# Contributing to Ransom's Wake

## Definition of ready

Before implementation, a change must identify:

- the player-visible outcome;
- the owning production layer;
- the authoritative source of state;
- the behavior that will prove completion;
- any save, input, accessibility or performance consequence.

If ownership is unclear, resolve it before writing code. If a change introduces
a new dependency direction or global service, write an ADR first.

## Definition of done

A change is complete only when:

- no second implementation of the same rule exists;
- public boundaries use explicit typed data;
- unit tests cover new domain behavior;
- integration tests cover changed scene or service wiring;
- every corrected bug has a regression test, or a documented reason why not;
- error and empty states are handled;
- relevant documentation and baselines are updated;
- `bash scripts/quality_gate.sh` passes from the repository root.

Visual behavior additionally requires a check at 1280 × 720 and at the smallest
supported in-game presentation size. Human readability cannot be inferred from
mesh counts or screenshots alone, so playtest observations remain evidence.

## Change discipline

- Keep one conceptual change per commit.
- Prefer deletion or extraction over parallel implementations.
- Do not rename and redesign unrelated systems in the same change.
- Never modify generated `.godot/` content.
- Keep assets separate from gameplay state and reference them through resources.
- Treat warnings, leaked nodes and nondeterministic tests as defects to triage,
  even if the process returns exit code zero.

## Review checklist

- Is there exactly one owner for each new rule?
- Does dependency flow match `docs/ENGINEERING_GUARDRAILS.md`?
- Can the domain behavior run without a scene tree?
- Can UI code only observe or issue commands?
- Are time, randomness and external I/O controllable in tests?
- Is failure behavior tested?
- Is a prototype implementation being copied instead of translated?
- Would a future save migration be required?
- Does the quality gate pass?