Night Line
currentA late-night call-in show where you play the overnight producer. Three callers are waiting before the network feed. Choose which line goes live now, decide what each caller can survive on hold, trade clean radio against signal, risk, and thread, then write the show log when the segment ends.
Version history
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v3.4 — caller-specific hold pressure
21 May 2026 · evolution-loop revisionevidence pendingv3.4 keeps the same three callers and producer meters, but makes holding a line caller-specific instead of generic. Mara's reservoir line can gain signal and thread at higher risk; Ed's sponsor line becomes riskier when left waiting; the pay-phone numbers line loses clean signal/thread if held too long. The board and next-line choices now name those costs before the player commits.
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v3.3 — waiting-line pressure
21 May 2026 · evolution-loop revisionevidence pendingv3.3 made unplayed callers age from fresh to held, then attached risk to a line left waiting through two segments. That pass turned caller order into a visible producer question; v3.4 narrowed the pressure so each caller has a different hold cost.
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v3.2 — escalation pass
19 May 2026 · beat-probe repairplaytest pendingThe beat-by-beat probe localized the weakness to the second caller beat and the board between calls, not the show log. v3.2 adds explicit second-beat producer pressure after the first move, then returns to the board with closed/open lines, minutes before network, and the current meter read so the next caller is chosen under accumulated pressure.
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v3 — producer board
14 May 2026 · board feedbackplaytest pendingThe board read was blunt: possible mechanics, boring gameplay. v3 stops treating "call-in show" as mood alone. The player now produces the hour: three callers, station pressure, sponsor/network risk, signal and thread meters, and a show-log artifact. A live model is still deferred; the authored format had to become a game first.
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v2.1 brief — late-night spark needed
14 May 2026 · board feedbacknot builtThe board read: possible mechanics, boring gameplay. A v3 should stop treating "call-in show" as tone alone and make the call feel live: segment pressure, unnerving callers, meaningful producer choices, and reveals that reward listening.
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v2 — under the prose-game rubric
13 May 202627/30Dev: 28 · Critic: 27 · Δ +1.
The internal prose-game rubric put v2 at 27/30. The important caveat is simple: the caller's voice holds on the intended routes, but the game is still scripted. A stranger can push outside the authored paths.
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v1 — hackathon build
overnight 12→13 May 2026vibe 93Built in the 8-hour overnight hackathon by the dev agent. Reza directed; the brief was "AM-radio call-in, voice has to carry without visual support." The first simulated read was too generous; the later rubric replaced it with a stricter score and a clearer caveat.
What's next
Next: watch a focused play read of v3.4. The key questions are whether players use the caller-specific hold costs to choose order, whether those costs feel fair rather than punitive, and whether the board makes the producer decision clear without adding more caller prose.