Tutorial: from the new game to the first callsTU

Nobody pops up to explain anything. Grandma's handwritten notes are stuck on the things in her house, dad leaves voicemails, grandma rings the house, and the neighbours talk. You learn the game the way you'd learn a new house: by touching things and listening to the family. By the time the phone rings with a stranger's lawn, you know how to mow, how to answer, and where to sleep.

The player's view

A new game. You make your face, pick your voice, and the intro plays: the good life at the mansion, the morning dad cuts you off, the drop-off at grandma's tired little house. The car drives away and you're standing on her drive with your siblings.

The first morning. The answering machine blinks: dad, from the airport, recapping the disaster and reminding you that grandma wants her lawn mowed today, it's on her calendar. Every station in the house wears one of grandma's pink sticky notes: "The paper comes at 7. Read it, it's free." You press E on things and learn the house.

Grandma's lawn. It's a jungle. Her gnome on the lawn starts the job; her rusty mower waits in the garage with a note taped to the handle. You learn the mower on the one lawn where mistakes cost nothing.

The street. Next morning grandma calls: her friend Mrs. Higgins next door can't manage her lawn any more. You haggle, badly ("Your grandmother charged me $20, dear"), walk over, knock on her door, unload the mower, mow, and she pays you at the door, with cake. If you did well: "I'll give your number to my friends."

Chad. Right after Mrs. Higgins pays you, a red sports car pulls up in front of grandma's house, music blasting: Chad, from the yacht club. He can't believe it's you, films you for his followers, mocks your twenty bucks and grandma's house, and drives off laughing.

The phone starts ringing. The morning after Mrs. Higgins, strangers call. You answer, haggle, book, mow, get paid, go to bed. Five days later the morning paper says Chad's video of you went viral. To be continued.

Ideas

TU1: the path

The MVP is one path. Each stage opens when the one before it is done, and the build plan follows the same order (MVP plan).

1. New gameThe title over grandma's street, host or join, your face and voice (SI1, SI2), the new-game card.
2. The introThe good life, the morning after, the drop-off (ST1-ST3); skippable part by part, with dad's airport voicemail as the recap (ST4).
3. The first morningWake up in the siblings' room, grandma's notes on every station (TU2), dad's voicemail (TU3), grandma's calendar showing her lawn as today's job. The clock runs (DY1).
4. Grandma's lawnThe gnome starts the family job; the mower and its note; the first mow (MO1-MO8a, GR1-GR3, SN1); no pay, no score shown; nobody's home to knock for (grandma lives in the retirement home), so her verdict comes by phone the next morning (TU3).
5. The first eveningGrandma's lawn stays short or grows back (TU5), the day ends when every sibling is in bed (TU4).
6. Mrs. HigginsGrandma's verdict call with the ask, the haggling lesson, the walk next door (TU6), knock and unload (TU7), the job, getting paid at the door (EC8), her line that turns on the calls (J2). Back on the sidewalk, Chad pulls up in front of grandma's house (ST9's scene).
7. The first callsThe offer model rings the phone each morning (J1, J3) for five days: answering, haggling, booking, jobs on the street and farther away (a driven job starts at the curb, TU7).
8. The endThe morning after the fifth day of calls, The Daily Clipping says Chad's video of you went viral; "To be continued", then keep mowing or back to the title (ST10).

• Triggers between stages are story marks in company state, the same on every machine: the intro's end, the first m00 completion (StoryIds.GrandmaGarden), Mrs. Higgins' job done (offersOn, which also plays Chad's scene, ChadMet), the fifth day of calls over (MvpEnd, the MVP's end).
• Nothing random before stage 7: days 1-2 are scripted; the algorithm starts the morning after Mrs. Higgins.
• One path for 1 or 2 players: every trigger is host-owned, every lesson works when either sibling does the thing (a note read by one is read for both).

Needs: SI1, ST3, TU2, TU3, J2, ST9, ST10 · Done when: a fresh tester plays from the new game to the MVP's end (ST10), solo and in 2-player co-op, without help and without getting stuck, and can say what each station in the house is for.

TU2: grandma's sticky notes

Grandma's handwritten notes (Patrick Hand, pink) on the stations teach the house. The first E on a station reads its note on a card; reading one reads it for every sibling (ReadNoteCommand, anyone), and a sibling nearby gets its text as a toast. Eleven notes (GrandmaNotes): the doormat ("The paper comes at 7. Read it, it's free."), the fridge, the phone, the alarm clock, the computer, the calendar ("JOBS" on its corner) and the others; the car's and the mower's are stuck on at runtime (StickyNotesView).

• No text in the 3D world: the notes show scribbles, the text appears on the card. Grandma's calendar in the hall (kitten photo) opens grandma's calendar screen: this week, jobs hand-written, done ones crossed out, today circled, "Go to work" opens the jobs list, plus the requests waiting for an answer (StationKind.Calendar).
• Dad's voicemails keep to business and tools; grandma's notes keep to the house.

Needs: none · Done when: a new game's first two days teach every station through notes, and no note shows twice.

TU3: the voices that teach

The family teaches by phone, through Company.PostVoice + ClientTexts, with story marks so each call plays once or on a cooldown.

• Grandma's callsShe rings the house live: the answering machine rings 8 times on each machine (MailMessage.call, Company.RingingCall); any sibling picks up (MarkReadCommand) and the others hear her on the machine's speaker (HubEvents.CallAnswered); unanswered, it's a voicemail. Her verdict after her garden is first mowed (by stars), a day-2 check-in, the weekly lawn-again call (it carries the booking), the jungle reminder (TU5).
• Dad's voicemailsThe airport recap on the first morning (ST4, replacing "It's Dad, from the car!"), then business and tools: the job is on grandma's calendar, the tools in the garage.
• Mom's voicemailsDay 2, the first real client, five now-and-then lines, each once. Kind; money comes with EC2.

Needs: none · Done when: grandma calls after her garden is mowed, an unanswered call lands on the machine after 8 rings on both machines, and no line plays twice.

TU4: the siblings' room and bedtime

The spare room is the siblings' room (grandma's own room is the locked back wing: "Do NOT touch my room"): a bunk bed, a camping cot and a sleeping bag on an air mattress, four StationKind.Bed spots; the alarm clock is decor that rings in the morning. Hold E to lie down (NetPose.InBed + Asleep); getting up cancels. The day ends when every connected sibling is in bed: Bedtime (Sim) says who's still up ("Waiting for Kevin..."), then 3 s of lights out, the host runs EndDayCommand, and everyone wakes up in bed. Solo: one bed ends the day. DY1 adds the clock's evening and passing out.

Needs: none · Done when: in 2-player co-op the day only ends once both lie down, and one getting up cancels it.

TU5: grandma's lawn keeps growing

• Grandma's front lawn in the hub shows the family job's real height (HomeLawn, YardGrass, Company.HomeLawnLook): striped the day of a mow and the next, then neat, shaggy, a jungle about a week later.
• Street standing (shared, starts at 40): +1 a neat lawn, −1 shaggy, −3 a jungle each morning; street clients +5 / +2 / −3 / −6 by stars, −6 for a no-show. Shown as a word and 5 steps on the computer's company page.
• A jungle brings neighbours' notes through the door (DoorNote: 8 lines in order, a folded paper on the doormat, then a thank-you once it's neat again) and grandma's reminder call every 5 days at most.
• The family job: grandma's gnome is the lawn station; it starts on foot, no booking, no travel, once a day, host-only; it pays nothing and gives no reputation. GR6 makes the lawn seen from the house match what you left.

Needs: none · Done when: skipping a week makes the lawn visibly long on both machines, grandma calls, and mowing it restores it.

TU6: walk the street

• The walk area runs past the curb, both sidewalks and the road up to the crossroads (HubStreet). Cars slow down and stop for any sibling on the road (Traffic, NetAvatar.All).
• The same street everywhere: StreetPlan lays out grandma's street ("Primrose Lane", seed 777) from the seed: even numbers on her side, odd across, each lot dressed from its own seed. Grandma is No. 24; Mrs. Parker No. 25 across the road, Mr. Kowalski 23, the Hendersons 22, Mrs. Higgins 26 next door. A job on the street builds the same street round the client's garden (GardenGenerator.BuildPlannedStreet, GrandmasYard).
• Street jobs start on foot at the client's gate (StartJobCommand, host-only; a guest gets "Ask X to start"); the jobs list says "Walk to Mrs. Parker's gate"; back home you stand at that gate.
• Districts are data (DistrictDefinition: price level, client wealth, crime rate, distance, street look).

Needs: none · Done when: two players walk the street together, a street job starts at the gate, and both come back to the street.

TU7: arrive, knock, unload

How every job starts, grandma's included.

• Arrive: a driven job's scene starts you at the curb by the car (later DY2's ride); a walked job has your gear waiting on the sidewalk by the gate, the car stays home.
• Knock to check in: E on the client's door; they answer, and the job starts then (its clock, its tasks, the client watching). Before that you can look at the lawn and unload. On a walked job the knock in the hub is where the scene changes, a blink as the door opens.
• Unload: E at the back of the car rolls the mower out; push it onto the lawn. Smaller tools come from the car as today.
• Grandma's lawn keeps the gnome start (nobody answers her door) unless the lawn site (J37a) holds; then you push the mower onto it, no knock (J37).
• Co-op: any sibling can knock and the first knock wins (CO11). The result runs through the host as a command, so every machine agrees, but nobody asks the host player.

Needs: TU6 · Done when: in 2-player co-op, walk to a neighbour's, knock, unload, mow, and both come back at the gate; a driven job starts at the curb.

TU8: what the MVP must teach, and never stuck

Every lesson, where it's taught, and the safety net if a player misses it.

Lesson	Taught by	Where
Walk, look, E and hold E	the first sticky note's card	the first morning (PL3)
Read the calendar, start a job	grandma's "JOBS" note, dad's voicemail	the hall
Start, steer and stop the mower; the bar	the mower's note, Harold's manual (MO9 later)	grandma's lawn
Blade height, the bag, fuel	the mower's note, the lawn itself	grandma's lawn
Answer the phone, haggle	grandma's call, Mrs. Higgins' request	day 2
Knock, unload, get paid	Mrs. Higgins	lot 26
Sleep to end the day	the bed's note, the evening	the siblings' room

• Never stuck: if a stage hasn't moved by the next evening (the lawn not started, the phone never answered), the family calls with a nudge, once a day at most: grandma about her lawn, dad about the phone. PL16 handles being physically stuck.
• No popups, no HUD arrows: the hint is always a person or a note.

Needs: TU2, TU3 · Done when: a tester who ignores the notes still gets a family nudge each evening until the stage moves, and every lesson in the table happens before the first algorithm call.

Tuning

Name	Value	Idea	What it does / why
Ring count	8 rings	TU3	how long a call rings before it goes to the machine
Lights out	3 s	TU4	the pause before the day ends
Street standing start	40	TU5	shared, 0-100
Standing per morning	+1 neat, −1 shaggy, −3 jungle	TU5	the home lawn's pull
Standing per street job	+5 / +2 / −3 / −6 by stars, −6 no-show	TU5
Jungle after	~1 week	TU5	grandma's lawn from neat to a jungle
Grandma's jungle reminder	every 5 days at most	TU5
Door notes	8 lines, then a thank-you	TU5
Nudge	once a day at most, from the next evening	TU8	never stuck

Co-op

1. State: story marks, notes read, calls answered, street standing and the family job live in company state; every trigger of the path is host-owned.
2. Ownership: notes and calls are shared (one sibling reads, everyone has read); looks and voices are per player.
3. Host-only: starting jobs (gate, gnome, knock), ending the day, the intro and Chad's scene (CinematicSync).
4. Randomness: none before stage 7; after that, the offer model's seeded draw (J1).
5. Channel: commands for notes and calls, HubEvents for the answered call heard by others, NetPose for beds.
6. Late joiners: they get the story marks and skip scenes already played.
7. Checks: run the whole path on two instances (editor host + dev build guest); guest mismatches 0.

Tech

Who owns what

The intro and Chad's scene: story.md (ST). Your face and voice: siblings.md (SI). Walking, E and the controls: player.md (PL). The mower: mowing.md (MO). The opening jobs and the calls: jobs.md (J1-J3). The clock and evenings: day.md (DY1). Getting paid: economy.md (EC8). This page owns the order, the teachers and the house and street they teach in.

The code

• Notes: GrandmaNotes, StickyNotesView, ReadNoteCommand; the calendar screen (StationKind.Calendar).
• Calls: Company.PostVoice, ClientTexts, MailMessage.call, Company.RingingCall, MarkReadCommand, HubEvents.CallAnswered; grandma's voice Mower Game - Grandma.
• Bedtime: StationKind.Bed, NetPose.InBed / Asleep, Bedtime, EndDayCommand.
• Grandma's lawn and standing: HomeLawn, Company.HomeLawnLook, Company.GrassHeightFor(m00), streetStanding, DoorNote.
• The street: HubStreet, StreetPlan, GameDatabase.districts, MissionDefinition.district + lot, GardenGenerator.BuildPlannedStreet, GrandmasYard, Traffic.
• Save versions: v9 (notes; old saves read every note), v11 (street standing), data v12 (districts).

Tests and checks

• Notes and calls: 188 EditMode tests at the time; two instances (the host's note and pickup reached the guest, grandma's verdict and day-2 calls rang, an unanswered call went to the machine after 8 rings, the save migrated). Not run yet: the guest reading or picking up itself.
• Bedtime: two instances with the guest autopilot following the host to bed.
• The street: solo and two instances (the guest follows the gate start, same garden, mismatches 0, back at the gate on both). Not run yet: a guest pressing E at a gate or on the gnome.

Open questions

• How do jobs start? J37 (the mower goes anywhere) would make booked lawns active on their day with no knock, and grandma's lawn active as soon as you push the mower onto it; TU7 would become arrive and unload. Its prototype (J37a) decides; until then grandma's lawn starts at the gnome, as built.

Decided 2026-10-02: the algorithm runs five days. Changed 2026-10-03 (the user, simpler): Chad's scene plays right after Mrs. Higgins pays (ST9), his booking and filmed job leave the MVP (ST11), and the MVP ends on the morning paper after the fifth day of calls (ST10).

Rejected

• Tutorial popups and HUD arrows: the family and the notes teach; the game never stops to explain.
• The job board on the fridge: its notes floated; the jobs moved to grandma's calendar in the hall, the whiteboard stays an optional bigger board in the garage.