Context

A review compared the shipped narrative against Matt's sidelines-ac design pack
and the GDD. The game had implemented the GDD's structure but with a thin
hand-written first pass (~50 un-gated lines, no emotion, no memory), and the
central "investment becomes the story" hook was computed but never surfaced in
dialogue. Matt's pack already had the depth (667 condition-gated lines, a
selection engine, memory flags, fear-arc payoffs, a finale). Decision: make
Matt's system and data the source of truth and wire it in properly.

Decisions

Adopt Matt's system + dataset wholesale

The sidelines-ac DialogueDirector engine and its 667-line dataset become the
dialogue source of truth, replacing the placeholder first pass. Dialogue lives in
the Studio DialogueConfig; the engine handles selection.

Director runs server-side, per player

Selection and non-repetition run on the server; resolved lines push to the owner
only. Preserves server authority and keeps a player's chatter private to them.

Implement the full memory-flag set (~50)

The world "remembers" specific player actions (built the skate park first, big
payout collected, idle neglect, trained both, and so on) and gates lines on them —
not a reduced subset.

Use Matt's rivalry rules

Lowercase investment states (favoured / balanced / neglected) and rivalry
stages (pre → begun → escalated → softened); a 20% dead-band around parity; and
time-held transitions (imbalance or balance sustained for a window) rather
than instant flips.

Deliver Village Chatter as a speech bubble over the NPC

Chatter appears above the speaking character's head (Animal-Crossing style),
tinted by emotion, rather than as a corner toast.

All NPCs are present-but-ghosted until hired

Every character rig stands in place from the start, greyed/translucent and
non-interactive, then "colours in" when its generator is bought. Mia (the guide)
speaks while ghosted to host the plaza tutorial; Zara and Skye stay silent
previews until recruited.

Supporting behaviour rules

An NPC's "Talk" prompt is disabled while their conversation is on screen.
Chatter has a cadence floor and ambient "living village" barks are sparse, so it

never reads as a continuous stream.

Config loading fails loud (no silent pcall → nil), so a missing or broken

config surfaces immediately instead of going quietly storyless.

Amends the GDD

Narrative delivery: the GDD specified Village Chatter as a top-left toast.

It is now a speech bubble over the NPC. (The toast was a convenience of the
original mockup, not a design intent.)

NPC presence: NPCs are visible-but-ghosted before hire, rather than hidden

until purchased.

Depth: investment state now actively drives dialogue (neglect/favour lines

surface and resolve), which the GDD intended but the first pass never delivered.

Consequences / status

Systems complete and verified in a playtest. Implementation and residuals (a few
unsourced flags, tier-milestone direct scenes) are tracked in
features/sidelines/NARRATIVE_MIGRATION.md. This is the first real change batch
after the baseline.