HORDEGATE progress
Updated 2026-09-16 13:05 · generated from the project's progress tracker
Pre-production (complete) 7/7
- Demand and genre research (2 evidence files)
- Council deliberation and engine decision (Unity, D34)
- Execution plan approved with parallelism amendment (D35)
- Name chosen, hordegate.com registered and live
- GitHub repo, docs hierarchy, both machines wired
- Push-to-production pipeline proven (edit to live in ~90 s)
- Phone push notifications working end to end
M0: Toolchain gate 10/10
- Gate defined (M0-GATE.md) with council-hardened benchmarks
- Editor and MCP package pinned and validated
- Kenney CC0 asset slice downloaded with provenance
- Pure C# simulation, tests, bootstrap scene, build entry authored
- Batch run 1 executed (failed on audit scope, recorded as failure 1 of 2)
- Harness fixes committed (audit expected-set, relay sweep)
- Batch run 2: ALL SIX PHASES PASS (363 units at 6.5 ms, build 91 MB)
- Peer audit round 1 (auditors correctly held gate open for MCP phase)
- MCP-live prefab phase (34 tools, prefab created and modified via MCP, reconnect verified)
- Final PASS recorded on evidence (council review post-hoc per governance)
M1: Design contract 4/4
- Contract drafted (253 lines, 5 conflicts resolved, machine-checkable criteria)
- Council review (converted to post-hoc per 2026-08-18 governance)
- Design linter and balance harness built and green (AUTO gate)
- Michael approves the design (2026-08-18)
M2: Gray-box prototype, the fun test 4/6
- Three levels playable gray-box with hero and no-hero variants (reopened 2026-08-18 for a
- Telemetry wired (local JSONL, all seven contract events verified)
- Michael plays it (2026-08-18, Variant H full campaign, ~40 min; see
- 8+ external testers play randomized variants (GATED 2026-08-22 on level 1 at customer
- Hero decision made by the evidence rule (session 1 findings feed it; Variant N session
- Fun verdict: PROCEED ("SO MUCH FUN", caps his; wants to replay during development)
M3: One customer-quality level 2/6
- Art style locked from concept winners (Grok anchors + SD volume) (approved 2026-08-22; saturation rider resolved: grade D approved and shipped as default)
- Commissioned or produced final art for level 1 (in progress 2026-08-22: hybrid keeps,
- Audio pass (doubles as ad soundtrack)
- Level-complete transformation sequence (design approved + implemented 2026-08-22 in the gray-box build; feel tuning open per rider)
- 12+ blind testers against reference ad clips
- Performance matrix including mid-range Android (Windows rows + startup hitch fixed
M4: MVP, three levels at customer quality 0/6
- Levels 2 and 3 at final quality
- Level select, mutators, loadouts, capped-carry experiment
- Settings, credits, donation link outside play loop
- Press kit and creator materials
- 25+ external evaluators including creators
- Michael go/no-go on the evidence packet
Parallel: Art track 14/18
- Art bible v0 (Sunfall Bastide, readability rules)
- Prompt sheets and Grok session sheet
- SD volume batches: 56 concepts committed with provenance
- Grok session 1: 10 look-dev images cataloged
- Enemy regeneration with dark-value palette (Grok session 2, cataloged)
- Grok session 3 (spawner + damage states) cataloged; spawner meshed and in-engine (2026-08-22)
- Mesh batch: 11/11 canon subjects converted on the 4090, watertight at 1500 faces
- Style lock: pick anchors, brief the volume tier (approved 2026-08-22)
- Turret letterform tops + stage ring generated as scripted Blender geometry, 4/4 pass the
- Character animation pipeline proven artist-free (template auto-rig + procedural clips,
- Animation quality pass: standing-pose hare regen (Grok session 4 block 3), hero rider arms,
- Horde bodies carry the bible's H-RIM separation light (Shaders/HordeLit,
- Fidelity track (opened 2026-08-23 after session 5, "cheesy, blobby" vs concept art):
- VFX layer: gate embers/smoke, spawn burst, footfall dust, hit sparks, blob shadows,
- Camera: closer framing on small maps, mild follow on dusk (48 px gap)
- Facing proof by image for all four creatures (confirmed in play 2026-08-23)
- Mesh stand-ins in-engine behind -meshes (enemies upgrade readability; turrets now use
- Level-1 environment dressing: 92 SD images over two passes on the restarted API; txt2img
Parallel: Audio track (added 2026-08-19) 3/3
- SFX source bank: 5 Kenney CC0 packs with provenance ledger
- Music: 19 Suno takes generated by Michael; all slots staged provisionally (his final
- SFX + music integrated in-engine with volume settings (buy, death, coin, core-hit
Parallel: Infrastructure 4/6
- hordegate.com live with landing page
- Auto-deploy on push verified twice
- Tester feedback portal LIVE (gated download + in-game survey + submissions API)
- Android AAB pipeline PROVEN (15.5 MB bundle, IL2CPP ARM64, first try 2026-08-19)
- MJ-DESKTOP GitHub auth (one-time, Michael, in ledger)
- WebGL sampler pipeline (post-M2)