Scaffold Kissaten Yugure; add M2 day spine, plan and script
Stage 1 (shop scene, customer, siphon brew minigame, serve loop) and the M2 day spine: day counter, three-phase day, event-driven clock, journal line, and a SaveState with magic/version/checksum. Saving to disk is NOT working yet. A cartridge ROM can reach the Disk ROM only from RAM (both PHYDIO and CALSLT switch page 1 out from under the caller), and ROMDelayBoot is required so the Disk ROM's INIT runs at all. With both in place the disk is detected, but sector I/O returns carry-clear without transferring — proven with a sentinel. Probe now verifies the buffer actually changed, so a non-working disk degrades to "no save" rather than corrupting anything. Full findings in the project CLAUDE.md. Also documented: keyboard reads need interrupt protection (the BIOS ISR scans the matrix too), and BankedCall must stay off until banked data exists. Docs: PLAN.md (ten milestones, per-stage requirements, decision queue), SCRIPT.md (all four character arcs, 60 beats, checked against the 26-character box), and amendment notes in DESIGN.md. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Claude Opus 5
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# Design conversation record — Kissaten Yūgure
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A record of the original brainstorm and design discussion (Claude ↔ Jurjen,
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July 2026) that led to this project. Kept for rationale and context; the
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distilled result lives in `DESIGN.md`.
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---
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## 1. The brief
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Jurjen wanted a new MSX2 game idea: **a cozy game targeted mainly at male
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adults who love Japanese art and retro games**, built with MSXgl.
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Claude's read on the audience: nostalgia for late-80s Japan, quiet melancholy,
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craftsmanship, and pixel art in the style of MSX magazine covers / Konami and
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Compile titles. The MSX2 itself is a Japanese cultural artifact, so the
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platform is part of the appeal. Reference vibe: *A Short Hike* energy,
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rendered like an MSX2 classic.
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## 2. Four concepts pitched
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1. **Showa-era shopkeeper sim** — run a tiny kissaten, sento, or ramen stall
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in a sleepy 1980s town. Regulars with small stories, seasons change the
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palette (SCREEN 5 palette swaps per season = big atmosphere, low cost).
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Simple state machines + dialogue, MSXgl-friendly; PSG/NDP pipeline fits
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gentle city-pop-adjacent loops. Hits the demographic dead center.
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2. **Bonsai / garden tending game** — shape a tree or karesansui garden over
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in-game years via a simple L-system-ish growth model. Minimal input,
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maximal zen, sumi-e visuals, persistent growth via save. Smallest and most
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distinctive option; nobody has made it on MSX.
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3. **Rural train journey game** — conductor/passenger on a one-car local
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line; each station is a vignette. Landscapes are the star, but horizontal
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scrolling is work on MSX2 (vertical scroll register is free), so it would
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need screen-by-screen scenes or parallax-lite. Densha + inaka nostalgia.
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4. **Yokai postman / errand game** — cozy-spooky letter delivery between
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friendly yokai at dusk. Iconic character material, light fetch-quest
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structure, Ghibli / Mizuki Shigeru vibe.
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**Recommendation:** #1 or #2, because scope kills hobby projects. #1 had the
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strongest emotional hook and marketing appeal ("run a coffee shop on real
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MSX2 hardware"); #2 was the most achievable and distinctive.
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**Cross-cutting principles:** lean into palette work (MSX2's superpower),
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keep text minimal or bilingual-friendly for the Japanese retro community,
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and let the MML → NDP music pipeline carry the mood.
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## 3. Decision
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Jurjen picked **#1, the kissaten sim**. Working title: **Kissaten Yūgure**
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("Twilight Coffee Shop") — you inherit a small kissaten in a fictional
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provincial town, 1987.
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## 4. Design deep-dive (summary — full detail in DESIGN.md)
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- **Core loop:** one day ≈ 5–10 real minutes. Morning prep (menu focus,
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radio weather, stock) → open hours (serve + siphon-brew timing minigame +
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dialogue with regulars) → evening close (till, journal, save).
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- **Cozy contract:** no fail states, no bankruptcy; money gates cosmetic and
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menu upgrades (grinder, jazz records, a cat). Progression = story + seasons.
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- **Regulars:** 6–8 characters (retired stationmaster, exam student, manga
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artist, widow...), each with 12–20 short scenes triggered by day count,
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season, weather, or what you serve. Right order at the right moment
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advances arcs.
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- **Screen layout (SCREEN 5, 256×212):** 16 px status bar (day/season,
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clock, ¥) · 132 px shop scene (door, counter with customer sprites,
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siphon rig) · 64 px dialogue window (48×48 portrait, 3 lines × 26 chars,
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typewriter reveal). Static-heavy on purpose: only sprites move — no
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scrolling — the biggest scope-saver in the design.
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- **Hardware mapping:** VRAM page 0 = scene bitmap, page 1 = asset warehouse
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blitted via HMMM/HMMV. Seasonal palette trick: one background authored
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around palette slots (sky in 8–11, wood tones in 4–7); each season/time of
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day is a 32-byte palette table, optionally lerped across the day. Sprite
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mode 2, two layered 16×16 sprites per customer. Portraits 48×48 × 3
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expressions — where the pixel-art budget goes.
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- **Data model:** tiny `SaveState` (~40 bytes) with day, season, weather,
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money, unlock bitmask, and 8 `Regular` structs (arc_stage, affinity,
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last_visit_day). Dialogue as data: YAML/JSON compiled by a Node.js tool to
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C arrays / binary banks. ASCII16 MegaROM layout from day one.
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- **Visitor logic:** weighted table per tick, filtered by season / weather /
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time / days-since-last-visit — tunable in a spreadsheet, produces
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noticeable patterns ("the stationmaster always comes when it rains").
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- **Music:** 6–8 short cozy PSG loops via the existing MML → NDP →
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`ndp_player` pipeline (`generate_mml.js` for AI-assisted MML). Diegetic
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jukebox upgrade lets the player pick the shop's track.
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- **Scope ladder:** (1) scene + one customer + brew + serve → (2) day cycle
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+ save + money → (3) dialogue engine + two regulars ← real milestone →
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(4) seasons/weather/palettes → (5) full cast, upgrades, endings. Every
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stage playable.
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## 5. Moving to Claude Desktop / Claude Code
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Jurjen asked about continuing the project in Claude Desktop with context
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files. Plan:
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- Put a lean **CLAUDE.md** in the project root — Claude Code reads it at the
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start of every session. It holds build commands, toolchain quirks (SDCC,
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MSXgl paths, openMSX), conventions, and design pillars; kept under ~200
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lines, referencing deeper docs instead of duplicating them.
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- Full design lives in **docs/DESIGN.md**; this file (**CONVERSATION.md**)
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preserves the original discussion and rationale.
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- Claude Code's auto memory will additionally accumulate learned corrections
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(e.g. bank layout details) over time.
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- The dialogue compiler (`compile_dialogue.js`) will live in `tools/` next to
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the existing `generate_mml.js`.
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## 6. Open threads (not yet designed)
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- Dialogue script format spec + compiler implementation
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- Brew minigame detailed design
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- Palette / day-cycle system implementation details
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- Character roster finalization and story arcs
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- Bank layout plan for the ASCII16 MegaROM
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# Kissaten Yūgure — Design document
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Working title: **Kissaten Yūgure** ("Twilight Coffee Shop")
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Platform: MSX2 · Library: MSXgl (C) · ROM: ASCII16 MegaROM
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> **Amendments.** This document still describes the game's intent and is the
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> place to start. A few specifics have since been decided differently — where
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> they conflict, the documents below win:
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>
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> - **Cast size: four, not six to eight** (§3). The four examples in §3 became
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> the entire roster. Rationale in `PLAN.md` §6; full arcs in `SCRIPT.md`.
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> - **Endings: one**, not several (§8 stage 5). `PLAN.md` §6.
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> - **Saving: a real save disk** (`.dsk`), not yet working — see the disk
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> section in `../CLAUDE.md`. Note the RP-5C01 CMOS holds only 6 bytes
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> through MSXgl, so it is not an alternative for a ~40-byte `SaveState`.
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> - **Music (§7) is out of date.** It describes a PSG / MML → NDP pipeline;
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> the working pipeline is `msx-music-generator` → lVGM + ayFX. Which chip
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> this game targets is still open — `PLAN.md` §8 item 15.
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> - **The brew minigame is coffee-only.** Aki's cream soda is poured, not
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> brewed, so her visits skip it — `SCRIPT.md` §8.
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>
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> Build order and per-stage requirements live in `PLAN.md`, which supersedes
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> the scope ladder in §8 below with a finer ten-milestone breakdown.
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## 1. Concept
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You inherit a small kissaten (coffee shop) in a fictional provincial Japanese
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town in 1987. A cozy, no-fail-state game about serving regulars, learning
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their stories, and watching the town and seasons change.
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**Audience:** adult retro gamers with a love of Japanese art, computers, and
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late-80s Japan nostalgia. The MSX2 itself is part of the fantasy — the game
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should look like it came off an MSX magazine cover.
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**Tone references:** A Short Hike (pace and warmth), Konami/Compile-era MSX2
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pixel art, Showa-era kissaten culture, gentle city-pop-adjacent PSG music.
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**The cozy contract:** no fail states. You cannot go bankrupt. Money gates
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cosmetic and menu upgrades (better grinder, jazz records, a cat), not
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survival. Progression = unlocking regulars' stories and seasonal change.
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## 2. Core loop
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One in-game day ≈ 5–10 real minutes, in three phases:
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1. **Morning (prep):** choose today's menu focus (coffee blend, toast set,
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curry), check the radio for weather (weather affects who visits), buy stock.
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2. **Open hours (the heart):** customers arrive one or two at a time. Take
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orders, brew/cook via a timing minigame, and — most importantly — talk.
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Regulars have multi-day story arcs told in short dialogue beats.
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3. **Evening (close):** count the till, journal entry summarizing the day, save.
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**Brew minigame:** a siphon coffee brew with a "release at the right moment"
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mechanic. One-button friendly, thematic, satisfying to master. Quality result
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feeds into customer affinity slightly (never punishingly).
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## 3. The regulars
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Six to eight recurring characters; this is where the game lives. Examples:
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- The retired stationmaster
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- A high-schooler studying for entrance exams
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- A manga artist missing deadlines
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- A widow who orders the same thing daily
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Each has a story arc of ~12–20 short scenes, triggered by day count, season,
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weather, or what you serve them. Serving the *right* thing at the right moment
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advances arcs — the player learns preferences by paying attention, which
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mechanically rewards the "regulars at my shop" fantasy.
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**Visitor logic per open-hours tick:** roll against a weighted table filtered
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by (season, weather, time-of-day, days-since-last-visit). Simple, tunable in
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a spreadsheet, and it naturally produces patterns players notice and love
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("the stationmaster always comes when it rains").
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## 4. Screen layout — SCREEN 5 (256×212)
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| Region | Height | Contents |
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|---|---|---|
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| Status bar | 16 px | Day + season · clock · money (¥) |
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| Shop scene | 132 px | Tile/bitmap background: window, shelves, radio. Door zone (customer entry), counter zone (16×16 layered customer sprites), siphon rig zone (brew minigame). |
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| Dialogue window | 64 px | 48×48 portrait left; 3 lines × 26 chars text with typewriter reveal; choice cursor on line 3 when needed. |
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Deliberately static-heavy: only sprites move, so the MSX2's weak scrolling is
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sidestepped entirely. Status bar and dialogue window redraw rarely — only the
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scene needs per-frame attention. This is the single biggest scope-saver.
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## 5. Hardware / MSXgl mapping
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**Video.** SCREEN 5 (G4), 16 colors from 512.
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- VRAM page 0: visible shop background bitmap.
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- VRAM page 1: asset warehouse — customer sprite frames, portraits, UI tiles,
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blitted with VDP commands (HMMM); dialogue box open/close is HMMV rectangle
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fill + font rendering, never touching the scene.
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**Seasonal palette trick.** Author the background once, designed around
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palette slots: sky-through-window colors in slots 8–11, wood/warm tones in
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4–7. Each season *and* time of day is then just a 32-byte palette table —
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morning spring light vs. rainy autumn dusk on the same bitmap, basically
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free. Optionally lerp between palettes across the in-game day for a slow
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ambient shift. This is the most atmospheric feature in the game.
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**Sprites.** Sprite mode 2 (per-line colors on 16×16). Two layered sprites
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per customer (outline + fill) for the classic MSX2 look. Max two customers
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on screen plus player hands/steam effects — nowhere near the 8-per-line limit.
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**Portraits.** 48×48 with three expressions per character (neutral, happy,
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troubled), copied from page 1 into the dialogue box. Portraits are where the
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pixel-art budget goes; they sell the characters.
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**ROM.** ASCII16 MegaROM from day one — dialogue, portraits, and music banks
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will not fit in 32KB. MSXgl supports banked ROMs well.
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## 6. Data model
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```c
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typedef struct {
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u8 id;
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u8 arc_stage; // progress through their story
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u8 affinity; // 0-255, raised by right orders
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u8 last_visit_day;
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} Regular;
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typedef struct {
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u16 day;
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u8 season; // derives palette set
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u8 weather; // affects visitor table
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u16 money;
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u8 unlocked_items; // bitmask: grinder, records, cat...
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Regular regulars[8];
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} SaveState; // ~40 bytes → trivial to save
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```
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**Dialogue** is the biggest data mass. Scenes stored in a flat script format:
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```
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(trigger conditions) → (portrait id, expression, text lines,
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optional choice, effects)
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```
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Authored in YAML/JSON; a small Node.js compiler (`tools/compile_dialogue.js`)
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emits C arrays or a binary blob for a MegaROM bank. Budget: ~8 characters ×
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~15 scenes plus ambient lines.
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## 7. Music
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PSG via the MML → NDP compiler → `ndp_player` pipeline, with AI-assisted MML
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generation through `tools/generate_mml.js` (Anthropic API).
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Needs: 6–8 short cozy loops rather than driving action tracks — morning,
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afternoon, evening, rain, plus one theme per major story beat.
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**Diegetic jukebox:** the record-player upgrade lets the player choose the
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shop's background track — a feature and a home for all generated music in one.
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## 8. Scope ladder
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Build in this order so every stage is a playable game:
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1. Shop scene + one customer + brew minigame + serve loop, no story
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2. Day/night + save + money
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3. Dialogue engine + two regulars with short arcs ← **the real milestone**
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4. Seasons/weather/palettes
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5. Remaining cast, upgrades, endings
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If serving the exam student his usual and getting one new line of his story
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feels good at stage 3, the game works.
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## 9. Other principles
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- Lean hard into palette work — the MSX2's superpower.
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- Keep text minimal or bilingual-friendly; the Japanese retro community is a
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big chunk of the real audience.
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- Let the soundtrack carry the mood — cozy games live or die on music.
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- Marketing hook: "run a coffee shop on real MSX2 hardware."
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@@ -0,0 +1,518 @@
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# Kissaten Yūgure — Production plan
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Companion to `DESIGN.md` (what the game is) and `CONVERSATION.md` (why).
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This document is **how it gets built**: milestone order, the cast, the story
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architecture, and what has been deliberately cut.
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Status at time of writing: **M1 complete** (scope ladder stage 1).
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---
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## 1. Organizing principle
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The code in this project is small. Stage 1 — shop scene, customer, brew
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minigame, full serve loop — took one sitting and fits in 17KB of a 128KB ROM.
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Every remaining *system* is comparably small.
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The risk is content. Four characters with real arcs is roughly 60 scenes of
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writing and 12 portraits of pixel art. The failure mode for a project like
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this is producing all of that before discovering the core moment doesn't land.
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So the plan is ordered by one rule:
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> **Reach the emotional test on the least content possible, then build the
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> machinery around what you learned.**
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`DESIGN.md` §8 states the test directly: *if serving the exam student his
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usual and getting one new line of his story feels good, the game works.*
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Everything before M3 exists only to make that test possible. Everything after
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M3 is scaling something already proven.
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---
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## 2. Milestones
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Each milestone has an exit criterion. Don't advance without meeting it.
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Each also lists **what it requires** — split into what I need *from you*
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(decisions, writing, art) and what must be *in place* technically. Anything
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under "from you" is a hard block: I can't guess my way past it, and guessing
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wrong is expensive to unwind later.
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### M1 — Serve loop ✅ *(complete)*
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Shop scene, one customer, siphon brew minigame, serve loop, no story.
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**Exit:** ✅ A customer arrives, orders, is served a brew of variable quality,
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reacts, and leaves; the counter increments and the next arrives.
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### M2 — The day spine
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The thin half of scope-ladder stage 2. Day counter, three phase transitions
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(morning prep → open hours → evening close), save/restore, clock and day in
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the status bar.
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Money is deliberately **not** built here beyond a displayed number. It gates
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nothing until M9, and a value that gates nothing isn't worth debugging yet.
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This milestone exists because the day counter is the spine every dialogue
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trigger hangs from — arc pacing, `last_visit_day`, "he always comes when it
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rains" patterns.
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**Requires — from you:**
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- **Save medium.** My recommendation: **RTC CMOS**. Every MSX2 has it, it
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holds ~50 bytes, the `SaveState` in `DESIGN.md` §6 is ~40, and
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`msxgl_config.h` already enables `RTC_USE_SAVEDATA` + `RTC_USE_SAVESIGNED`.
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Alternatives are cartridge SRAM (needs mapper support, better capacity) or
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the FM-PAC's SRAM (needs the cartridge present). Say the word if you'd
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rather not depend on CMOS.
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- **Day length.** `DESIGN.md` says 5–10 real minutes. I need one number to
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tune against, plus a rough customers-per-day count (I'd start at 4–6).
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- **Clock model:** does time advance in real seconds, or one tick per customer
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served? Event-driven is more forgiving of a player who walks away — which
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suits the cozy contract — and it's what I'd pick.
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**Requires — in place:** nothing beyond M1.
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**Produces:** `SaveState` struct, phase state machine, save/load module.
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**Status:** day counter, three phases, journal line and `SaveState` are done
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and playable. **Persistence is blocked** — sector I/O from a cartridge ROM
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reports success without transferring data; full findings in the disk section
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of `../CLAUDE.md`.
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**Pacing dial, revisited at the end.** `CUSTOMERS_PER_DAY` in `kissaten.c` is
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the only number that sets day length. Worth reconsidering at M10 as a
|
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player-facing choice — offered once at first boot ("how long should a day
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be?"), or as a shelf option alongside the records. A game with no fail states
|
||||
can afford to let the player set its own tempo, and it costs one saved byte.
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Not worth building before the content exists: the right default only becomes
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obvious once days have stories in them.
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### M3 — Vertical slice ← **the milestone that matters**
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||||
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||||
One regular. Six beats. **Hardcoded in C.** No YAML, no compiler, no engine,
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||||
no data format.
|
||||
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||||
Build the exam student (§3 below) because their arc is the most legible: the
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||||
"usual" is visually distinct (cream soda, not coffee), the want is stated
|
||||
early, and the change is a single order switch the player can *see*.
|
||||
|
||||
Also needed: order recognition — the customer asks for something specific, and
|
||||
serving it (vs. not) advances or holds the arc.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **Aki's six beats, as written text.** 6 × 3 lines × 26 chars. This is the
|
||||
hard block on M3 — there is no version of this milestone without it. Either
|
||||
you write them, or you tell me to draft them and review. If I draft: I need
|
||||
a tone sample you like (a scene from a game or book that hits the register
|
||||
you want) so the first pass isn't a guess.
|
||||
- **The item list at this point.** Minimum coffee + cream soda, but tell me if
|
||||
the toast set or curry from `DESIGN.md` §2 should exist yet.
|
||||
- **A scratch portrait for Aki — 48×48, three expressions.** Crude is fine;
|
||||
ugly is fine. But M3's exit criterion is an *emotional* judgement, and
|
||||
judging it with a blank brown rectangle where a face belongs stacks the deck
|
||||
against the test. This is the one place art work moves earlier than M6, and
|
||||
it's worth it.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:** M2's day counter (arc beats are paced by day).
|
||||
|
||||
**Produces:** hardcoded arc, order-recognition logic, "the usual" concept.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** The `DESIGN.md` test. Serve the student their usual, get the next
|
||||
beat of their story, and want to come back tomorrow to see the following one.
|
||||
If this is flat, stop and fix the *writing*, not the code.
|
||||
|
||||
### M4 — Dialogue engine and compiler
|
||||
|
||||
Now — and only now — extract the engine from what M3 taught. Scene data model,
|
||||
trigger evaluation, `tools/compile_dialogue.js` emitting a binary bank, and
|
||||
`BankedCall = true` re-enabled (see §7 hazards).
|
||||
|
||||
Port the student's hardcoded arc to data and prove it plays identically.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **Sign-off on the scene schema before I write the compiler.** I'll propose
|
||||
the YAML shape as a one-page sample; reviewing it costs ten minutes and
|
||||
changing it after 60 scenes are authored costs a rewrite.
|
||||
- **The string-ID decision** from §4 — whether to route text through IDs now
|
||||
for a possible Japanese pass later. Cheap today, expensive to retrofit.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:**
|
||||
- M3 proven (the schema should be derived from real content, not imagined).
|
||||
- `node` on PATH for the compiler — already working, documented in
|
||||
`../CLAUDE.md`.
|
||||
- `BankedCall = true` re-enabled, carefully. See §7.
|
||||
|
||||
**Produces:** `tools/compile_dialogue.js`, `data/dialogue/*.yaml`, the banked
|
||||
dialogue blob, and the bank layout that everything after M4 slots into.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** Adding a scene requires editing a YAML file and rebuilding. Zero C
|
||||
changes.
|
||||
|
||||
### M5 — Second regular and visitor logic
|
||||
|
||||
Add the stationmaster. Build the weighted arrival table from `DESIGN.md` §3 —
|
||||
roll per open-hours tick, filtered by season, weather, time-of-day, and
|
||||
days-since-last-visit.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **Ōta's full arc** (~15 beats). Same authoring question as M3 — yours or
|
||||
mine to draft.
|
||||
- **Initial arrival weights**, or approval of a table I propose.
|
||||
`DESIGN.md` §3 wants this tunable in a spreadsheet; I'd rather hand you a
|
||||
starting table to react to than ask you to invent numbers cold.
|
||||
- **How visible the pattern should be.** "The stationmaster always comes when
|
||||
it rains" only lands if it's *nearly* deterministic. My instinct is to make
|
||||
weather-driven arrivals much stronger than feels statistically tasteful,
|
||||
because the player needs to notice.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:** M4 engine and compiler.
|
||||
|
||||
**Produces:** visitor weight table, arrival roll, multi-arc scheduling.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** Two arcs interleave over a week of play without colliding, and the
|
||||
arrival pattern is legible enough that you can predict who's coming.
|
||||
|
||||
### M6 — Art pass
|
||||
|
||||
The real background bitmap on the palette-slot layout already reserved in
|
||||
code (sky 8–11, wood/warm 4–7), plus 12 portraits (4 characters × 3
|
||||
expressions). Retire the placeholder `HMMV` rectangles.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:** *(this is the milestone with real lead time — start
|
||||
it early, see §5)*
|
||||
- **Who makes the art.** You, a commission, or an AI-assisted pipeline like
|
||||
the music one. This answer determines whether M6 is a week or a quarter.
|
||||
- **One background bitmap**, 256×212, 16 colors.
|
||||
- **12 portraits**, 48×48, three expressions each (neutral / happy /
|
||||
troubled) for the four regulars.
|
||||
- **Critically: the palette spec goes to the artist *before* they draw.** Sky
|
||||
tones must live in slots 8–11 and wood/warm tones in 4–7, because that
|
||||
layout is what makes M7's seasons free. Art drawn in open color and
|
||||
quantized afterwards will land in the wrong slots and silently destroy the
|
||||
seasonal system. I can generate the exact palette table and a reference
|
||||
swatch image to hand over.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:**
|
||||
- A PNG → SC5 conversion path. `projects/mazegame` already has working
|
||||
`convert_screens.py` / `convert_tiles.py` precedent to adapt, plus MSXtk.
|
||||
|
||||
**Produces:** converted asset banks, page-1 warehouse layout, blit routines.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** No procedural placeholder fills remain in the shop scene.
|
||||
|
||||
### M7 — Seasons, weather, palettes
|
||||
|
||||
Scope-ladder stage 4. Palette tables per season × time-of-day, optional lerp
|
||||
across the in-game day, weather affecting the arrival table.
|
||||
|
||||
Deliberately placed *after* the art pass and *after* two working arcs. See §7.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **How many palette sets.** 4 seasons × 3 times of day = 12 tables at 32
|
||||
bytes each (384 bytes — trivial). But that's 12 moods to *art-direct*, which
|
||||
is the real cost. Fewer, done well, beats twelve done mechanically.
|
||||
- **Mood direction** for each: I can propose the RGB tables, but "rainy
|
||||
autumn dusk" needs your eye to confirm it feels right, not mine.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:** **M6 must be done.** This milestone is a no-op
|
||||
without a background authored on the palette-slot layout — that dependency is
|
||||
the entire reason M7 sits after the art pass instead of before it.
|
||||
|
||||
**Produces:** palette tables, time-of-day lerp, weather → arrival hookup.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** A spring morning and a rainy autumn dusk are visibly different moods
|
||||
on identical bitmap data.
|
||||
|
||||
### M8 — Remaining cast
|
||||
|
||||
The manga artist and the widow, full arcs. This is the largest pure-writing
|
||||
block in the project — roughly 30 scenes.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **Fujimoto's and Nakajima's arcs** — ~30 beats total, the single largest
|
||||
writing block in the project.
|
||||
- **A ruling on Nakajima's reveal.** Her second coffee is the best hook in the
|
||||
cast precisely because the player solves it unaided. I need to know how far
|
||||
you're willing to go without confirming it — my instinct is *very* far, and
|
||||
that it should never be stated outright by anyone but her.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:** M4 engine, M6 portraits.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** All four arcs complete and reachable in one playthrough.
|
||||
|
||||
### M9 — Music and upgrades
|
||||
|
||||
6–8 cozy loops via the existing `msx-music-generator` pipeline. The
|
||||
record-player upgrade turns the jukebox into both a feature and a home for
|
||||
every generated track. Money finally gates something.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **Which sound chip.** This needs settling, because the docs and your actual
|
||||
toolchain disagree: `DESIGN.md` §7 and `CLAUDE.md` describe a PSG / MML →
|
||||
NDP pipeline, but the working pipeline you built for `mazegame` is
|
||||
`msx-music-generator` → **lVGM + ayFX**, using MSX-Music (YM2413) on an
|
||||
MSX2+. This project targets plain MSX2, where FM is *not* standard — it
|
||||
needs an FM-PAC. Options: PSG-only (universal, thinner), FM with PSG
|
||||
fallback (best sound, more work), or retarget to MSX2+. I'd take **PSG-only
|
||||
through the lVGM pipeline you already have**, and treat FM as a bonus path.
|
||||
Either way `DESIGN.md` §7 should be updated to match reality.
|
||||
- **Briefs for 6–8 tracks:** mood, rough tempo, loop length. Morning,
|
||||
afternoon, evening, rain, plus a theme or two for story beats.
|
||||
- **Upgrade list and prices** — the point at which money finally means
|
||||
something.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — in place:** money economy from M2 promoted to actually gating.
|
||||
|
||||
**Exit:** Music changes with time-of-day and weather; the player can choose a
|
||||
record.
|
||||
|
||||
### M10 — Ending, polish, hardware
|
||||
|
||||
One quiet ending (see §6). Real-hardware verification, 50/60Hz check, timing
|
||||
pass on the brew minigame.
|
||||
|
||||
**Requires — from you:**
|
||||
- **The ending text**, and what triggers it — my recommendation is a day count
|
||||
reached *after* all four arcs resolve, so it can never cut a story short.
|
||||
- **Real hardware, or the machine profiles you care about.** I can only verify
|
||||
against openMSX here; C-BIOS has already shown behavioural differences from
|
||||
real BIOS during M1, so emulator-passing is not hardware-passing.
|
||||
- **50Hz or 60Hz as the primary target** (PAL vs NTSC timing for the brew
|
||||
minigame's feel).
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 3. The cast
|
||||
|
||||
`DESIGN.md` §3 suggests six to eight regulars and offers four examples. **Take
|
||||
the four examples as the entire cast.** Reasoning in §6.
|
||||
|
||||
Each has a **want**, a **secret**, and a **change**. The want is stated early.
|
||||
The secret is never announced — it's inferred from behaviour, then eventually
|
||||
confirmed in one quiet line. The change is small and late.
|
||||
|
||||
### Hoshino Aki — the exam student
|
||||
|
||||
- **Usual:** cream soda float. A child's order they're faintly embarrassed by.
|
||||
- **Rhythm:** weekday evenings, then scarcer as exams approach.
|
||||
- **Want:** to pass the Tokyo entrance exams.
|
||||
- **Secret:** the course is their parent's choice. They want to study
|
||||
something else and haven't said so to anyone.
|
||||
- **Change:** orders coffee instead — once, without comment. The player will
|
||||
notice before they understand it.
|
||||
- **Why first:** the arc is legible, the usual is visually distinct from every
|
||||
other order, and the change is expressible entirely through the serve
|
||||
mechanic.
|
||||
|
||||
### Ōta-san — the retired stationmaster
|
||||
|
||||
- **Usual:** black coffee, no sugar. Arrives at the same minute daily.
|
||||
- **Rhythm:** early hours; rain makes him certain to appear.
|
||||
- **Want:** to have somewhere to be at a fixed time.
|
||||
- **Secret:** the line he worked was cut back before he retired. The precision
|
||||
he still keeps is for a timetable that no longer exists.
|
||||
- **Change:** stops apologising for lingering.
|
||||
|
||||
### Fujimoto — the manga artist
|
||||
|
||||
- **Usual:** strongest coffee available, endless refills, toast set when
|
||||
reminded to eat.
|
||||
- **Rhythm:** very late; a monthly deadline cycle drives their frequency and
|
||||
their panic.
|
||||
- **Want:** to finish the chapter.
|
||||
- **Secret:** the series is ending, and they come here to be somewhere that
|
||||
isn't the desk.
|
||||
- **Change:** the shop appears in the manga. They show you the page.
|
||||
|
||||
### Nakajima-san — the widow
|
||||
|
||||
- **Usual:** two coffees. Always two.
|
||||
- **Rhythm:** slow, seasonal, tied to specific weather and dates.
|
||||
- **Want:** to keep a routine that belonged to two people.
|
||||
- **Secret:** the second coffee is his order, and it goes cold every time.
|
||||
- **Change:** one day she orders one. No speech about it.
|
||||
- **Note:** her hook is the strongest in the cast because it's **visible in
|
||||
the serve mechanic before it is ever explained**. The player solves it
|
||||
themselves. Protect that — do not have anyone explain her early.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 4. Story architecture
|
||||
|
||||
### Arc shape
|
||||
|
||||
Twelve to eighteen beats per character. A beat is three lines of 26
|
||||
characters — a *moment*, not a scene.
|
||||
|
||||
| Beats | Function |
|
||||
|---|---|
|
||||
| 1–3 | Establish the routine. Player learns the usual. |
|
||||
| 4–8 | A crack. Mentioned in passing, never explained. |
|
||||
| 9–14 | It develops. Serving choices nudge; they never gate. |
|
||||
| 15+ | Resolution — quiet, undramatic, small. |
|
||||
|
||||
Cozy resolves **gently**. No reveals, no tragedy delivered as a twist. Ōta
|
||||
doesn't confess a catastrophe; he admits the house is too quiet now. Restraint
|
||||
is the genre, and it's also cheaper to write well than melodrama is.
|
||||
|
||||
### Authoring order
|
||||
|
||||
Write **one arc completely** before starting the next. Writing everyone's
|
||||
first three beats produces four strangers and no one you know.
|
||||
|
||||
### Trigger vocabulary
|
||||
|
||||
The scene format is `(conditions) → (portrait, expression, text, effects)`.
|
||||
The condition language is the real design work — keep it minimal:
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
day >= N season == S
|
||||
arc_stage == N weather == W
|
||||
affinity >= N phase == P
|
||||
served == ITEM absent >= N days
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
Eight condition types cover every behaviour described in `DESIGN.md`.
|
||||
**Resist adding a ninth.** Every addition multiplies the authoring surface and
|
||||
the testing burden, and the temptation will be strongest exactly when the
|
||||
writing is hardest.
|
||||
|
||||
### Effects
|
||||
|
||||
Scenes may raise affinity, advance `arc_stage`, set a flag, or unlock an item.
|
||||
Nothing else. No arbitrary state mutation — that path ends in a scripting
|
||||
language nobody asked for.
|
||||
|
||||
### Text and localisation
|
||||
|
||||
Current font is ASCII at 26 characters per line. `DESIGN.md` §9 flags the
|
||||
Japanese retro community as a real slice of the audience.
|
||||
|
||||
**Recommendation:** don't build kana support now, but route every player-facing
|
||||
string through an ID from the start. A Japanese pass then becomes a font and a
|
||||
table swap rather than re-authoring the entire script. This costs almost
|
||||
nothing today and is expensive to retrofit.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 5. Budgets
|
||||
|
||||
### ROM — not a constraint
|
||||
|
||||
| Item | Size |
|
||||
|---|---|
|
||||
| Stage 1 code | ~17 KB |
|
||||
| All dialogue text (~8,000 chars) | ~8 KB |
|
||||
| Portraits (4 × 3 × 48×48 @ 4bpp) | ~14 KB |
|
||||
| Background bitmap (256×212 @ 4bpp) | ~27 KB |
|
||||
| Music (6–8 lVGM loops) | ~20 KB |
|
||||
|
||||
Comfortably inside 128 KB with room for a second background or seasonal
|
||||
variants if they ever prove necessary. **ROM size will not be what limits this
|
||||
project.**
|
||||
|
||||
### Writing — the actual constraint
|
||||
|
||||
Four characters × ~15 beats = **~60 scenes**. At three beats per sitting that
|
||||
is twenty writing sessions. This is the single largest line item in the
|
||||
project and it does not compress.
|
||||
|
||||
**Status: a complete first draft exists** in `SCRIPT.md` — all 60 beats, plus
|
||||
order lines, per-character brew reactions and ambient lines, every line
|
||||
checked against the 26-character box. What remains is your edit pass, which is
|
||||
a different and much smaller job than writing from nothing.
|
||||
|
||||
### Art — the long pole
|
||||
|
||||
12 portraits and one background. Tractable at four characters; at eight it
|
||||
roughly doubles and becomes the thing that stalls the project.
|
||||
|
||||
**Open question:** who draws these? The plan assumes 12 portraits exist by M6.
|
||||
If that's commissioned or AI-assisted work, it needs starting well before M6,
|
||||
since it's the only item here with external lead time.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 6. Deliberate cuts
|
||||
|
||||
| `DESIGN.md` says | Plan says | Why |
|
||||
|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 6–8 regulars | **4** | 8 × 15 scenes and 24 portraits is where this project dies. Four in a small provincial kissaten is also *more* intimate — the cut serves the atmosphere pillar rather than fighting it. |
|
||||
| Money economy | Minimal until M9 | Gates nothing before the record player. |
|
||||
| "Endings" (plural) | **One** quiet ending | Per-character arc completions already provide the sense of closure. Multiple endings multiply testing for a game with no fail state to contrast against. |
|
||||
| Morning menu planning | Deferred, possibly cut | Adds a decision phase before the loop that carries the game. Revisit only if open hours feel thin. |
|
||||
| Branching dialogue choices | Defer to M4 | M3 will reveal whether they're needed at all. My expectation: rarely. |
|
||||
|
||||
"Small, finishable scope. When in doubt, cut." — `CLAUDE.md`, design pillars.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 7. Risks and known hazards
|
||||
|
||||
**Seasons are procrastination.** M7 is the most enjoyable thing on this list —
|
||||
palette work produces beautiful results in minutes with no writing involved.
|
||||
It will call loudly every time the script gets difficult. It also adds nothing
|
||||
to whether the game is *good*. Keep it as the reward after two arcs work.
|
||||
|
||||
**Engine-before-content.** The reason M3 is hardcoded. Dialogue systems get
|
||||
over-built when designed before any dialogue exists; you end up supporting
|
||||
features nothing uses and discovering the one thing you need is awkward.
|
||||
|
||||
**Cast creep.** Four will feel thin around M5, when two arcs exist and the
|
||||
shop seems empty. It won't feel thin at M8. Do not add a fifth regular before
|
||||
all four are complete.
|
||||
|
||||
**`BankedCall = true` is a known hazard.** Enabling it with nothing actually
|
||||
banked corrupted RAM globals — the state machine ran wild. It's off, and M4 is
|
||||
the deliberate point to turn it back on, with the banked data that justifies
|
||||
it. See the platform gotchas in `../CLAUDE.md`.
|
||||
|
||||
**Keyboard reads need interrupt protection.** Documented in `../CLAUDE.md`;
|
||||
applies to every new input added.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 8. Decision queue
|
||||
|
||||
Everything the milestones above need from you, in the order it becomes
|
||||
blocking. Items marked **lead time** should be started well before the
|
||||
milestone that consumes them.
|
||||
|
||||
| # | Needed for | Decision | My recommendation |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 1 | M2 | ~~Save medium~~ → **save disk (.dsk), asset supplied** | ⚠ decided, but **not working yet** — see the disk section in `../CLAUDE.md`. Sector I/O reports success without transferring. **The RTC CMOS fallback I previously suggested is not viable**: block 3 is 13 nibbles, and MSXgl's `RTC_SaveData()` stores **6 bytes**, against a ~40-byte `SaveState`. Real fallbacks are cartridge SRAM, the FM-PAC SRAM, or shrinking the save to a 6-byte fingerprint |
|
||||
| 2 | M2 | ~~Day length~~ → **5 min / 5 customers** | ✅ done. One constant, `CUSTOMERS_PER_DAY` in `kissaten.c` |
|
||||
| 3 | M2 | ~~Clock model~~ → **event-driven** | ✅ done. Customers are the clock |
|
||||
| 4 | M3 | ~~Who writes the dialogue~~ → **drafted by me, you edit** | ✅ resolved |
|
||||
| 5 | M3 | ~~Aki's six beats~~ | ✅ drafted — all four arcs are in `SCRIPT.md`, awaiting your edit |
|
||||
| 6 | M3 | Scratch portrait for Aki | Crude is fine, but *something* — the test needs a face |
|
||||
| 7 | M3 | Item list at slice stage | Coffee + cream soda only |
|
||||
| 8 | **M6 — lead time** | **Who makes the art** | Decide now, not at M6; it's the only external dependency |
|
||||
| 9 | M4 | Scene schema sign-off | Ten-minute review, saves a rewrite |
|
||||
| 10 | M4 | String IDs for future JP text | Yes — nearly free now, expensive later |
|
||||
| 11 | M5 | Arrival weights | React to a table I propose |
|
||||
| 12 | M6 | Palette spec to artist **before** drawing | Non-negotiable if M7 is to stay cheap |
|
||||
| 13 | M7 | Number of palette sets | Fewer, art-directed well |
|
||||
| 14 | M8 | How overt Nakajima's reveal gets | Never stated by anyone but her |
|
||||
| 15 | M9 | Sound chip: PSG / FM / retarget | PSG-only via your existing lVGM pipeline |
|
||||
| 16 | M10 | Hardware access + 50/60Hz target | — |
|
||||
|
||||
Items 1–3 are small and I can proceed on my recommendations if you'd rather
|
||||
not think about them. Items 4 and 8 are the two that genuinely shape the
|
||||
project, and both want answering now.
|
||||
|
||||
## 9. Immediate next actions
|
||||
|
||||
1. ✅ **M2 day spine** — day counter, three phases, journal line. Done and
|
||||
playable. **Persistence still blocked**; see the disk section in
|
||||
`../CLAUDE.md` for everything established so far.
|
||||
2. ✅ **Aki's beats as prose** — done, along with the other three arcs, in
|
||||
`SCRIPT.md`. Awaiting your edit pass.
|
||||
3. ⬜ **Unblock saving.** Either keep digging at the disk path, or switch
|
||||
medium. Note the RTC CMOS fallback is off the table (§8 item 1).
|
||||
4. ⬜ **Start the portrait question** (§5) — still the only item with external
|
||||
lead time, and now the longest pole by some distance.
|
||||
|
||||
3 and 4 are independent; 4 can start today and should.
|
||||
@@ -0,0 +1,492 @@
|
||||
# Kissaten Yūgure — Script
|
||||
|
||||
First draft of all four character arcs, plus order lines, brew reactions and
|
||||
ambient lines. Written as prose-first per `PLAN.md` §9 — no data format yet.
|
||||
|
||||
**This is a draft to edit, not to approve.** The characters are yours; if
|
||||
anyone's voice is wrong, it's wrong now and cheap to fix.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## How to read this
|
||||
|
||||
Every beat is one dialogue box: **3 lines × 26 characters**, ASCII, as laid
|
||||
out in `DESIGN.md` §4. Every line here has been checked against that limit.
|
||||
|
||||
```
|
||||
**B4 · the crack** — `day>=7` — troubled
|
||||
Mock exam results came.
|
||||
Law faculty. Tokyo.
|
||||
Father framed the sheet.
|
||||
```
|
||||
|
||||
- **B4** — beat number. Beats fire in order; a beat's trigger is *also*
|
||||
gated on the previous beat having played (`arc_stage`).
|
||||
- **Trigger** — conditions from the vocabulary in `PLAN.md` §4.
|
||||
- **Expression** — `neutral` / `happy` / `troubled`. Three per character, per
|
||||
`DESIGN.md` §5.
|
||||
|
||||
Triggers are deliberately loose. Tighten them once pacing is playable —
|
||||
day numbers here assume roughly one visit per character per 2 days.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 1. Hoshino Aki — the exam student
|
||||
|
||||
> Cream soda. Weekday evenings, scarcer as exams approach.
|
||||
> **Want:** pass the Tokyo entrance exams.
|
||||
> **Secret:** the course is her father's choice. She wants astronomy, at a
|
||||
> small college in Sendai with an observatory on the roof.
|
||||
> **Change:** orders coffee instead of the soda.
|
||||
|
||||
The dusk sky through the shop window is her arc's spine — she is the reason
|
||||
that window is there. **Beats 1–6 are the M3 vertical slice.**
|
||||
|
||||
**B1** — `day>=2, phase=evening` — neutral
|
||||
Cream soda, please.
|
||||
The big one, if that's
|
||||
all right.
|
||||
|
||||
**B2** — `day>=3` — neutral
|
||||
Exams in the spring.
|
||||
They say third year goes
|
||||
fast. It hasn't.
|
||||
|
||||
**B3** — `day>=5, served=CREAM_SODA` — happy
|
||||
You remembered.
|
||||
Nobody at home remembers
|
||||
what I like.
|
||||
|
||||
**B4 · the crack** — `day>=7` — troubled
|
||||
Mock exam results came.
|
||||
Law faculty. Tokyo.
|
||||
Father framed the sheet.
|
||||
|
||||
**B5** — `day>=9, weather=rain` — neutral
|
||||
Can't see the sky today.
|
||||
...Sorry. That was a
|
||||
strange thing to say.
|
||||
|
||||
**B6 · slice ends** — `day>=11, served=CREAM_SODA` — neutral
|
||||
Master, do you ever look
|
||||
out that window and think
|
||||
about anything else?
|
||||
|
||||
**B7** — `day>=13` — troubled
|
||||
Father's friend teaches
|
||||
at the Tokyo faculty.
|
||||
It's arranged, basically.
|
||||
|
||||
**B8** — `day>=15, absent>=3` — troubled
|
||||
Sorry I haven't come.
|
||||
Cram school added hours.
|
||||
I missed this place.
|
||||
|
||||
**B9** — `day>=17, affinity>=60` — neutral
|
||||
There's a small college
|
||||
in Sendai. They have an
|
||||
observatory on the roof.
|
||||
|
||||
**B10** — `day>=19` — happy
|
||||
I wrote for a prospectus.
|
||||
It came in a brown
|
||||
envelope. I hid it.
|
||||
|
||||
**B11** — `day>=21, weather=clear, phase=evening` — happy
|
||||
Look - that's Vega.
|
||||
You can see it even from
|
||||
town, if you know where.
|
||||
|
||||
**B12** — `day>=23` — troubled
|
||||
Applications close on
|
||||
the twentieth.
|
||||
I haven't told them.
|
||||
|
||||
**B13 · the change** — `day>=25, served=COFFEE` — neutral
|
||||
Not the soda today.
|
||||
Coffee. Black, like you
|
||||
make for Ota-san.
|
||||
|
||||
**B14** — `day>=27` — troubled
|
||||
I told them.
|
||||
Mother cried. Father
|
||||
hasn't spoken since.
|
||||
|
||||
**B15 · resolution** — `day>=30` — happy
|
||||
Sendai. I posted it.
|
||||
Father drove me to the
|
||||
post office. Said nothing.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 2. Ōta-san — the retired stationmaster
|
||||
|
||||
> Black coffee, no sugar. Early mornings. Rain makes him certain.
|
||||
> **Want:** somewhere to be at a fixed time.
|
||||
> **Secret:** the ten-fifteen was cut in his last spring. His precision keeps
|
||||
> a timetable that no longer exists.
|
||||
> **Change:** stops apologising for lingering; orders a second cup.
|
||||
|
||||
**B1** — `day>=1, phase=morning` — neutral
|
||||
Coffee. Black.
|
||||
Seven forty. You open
|
||||
at seven forty.
|
||||
|
||||
**B2** — `day>=3, phase=morning` — neutral
|
||||
Your father opened at
|
||||
seven forty as well.
|
||||
I never asked him why.
|
||||
|
||||
**B3** — `day>=5, weather=rain` — neutral
|
||||
Rain. I always came in
|
||||
the rain. The platform
|
||||
had no roof at the end.
|
||||
|
||||
**B4** — `day>=7, served=COFFEE` — happy
|
||||
Thirty-one years I
|
||||
poured tea on that
|
||||
platform. Never coffee.
|
||||
|
||||
**B5 · the crack** — `day>=9` — troubled
|
||||
They cut the ten-fifteen
|
||||
in my last spring.
|
||||
Nobody came to say so.
|
||||
|
||||
**B6** — `day>=11` — neutral
|
||||
I still wake at five.
|
||||
The body keeps a
|
||||
timetable of its own.
|
||||
|
||||
**B7** — `day>=13, absent>=2` — troubled
|
||||
Forgive me. I'm keeping
|
||||
your counter. I'll go.
|
||||
...No. Not yet.
|
||||
|
||||
**B8** — `day>=15, affinity>=50` — neutral
|
||||
The house is not small.
|
||||
That is the trouble.
|
||||
It was sized for four.
|
||||
|
||||
**B9** — `day>=17` — neutral
|
||||
My daughter telephones
|
||||
on Sundays. Eleven a.m.
|
||||
She is very punctual.
|
||||
|
||||
**B10** — `day>=19, weather=rain` — happy
|
||||
You knew I'd come.
|
||||
The pot was already on.
|
||||
That is a fine thing.
|
||||
|
||||
**B11** — `day>=21` — neutral
|
||||
The station is a
|
||||
convenience store now.
|
||||
I have not gone in.
|
||||
|
||||
**B12** — `day>=23` — troubled
|
||||
I went in. For batteries.
|
||||
The ticket window is
|
||||
where the freezers are.
|
||||
|
||||
**B13** — `day>=25, affinity>=80` — neutral
|
||||
You keep good time,
|
||||
Master. That is not a
|
||||
small compliment from me.
|
||||
|
||||
**B14 · the change** — `day>=27` — happy
|
||||
I'll have a second cup.
|
||||
I am not going anywhere
|
||||
in particular today.
|
||||
|
||||
**B15 · resolution** — `day>=30` — happy
|
||||
Seven forty.
|
||||
Tomorrow also, I think.
|
||||
That is all I wanted.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 3. Fujimoto — the manga artist
|
||||
|
||||
> Strongest coffee, endless refills, toast set when reminded to eat.
|
||||
> Very late. Frequency and panic follow a monthly deadline cycle.
|
||||
> **Want:** finish the chapter.
|
||||
> **Secret:** the series is being cancelled. Comes here to be anywhere that
|
||||
> isn't the desk.
|
||||
> **Change:** the shop appears in the final chapter.
|
||||
|
||||
Fujimoto carries the comedy. A cozy game with four sad people is not cozy —
|
||||
it's a wake. Let them be funny about their own misery.
|
||||
|
||||
**B1** — `day>=2, phase=evening` — neutral
|
||||
Strongest you have.
|
||||
No, stronger. I have
|
||||
eleven pages by Friday.
|
||||
|
||||
**B2** — `day>=4` — troubled
|
||||
Do you know how long
|
||||
eleven pages is?
|
||||
Neither do I anymore.
|
||||
|
||||
**B3** — `day>=6, served=COFFEE` — neutral
|
||||
Refill. And again after.
|
||||
I'll pay for the pot.
|
||||
Cheaper by the hour.
|
||||
|
||||
**B4** — `day>=8` — troubled
|
||||
Editor called me
|
||||
'reliable' today. That's
|
||||
what they say before.
|
||||
|
||||
**B5** — `day>=10, absent>=4` — troubled
|
||||
Four days at the desk.
|
||||
I have drawn one hand.
|
||||
It's a bad hand.
|
||||
|
||||
**B6 · the crack** — `day>=12` — troubled
|
||||
I don't come here to
|
||||
work, Master.
|
||||
I come here to not.
|
||||
|
||||
**B7** — `day>=14, served=TOAST` — happy
|
||||
When did I last eat?
|
||||
Don't answer that.
|
||||
...Thank you for this.
|
||||
|
||||
**B8** — `day>=16` — neutral
|
||||
Thirty-two volumes.
|
||||
Nine years. My whole
|
||||
twenties, in a drawer.
|
||||
|
||||
**B9 · the secret** — `day>=18, affinity>=50` — troubled
|
||||
They're ending it.
|
||||
Two more chapters.
|
||||
I asked for three.
|
||||
|
||||
**B10** — `day>=20` — troubled
|
||||
Nine years and I get
|
||||
two chapters to say
|
||||
goodbye properly.
|
||||
|
||||
**B11** — `day>=22` — neutral
|
||||
I've been drawing this
|
||||
counter. Not for work.
|
||||
Just drawing it.
|
||||
|
||||
**B12** — `day>=24, weather=rain` — neutral
|
||||
Rain's good for pages.
|
||||
Nobody expects you
|
||||
anywhere in the rain.
|
||||
|
||||
**B13 · the change** — `day>=26, affinity>=70` — happy
|
||||
The last chapter is
|
||||
set in a coffee shop.
|
||||
I hope that's all right.
|
||||
|
||||
**B14** — `day>=28` — happy
|
||||
Here. Page forty.
|
||||
That's your counter.
|
||||
That's your lamp.
|
||||
|
||||
**B15 · resolution** — `day>=31` — happy
|
||||
It's done. Nine years.
|
||||
I'm starting something
|
||||
new. Set here, I think.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 4. Nakajima-san — the widow
|
||||
|
||||
> Two coffees. One with milk, one black. Slow, seasonal, weather-tied.
|
||||
> **Want:** keep a routine that belonged to two people.
|
||||
> **Secret:** the second coffee is his. It goes cold every time.
|
||||
> **Change:** one day she orders one.
|
||||
|
||||
**Handle with care.** Her hook is the strongest in the game because the
|
||||
player solves it unaided — the order is visible in the serve mechanic long
|
||||
before anything is said. Per `PLAN.md` §8 item 14: **no one but Nakajima-san
|
||||
ever explains it**, and she does so obliquely, at B4, and never apologises
|
||||
for it. Do not let another character mention her situation.
|
||||
|
||||
Her arc runs on a slower day scale than the others by design — she should
|
||||
feel like someone you see less often.
|
||||
|
||||
**B1** — `day>=4` — neutral
|
||||
Two coffees, please.
|
||||
One with milk.
|
||||
The other black.
|
||||
|
||||
**B2** — `day>=8` — neutral
|
||||
The same, please.
|
||||
You remember which is
|
||||
which. That's good.
|
||||
|
||||
**B3** — `day>=12, served=TWO_COFFEE` — neutral
|
||||
No, don't clear it yet.
|
||||
Leave it a while.
|
||||
I'm not finished.
|
||||
|
||||
**B4 · the crack** — `day>=16, season=autumn` — neutral
|
||||
He liked the autumn.
|
||||
Said the town looked
|
||||
better in brown.
|
||||
|
||||
**B5** — `day>=20` — neutral
|
||||
Forty-one years of
|
||||
two coffees.
|
||||
It's a hard habit.
|
||||
|
||||
**B6** — `day>=24, weather=rain` — troubled
|
||||
He'd have hated today.
|
||||
He walked everywhere.
|
||||
Never once took a bus.
|
||||
|
||||
**B7** — `day>=28, affinity>=40` — neutral
|
||||
Your father served us
|
||||
at that end table.
|
||||
We were young then.
|
||||
|
||||
**B8** — `day>=32` — neutral
|
||||
I know it goes cold.
|
||||
That isn't the point
|
||||
of it, Master.
|
||||
|
||||
**B9** — `day>=36, season=winter` — troubled
|
||||
Three years this month.
|
||||
People stop asking after
|
||||
the second one.
|
||||
|
||||
**B10** — `day>=40` — neutral
|
||||
My son says it's time
|
||||
I stopped. He means
|
||||
well. He means well.
|
||||
|
||||
**B11** — `day>=44, season=spring` — neutral
|
||||
The cherry by the
|
||||
station is out.
|
||||
He'd have said it's early.
|
||||
|
||||
**B12** — `day>=48, affinity>=70` — neutral
|
||||
I don't cry about it.
|
||||
I just like ordering
|
||||
for two. It's an hour.
|
||||
|
||||
**B13** — `day>=52` — neutral
|
||||
You never asked me why.
|
||||
That's why I come here
|
||||
and not the new place.
|
||||
|
||||
**B14 · the change** — `day>=56` — neutral
|
||||
One coffee today.
|
||||
...With milk.
|
||||
Just the one.
|
||||
|
||||
**B15 · resolution** — `day>=60, affinity>=90` — happy
|
||||
One, please.
|
||||
I'll take the window
|
||||
seat. He never liked it.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 5. Order lines
|
||||
|
||||
Spoken on arrival, before the brew. Rotate at random within a character;
|
||||
they're texture, not story.
|
||||
|
||||
**Aki**
|
||||
Cream soda, please.
|
||||
The usual, Master.
|
||||
Soda. I've earned it.
|
||||
|
||||
**Ōta-san**
|
||||
Coffee. Black.
|
||||
The usual, if you please.
|
||||
Coffee. No sugar. Ever.
|
||||
|
||||
**Fujimoto**
|
||||
Coffee. Keep it coming.
|
||||
Something that will hurt.
|
||||
Strongest. And toast.
|
||||
|
||||
**Nakajima-san**
|
||||
Two coffees, please.
|
||||
The same as always.
|
||||
Two. Milk in one.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 6. Brew reactions
|
||||
|
||||
Replaces the generic quality lines currently hardcoded in `kissaten.c`.
|
||||
Quality bands as implemented: 3 = perfect, 2 = good, 1 = fair, 0 = off
|
||||
(thin or over-strong depending on which side of centre you locked).
|
||||
|
||||
| | Aki | Ōta-san | Fujimoto | Nakajima-san |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| **3** | The ice is just right. | That is correct coffee. | Oh, that's cruel. Good. | He'd have liked that one. |
|
||||
| **2** | Mm. That's a good one. | Good. Very good. | That'll do damage. | Very good, Master. |
|
||||
| **1** | Thank you, Master. | Thank you. | Fine. It's wet. | Thank you, dear. |
|
||||
| **0 thin** | It's a bit flat today. | A little pale today. | Is this tea? | A little weak today. |
|
||||
| **0 strong** | Ooh. That's a lot. | Strong. I'll manage. | Perfect. Awful. Perfect. | Oh my. That's bracing. |
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 7. Ambient lines
|
||||
|
||||
Shown while the shop is empty. The four currently in `kissaten.c` are
|
||||
placeholders; these replace them. Weather- and season-gated where marked.
|
||||
|
||||
**Any time**
|
||||
The radio hums softly.
|
||||
The kettle ticks as it
|
||||
cools.
|
||||
Steam on the window glass.
|
||||
A bicycle bell, outside.
|
||||
The lamp buzzes, once.
|
||||
|
||||
**Rain** — `weather=rain`
|
||||
Rain taps at the window.
|
||||
Someone runs past under
|
||||
a newspaper.
|
||||
The gutter is singing.
|
||||
|
||||
**Clear evening** — `weather=clear, phase=evening`
|
||||
Dusk settles over the
|
||||
street.
|
||||
The sky goes orange, then
|
||||
nothing.
|
||||
|
||||
**Autumn** — `season=autumn`
|
||||
A leaf is stuck to the
|
||||
door.
|
||||
|
||||
**Winter** — `season=winter`
|
||||
The window fogs faster
|
||||
than you can wipe it.
|
||||
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
## 8. Notes and open questions
|
||||
|
||||
**Aki's soda doesn't fit the brew minigame.** The siphon minigame is
|
||||
coffee-specific, but her usual is a cream soda. My recommendation: **soda
|
||||
skips the minigame entirely** — it's poured, not brewed. That's not a
|
||||
workaround, it's an improvement: her visits get a different, lighter rhythm
|
||||
than the three coffee drinkers, which suits a teenager dropping in after cram
|
||||
school. Her B13 switch to coffee then means she enters the minigame for the
|
||||
first time, which is a lovely mechanical echo of the story beat.
|
||||
|
||||
**Nakajima-san's two coffees imply a two-brew serve.** Simplest reading: one
|
||||
minigame, both cups. Making the player brew twice would be tedious and would
|
||||
also make the second cup feel like a chore rather than a small sadness.
|
||||
|
||||
**Cross-references are deliberate.** Aki's B13 names Ōta-san; Ōta's B2 and
|
||||
Nakajima's B7 both reference your father running the shop before you. These
|
||||
cost nothing and make the cast feel like one place rather than four
|
||||
unrelated visitors. Add more of these freely — but never let anyone discuss
|
||||
Nakajima-san's second cup.
|
||||
|
||||
**Nobody dies during the game, nobody is cured.** All four arcs resolve by
|
||||
someone deciding something small. That is the genre working correctly.
|
||||
|
||||
**Beat count is 60.** At three beats per sitting that's the twenty writing
|
||||
sessions budgeted in `PLAN.md` §5 — already spent, if this draft survives
|
||||
editing.
|
||||
Reference in New Issue
Block a user