System Backlog
This file records ideas before they disappear or expand silently. Status describes the current design decision, not a permanent promise.
Status Key
- Current: implemented in the prototype.
- Next: accepted for the next vertical slice.
- Later: accepted direction, waiting on prerequisites.
- Explore: promising but needs research or a smaller experiment.
- Deferred: intentionally postponed.
- No for now: rejected in the current form, with a reason.
Next Session Kickoff: Idle-Game Information Hierarchy
This is the first design discussion to resume when the creator next asks what to do. Dandan's second-opinion UI review independently converged with earlier playtest feedback: the prototype has a coherent greenhouse ledger identity, but still communicates like a management backend more than an idle game that can be understood in three seconds.
Do not implement the review as an unfiltered checklist. Begin with a short audit of the current build, because some proposed absences already exist in partial form and some labels were inferred incorrectly from a screenshot.
P0 questions to resolve first
- Next action / next reward: make a completed growth milestone unmistakably claimable and satisfying. Test a single dominant reward card rather than another permanent banner. Preserve the loop
种 -> 等 -> 收 -> 领 -> 解锁 -> 再种. - What is running by itself: show one compact, truthful live summary near the greenhouse title, such as next maturity or current production activity. Do not invent a misleading coins-per-minute number while income still depends on harvest and orders.
- Return payoff: audit the existing absence summary against the desired event-like return: elapsed time, matured plants, gains, visitors, discoveries, then one clear acknowledgement. Strengthen the existing system instead of creating a duplicate.
- Problems shout, normal states whisper: simplify ordinary pot information further and reserve strong color, motion, and copy for actionable exceptions.
P1 visual and semantic pass
- Give compact resources distinct meaning and clarify ambiguous fractions such as
访客 4/5; first verify what each screenshot value actually represents. - Remove another measured layer of borders using spacing, background tone, and typography while retaining keyboard focus and actionable boundaries.
- Consolidate playtest feedback into one persistent global entry; expose contextual feedback through a low-priority overflow action rather than equal-weight buttons in every panel.
- Strengthen notebook-tab selection and inventory affordance without assuming drag-and-drop, which needs separate mouse and touch testing.
- Reassess whether
温室节奏should be player-facing world language or remain an explicit test/control feature. - Treat
温室大师as visible earned automation when active, but do not enlarge it before its profitability and progression role are clear.
P2 polish after hierarchy works
- Small growth and resource-change animation, visitor motion, and creator-made plant art.
- Visual celebration of automation and new leaves without adding more persistent text.
Evidence and guardrails
- This review reinforces repeated reports of “像上班”, unclear rewards, excessive text, and difficulty knowing what to do next.
- Keep the existing calm-growth and viewing-mode direction. More prominent rewards should create anticipation, not restore constant clicking.
- Do not add every proposed metric. A live number is valuable only when the player can understand and influence it.
- Preserve the current local return summary, resource shelf, pot-local actions, and mobile workspaces as foundations to refine rather than replace.
Gameplay Systems
| System | Status | Why / Prerequisite | Exploration Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core plant-care loop | Current | Functional but repetitive after content is seen | Measure where anticipation stops |
| Visitor cards and seed carriers | Current | Gives ecology and rare-seed surprise | Study clearer visitor art and more ecological roles |
| Flower quantity and freshness | Current | Creates care quality and harvest timing | Balance freshness against visitor waiting |
| Permanent flower orders | Current | Keeps common flowers relevant | Add rotating demand only after events |
| Soil specialist beds | Current, testing | Adds color production but previously caused UI clutter | Test whether concrete materials and three-harvest duration justify complexity |
| Automation tools | Current, incomplete | Relieves repeated care | Research policy-based harvest and stock reservation |
| Cycling soil feeder | Current, local testing | First 420-coin permanent capital project after the central tank | Test whether automatic compost use is clear, economical, and meaningfully relieving |
| Flower sorting bench | Rejected in current form | Two-to-three-pot batch actions felt rigid, weak, and disconnected from production strategy | Revisit only at larger scale with mixed selection, stock targets, or explicit harvest policies |
| Plant diseases and diagnosis | Explore | Real plants show readable symptoms, but random illness could become absence punishment | Start with one named symptom path: notice -> investigate -> treat -> retain resistance knowledge; never identify a real disease from one anecdote alone |
| Fertilizer progression | Current, testing | Gives coins and research notes a visible optional acceleration sink | 神秘鸡肥 -> 超级鸡肥 -> 金坷垃 currently changes only growth speed and nutrient refill; keep each dose bounded and expensive enough that quiet waiting remains valid |
| Fertilizer specializations | Later | Pest protection and mutation chance could make fertilizer a strategic choice instead of a linear upgrade | Split into explicit one-purpose formulas only after the three growth tiers are balanced; never make spraying a recurring mandatory chore |
| Trait research and enhanced seeds | Explore, supports lineage | Could turn care records into a long-term seed-improvement loop | Keep inherited traits separate from competition merit; compare selective breeding, lab research, and overtly fictional gene modification without creating a spreadsheet |
| Seed lineages and competition merit | Later, accepted | Gives recovered seeds identity and a raising loop after ordinary care is automated | Separate species mastery, lineage merit, and inherited traits; use named descendants, bounded titles, seed-bank protection, and varied competition briefs |
| Cultivation competition | Current, testing | Reframes current mechanics without new plant content | Playtest invitation clarity, candidate comparison, judging ceremony, and recovery value |
| Event-limited market | Current, local testing | Tests price risk before full shop | Retest whether three choices feel tense, legible, and worth the extra event step |
| Event preparation reinvestment | Current, local testing | Gives accumulated coins a repeatable use before a full business loop | Test whether players choose among comfort, flower count, and demand instead of buying all three automatically |
| Flower-market lucky wheel | Current, local testing | Adds a low-frequency burst and consumes coins or common flowers | Test free-draw satisfaction, paid-draw restraint, 0.2% borage pity, and whether the post-tank maintenance-box conversion feels useful without eclipsing the jackpot |
| Trophy cabinet | Later, tied to competition | Lets event rewards improve normal loops | One active trophy slot |
| More plant species | Deferred | New numbers alone will not solve boredom | Add species when a new mechanic, visitor, recipe, or event needs it |
| Floral arrangement grid | Explore | Strong future use for common materials and competitions | Study spatial inventory games; seek simple placement with strong feedback |
| Remedies and fragrances | Later | Gives basic flowers high-volume processing demand | Start with one batch recipe, no per-item clicking |
| Crossbreeding | Later | Strong long loop and Plant of the Year hook | Research inheritance that is legible without spreadsheets |
| Cuttings and propagation | Later | Can preserve valuable traits | Define tradeoff versus seed reproduction |
| Perennial rebloom and pollination | Explore | Could make one plant improve across cycles | Let bees affect seeds or the next bloom, not flowers already formed |
| Weather and seasons | Deferred | Risks absence punishment and maintenance clutter | Only add when events or plant planning clearly need them |
| Detailed humidity, light, numeric pH | No for now | High cognitive and UI cost for low current payoff | Prefer named environments and specialist installations |
| Soft-bodied insects | Deferred | Creator comfort boundary | Research silhouette, text-only, and accessibility presentation modes |
Event Ideas
| Event | Status | Intended Role | Exploration Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Grower's Cup | Current, testing | First cultivation and judging arc | Tune entry fee, four-round deadline, medal thresholds, and ribbon value |
| Royal boiled-seed trial | Later | One-time moral/story arc | Design honesty, substitution temptation, and non-production victory |
| Valentine's rush | Later | High-demand sales event | Requires floral products or market loop |
| Plant of the Year | Later | Showcase breeding novelty | Requires crossbreeding |
| Ecological visitor challenge | Explore | Reframe flowers as habitats | Score visitor conditions and non-harmful care |
| Rival exhibition match | Explore, separate mode | Simultaneous visible progress could make competition feel alive | Prototype one readable AI rival before adding any interference cards |
| Rival pest sabotage | Explore with strict guardrails | Absurd attack and defense could create bounded gambling, but may undermine the caring tone | Make attacks visible, symmetric, counterable, and event-only; never damage the home greenhouse or delete unique seeds |
| Real-world limited holidays | No for now | Could create recurring novelty | Replace FOMO calendar with an in-game event deck first |
Business Expansion
| System | Status | Why / Prerequisite | Exploration Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadside stand | Explore, first concrete proposal drafted | Lowest-risk bridge from garden to business | No rent; manual pricing; limited customers. See design/roadside-stand.md for a 2026-08-09 proposal: Cup-score-gated vendor invitation, relative-time consignment cycle, flat-random v1 sell-through |
| Market stall | Explore | Introduces daily fee and location choice | Test after event market succeeds |
| Leased flower shop | Later, uncommitted | Becomes a major macro loop | Requires products, demand model, recovery, and automation |
| Brand positioning | Explore | Could make taste and product choice meaningful | Define customer segments before adding cosmetics |
| Advertising and customer research | Explore | Turns information into investment | Research readable demand forecasts and uncertainty |
| Loans and interest | Explore with guardrails | Creates capital risk but can dominate the tone | Charge by active business cycles, never offline time |
| Full bankruptcy wipe | No for now | Deletes time and can soft-lock the player | Bankruptcy may close or downgrade the shop only |
| Shop downgrade / voluntary closure | Accepted guardrail | Makes business experimentation reversible | Always allow return to roadside stand |
| Paid caretaker shifts | Accepted, after nurturing foundation | Buys reliable absence after quiet growth is already safe | First hire is one general caretaker with timed shifts and a safe-care policy; protect rare specimens and reserved inventory |
| Employees and payroll | Later, accepted architecture | Cross-system workflow automation plus cash-flow planning; requires caretaker proof, mature orders, selling, and protected-stock rules | Expand beyond the caretaker only if visible policies create meaningful choices |
| Staff taking inventory for unpaid wages | Explore | Could be legible settlement rather than theft | Must be an explicit contract after a visible grace period |
| Automated shop policies | Later | Necessary for idle play and staff delegation | Start with harvest priority, minimum stock, protected items, and cash reserve; every skipped action needs a readable reason |
| Disasters and market shocks | Deferred | Can feel arbitrary before forecasting exists | Every shock needs warning, mitigation, and recovery value |
Presentation and UX
| Item | Status | Direction | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Save confidence and background autosave | Current | Meaningful actions save immediately, passive growth saves every 15 seconds, backgrounding saves once more, and the header truthfully distinguishes local success from storage failure | |
| Dedicated event pavilion | Current, testing | Separate player attention without duplicating the whole game | |
| Persistent event reminder | Current, testing | Banner plus stable event entry; never popup-only | |
| Stage-by-stage judging reveal | Current, testing | Explain score while creating ceremony | |
| Plant and visitor final art | Later | Replace CSS placeholders with creator-owned assets | |
| Mobile greenhouse density pass | Current, local revision | Compact seed selector, two-column pot overview, care summary, and selected-pot action dock reduce scrolling; the next candidate adds explicit seed counts and pot-first planting after multiple players missed non-mint choices | |
| Small-screen workspace navigation | Current, discovery retest needed | Persistent 温室 / 订单 / 图鉴 / 赛事 workspaces keep long surfaces separate, but testers still missed orders and equipment; test whether explicit top controls and direct routes teach where each system lives | |
| Hybrid planting flow | Current, local testing | Preserve global seed-first batch planting while allowing an empty pot to open a targeted picker and plant immediately | |
| Actionable reminders | Current, testing | Care reminders select the highest-priority bed; order reminders visibly distinguish missing requirements from immediate delivery and open the relevant workspace | |
| Player-controlled growth speed | Current, insufficient evidence | Saved 0.1× / 1× / 4× modes scale the simulation, but several first-session players still describe normal play as hurried work; run a structured ten-minute test after navigation labor is reduced | |
| Slow-speed animation enrichment | Later, art dependent | Use the 0.1× observational mode for richer growth transitions, opening buds, petals, droplets, and visitor motion without making those effects required for fast play | |
| Quiet growth and care momentum | Current foundation experiment | Suitable unattended plants grow slowly and safely; valid care grants bounded acceleration and stronger outcomes without rewarding empty clicking | |
| Plant continuity after bloom | Current foundation experiment | Let mature plants remain through display, cutting, pollination, seed formation, decline, or another bloom instead of making immediate removal dominant | |
| Seed saving and propagation research | Current foundation experiment | 留种入门 unlocks a visible opportunity cost: reserve one flower instead of cutting it, wait for the seed head to mature, then collect once. Later breeding research may improve yield or inherit traits without restoring double rewards. | |
| Long-term plant attachment | Explore after showcase mode | Retained plants, repeat blooms, bloom history, and lineage may create raising satisfaction, but their purpose and interaction cost need a dedicated design pass before expansion | |
| Greenhouse showcase mode | Accepted, prototype after continuity | A separate visual surface shows actual plants, stages, visitors, light, and automation without management cards or progress bars | |
| Primary play-mode hierarchy | Current, testing | Players missed idle mode because it competed with speed, resources, goals, tools, and caretaker controls | After the first plant exists, show one dominant 安心挂机 entry before seed and shop tools; keep commercial caretaker secondary and avoid adding another explanatory notice |
| Icon-first status language | Current, testing | Small repeated labels make the interface slower to scan and compete with actual decisions | Use familiar icons plus numbers for persistent resources and equipment; keep names in hover titles and accessible labels, then replace temporary symbols with creator art |
| Pot-local action dock | Current, testing | Sticky desktop controls required scroll travel; fixed phone controls obscured content and overflowed | Expand only the selected pot across the row and place its complete, horizontally resilient action dock inside the card; closing or selecting another pot restores the grid |
| Complexity release gates | Accepted principle | Introduce a deeper system only after the previous loop has been learned, batched or automated, and reduced to a useful summary; keep unopened branches out of routine play | |
| Research technology tree | Later, accepted UX direction | Replace the flat research list with compact route-based branches for water, soil, ecology, breeding, and business. On phones show one vertical branch at a time; each node displays only icon, name, progress, and state until opened. Avoid a freely panning giant graph. | |
| Friendly default actions | Accepted principle; first disclosure pattern rejected | Routine decisions should prefer a reversible default and never punish deferral. Do not hide same-moment alternatives behind a disclosure merely to reduce button count: the first bloom test added a click and periodic rendering collapsed it. Revisit only with a stable surface or remembered preference. | |
| Developer information inside game tabs | No for now | Keep player UX clean; use a separate local Dev Garden page |
Directional Questions To Revisit
- Does the shop remain optional, or does the game eventually become a business simulator?
- Which event moment is strongest in playtests: cultivation, judging, or selling?
- How much money and active time may a player lose before failure stops being motivating?
- Can real plant knowledge stay discoverable without becoming required reading?
- Which basic flowers remain strategically useful after rare plants and products expand?
- Does disease knowledge deepen care, or merely add another maintenance meter?
- Is pest sabotage funny because it is theatrical and bounded, or does it make the player feel cruel toward plants and visitors?
- Does a named seed lineage create attachment without requiring players to inspect genetics on every planting decision?
音乐生态编曲
状态:已采纳,基础 BGM 稳定后测试。 每种植物对应同一主题中的一个器乐分轨,温室物种组成决定实际听到的编制。切换采用缓慢淡入淡出,不要求玩家操作,也不因换盆重新播放整首音乐。