Implementation Guide
Build Order
Section titled “Build Order”The opening arc was the first implementation target. All three milestones below are now complete, along with the full campaign (Chapters 3—15).
Milestone A — Morrow Crossing Runtime
Section titled “Milestone A — Morrow Crossing Runtime”What exists after this milestone:
- Scene runner (dialogue, choices, conditions, state effects)
- Basic state system (flags, reputation axes, party state)
- 4-slot battle architecture with 2 characters active
- Standoff opener as encounter pre-phase
- Turn-order system with nerve, ammo, wounds, cover
- Loaded Deck duo tech functional
- Prologue Beat 5 choice with consequence return
- Trail resource management
Success test: The prologue plays. The standoff feels distinct. The choice at the campfire is hard. The return to town is different based on the choice.
Milestone B — Cedar Wake / Bitter Cut
Section titled “Milestone B — Cedar Wake / Bitter Cut”What exists after this milestone:
- Town scenes with NPCs (Molly, Voss, Cal, Renata, Declan)
- Shooting post (Steady Aim unlock through play)
- Trail Eye as exploration mechanic
- 3–4 combat encounters with escalating complexity
- NPC combatants (deputies as uncontrollable allies)
- Obedience tracking
- Bitter Cut moral-target combat
- Combat participation tracking (pulled punches flag)
- Chapter transition with time skip
Success test: Players love Cedar Wake. Players feel sick at Bitter Cut. The bandit camp is fun. Steady Aim feels earned. Molly is remembered.
Milestone C — Convoy / Relay
Section titled “Milestone C — Convoy / Relay”What exists after this milestone:
- Convoy as moving world (formation, day/night, NPC interactions)
- Eli as NPC combatant (uncontrollable, behavior-driven)
- Escort pressure (water cart protection)
- Multi-phase combat (relay 3-phase fight)
- Skill unlocks through narrative gates
- Relay rescue branches with full state divergence
- Witness and evidence state tracking
- Memory objects functional
- Chapter transition into adult timeline
Success test: Players argue about Eli after the relay. The triage choice is genuinely hard. Dead Drop feels like a scar. The poster’s birth feels earned. Players want to keep going.
Deferred Systems
Section titled “Deferred Systems”The following systems remain out of scope or are schemaed but not fully wired:
- Procgen
- World map sprawl
- Full inventory economy
- Polished UI chrome beyond the current spare typographic style
- Runtime: Rust, ratatui 0.30, crossterm 0.28
- Data: RON for content and saves, serde for serialization
- Error handling: anyhow + thiserror
- Observability: tracing + tracing-subscriber
- Architecture: Library crate (
saints_mile) + binary entry point, TUI layer, data-driven scenes from RON files
The First Playable’s Success Test
Section titled “The First Playable’s Success Test”The first real build is successful if players:
- Love Cedar Wake
- Feel sick at Bitter Cut
- Argue about Eli after the relay
- Understand why the poster exists
- Want to keep going because the world feels alive and wrong