Roadmap
Phases are strictly ordered — each one depends on the previous ones being stable. The Task List breaks each phase into actionable items.
v1 phases
| # | Phase | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Project setup | love . opens a window. CI green on macOS and Linux. Lint, formatter, test runner and i18n plumbing all in place. |
| 1 | Core rules engine | Pure-Lua rules pass a unit-test suite for a full standard 3-player Russian deal. Engine reads from RuleConfig from day one. |
| 2 | Hot-seat MVP | Three humans play a complete game to 1000 on one desktop. Functional UI uses touch-ready input and reflowable layout foundations from the first table scene. Every UI string is keyed via t(). Auto-save on quit. |
| 3 | Rule template system | Built-in templates for Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, 2-player and 4-player. Players can clone, edit and save custom templates. Documented but deferred toggles are represented in the schema and cannot be selected until implemented. |
| 4 | AI opponents (algorithmic) | Single human vs. two algorithmic AI seats. Silent AI — no LLM yet. AI move legality is guaranteed under every built-in RuleConfig; strategy quality starts with the canonical Russian game and improves incrementally across variants. |
| 5 | UX & polish | Animations, sounds, polished scoreboard, settings, interactive tutorial, multiple selectable card skins, save & load with named slots. |
| 6 | iOS port — cross-platform prototype 🎯 | The full game runs on macOS, Linux and iOS from one codebase. |
| 7 | AI characters & psychology | Built-in and user-saved character presets. User-configured OpenAI-compatible LLM endpoint produces in-character chat. Inviolable invariant: the algorithm picks every move; the LLM only writes dialogue. |
| 8 | Education mode | A multi-lesson interactive learning path teaches cards, bidding, talon, marriages, trick-taking, scoring, barrel, and variants. |
| 9 | Release readiness | Russian, Polish and Ukrainian translations shipped. Save-game hardening, crash reporting, store assets, and signed builds for all three v1 targets. |
🎯 Phase 6 is the product owner's prototype checkpoint: confirm the full game is real on every v1 target before any LLM character work starts.
Post-v1 phases
These are confirmed targets; they're separated only because the team currently has no Windows or Android devices to test on. The codebase must stay platform-clean (see Architecture) so they remain packaging-and-QA work, not a Lua rewrite.
| # | Phase | What "done" looks like |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Windows desktop | Same .love packaged as a signed .exe / installer; runs on Windows 10+ and tested on real hardware. |
| 11 | Android | Same Lua source packaged via love-android into a Play Store .aab; runs on Android 10+ phones and tablets. |