Charter Guide — game plan + Genre Blueprints

Plain English first. Sharp edges after.

1. What this is / is not

Charter is a notebook for your game idea that lives inside Unity. You fill pillars, core loop, vertical slice, MoSCoW features, risks, and milestones. Mechanical templates and exports always work. Brain = None is first-class. Optional assist (Unity AI, Grok / Claude / Codex CLIs, or extras) only drafts empty bits or critiques — never required, never needs a pasted key.

It is not Scribe (comment banners). It is not Atlas (code map). It is not Bedder (in-player IDE). Genre Blueprints live inside Charter — browse IR + stubs, not a third store kit. A guided Interview that fills the same Plan fields is parked / coming later (see Adam’s Interview lock); do not look for Interview UI that is not shipped yet. Fill the plan yourself in Open Plan today.

2. Open it

Everything hangs under:

ArTchie / Charter / …

Job	Click
Edit / score / export a plan	ArTchie / Charter / Open Plan
Create a new CharterPlan asset	ArTchie / Charter / New Plan
Browse Genre Blueprint archetypes	ArTchie / Charter / Genre Blueprints
Blank plan from the Project menu	Create > Charter > Game Plan

Window tabs match the last menu segment: Open Plan · New Plan · Genre Blueprints. (Create > Charter > Game Plan is the Project create menu, not ArTchie/.)

If a README still says Charter / … without the ArTchie/ prefix, the README is stale — trust the menu in Unity.

3. First five minutes

1. Click ArTchie / Charter / New Plan.
2. Type a title (or leave Untitled plan). Pick template One-Page GDD (or Blank if you want empty fields). Click Create.
3. Charter writes Assets/CharterPlans/<SafeTitle>.asset, selects it, and opens Open Plan with that Game Plan assigned.
4. In Open Plan, replace the bracketed [prompts] (or fill Blank fields):
   • Vision — one sentence + who plays / why they stay
   • Pillars — name at least one pillar (3–5 slots)
   • Core Loop — fill Verbs at minimum
   • Vertical Slice — fill Brief
   • Milestones — default names already count (≥1 named)
5. Watch Completeness: N / 5 · NN%. When all five required items are filled, it says Ready. Click Export Markdown to write {title}-plan.md next to the asset.

That is enough. Optional brain polish and Genre Blueprints come later — never required for a good first plan.

• Empty / first-run (Open Plan, no Game Plan assigned): title No Game Plan yet + Info HelpBox (New Plan / assign) + miniLabel (ArTchie / Charter / New Plan · Open Plan, or Create > Charter > Game Plan). New Plan wizard: tab New Plan + miniLabel ArTchie / Charter / New Plan.

4. The meat

Plan sections (Open Plan foldouts)

Same fields on the CharterPlan inspector and in Open Plan:

Section	What you fill
Vision	Title + one-liner / vision
Pillars	3–5 slots (Add disabled at 5, Remove at 3). Name + “use when deciding.” Empty names still count as slots; completeness needs ≥1 named pillar. Named features mark Unknown / Supports / Violates per named pillar.
Core Loop	Verbs → State change → Feedback → Hook. Mermaid text under the form (Copy / Save {title}-loop.mmd). No graph library. Completeness only needs verbs.
Features	MoSCoW matrix (Must / Should / Could / Won't). Grouped Must → Should → Could → Won't. Copy CSV / Save CSV → {title}-moscow.csv. Unnamed rows skipped in CSV.
Vertical Slice	Brief, target duration, must-represent systems, polish bar, exit-criteria checklist (+ optional exit notes). Completeness only needs brief.
Scope	In / out notes
Risks	Name, Likelihood, Impact → read-only Severity, Mitigation, Owner. High+High sorts first.
Milestones	Ordered map. Default: Prototype → Vertical Slice → Alpha → Beta → Gold. Done checkbox, Move up/down, Reset defaults.

Completeness (required five): Vision · Named pillar (≥1) · Loop verbs · Slice brief · Milestone (≥1). Score is empty vs filled only — not an A–F grade. Prompt text counts as filled. Optional extras (not in the percent): named feature ≥1, named risk ≥1.

Templates

In Open Plan, with a plan assigned: Templates → Blank or One-Page GDD. Confirm overwrite. Title and file path stay; sections replace. Undo works in this Editor session.

One-Page GDD is mechanical fillable [prompts] — not AI game text. Pillar names start empty on purpose so completeness still asks you to name one.

Genre Blueprints (not a third kit)

ArTchie / Charter / Genre Blueprints lists rows from package Blueprints/INDEX.md (Ready vs Thin). Select a row to open / reveal:

• IR — Blueprints/ir/<slug>.yaml (loop contract: verbs, systems, script list)
• Archetype README / research notes
• C# stubs — Blueprints/stubs~/csharp/<slug>/
• .bedder stubs — Blueprints/stubs~/bedder/<slug>/

The folder is named stubs~ (with a tilde) on purpose so Unity does not compile the templates into a buyer project. Browse / open only. No network. Do not invent gameplay in this window.

• Empty / first-run: list titles Blueprints folder missing / No archetypes yet + Warning HelpBox (Refresh / reimport) + miniLabel (ArTchie / Charter / Genre Blueprints, stubs~ tilde). Detail with no row: title Nothing selected + Info HelpBox (click an INDEX row → IR / RESEARCH / stubs~). Selected row with missing stub dirs: Warning HelpBox pointing at Blueprints/stubs~/csharp|bedder/<slug>/ (tilde intentional — templates never compile).

Product copy that touches Blueprints uses loop language only (verbs, camera, resource pressure, win/fail) — never third-party game or Asset Store package names.

Soft Scribe: if com.artchie.scribe is installed, Apply Scribe banners to C# stubs re-applies locked banners via reflection. If Scribe is missing, stubs still ship with documented banner shape (Blueprints/SCRIBE-BANNER.md). Charter compiles either way.

Pipeline detail: package Blueprints/INTEGRATION.md. Naming lock: Blueprints/NAMING.md.

Optional AI

Brain picker (same idea as Scribe): None first, then Unity AI (optional), Grok / Claude / Codex CLIs, then extras (Ollama / keys). Nothing requires a pasted key.

Button	What it does
Draft empty section	Fills only empty vision / pillar use-when-deciding / loop fields / slice brief. Never overwrites filled text.
Critique pillars / loop	Notes in a dialog (+ status). Never auto-applies.

Both stay disabled when Brain = None or the brain is not ready. Score and Export Markdown still work.

CLI detect

In Open Plan: Detect paths fills Grok / Claude / Codex from common home bin folders and PATH (plus Extra PATH). Status stays grok: Found|Missing · …. If any say Missing, that is optional assist only — install that CLI, Detect again, sign in. Score and Export Markdown still work with Brain = None.

Missing optional brain (HelpBox)

• Brain = None: plain never-blocks line — Score and Export Markdown still work.
• Unity AI absent: Warning HelpBox — not in this project (com.unity.ai.assistant); optional assist unavailable; mechanical plan authoring stays; no key needed.
• CLI not found: Warning HelpBox — click Detect paths (or type the binary path), then sign in; Score and Export Markdown still work with Brain = None — no pasted key.
• Extras (Ollama / Anthropic / OpenAI-compat): optional — never required; same Brain = None reassurance. Prefer Detect CLIs over pasting a key.

Export

With a plan assigned:

• Export Markdown / Copy Markdown → {title-or-filename}-plan.md next to the asset (title, vision, completeness, pillars, loop + mermaid fence, MoSCoW, slice, scope, risks, milestones). Soft-opens Folio when that kit is present; otherwise status says Open with Folio / Open.
• Save MoSCoW CSV (toolbar) / Features Save CSV → {title}-moscow.csv
• Core Loop Save → {title}-loop.mmd

Save needs the plan on disk (New Plan already wrote it). Copy still works if the asset is not saved yet.

Interview (parked)

Adam locked a future mechanical Interview (Q&A that fills the same Plan fields) plus optional AI interview and agent tool APIs. That work is parked / coming — not in the menus today. Use New Plan + Open Plan foldouts until Interview ships. Do not invent Interview UI.

5. Common stuck

1. Menus say Charter / … without ArTchie/ — stale README. Trust Unity: ArTchie / Charter / ….
2. Completeness stuck Not ready — name at least one pillar (empty slots do not count). Fill vision, loop verbs, slice brief. Default milestone names already count.
3. It wants a key / brain Warning — Score and Export Markdown are never blocked. Set Brain = None, or Detect paths + sign in for optional Draft / Critique. Prefer logged-in CLIs over pasting a key.
4. Export Markdown grey / fails — assign a Game Plan. Asset must be on disk for Save (New Plan does that). Copy Markdown still works without a path.
5. Genre Blueprints stubs “missing” — look under Blueprints/stubs~ (tilde). That is intentional so templates do not compile. Click Refresh if INDEX just changed.
6. Apply Scribe banners disabled / missing — install com.artchie.scribe, or leave banners as shipped. Not required to browse Blueprints.
7. Templates wiped my title — title and file path stay; only section fields overwrite after confirm. Use Undo in this session if you confirmed by mistake.
8. Looking for Interview — not shipped yet (parked). Fill the plan manually in Open Plan.

6. For pros

Assets + paths

• Package: com.artchie.charter · Unity 2021.3+ · asmdef Charter.Editor
• Plans: Assets/CharterPlans/<SafeTitle>.asset (collision → (2), (3), …; title field stays clean)
• Also: CreateAssetMenu → Create > Charter > Game Plan
• Completeness: CharterPlanCompleteness.Evaluate / ScoreLine — five required + optional extras
• Markdown: CharterPlanMarkdown.Build · MoSCoW: CharterMoscowCsv · Mermaid: CharterCoreLoopMermaid
• Settings: EditorPrefs Charter.* (brain, CLI paths, Charter.ActivePlanGuid, Charter.LastNewPlanTemplate) — never in the package

Soft friends (no asmdef refs)

• Scribe — GenreBlueprintScribeBridge reflects Scribe.ScribeMechanical for stub banners
• Folio — reflection open after Markdown export when present
• Atlas is not required for Charter

versionDefines

Charter.Editor.asmdef gates Unity AI with:

com.unity.ai.assistant >= 0.1.0 → UNITY_AI_ASSISTANT

Mechanical plan authoring compiles and runs without that package. Optional assist code stays behind the define / readiness checks.

Blueprints are not a third kit

Templates, IR, emitters, and stubs~ live under this package’s Blueprints/. Genre Blueprints window = browse + soft Scribe apply. Do not invent a separate UPM SKU. Loop language only in Blueprints product copy (NAMING.md).

Canonical base

artchie-RECONCILED-20260822-2107. Topic docs: Documentation/OpenPlan.md, NewPlan.md, OnePageGdd.md, Export.md, PlanAsset.md, plus section docs (Pillars, CoreLoop, VerticalSlice, Moscow, RiskMilestones). Blueprints: INTEGRATION.md, IR-SCHEMA.md, SCRIBE-BANNER.md.

7. Related kits

Kit	When you want it
Suite Map	Which ArTchie pile does what · Guides/Guide-Suite-Map.md
Scribe	Soft banners on Blueprint C# stubs · comment / document your own scripts
Folio	Read the exported -plan.md in the Editor
Bedder	In-player IDE; .bedder Blueprint stubs are shells for that world
Atlas	Index / search / graph (Charter does not need it)
Anvil / Rivet	Project health · daily Editor chores
ArTchie AI	Companion chat — uses Atlas when both present; never require a pasted key

Mechanical first. Brain = None is enough. Genre Blueprints stay inside Charter.