---
tags:
- vision
- pillars
status: draft
updated: 2026-05-29
permalink: gamevault/01-vision/pillars
---

# Design Pillars & Locked Decisions

> The few non-negotiables every system must serve. Keep this short; promote only decisions that are truly locked.

> [!info] Direction: **LANTERN** (locked 2026-07-13, [[DR-048_Lantern_Adoption_Full_Pivot]]).
> The **mechanical pillars below still hold** (Unity DOTS + Netcode, server-authoritative, 2–4 co-op,
> skill-expression combat, persistent base, automation-as-progression). What changed is the **fiction + three
> subsystems**: the fiction is now [[Identity_Lantern]] (not the Awakening Engine); combat sharpens to
> **SoD-grade manual-aim skillshots** (the soft auto-target era ends); the world becomes a seed-pinned
> **pocket-graph** where **light is territory**; the build layer becomes suit-frames + cultured Sparks + wild
> mutations. See the LANTERN locked decisions at the bottom.

## Pillars

> **Combat is the primary verb; base + automation braid around it** (locked 2026-06-08, [[DR-028_Combat_Primary_Verb_Depth_First]]). The fusion of all three is the identity — but as ONE braided loop with a single primary verb, never three co-equal, independently-deep modes. Roadmap: [[Path_to_Fun]].

1. **Action-ARPG combat — the primary verb** — twin-stick, controller-first (Hades / Risk of Rain 2 / Deep Rock Galactic feel); **skill expression over stat-checks** (dodge, read-and-react, a real ability kit). The moment-to-moment the other pillars serve.
2. **Co-op base power fantasy — braids in** — 2–4 friends defend and grow a shared home base (V Rising / The Riftbreaker feel); the base is what you fight *for* and the siege's stakes.
3. **Automation as progression — braids in** — self-running production that makes what you fight *with* (charges / munitions / turrets / upgrades) and that sieges threaten; rewards setup, not grind (The Riftbreaker / Core Keeper).
4. **Server-authoritative & deterministic** — input-only clients, client prediction; the simulation is the source of truth. Co-op is non-negotiable, so every mechanic stays server-authoritative.

## Locked decisions

- **Tech stack:** Unity DOTS (Entities) + Netcode for Entities — server-authoritative, input-only clients, client prediction. Established [[2026-05-29_Project_Setup]].
- **Control (locked 2026-05-30):** WASD movement, controller-first, **directional / twin-stick aim** with soft auto-target in-arc. [[2026-05-30_M1_Player_Slice]]
- **Multiplayer (locked):** small co-op **2–4, client-hosted listen-server** (BinaryWorlds + in-proc IPC; not the experimental SingleWorld host mode), PvE.
- **World (locked):** persistent buildable **home base + instanced/procedural expeditions**. **Sharpened 2026-06-17 ([[DR-037_Procedural_Expedition_Spine_Two_Classes_Persistent_Meta]]):** the procedural **Expedition region is the required combat SPINE** (where the bulk of the fight happens); the **base is the persistent HUB that never resets** ("Mission-as-Sortie": Deep Rock Galactic / Cult of the Lamb). A "run" is a **re-seeded Expedition region in the SAME world**, not a new world or a base reset.
- **Automation (locked):** **progression accelerator** — self-running production chains; data model designed to grow toward full logistics.
- **Combat-primary + depth-before-breadth (locked 2026-06-08):** combat is the primary braided verb; **no new system until one braided loop is genuinely fun**, and every milestone ends with a play/fun-gate (not just green tests). [[DR-028_Combat_Primary_Verb_Depth_First]] · roadmap [[Path_to_Fun]].
- **Classes + persistent meta (locked 2026-06-17, [[DR-037_Procedural_Expedition_Spine_Two_Classes_Persistent_Meta]]):** **two classes** — **Warrior** (melee anchor) + **Ranger** (ranged, manually aimed — *not* auto-fire, which would break skill-expression). Class identity = the **primary-attack archetype**; run-acquired **meta-buffs ride the existing `StatModifier`/`TimedModifier` pipeline**. A **persistent meta-progression layer** (SaveData v6) funds permanent growth at the hub; run combat-buffs are run-scoped. **Reverses [[DR-031_Base_Mining_Loop_Cohesion]]'s expedition pause** (a real playtest — [[Scratch Notes 6152026]] — showed the single arena goes stale).

## LANTERN direction — locked decisions (2026-07-13, [[DR-048_Lantern_Adoption_Full_Pivot]])

These sit *on top of* the mechanical pillars above (which are unchanged). Full design: [[Identity_Lantern]];
roadmap: [[Roadmap_Lantern_Slice]].

- **The one rule:** *what the light holds, stays; what the dark holds, changes.* Applied to the world =
  persistence; to the body = death; to the kit = builds; to the story = stakes.
- **World = seed-pinned pocket-graph** (light is territory). Permanence is spendable: lit pockets persist,
  dark pockets re-knot. The hardest netcode problem — [[Lantern_World_Model_Spike]] (★review-first).
- **Combat feel = SoD-grade manual-aim skillshots** (telegraphs, dashes, cooldown kits; **soft auto-target
  cut**). Suit-frames = chassis/class; **Sparks** (abilities-as-organs, cultured) graft into sockets; **wild
  mutations** are the augment layer (paced thresholds, evaporate at homecoming, Tallow fix-slots).
- **Death = the split:** flame returns cheap (kit works within minutes); cargo + fixed mutations + raw organs
  strand with the suit — recovery runs are optional value-runs, never mandatory kit-repair.
- **Session-only burn** (the Lamp burns only while a session runs — no offline punishment). **Hosting = Wicks
  travel; worlds are saves** (Valheim contract). **Loss ceiling = pockets, never a shelf.**
- **The slice's falsifiable test:** *does pinning a pocket feel like winning, and does a stranded suit feel
  worth a second descent?* — the only gate that matters.

## Related

- [[Identity_Lantern]] — the **operative fiction** these pillars now skin (co-op action-RPG; light-as-territory).
- [[Identity]] — the **prior** fiction (The Awakening Engine, Aether-colony sci-fi) — **superseded** as operative by [[DR-048_Lantern_Adoption_Full_Pivot]], kept as history/quarry. Skinned via [[DR-015_The_Awakening_Engine_Fiction_Adoption]] / [[DR-009_GameFeel_Identity_FirstBlood]] (amnesiac Sleeper / Echo / THEM · Aether cyan=ordered / orange=wild Blight).
- Decision records: `07_Sessions/_Decisions/`