class batch (class looks, ability effects and icons) and one batch per zone (tiles, props, mobs, NPCs, boss).
• Owner Generate the class batch.
• Owner Generate the three zone batches.
• Intake and integrate every batch, then review consistency across all batches against the reference sheet.

• Scripted bot playthrough from level 1 to 10 for each class along the quest route with no blockers.
• Owner Play one class from 1 to 10 and write notes; agents triage the notes into this phase.

• docs/walkthroughs/phase-13-content.md: the content pipeline, validators and balance tooling.
• Devlog draft, release notes, tag v0.13.0 and publish builds.

• Every class reaches level 10 through quests in roughly 5 to 8 hours of play.
• All content passes the validators, with no unfinished quests.
• Three to five level-10 players can beat the group boss.