Build order and milestone gates · Ascension Game Bible

Planning assumption: one experienced developer working full time with part-time art/narrative help. Ranges are effort estimates, not delivery promises. Concurrent art can overlap engineering, but uncertainty in the sprite pipeline makes a fixed full-game schedule premature.

Milestone	Rough effort	Reviewable output	Gate to proceed
0. Canon and art pilot	1–2 weeks	Agreed setting constraints; one animated unit in one terrain scene	Unit is readable and pipeline repeatable
1. Combat foundation	2–3 weeks	12 × 12 test map, six units, pathing, turn order, forecast, four jobs	A full battle resolves and can be reloaded
2. Cinderford	2–3 weeks	Escort and mill objectives, wounds, enemy AI, controller UI	New players understand their losses and wins
3. Campaign linkage	2–3 weeks	Three provinces, travel clock, a remote raid, steward assignment	Battle outcome changes a later campaign choice
4. Narrative slice	2–3 weeks	Whitebridge battle, brothers' reunion, Mira scene, save continuity	Characters and consequences are clear without explanation
5. Polish and evaluation	2–4 weeks	Cohesive 60–90 minute build, audio pass, accessibility, measured performance	Players want another mission; production cost is measurable

This implies approximately 11–18 full-time development weeks for a credible slice under the stated staffing assumptions, potentially longer for a first-time developer or inconsistent art generation. It is not a promise that AI compresses a content-heavy RPG into a weekend. Budget the full game only after measuring one polished battle, one environment kit, one animation family, and one narrative scene.

The first two battles

Cinderford: six allies, eight enemies, a mill, three refugee wagons, a raised bridge, two routes, surrender, one destructible barricade. Four shared jobs: Vanguard, Archer, Apothecary, Acolyte. Pyrrhus has a small Wayfarer command set. Win by escorting at least two wagons; the third wagon and mill are independent outcome flags. Hold the route and avoid losing Pyrrhus. Optional sacrifices remain visible afterward.

Whitebridge: a smaller ambush with Ciro as an allied command guest and Xeno as a vulnerable support guest. Arriving with fewer supplies or without Yselle changes the approach. Victory opens the reunion scene. The Cinderford raid resolves from the orders left behind, demonstrating the cost of absence.

Validation when implementation begins

Meaningful automated checks: legal routes respect surfaces and height; forecast equals actual deterministic effects; save/load preserves outcomes and RNG; travel crossing day seven resolves economy exactly once; negative supplies cannot generate free troops; remote clashes respect travel; a captured companion has a valid scene fallback; mutually exclusive romance commitments cannot both be set silently.

Human playtests: can a first-time player identify the objective, forecast, retreat route, and cost of leaving a steward? Do they understand why a remote battle was lost? Do they feel pressure without feeling that reading dialogue wastes time? Can they read the game at 1280 × 720 with a controller? Does the same character remain recognizable across every view?

Performance target to validate later: stable 60 fps on a specifically chosen modest PC at 1080p, responsive menus, and no noticeable pause when selecting a movement range. Hardware, actual scene load, and profile results must accompany any future performance claim.