# Pulsepath — idea dossier

Source page: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/

## Overview

- **Title:** Pulsepath
- **Pitch:** Draw a route through a changing grid, then commit the signal and watch each phase gate accept or reject the path on its arrival beat.
- **State:** prototype-live
- **Pipeline stage:** Stage 2
- **Advisory score:** 72 / 100
- **Evidence integrity:** 77 / 100
- **Run:** 2026-08-pulsepath-en-us
- **Current revision:** 4
- **Prototype:** /games/pulsepath/
- **Tags:** phase-gated-route-puzzle, 2D, portrait, legacy validation
- **Updated:** 2026-09-05T10:30:34.827Z

## Market evidence claims (0)

No indexed market evidence is attached yet.

## Game design document

### Pulsepath GDD v0.1

#### Product promise

Drag the route. Read the beat. Release the pulse. Route a signal through phase gates that only open on
their matching arrival beat.

#### Core rules

1. The board is a deterministic orthogonal grid with a source, receiver, open cells, walls, and phase gates.
2. A route is a non-repeating chain of adjacent open cells beginning at the source.
3. Each new cell advances the visible beat by one.
4. Cyan gates accept even arrival beats; amber gates accept odd arrival beats.
5. Releasing resolves the route in order. A gate mismatch fails at that gate and leaves the route editable.
6. Reaching the receiver with every gate accepted wins the board.

#### Content

The prototype contains 50 reachable boards from four deterministic templates. The production target
is 120 boards across six gate and obstacle families, with no procedural difficulty claims until a
solver verifies each board.

#### UX and safety

Mobile-first portrait, one-thumb drag, no document scroll, high-contrast gate colors plus parity
labels, mouse/click and keyboard fallbacks for web/desktop, reduced-motion-safe CSS, and a
replayable FTUE. No ads, accounts, or network are required by the core loop.

## UX flow

### Pulsepath UX flow

1. **Title shell** — Play, level selector, How to Play, muted procedural sound toggle.
2. **FTUE** — three steps: goal, drag-and-release-to-route with click/keyboard fallback, then gate success/failure feedback.
3. **Board** — source, receiver, walls, phase gates, route, beat counter, Clear, Hint; release commits the pulse.
4. **Failure** — route remains visible; the failed gate is named and the player can revise.
5. **Success** — pulse trail completes, board number advances, Replay and Next appear.
6. **Level selector** — 50 deterministic buttons with completion state.

First-run completion is persisted only after the first valid route extension, never merely by opening
or dismissing the FTUE.

## Visual brief

### Pulsepath visual brief

Use a dark instrument-panel field with a warm receiver and cool signal. The board should read as a
physical grid, but all mechanic information is code-native: wall cells, route line, beat badges, and
gate parity labels. Cyan means even, amber means odd; the label remains visible so color is not the
only cue. Motion is short, reversible, and subordinate to the route decision.

## Art Bible

### Pulsepath Art Bible v0.1

- Palette roles: midnight `#0B1020`, panel `#151D33`, cyan `#5AE6D2`, amber `#FFC857`, coral `#FF7B7B`, paper `#F3F7FA`.
- Shape language: rounded squares, ring gates, 4px signal strokes, compact monospaced labels.
- Camera: top-down portrait board, no perspective, no character layer.
- Motion: signal travels in discrete beats; gate pulse is a ring expansion; failure uses a brief coral flash.
- Negative references: no pipes that rotate independently, no city map, no block stack, no copied store iconography.
- Reference image: `art-bible/pulsepath-master.png`.

## Gallery (1 images)

### pulsepath-master

![Pulsepath pulsepath master visual reference](https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/images/art-bible/pulsepath-master.webp)

Size: 1024x1536

Generation prompt: Use case: stylized-concept. Asset type: mobile puzzle game visual reference. Create a top-down portrait puzzle board where a luminous signal route crosses a compact grid and passes alternating cyan and amber phase gates. Deep indigo instrument panel, matte enamel, crisp geometric edges, no text, no characters, no logos, no watermark, original composition, readable at thumbnail size.

## Validation results

### Gate summary

- **Schema:** Legacy-compatible validation
- **Package hash:** fc2374d3e94c315bdc857da5cd0264d5fc201a957ad932836555e0179630a5db
- **Machine structure:** Passed
- **Visual boards:** Not attached
- **Visual QA:** Accepted

### Design coverage

- **Orientations:** None recorded
- **Logical layouts:** None recorded
- **Output dimensions:** None recorded
- **Screens:** None recorded
- **Important states:** None recorded
- **Mechanics:** None recorded
- **Accessibility:** None recorded

## History

### Status history

- 2026-08-08T23:08:27Z: prototype-live (catalog sync)

### Immutable revisions (4)

#### Revision 4

- **Hash:** ed98d123498213d66ba9cfcfbf49c2a86e0184285c154aa0ebdd67f5ada6877b
- **Created:** 2026-09-05T10:30:34.827Z
- **Release:** 2.5.3
- **Build:** a56a182 2026-09-05 12:33Z
- **Change summary:** catalog sync
- **Title:** Pulsepath
- **Pitch:** Draw a route through a changing grid, then commit the signal and watch each phase gate accept or reject the path on its arrival beat.
- **State:** prototype-live
- **Stage:** 2
- **Score:** 72
- **GDD excerpt:** Drag the route. Read the beat. Release the pulse. Route a signal through phase gates that only open on their matching arrival beat.
- **Art excerpt:** - Palette roles: midnight #0B1020, panel #151D33, cyan #5AE6D2, amber #FFC857, coral #FF7B7B, paper #F3F7FA. - Shape language: rounded squares, ring gates, 4px signal strokes, compact monospaced labels. - Camera: top-down portrait board, no perspective, no character layer. - Motion: signal travels in discrete beats; gate pulse is a ring expansion; failure uses a brief coral flash. - Negative references: no pipes t...

Source files:

- idea-lab/outputs/2026-08-pulsepath-en-us/00-brief/research-brief.md (source-brief, sha256 d1dabc46376bf1006e068d35a4cc1d3af375f7cd0ed97d9b63a60267760c1f90)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible.md (art-bible, sha256 ec5db903564a64278d6b710713c58ad29322eb5f6941bec883bb0a756cea3c99)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible/pulsepath-master.png (visual-output, sha256 c199ac7a1c95695ed18bb1ace21661d8d5c0ca76d64e56a074fae3c316ff91a5)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/asset-manifest.json (asset-manifest, sha256 0096f31a691ac9611ab1a78a9d6fa6eb34614581d1dc2b8e8ce9ceabea7377d9)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/gdd.md (gdd, sha256 c923f85407c75c4e2471761913295f0e1a297fa0c87a0ef06fcfb3c3260e7fba)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt (prompt, sha256 1f9681c37d295e600a455ed0c78a1b1fab2b0fc7ff07ce75add34a685e572c79)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/ux-flow.md (ux-flow, sha256 c51de7308bf0fb2517eeefa38842ca4b9507b57fc9e5ba62fcdd54edb55e42b8)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/visual-brief.md (visual-brief, sha256 2a17f2d8659a7e385a5526e080b0a995e207039a584c23675cb14b8f191538fc)

#### Revision 3

- **Hash:** cc6215bf9d8b16015505ab62bfcab62809795a613eb4a0dde1f1a0967c5e8f46
- **Created:** 2026-08-08T23:08:27Z
- **Release:** 2.0.5
- **Build:** 0d95bca 2026-08-19 16:14Z
- **Change summary:** catalog sync
- **Title:** Pulsepath
- **Pitch:** Draw a route through a changing grid, then commit the signal and watch each phase gate accept or reject the path on its arrival beat.
- **State:** prototype-live
- **Stage:** 2
- **Score:** 72
- **GDD excerpt:** Drag the route. Read the beat. Release the pulse. Route a signal through phase gates that only open on their matching arrival beat.
- **Art excerpt:** - Palette roles: midnight #0B1020, panel #151D33, cyan #5AE6D2, amber #FFC857, coral #FF7B7B, paper #F3F7FA. - Shape language: rounded squares, ring gates, 4px signal strokes, compact monospaced labels. - Camera: top-down portrait board, no perspective, no character layer. - Motion: signal travels in discrete beats; gate pulse is a ring expansion; failure uses a brief coral flash. - Negative references: no pipes t...

Source files:

- idea-lab/outputs/2026-08-pulsepath-en-us/00-brief/research-brief.md (source-brief, sha256 1e4a2e555bc5422cf11023d152616f94e952ae6955c613a38d4d857e32da1369)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible.md (art-bible, sha256 4dbc24329907036e58c6b0fd490be2f9a6f6df55d16b17515a79206fedd44d60)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible/pulsepath-master.png (visual-output, sha256 c199ac7a1c95695ed18bb1ace21661d8d5c0ca76d64e56a074fae3c316ff91a5)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/asset-manifest.json (asset-manifest, sha256 ebf175c3a2517e22cc6dd3cc71867434d43fd142fc0cfcb352560d6b1244cbed)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/gdd.md (gdd, sha256 c85609a9e0349a7a0d1726144a3a1c997f1c8f24d5f3597883b8bd4c23ff7b10)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt (prompt, sha256 6cc4dfce957215233e7a3700303701c7463e00f9b85668c069b36c38cc97b707)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/ux-flow.md (ux-flow, sha256 2fd3e702b41454574040a17ac5ba1d17fd327095a330cb958edb133ea3d6b181)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/visual-brief.md (visual-brief, sha256 0a48fc23ceb77ddffbf421bb7a7cc1a447bb9a7ebeaa250415701f72d6ec23f9)

#### Revision 2

- **Hash:** 5d9c5a51d4a17b8f46c257eefdee57804f8650f7d1e3db335a235f562bbbd2a0
- **Created:** 2026-08-08T23:08:27Z
- **Release:** 2.0.1
- **Build:** f6df611 2026-08-19 04:53Z
- **Change summary:** catalog sync
- **Title:** Pulsepath
- **Pitch:** Draw a route through a changing grid, then commit the signal and watch each phase gate accept or reject the path on its arrival beat.
- **State:** prototype-live
- **Stage:** 2
- **Score:** 72
- **GDD excerpt:** Drag the route. Read the beat. Release the pulse. Route a signal through phase gates that only open on their matching arrival beat.
- **Art excerpt:** - Palette roles: midnight #0B1020, panel #151D33, cyan #5AE6D2, amber #FFC857, coral #FF7B7B, paper #F3F7FA. - Shape language: rounded squares, ring gates, 4px signal strokes, compact monospaced labels. - Camera: top-down portrait board, no perspective, no character layer. - Motion: signal travels in discrete beats; gate pulse is a ring expansion; failure uses a brief coral flash. - Negative references: no pipes t...

Source files:

- idea-lab/outputs/2026-08-pulsepath-en-us/00-brief/research-brief.md (source-brief, sha256 1e4a2e555bc5422cf11023d152616f94e952ae6955c613a38d4d857e32da1369)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible.md (art-bible, sha256 4dbc24329907036e58c6b0fd490be2f9a6f6df55d16b17515a79206fedd44d60)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible/pulsepath-master.png (visual-output, sha256 c199ac7a1c95695ed18bb1ace21661d8d5c0ca76d64e56a074fae3c316ff91a5)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/asset-manifest.json (asset-manifest, sha256 ebf175c3a2517e22cc6dd3cc71867434d43fd142fc0cfcb352560d6b1244cbed)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/gdd.md (gdd, sha256 c85609a9e0349a7a0d1726144a3a1c997f1c8f24d5f3597883b8bd4c23ff7b10)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt (prompt, sha256 6cc4dfce957215233e7a3700303701c7463e00f9b85668c069b36c38cc97b707)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/ux-flow.md (ux-flow, sha256 2fd3e702b41454574040a17ac5ba1d17fd327095a330cb958edb133ea3d6b181)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/visual-brief.md (visual-brief, sha256 0a48fc23ceb77ddffbf421bb7a7cc1a447bb9a7ebeaa250415701f72d6ec23f9)

#### Revision 1

- **Hash:** 616242b0bc96a6f4f8f885f8a712a16e86004d97d135dbbb5473adf87dfe38bb
- **Created:** 2026-08-08T23:08:27Z
- **Release:** 1.1.5
- **Build:** 40d5301 2026-08-10 19:04Z
- **Change summary:** catalog sync
- **Title:** Pulsepath
- **Pitch:** Draw a route through a changing grid, then commit the signal and watch each phase gate accept or reject the path on its arrival beat.
- **State:** prototype-live
- **Stage:** 2
- **Score:** 72
- **GDD excerpt:** Drag the route. Read the beat. Release the pulse. Route a signal through phase gates that only open on their matching arrival beat.
- **Art excerpt:** - Palette roles: midnight #0B1020, panel #151D33, cyan #5AE6D2, amber #FFC857, coral #FF7B7B, paper #F3F7FA. - Shape language: rounded squares, ring gates, 4px signal strokes, compact monospaced labels. - Camera: top-down portrait board, no perspective, no character layer. - Motion: signal travels in discrete beats; gate pulse is a ring expansion; failure uses a brief coral flash. - Negative references: no pipes t…

Source files:

- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible.md (art-bible, sha256 4dbc24329907036e58c6b0fd490be2f9a6f6df55d16b17515a79206fedd44d60)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/art-bible/pulsepath-master.png (reference-image, sha256 c199ac7a1c95695ed18bb1ace21661d8d5c0ca76d64e56a074fae3c316ff91a5)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/gdd.md (gdd, sha256 c85609a9e0349a7a0d1726144a3a1c997f1c8f24d5f3597883b8bd4c23ff7b10)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/ux-flow.md (ux-flow, sha256 2fd3e702b41454574040a17ac5ba1d17fd327095a330cb958edb133ea3d6b181)
- pipeline/pulsepath/design/visual-brief.md (visual-brief, sha256 0a48fc23ceb77ddffbf421bb7a7cc1a447bb9a7ebeaa250415701f72d6ec23f9)

## Source package files (6)

Images are listed with direct URLs in the Gallery section.

### artifacts/image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/artifacts/image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt
Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8, 386 bytes

```text
Use case: stylized-concept. Asset type: mobile puzzle game visual reference. Create a top-down portrait puzzle board where a luminous signal route crosses a compact grid and passes alternating cyan and amber phase gates. Deep indigo instrument panel, matte enamel, crisp geometric edges, no text, no characters, no logos, no watermark, original composition, readable at thumbnail size.
```

### docs/art-bible.md

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/docs/art-bible.md
Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8, 594 bytes

Full text is reproduced above under "Art Bible".

### docs/gdd.md

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/docs/gdd.md
Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8, 1210 bytes

Full text is reproduced above under "Game design document".

### docs/ux-flow.md

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/docs/ux-flow.md
Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8, 737 bytes

Full text is reproduced above under "UX flow".

### docs/visual-brief.md

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/docs/visual-brief.md
Type: text/markdown; charset=utf-8, 404 bytes

Full text is reproduced above under "Visual brief".

### validation/asset-manifest.json

URL: https://autechsolutions-game-factory.pages.dev/ideas/pulsepath/files/validation/asset-manifest.json
Type: application/json, 372 bytes

```json
{
  "version": 1,
  "model": "gpt-image-2",
  "assets": [
    {
      "id": "pulsepath-master",
      "role": "gameplay visual direction",
      "prompt": "image-prompts/pulsepath-master.txt",
      "output": "art-bible/pulsepath-master.png",
      "references": [],
      "qa": "passed: board topology, phase rings, palette, and no-text composition reviewed"
    }
  ]
}
```