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13 changes: 13 additions & 0 deletions CHANGELOG.md
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Expand Up @@ -7,6 +7,19 @@ This file was written after the fact, reconstructed from the git history rather
turn by turn. That is why the early entries bundle a lot into one release and the later
ones get more specific. It will stay current from here on.

## [0.3.4] · 2026-07-06

The checkability release: everything a skeptic checks first now checks out.

- Every commit hash cited in the balance history resolves on the published branch, and the deploy script refuses hashes that do not
- The evidence map's worked example quotes the same METR figure as its table
- Pedagogy research reclassified from design to the class its claims deserve; two umbrella registry entries dissolved (162 entries now)
- The cautious preset says on its card that it is hard mode; the title screen says most terms end badly
- Roadmap gates restated in currency the project can actually count
- The sixth ending keeps its mystery: theme description removed from public docs
- House typography rule documents its own rationale in the validator
- Narration licensing scoped to what the terms actually grant

## [0.3.3] · 2026-07-06

Precision and provenance.
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion CITATION.cff
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Expand Up @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ authors:
repository-code: 'https://github.com/chipmates/criticalwindow'
url: 'https://criticalwindow.org'
license: AGPL-3.0-only
version: 0.3.3
version: 0.3.4
date-released: 2026-07-06
keywords:
- serious game
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2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion CONTRIBUTING.md
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Expand Up @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ There are two ways in, and the one without code matters at least as much.

**Later: translations.** The game is built for it (all text lives in `data/strings/`), but translation opens at Phase 4 when the text stabilizes. Do not translate yet, it would churn.

**Writing style for anything players read:** short sentences, plain words, no em dashes. Serious about the stakes, dry about the absurdity. If it sounds like a press release, rewrite it.
**Writing style for anything players read:** short sentences, plain words, no em dashes (house typography; displayed text is data here, so the style rule is enforced by the validator like every other data rule). Serious about the stakes, dry about the absurdity. If it sounds like a press release, rewrite it.

## The code path

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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ pnpm install && pnpm dev

There is also a print-and-play paper kit: download the PDF from the latest [release](https://github.com/chipmates/criticalwindow/releases), or generate it yourself with `pnpm exec playwright install chromium` once and then `pnpm print-kit`. Board, cards, rules, and one sealed envelope you are not allowed to open until the end.

Three ways to play. Solo as the United States. Solo as China, where the chips are scarce but the power is not. Hotseat: two people, one device, one shared world, two private screens of doubt.
Three ways to play. Solo as the United States. Solo as China, where the chips are scarce but the power is not. Hotseat: two people, one device, one shared world, two private screens.

## What a run feels like

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ Off by default, everything works silent. Music by Scott Buckley (CC BY 4.0), see

## Who makes this

Critical Window is a project of ChipMates gemeinnuetzige GmbH, a German nonprofit, built by a very small human core working with heavy AI assistance; how and why is spelled out in [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md), and the whole trust architecture exists so you never have to take anyone's word for anything, human or machine. No revenue, no ads, no investors; if grants ever fund this, the funders get named in [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md), which also explains how this project is built and who answers for it. Contact: criticalwindow@chipmates.ai. Legal: [imprint](https://criticalwindow.org/imprint.html) and [privacy](https://criticalwindow.org/privacy.html).
Critical Window is a project of ChipMates gemeinnuetzige GmbH, a German nonprofit. One maintainer, working with heavy AI assistance; how, why, and who answers for it is spelled out in [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md), and the whole trust architecture exists so you never have to take anyone's word for anything, human or machine. No revenue, no ads, no investors; if grants ever fund this, the funders get named there too. Contact: criticalwindow@chipmates.ai. Legal: [imprint](https://criticalwindow.org/imprint.html) and [privacy](https://criticalwindow.org/privacy.html).

## License

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4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions ROADMAP.md
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Expand Up @@ -22,12 +22,12 @@ A print-and-play kit generated from the same data files the digital game uses. I

### Phase 2: Prototype. Built, gate in measurement

The game in your browser: both the US and China seats, hotseat on one device, hidden alignment dice, eval reports that flatter you exactly when it matters, a society with its own clock, five endings, voice narration, and a debrief that opens the sealed envelope and shows what your run argued. Balance was tuned by an adversarial campaign of several hundred model-played games; its methods, its ending distributions, and the three times it caught its own instruments lying are documented in [docs/BALANCE.md](docs/BALANCE.md). But this phase's gate is human by definition (15-minute median sessions, unprompted replays, takeaways named unaided), models cannot feel whether losing is fun, and we do not mark our own gates passed. It gets measured with real players during the alpha, and this line changes when it does.
The game in your browser: both the US and China seats, hotseat on one device, hidden alignment dice, eval reports that flatter you exactly when it matters, a society with its own clock, five endings, voice narration, and a debrief that opens the sealed envelope and shows what your run argued. Balance was tuned by an adversarial campaign of several hundred model-played games; its methods, its ending distributions, and the three times it caught its own instruments lying are documented in [docs/BALANCE.md](docs/BALANCE.md). But this phase's gate is human by definition (runs that get finished rather than abandoned, per voluntary reports, unprompted replays, takeaways named unaided), models cannot feel whether losing is fun, and we do not mark our own gates passed. It gets measured with real players during the alpha, and this line changes when it does.

### Phase 3: Public Alpha. You are here

The first real launch. In rough order: the hosted game at criticalwindow.org, real players through the Phase 2 human gate, balance shaped by people instead of proxies, more events for replay depth, art beyond the stamp glyphs (with every prompt and decision published), and an itch.io satellite page that points home.
**Gate:** a thousand organic plays and five outside contributors.
**Gate:** completed-debrief reports arriving steadily without prompting and five outside contributors.

### Phase 4: 1.0

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