what you actually get

This is a production package.

Not a wall of AI text — an angle, its evidence, a script that survived review, and the exact list of what still needs shooting. This one is annotated so you can see why each part is there.

A sample package with fictional content, shown so you can judge the shape of the deliverable. Connect your own work to see yours.

Ipsum Interactive — Placeholder Panic devlog

Approved

Devlog 14 — The pathfinding rewrite nobody asked for (and everyone noticed)

The angle

Players kept clipping through the market crowd, and the fix was not a patch — it was throwing out A* for flow fields. Lead with the bug report that started it, end with the before/after crowd shot.

Why this story: Chosen over "new enemy reveal" because the crowd bug has 41 comments on the Steam thread — the audience already cares — and the diff is 90% of one system, which makes an honest deep-dive possible.

The evidence — each with its reason

Every claim in the draft points back to one of these. Nothing is in the package because a model felt like it.

  • Steam discussion — "NPCs walk through each other in the market"

    41 comments · top thread this month

    Why it’s here: The story starts where the audience already is. This thread is the cold open.

  • a3f9c21 — replace A* crowd steering with flow fields

    +2,140 −1,876 across pathfinding/

    Why it’s here: The core of the piece. The diff size proves "rewrite" is not an exaggeration.

  • capture_0412.mp4 — 200 NPCs, old system, market square

    0:34 · frame-sampled

    Why it’s here: The "before" half of the money shot. Clipping visible at 0:11 and 0:27.

  • notes/flowfield-tradeoffs.md

    design note, 900 words

    Why it’s here: Carries the honest cost — memory doubled — which is what makes the piece credible instead of promotional.

The script — as generated, and as edited

Both versions are kept. The difference between them is an editorial decision, and it is recorded — not lost the moment the tab closes.

As generated

Three weeks ago a player posted a clip of our market square. Two hundred NPCs, and half of them were walking through each other. This devlog is about why the fix took a rewrite, not a patch.

As edited · approved

Three weeks ago a player posted a clip of our market square: two hundred NPCs, half of them walking straight through each other. We laughed, then we read the pathfinding code, and then we stopped laughing. This is why the fix was a rewrite, not a patch.

What the system learned: The reviewer merged the first two sentences and added the "stopped laughing" beat. Recorded as an editorial decision: openings should carry the studio’s self-deprecating tone. The next draft starts from this, not from zero.

Assets — what exists, and what still needs shooting

The half of a briefing no tool writes down: the shot list. Your editor gets both columns, so the first question is never “what am I missing?”.

In the library

  • capture_0412.mp4old crowd behaviour, market square, 0:34
  • flowfield-debug-view.pngengine screenshot, vector overlay on
  • steam-thread.pngthe original bug report, names blurred

Still needs shooting

  • After-shot: 200 NPCs on the new systemSame camera position as capture_0412 so the before/after cuts clean.
  • Talking head: 20–30s on the memory trade-offOne take, the honest version — "we doubled memory use and decided it was worth it."

The ask, and how it got approved

Cut a 4–5 minute devlog. The before/after crowd shot is the spine; the script is approved as edited. Two shots still need capturing — listed above, with framing notes.

  1. Mon 09:14GeneratedDraft built from 4 evidence items.
  2. Mon 09:40In reviewSent to reviewer (editor seat).
  3. Mon 16:02Changes requested"Opening is flat — we laughed at this bug before we fixed it. Say that."
  4. Tue 08:31In reviewRevised opening; tone note recorded.
  5. Tue 11:47ApprovedHandoff generated for the editor.

Five states, five snapshots. Every decision between “generated” and “approved” is a row the next draft learns from.

Yours would be built from your work.

Connect a repo, a social account, or a folder of recordings, and the first package starts from what you shipped last week.