Project Ascend — Phase 1 Prototype (v1.2)

=== PROJECT ASCEND — Phase 1 (test build) ===

Thanks for testing! This is a small C++ console roguelike prototype. There are no graphics:
there are characters with a name, a past and a personality — and a tower that keeps them.
When a unit dies, it is gone for good.

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HOW TO RUN (Windows)

1. Unzip the whole folder somewhere (keep the files together).
2. Double-click "ascend.exe" — or, better, open a terminal in this folder and run: ascend.exe
3. Play with the number keys (type a number, press Enter).

Keep "ascend.exe", the "resources" folder and the "sessions" folder side by side — the game
reads its data from "resources/" and writes its logs to "sessions/", both next to the exe.

Note: it is an unsigned hobby build, so Windows SmartScreen may warn about an "unknown
publisher". That is expected — click "More info" -> "Run anyway". No install, nothing is
written outside this folder.

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WHAT'S NEW IN PHASE 1 (please focus your feedback here)

• RESIDUAL INCIDENTS: even a floor cleared "with ease" can now wound — or, rarely, kill —
  someone. No floor is ever 100% safe. Deaths like this are framed as freak accidents.
• PERMANENT INJURIES: some wounds never heal. They show in RED on the roster ({like this})
  and permanently lower a unit's stats. A unit can accumulate them over a long life.
• TRAINING CAMP (main menu option 3): assign a veteran as a trainer and put recruits in as
  trainees; they level up passively between incursions instead of climbing. Buy extra trainer
  slots with essence. Idea: keep replacements ready so a death doesn't cripple your team.

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WHAT WE'D LOVE TO KNOW

• Every run auto-saves a log to sessions/session_YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS.log — please send it back.
• When a unit died, what did you feel? Did it sting because of WHO they were (their name,
  story, injuries), or just because you lost stats? That distinction is the whole point.
• Was the training camp useful/understandable? Did the injuries feel meaningful or annoying?
• Anything confusing, unfair, or that looked like a bug.

Push higher, floor by floor, and decide when courage becomes greed.

Full Changelog: Prototype...Phase1

Project Ascend — Phase 0 Prototype (v0.5)

Project Ascend — Phase 0 Prototype

This is not a finished game. It is a design experiment built to answer one question:

When a character generated with their own history dies forever, does the player feel real loss?

Everything in this prototype exists to test that hypothesis: generated characters with names,
pasts and personalities; a tower that kills them; and a graveyard that remembers.

How to run

1. Download and extract the zip.
2. Run ascend.exe from inside its folder (it needs resources/ next to it).
3. Windows x64, no installation or dependencies required.

What's inside

• Summoning: every unit is generated with a name, a backstory and 1-2 personality traits.
• The tower: push-your-luck incursions, floor by floor. Each floor holds an encounter.
  Climb higher for more XP -- or retreat while you still can.
• Traits that act: the Brave hold the line, the Cowardly leave gaps, the Reckless charge
  in headfirst (and take the hits).
• Permadeath: when a unit dies, it is gone. For good.
• The Necropolis: the only thing that remains of the dead -- who they were, where they
  fell, and what killed them.
• Echoes: new summons may arrive marked by the fallen. Today's death writes tomorrow's story.

How you can help

Play a few sessions. Let some units die. Then tell us:

1. Did any death actually bother you? Which one, and why -- was it losing the stats,
   or losing them?
2. Every session is automatically recorded to sessions/session_*.log.
   Please attach your logs when you share feedback -- they let us re-read exactly
   what happened in your tower.

Known quirks

• Names can repeat between units (epithets are planned for a later phase).
• Balance is rough by design: big teams steamroll the early floors.
• English-only, plain-ASCII console output.