--- name: per-game-device-form description: "Per-game DEVICE-FORM identity — what physical machine the app represents per game (NV salvaged terminal / FO3 Pip-Boy 3000 / FO4 Pip-Boy 3000 Mark IV), the brand ruling behind it, the shared-panels-plus-per-game-chrome architecture decision, and the legacy/schematic layout direction." metadata: node_type: project originSessionId: per-game-device-form --- *Correction 2026-07-20: this file carried a release-gate schedule and repeated schedule reversals for the per-game skin work. Those gates have closed and the sequencing is no longer live — schedule, version pins and unit labels have been stripped. Roadmap state lives in `QUEUE.md`. The DESIGN decisions below are durable and unchanged.* ## ⭐ THE DEVICE IDENTITIES (owner-confirmed 2026-07-02, amended 2026-07-03) Each supported game reframes the app as a **DIFFERENT physical device** — the diegetic device-form identity. **The forms must be distinct: FO3 and FO4 must NOT both just be "the Pip-Boy."** - **New Vegas (FNV)** = a **salvaged RobCo desk TERMINAL** that *syncs with* your Pip-Boy. The app is the terminal, not the wrist device. Warm palette, the Strip/Mojave. - **Fallout 3 (FO3)** = **the Pip-Boy 3000 itself** (Vault 101; warm grimy amber-green — the iconic Pip-Boy debut, so it keeps the name). - **Fallout 4 (FO4)** = **the Pip-Boy 3000 Mark IV.** Owner CHANGED this 2026-07-03 (*"change fo4 to the pip boy mark iv"*), **reversing** an earlier Institute-holo pick. **The reason is brand coherence:** the app keeps the **RobCo** brand, and RobCo made the terminals *and* the Pip-Boys — so all three machines are genuinely RobCo hardware. The Mark IV is still visually distinct from the 3000 (boxier, more modern casing, brighter phosphor, a different UI), so FO3 and FO4 still read differently even though both are Pip-Boy-family. **The Institute holo-terminal is DROPPED as FO4's device form.** **FO3 and FO4 each use their AUTHENTIC IN-GAME Pip-Boy UI and feel** (owner 2026-07-03: *"FO3 and FO4 should have they're in game UI / feel… should be distinct enough to tell the difference for sure"*). Do NOT render them as a generic "wrist device" — FO3 gets the Fallout 3 Pip-Boy 3000's actual look (classic green monochrome, its boot, its screens); FO4 gets the Mark IV's actual look (its distinct casing, brighter interface, its own boot and UI). **They must be UNMISTAKABLY different from each other**, achieved by leaning on each game's real in-game interface. NV is a different device class entirely. ## BRAND (owner 2026-07-03) — KEEP "RobCo U.O.S." Reframed as **"the OS that runs on each game's machine."** RobCo is the SOFTWARE/OS brand — "U.O.S." = Unified Operating System — and the one OS runs on whatever RobCo hardware each game hands you. **"Unified" means it unifies across the per-game machines, so per-game variation is a FEATURE of the brand, not a conflict.** A generic rebrand ("Universal Fallout Companion") was **REJECTED** — it loses the diegetic magic and puts the Fallout trademark in the name. ## ⭐⭐ MAJOR REVISION (owner 2026-07-06) — ONE dynamic panel set, not a separate machine per game After building the NV overhaul, the owner concluded that the original "every panel wholly custom per game" vision **"isn't gonna come to fruition the way I wanted."** New direction, in his words: *"we should just do the UI overhauls we're doing for NV and ofc make those panels dynamic per game don't you think? ofc fo4 gets more custom panels bc of all the new stuff."* - **Build ONE overhauled panel set that adapts DYNAMICALLY per game** through the game-definition/registry layer — which is already the game-agnostic pattern (FO3 auto-shows bobbleheads not snow globes, its own factions and captions, no magazines, its own karma centre). - **⛔ The separate from-the-ground-up FO3 machine redesign is DROPPED.** FO3 inherits the shared panels, data-adapted. - **FO4 earns ADDITIONAL custom panels** for its genuinely-new systems (settlements and the like) on top of the shared set — that is where real per-game-custom UI is warranted, because FO4 has mechanics the others don't. - Per-game differentiation otherwise happens through the data-driven identity/theme layer — colour, captions, flavour — a **lighter per-game skin over one shared panel architecture**, not a from-scratch machine per game. ## ⭐ CLARIFICATION, minutes later the same day — the Pip-Boy is STILL ON, as CHROME Owner: *"wait no I forgot we were making fo3 look like a pip boy. we should still do that, and if we can theme the panels INTO the pip boy… like an actual functioning virtual pip boy, that'd be sick af."* With a fallback: *"if not, we can just make the bezels pipboy themed… prefer the other option tho."* **The reconciliation — panels stay shared and dynamic; FO3 wears a Pip-Boy DEVICE SKIN** applied through the per-game bezel/chrome layer, which is already data-driven per game via the identity block. Two intensities of the SAME mechanism: - **PREFERRED:** a full "functioning virtual Pip-Boy" body that FRAMES the shared panels — **the panels literally become the Pip-Boy's screen.** - **FALLBACK:** Pip-Boy-themed bezels only (lighter). So: **shared dynamic panels (one set) + per-game device chrome** — NV = salvaged-terminal chrome, FO3 = Pip-Boy body chrome, same panels inside. This is a per-game chrome/framing pass, not a rebuild of the panels per game. (The device-form flavour above still informs each game's theme and identity; it is not a mandate to build separate machines.) See [[fo3-pipboy-program]] for how far the FO3 body actually went and what it taught. ## ⭐ THE LEGACY LAYOUT — must be correct and dynamic for EVERY game The legacy/flat compact layout is the dense fallback that preserves the old mental model, and it doubles as the **density option** so the immersive boards can stay spacious. As the immersive boards were overhauled, **the legacy layout drifted** — it must be brought current AND made correct and dynamic for **all** supported games, data-driven the same way the immersive panels are. **Do not ship a stale, single-game legacy layout.** ⭐ **SCHEMATIC VIEW ON EVERY TAB** (owner-approved 2026-07-08, *"yes"*). Formalize the flat layout as a per-tab **SCHEMATIC VIEW** across every subsystem, on a two-layer framing: - **FLAT DIRECTORY = the NAV layer** — jump between subsystems. - **Each tab's SCHEMATIC = the CONTENT layer** — a flat, chrome-less, dense rendering of that tab's boards. Together they form one consistent **"SCHEMATIC MODE"** — flat, no device chrome, everywhere, game-agnostic. ⭐ **The schematic view IS the legacy layout, per tab** — they are the same thing, so this is also the vehicle for bringing the legacy layout current per game. **SPLIT CONFIRMED (owner 2026-07-08, *"we can split it"*):** getting the legacy/schematic layout **correct and dynamic for every game** is the near-term obligation; the polished *"schematic mode everywhere"* formalization — nav layer + content layer, with the directory becoming the filesystem home — lands with the OS work ([[robco-os-architecture]]). ## ⭐ WHY FO4's UI WAITS FOR FO4's DATA (owner 2026-07-08, reversing himself the same day) The owner first pulled FO4's skin and panels forward, then **reversed it: build FO4's UI TOGETHER with its data and content, against real data.** His reasoning, which is the durable part: - FO4 isn't playable yet, so building its panels now is **UI for data that doesn't exist** — rework risk plus heavy mockup and token spend for an empty game. - **The N-game abstraction is already proven** — a design-only entry validates the contract without building the panels. - **The owner is NV-primary and hasn't even used FO3 yet**, so FO4 is far off in practice. **FO4-no-data warning:** because a game can have UI before it has content, the reusable "this game's data isn't there yet" warning template must fire **when that game is selected** and **in the game-switch confirm dialog** — mirroring the existing pattern used for FO3. See [[owner-templates]]. **Two-stage design intent (owner 2026-07-03):** *"fo4 will be designed before 3.0, [re]designed as needed / wanted / as you suggest and I approve at 3.0."* (1) **Designed early**, alongside the other games in the game-identity design pass — design/spec/mockup only. Reason: it keeps all three coherent and **proves the identity system generalizes to a third game before it has to.** (2) **Re-designed when the game is actually built** — the early design is a strong starting point, not frozen, and gets revisited with my recommendations and his explicit approval at that time. The identity system must stay game-agnostic and data-driven so a new game drops in. ⚠ Known stale artifact: an older design slate still describes FO4's form as the Institute floating-panes concept. **Correct it to the Pip-Boy Mark IV whenever the FO4 design is next worked.** Related: [[robco-os-architecture]] (the Peripheral Bus — the Pip-Boy as marquee peripheral), [[parked-fallout4-support]], [[fo3-pipboy-program]], [[design-overhaul-direction]], [[owner-templates]].