RustRaptor/PLAN.md

Rust rewrite milestones

The C++ engine remains playable and retained as a reference. The Rust engine runs independently alongside it on branch codex/rust-rewrite. Both are selectable through play.sh. Original catalog/reference assets remain ignored; authored mod images and sounds are tracked in Git.

The registered game has three sectors with nine waves each. Archive slots are asset containers, not five independent campaigns.

Implemented

• Checked asset decoders, typed namespaced registries and original content registration.
• Independent integer simulation at 70/3 Hz; deterministic RNG and SDL2 input/interpolated indexed rendering.
• Original / Scale2x / Scale3x / Scale4x modes, joined terrain filtering, sharp bitmap text and separate derived cache.
• Rust MUS, GENMIDI FM synthesis and digital DSP mixing, with native PCM comparisons.
• Menus, shop, equipment, mission selection, pilot slots, atomic saves, read-only legacy import and original AGX cinematics.
• Local mods, dependencies/conflicts, explicit overrides/priority/hashes, bounded deterministic Rhai hooks and transactional commands.
• In-game enable/disable and pending changes, save diagnostics, schemas, validation CLI and scripted Aurora example.
• Optional source-hashed HD loader/setting; one accepted player-frame proof with original fallback.
• C++/Rust replay recording and comparison tools, synthetic tests and local-original-data checks.

Acceptance gates

1. Foundation and complete playable first mission: verify the entire mission through its boss, damage, rewards, collision/order and RNG against the rebuilt reference. Short replay equality is evidence, not completion of this gate.
2. Complete game: verify all 27 waves and four difficulties, equipment, training/campaign progression, cinematics, demos, menus and legacy imports.
3. Modding release: finish lifecycle/error/save acceptance and stabilize API version 1.
4. Visual completion and cutover: approve complete sprite sequences, check palette/layer/clipping/seam fidelity at 1080p and measure display performance. Make Rust the default only after preceding gates pass.

Not all gates have passed. See validation instructions and HD coverage. Online mod distribution, an editor, total conversions, external MIDI/SoundFonts and additional desktop targets remain outside scope.

New content

Separate agents are building Iron Coast mission 1, three individual weapon mods and three individual enemy mods using the public API. Each package will ship local SD/HD artwork and procedurally generated sound effects, with definitions, scripts, images and sounds tracked together in Git. These packages remain in development until validation and play tests pass.