CodexGameDev/experiments/002_conversion_breach/hypothesis.md
2026-08-18 00:52:29 -04:00

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# Experiment 002 Hypothesis
## Primary hypothesis
Direct control plus practical stakes will turn systems knowledge from implementation work into personal agency. The player will care about understanding because it produces survival, power, improvisation, or recoverable chaos.
## Controlled comparison
- **Calm:** constructs have the same properties and physics but do not pursue or damage the player.
- **Breach:** constructs pursue, collide with, and damage the player; waves continue.
## Competing explanations
1. Direct systemic manipulation is interesting in both modes; pressure changes pacing but is not necessary.
2. The system becomes meaningful only under pressure.
3. Pressure interrupts experimentation; calm is more promising.
4. Action feedback is momentarily stimulating but the laws remain shallow.
5. The mechanics feel like ordinary combat abilities rather than magical engineering.
## Strong evidence
- A discovery produces a second voluntary test.
- The player deliberately engineers a state before acting: brittle, unstable, massive, aligned, or grouped.
- A chosen calibration supports a self-selected tactic.
- The player recovers from a bad state using the system rather than merely kiting.
- The calm/breach preference has a clear reason tied to reasoning or emotional stakes.
## Weak or negative evidence
- The player spams one verb without tracking properties.
- Conventional movement and aiming do all the enjoyable work.
- Temperature states are merely status effects with obvious prescribed combos.
- Calibration is generic numerical progression without changing decisions.