Thirty minutes, deliberately constrained

The accepted boundary

15 November 2026 is the accepted playable deadline. A complete supported route should take roughly 25–35 minutes in observed first-time-player testing.

Runtime will not be manufactured through padding. The measure is whether a new player can encounter, understand, and resolve the intended sequence at a human pace.

What the slice must prove

Two Promises must prove the central VERITAS thesis: observation leads to testimony, testimony changes knowledge, knowledge makes judgment possible, and judgment creates consequence.

Both supported promise resolutions matter, including their costs. Representative approved art, recovery of the intended world, and bounded tactical combat are slice-critical because the thesis has to survive contact with play.

Constraint protects the complete idea from being diluted by incomplete breadth.

What waits

Extra regions, additional enemy families, crafting and economy systems, broad procedural content, optional quest breadth, full voice acting, and nonessential cinematics are deferred.

Deferral does not diminish those possibilities. It protects the smaller proof that must exist before expansion earns attention.

November is for evidence

November is reserved for validation, correction, and packaging—not as permission for uncontrolled new scope.

This is a production constraint, not a release announcement. Acceptance still depends on observed play, complete supported routes, target-device validation, and evidence from the actual build.