From the development notebook. These entries discuss story details and describe the game at the time of writing.
A working journey
The first job was to make a game that could carry a player from beginning to end of a small adventure. The original workspace had systems and tests, but that did not establish a continuous playable opening. The distinction mattered every time a promising room became an abrupt stopping point.
Build 0.2.0 joined the Apple IIe recovery sequence to the modern dungeon. John entered the Fighter, could inhabit the other recovered men, and had an encounter, a puzzle and a vault to reach. Architecture, furnishings, weapons and a usable HUD gave those systems somewhere to happen. It was a beginning, with a great deal still missing.
The early reports of the game stopping at the vault helped set a working rule: reaching a striking room must lead to a meaningful action or an intentional ending. A decorative destination cannot carry the adventure by itself. The archive, lift, watchman and study in 0.3.0 began giving the vault an onward purpose.