# Agrarian Investor Roadmap Update

May 18, 2026 - Windows investor demo v0.1.L baseline, roadmap current through basic multiplayer hardening.

## Executive Snapshot

Agrarian is currently in the Foundational Survival MVP track. The project has prioritized durable gameplay systems first: player state, survival pressures, time/weather, the Ground Zero tile, gathering, inventory, crafting, fire, persistence, multiplayer foundations, and demo packaging.

The latest investor build remains visually prototype-stage. That is intentional for now: the roadmap is still moving through the survival loop before the realistic art pass. The visual direction has now been clarified so future graphics work targets grounded realism, scalable rendering tiers, and optional ray tracing without requiring ray tracing for normal gameplay.

## Recent Progress

Startup PresentationCinematic startup credits now play during the demo startup flow.
Fire SystemCampfires support fuel, extinguishing, smoke placeholder, persistence, and weather interaction.
Investor BuildWindows investor demo metadata is current for v0.1.L; final packaging is pending the restored Windows build VM.
Roadmap DirectionRealism, scalable graphics tiers, and fire-spread gameplay are now explicitly tracked.

## Current MVP Status

### Completed or substantially underway

- Core player foundation and replicated survival state.
- Time, weather, and environmental pressure foundations.
- Ground Zero MVP tile selection and first terrain/map pass.
- Inventory, gathering, resource, crafting, and primitive fire systems.
- Persistence groundwork for actors and campfires.
- Packaged Windows investor demo workflow.

### Next gameplay roadmap areas

- 0.1.I Shelter building completed: kit-based primitive shelter placement, ghost preview, wall/roof inputs, open entrance decision, and damage/deconstruction placeholder.
- 0.1.J Injury and basic survival consequences completed: bleeding, sprain movement penalty, treatment item, death state, MVP respawn, corpse/backpack decision, and replicated death feedback.
- 0.1.K Wildlife prototype completed: MVP species, base pawn, wander/flee/aggression, health/damage, harvesting, meat/hide resources, spawn manager, replication, and performance limits.
- 0.1.L Basic multiplayer hardening completed: dedicated server target/bootstrap, server travel flow, replicated session foundations, network relevancy rules, latency test plan, and disconnect/reconnect snapshots.
- 0.1.M Persistence MVP completion.
- 0.1.N MVP UI/UX, including character selection.
- 0.1.O Audio, atmosphere, and fire-risk expansion.

## Investor Demo Reality Check

The current build proves systems more than final presentation. Placeholder terrain, simple shapes, and prototype characters are expected at this stage. The roadmap now keeps the team from doing throwaway beauty work while still making clear that realism is a central product requirement.

- Realistic human character selection is planned in 0.1.N.
- Ambient biome audio, fire audio, weather audio, and atmosphere are planned in 0.1.O.
- Grounded art direction is tracked as a cross-phase requirement.
- Future art replacement should favor assets and materials that can survive into production, not temporary cosmetic skins.

## Graphics Direction

- Visual tone: grounded realism first, not stylized placeholder art.
- Core targets: believable terrain, foliage, human characters, lighting, weathering, fire, smoke, water, shelters, tools, and resources.
- Rendering tiers: compatibility/default, recommended, and cinematic.
- Ray tracing: supported as an optional high-end/cinematic mode for lighting, shadows, reflections, and atmosphere.
- Baseline requirement: the non-ray-traced renderer must still look credible on common investor, tester, and remote-session hardware.

## Fire Risk Roadmap

The roadmap now explicitly tracks dangerous fire behavior from irresponsible campfire and open-flame placement.

- Unattended or poorly maintained fires can become hazardous.
- Grass and forest ignition will account for placement, wind/weather, dry fuel, nearby vegetation, and burn duration.
- Shelters and settlement objects can become ignition risks when fires are placed too close.
- Fire spread will be server-authoritative and support suppression hooks.
- Suppression paths include rain, water carrying, dirt/sand, cleared firebreaks, and future firefighting tools.
- Active grass, forest, and structure fires must persist safely across save/load.

## Build Reference

- Latest roadmap baseline: realistic visuals, optional ray tracing, fire spread follow-up, and shelter MVP are tracked.
- Latest investor demo metadata baseline: Investor Demo v0.1.L - Build 2026.05.18.
- Demo package path on the build share: Builds/WindowsDevelopment.

Prepared for investor-facing review. This is a roadmap and status summary, not a final art-quality claim.