Leftovers from the old plans · Game Mower wiki

DESIGN.md and EARLY_GAME.md, the plans from before the wiki, were retired on 2026-10-03. Everything in them that a spec already holds was dropped, and so was everything a newer spec decided differently. What's below is the rest: ideas and built details that no spec holds yet, grouped by the spec that should take them.

How to empty it. Like the inbox: a spec session that writes or updates one of these specs takes its block, turns each idea into a code (and a roadmap line), and deletes the block here. Built details go into the spec's Tech or Tuning. The code architecture and the voice pipeline already moved to Architecture.

The pitch and the pillars

For story.md or the wiki's front page.

One line: spoiled rich siblings, cut off by their parents, learn to earn money the hard way doing other people's chores, then maybe build an empire big enough to get their old life back. Solo or co-op, 1-4 siblings.
The loop in a sentence: read the paper, phone clients, haggle the price, load the car, do the job with your own hands, get paid, pay the bills.
Pillars:
1. Realistic gameplay, fun and fancy look. Realistic means honest, hands-on, not tedious: an honest economy, no magic, every job done by hand with real tools, time compressed. The look is the opposite: flat-shaded, warm, googly, silly.
2. Every service job, one company. Each trade adds a verb and reuses existing tech, so the scope stays sane.
3. Hustle, not menus. Work comes the old way: the paper, the phone, clients with moods. Reputation and your ego change the odds.
4. Siblings together. One company, one wallet, shared chaos: blame, competition, dad comparing you by name.
5. The money is the story. Net worth, the vision board, the mansion.
The fun is in the preparation: what do I bring, and what happens when I forgot it.

Story and cast

For story.md and characters.md.

Dad finds out about mom's money and is furious (comedy). Dad is proud but won't show it: "Don't let it go to your head." / "Too late. I'm a genius."
Grandma's home becomes a client later (her retirement home's garden).
Chad's arc, the end: he joins GreenCorp, then his own father cuts him off, he begs you for a job and you hire him: your worst employee.
Chad's video (built): he films you on his phone with his own lines and posts it: reputation +3 / +1 / −1 / −3 by stars, a Flexgram mail, a headline the next morning.
Dad calls once a client raves about a perfect job, and about every dream you buy (built).
GreenCorp: you win back its clients and poach its crews.
Story beats on the career ladder:

Step	Beat
Intro	the drop-off at grandma's; her garden is the first job; Chad pulls up and mocks you
1. Odd jobs	the vision board goes up; Chad books you "for a laugh"
2. Registered company	you pick a grandiose name; dad's voicemail about "the family business"; bigger clients by mail
3. Lock-up garage	GreenCorp appears in the paper and starts bidding against you; pools bring the rich clients
4. Workshop & yard	crews; you win a GreenCorp client; the pressure washing division
5. Depot	Chad joins GreenCorp, then his father cuts him off and you hire him; the fleet; the mansion comes up for sale

Grandma's house

For tutorial.md, player.md (PL3, PL4) and economy.md (EC7).

Frozen in time and gone wild: floral wallpaper, doilies, porcelain cats, the plastic-covered sofa, the cuckoo clock, dust, a jungle for a garden. Cleaning and redecorating it is the house's progression.
Grandma's hatchback: doilies on the seats, a rosary on the mirror. Her rusty mower has a flower sticker. Both keep the stats of the old starter kit.
Beds are upgradable.
Grandma's treasures (EC3 points here): junk goes to the skip bag by bag, but her treasures (porcelain cats, the cuckoo clock, paintings, the good china) can be kept on display, boxed in the attic, or sold for quick cash (to the seller's pocket or the company). Selling one makes grandma call, hurt and furious, and mom disapprove: money vs heart.
A construction company selling predefined extensions (a veranda, a back room...) that attach at the house's sockets.
Improving the place (built, beyond PL3-PL4): paint cans from the supplier with a colour pick, or hire a painter overnight; shelves, a proper workbench (repairs −20%), LED lights, a whiteboard, a desktop PC, a rug, a poster, a plant. Portable things move with you; a home keeps its improvements when you move out.

Money between siblings

For economy.md (EC2, EC3, EC14).

Skimming clues (no popup ever says who took what):
1. clients talk, on a repeat visit or on the street, to whichever sibling is near ("I gave your brother $200 last time, lovely boy!");
2. Starzly reviews quote the price paid (stored per job) while the ledger shows what was deposited (before registering the reviews wait, J3, so this clue lands at registration with every earlier review);
3. spending shows: personal purchases on you and around the house (the watch, new sneakers, a car at the curb);
4. the gossip network: neighbours tell grandma, grandma calls ("Kevin bought me flowers, such a successful boy!");
5. the company feels it: a short lockbox means bounced bills and a call from dad, to the company, naming nobody.
Accusations stay social (voice chat). Amounts stay modest next to the bills: funny, not mean. Done when (from the old plan): skimming on one instance is discoverable on the other through at least one clue.
Bragging rights: the richest sibling.
Moving out: a sibling rents their own flat or house in any district with personal money; the others may stay at grandma's. Needs siblings in different places (DY5).

Net worth and the vision board

For economy.md. Built. (The ego quips went to ui.md, UI7.)

Net worth = cash + tools at trade-in value + vehicles at half price + supplies at half price + dreams at 60-100% of their price, with the daily change.
The dreams and where they show: espresso machine $900 (kitchen counter), gold watch $4,000 (left wrist), hot tub $15,000 (front lawn), a gold statue of yourself $40,000 (front yard, on a plinth), sports car $95,000 and yacht $750,000 (at the curb), the mansion $2,500,000 (on the market once net worth reaches $500,000; buying it plays the ending card, free play goes on).

The career ladder and bases

For economy.md (EC3, EC5).

Gates live in data (a tool's tradeOnly, store sections, base tiers), so the story can change without code.
Registering: you pick the company's name and logo (van, sign, letters). It was gated at 6 reputation and $250. Nest & Rest only rents to companies. Saves from before the ladder count as registered.
What each step unlocks: odd jobs get the store's garden floor; registering opens the trade counter (−15%, the pro kit: the pro striper, chainsaw, pruner, pool gear) and renting; the lock-up brings pools, wood jobs and room for tools; the workshop opens the ride-on and zero-turn showroom and a crew helper; the depot a fleet and crews.
Limits per base: tools stored (the car doesn't count), trades allowed, a ride-on or not, damp (stored blades rust a little each night until you buy a dehumidifier).

Barrow & Bolt, the hardware store

For the hardware store spec (game/store, to write for the EA launch). Built.

A walkable store on the town map: a short drive (time, no fuel cost), open during working hours. The "see it, try it, take it now" place.
Prices: shelf price = supplier price × 1.4 (economy.md); the trade card −15%. One deal of the week at −30%. A job's emergency store run is the same store and prices, but costs an hour (and the client's patience).
Walk in, pick up, pay: look at a shelf, E opens it; what you pick goes in the trolley; pay at the till. It goes straight into the car; what doesn't fit is delivered tomorrow (+$15).
Sections: supplies (fuel, oil, line, feed, patch mix, paint), the spares wall (other tools' spares and consumables; mower parts are ordered at the bench, MO4), power tools (trimmer, hedge trimmer, blower, spreader, patch shaker), the mower showroom (mowers are only sold here: you want to see them), the trade counter (locked until registered: "Trade accounts only") and the taped-off construction wing ("Ride-on & zero-turn showroom: opening soon").
Trade-in: the service desk buys a tool you brought for ~40% of its price (less when worn). Never your last working mower.

Pressure washing

For the pressure washing spec (game/washing, to write for the EA updates; EC9, EC11 place the trade). Built 2026-10-01.

The washer: trade counter, $560, 2×2 in the car, pull-cord petrol engine, nozzle tips as the cutter part (spare = a nozzle tip set). The machine stands inside the gate once the gun comes out; a hose runs to your hands; the gun aims where you look.
The jet (WashJet): a flat fan lying along the ground away from you, so sweeping side to side paints a band as wide as the fan is long. The wheel picks the tip: 15° yellow (narrow, very strong), 25° green, 40° white (wide, gentle). Strength falls with distance; far away it only streaks.
Surfaces (GrimeGrid, 5 cm cells): all-over grime and blotches, moss creeping in from the edges (stone) or algae (wood), oil stains on driveways (the narrow tip up close). Washed cells stay dark and wet ~25 s, then dry. Wood etches under a too-strong jet (pale marks, $0.25 a cell, costs the flawless star). Furniture and the client's car mask their footprint. Progress = the share of all grime removed.
Where: MissionDefinition.washSurfaces (a patio or deck by the back fence, a driveway out through the front fence with the client's car on it). Every random patio is a bit grubby: "Pressure wash" is an upsell when you brought the washer.
Jobs: m12 Patio Blues (rep 8), m13 Oil Slick (rep 14), m14 Mossley Manor (patio + deck + driveway + mow, rep 25). They need the lock-up for now; the ladder puts the division at the workshop.
Ego quips: the first clean stripe, marking the wood, the job done.
Later: a detergent pre-spray (faster on moss), a surface-cleaner disc for big driveways, walls and fences, hose length and a tap hookup, a before/after split in the fly-over.

Other trades

For economy.md (EC10, EC12, EC15) and the trades' own specs.

Glass cleaning: a squeegee, streaks, ladders, high windows (reuses the washing grime mask).
Ironing at home: clients drop laundry baskets at grandma's house; an evening job; in co-op one sibling can stay home ironing while the others go out.
Housekeeping in clients' homes: not soon because client interiors are a big art cost; great comedy.
Events: garden parties and weddings: carry and place, then tear down.
Property: buy, renovate, rent out or flip on Nest & Rest.

Tools beyond the mower

For the trimmer spec (game/trimmer, EA) and the hedges, wood and pools spec (game/garden-tools, EA updates). Mostly built in the prototype.

The tasks: trim edges (string trimmer: the cells the mower can't reach along fences, walls, trees, beds), cut hedges (hedge trimmer: a hedge volume shaped down to a target), prune branches (pruner, ladder: pick branches to cut, drop zones), cut wood (chainsaw with chain oil: fallen trees, logs), clean the pool (net, vacuum, chemicals: skim debris, vacuum the floor, balance the chemistry), leaves (blower, rake: push them to piles).
The trimmer swing: the mouse swings the head in a ±60° arc (past it the body turns; standing still you slowly turn to face it); up/down sets the head height (on the ground it scalps, sprays dirt and eats line; the wheel sets it automatically today). A too-fast swing leaves tufts. Grass is thrown to the left in a spray; dirt, stone chips and bits of line fly off what you hit.
Pull-cord rules for every engine tool: as the mower's (MO5a): R pulls, C chokes, three good pulls always start it. It runs until you switch it off or put the tool away.
Fuel for every engine tool: a tank in litres, burning more under load and with a worn engine; an empty tank stops it. Jerrycans are a car consumable.
Parts: trimmer (engine, cutting head, shaft), hedge trimmer (engine, blades), chainsaw (engine, chain, bar). A broken engine won't start, a broken cutter can't cut, other parts make it worse.
Wear from misuse: line against walls, forcing a chainsaw. Consumables: line, chain oil, chlorine.
Animated tools: the trimmer head spins, hedge trimmer blades reciprocate, the chainsaw chain runs, car wheels and doors move, engines vibrate. Upgrades show on the model.
Loading the car is a small daily puzzle: every tool has a grid footprint (trimmer 1×4, a fuel can 1×1); without a limit "bring everything" kills the planning. A bigger van is a key upgrade. Spares carried in the car for swaps in the field.
When a tool is missing: skipping a task pays part and costs reputation (J13 covers pausing a job, not skipping one task).

Lawns and the satisfaction pass

For grass.md, mowing.md and garden.md. Built unless noted.

Quirk jobs: The Jungle (38 cm grass, dandelions everywhere), Mole Mayhem (molehills everywhere).
Irregular lawns (LawnPlan): mulch island beds and wavy flower borders whose edges are trimmer work; gentle bumps (flat near anything blocked) that the mower leans and rolls with.
Juice: "clean line" streaks on long straight passes, the chime climbing with the streak; denser clippings coloured by the patch.
Client mood: ±1 reputation on top of the tip.
On-site extras: leaf clearing (blower + tarp), patch repair of your own scalps; overfeeding scorches.

The world's decoration and life

For the world's look and life spec (game/world, to write for the EA launch). Built (A1-A3 in the old plan).

Garden props: patio table and chairs, parasol, BBQ, bird bath, bird house, washing line, shed, greenhouse, raised vegetable beds, wheelbarrow, hose reel, sprinkler, trampoline, swing, sandbox, bench, pond, path lights, fairy lights, kennel.
Garden themes per client with a decoration budget: cottage, family (toys, trampoline), modern (gravel, planters), estate (topiary, fountains), rental (overgrown, junk).
Wind and light: tree canopies sway in a vertex shader; cloud shadows slide over the garden.
Small life: butterflies and bees around flowers, birds landing on the lawn that fly off when you come close, pollen and dust motes in the light.
The garage as a diegetic hub: a pegboard showing the tools you own and their wear, the van with its back open, delivery boxes arriving, a radio, reputation plaques, the company sign.

Neighbours and canvassing

For the neighbours spec (listed as missing in the roadmap, EA). CH5 has the cast, J37b the door.

NeighbourDefinition: name, lot, look, voice, traits and habit (CH7), knew grandma, linked mission if a client.
Schedules: where each neighbour is (yard, porch, walking the dog, inside) by time and day, computed from seeds, so nothing syncs.
Chat: E on a neighbour: short lines, heard by siblings nearby (HubEvents), reacting to your lawn, your street jobs and grandma ("She'd never have let that hedge go").
Gossip: bad street jobs and a jungle lawn become gossip in company state, feeding grandma's calls and standing.
What shifts a negotiation beyond J7's urgency: reputation, street standing, your own lawn, the ego quips, and "knew grandma" (friendlier). Deals can carry a referral or a repeat contract.

The town

For work.md and the town spec (game/town, to write for v1.x).

Open world is a separate, later decision (streaming, driving, traffic, co-op sync over the whole town). Until then places stay scenes on the town map; J37 is the first step.
Burglary (EC17, IN5, EC20 point here): leaving a home or base unlocked risks a burglary (a synced door state), with a chance from the district's crime rate. Always warned about (headlines, neighbours' gossip), never a dead end: stolen tools turn up at a pawn shop to buy back; locks, an alarm and insurance are upgrades. In co-op the last one out gets the blame.

Later kit

For the specs they touch.

Safety gear (WE18 points here): visor, ear defenders (SN3), gloves, boots, hi-vis vest, chainsaw trousers, shown on the character. Clients rate how professional you look. Without it: green bits on the screen (visor), muffled sound and ringing (ears), costly accidents with the chainsaw.
Bases 3 and 4: the workshop and yard with a blade grinder (MO16) and a fuel cabinet; the depot for a fleet.
A trailer for the car; a dirty car lowers the client's first impression.
Carrying (beyond PL11): load the car by carrying tools to it, put garden furniture back after the job, throw the ball for the client's dog; throwing things at flowers or clients costs reputation.

Built details with no home yet

For the owning specs' Tech.

Mom's envelope (MomEnvelopeCommand): host-only, $200 once, on the host's statement line (company money until EC2), given even when the intro is skipped.
The family job (MissionDefinition.family): unpaid (MissionResult Unpaid: no money lines, no review, no booking); grandma's jungle call comes from StreetMorning.
Traffic brakes for every sibling: NetAvatar.All → Pedestrians.Positions.
Bases have a district: grandma's house is No. 24 on Primrose Lane, the rentals are around town.
The closet (StationKind.Closet, HubCloset): 4 outfits now, the rest wait for shops (Looks); hairstyles short, ponytail, long, bun, buzz, and a beard; CharacterLook dresses your body, the avatars and the statue.
The lying pose is still a −90° rotation in NetAvatar (no clip).
Never checked on two instances: a guest clicking Offer on an extra, a guest using the closet screen, a guest reading a door note, washing grandma's car on both screens, the mower's sticky note (it starts in the boot).