18. Document Revision Log
v0.1 — March 2026 Initial GDD draft. Synthesised Shadow of the Straits narrative doc, Black Tide parallel narrative, and Golden Age of Melaka systems GDD. Reconciled weapon hierarchy (Kerambit = primary combat, Keris = mythic artifact). Expanded Mata-mata and Shahbandar sections. Added open questions list.
v0.2 — March 2026 Added Section 3.2: Baba/Nyonya gender choice with distinct mechanical social access advantages. Added Section 3.3: full outfit system covering all Malaccan communities with cosmetic + light contextual reaction rules. Updated Section 7.3 social stealth to cross-reference both systems. Closed open question on protagonist gender.
v0.3 — March 2026 Renamed parallel title from Malacca: Black Tide to Malacca: Arus Dalam (lit. Deep Current). Updated Section 1.3 and open questions accordingly.
v0.4 — March 2026 Revised Section 3.2: collapsed Baba/Nyonya from distinct mechanical access paths to cosmetic + light contextual reactions. Production rationale: two gender paths x one narrative branch = four content pipelines on a constrained budget. Gender now affects dialogue tone and NPC flavour only. Tuah/Jebat remains the single meaningful branch. Updated Section 7.3 accordingly.
v0.5 — March 2026 Rebuilt Section 5.1: retired five-stage linear Keris evolution system. Replaced with four-trait finite skill tree (Shadow / Poison / Water / Flame). Blade narratively unfinished — completed unconsciously by protagonist’s method of play. Removed Darah Putih passive. Updated Warangan ritual and Semangat drain sources.
v0.6 — March 2026 Rebuilt Section 6: Ilmu system now explicitly owns all traversal. Expanded all three paths (Langkah, Kebal, Pukau) to full node tables. Added design rule clarifying Keris vs Ilmu separation.
v0.7 — March 2026 Rebuilt Section 4: formalised three-resource design (Semangat / Rage / Health). No stamina bar. Rage builds only from taking damage, decays over time. Amok auto-triggers at full Rage — loss of control, not a reward.
v0.8 — March 2026 Updated open questions: replaced stale Amok trigger question with calibration question. Added Bertahan recontextualisation question.
v0.9 — March 2026 Restructured Section 5: one weapon only (Warisan Keris). Kerambit becomes base capability. Kuku Harimau kerambit and sumpitan become narrative unlock objects. Dart abilities become discrete Ilmu Pukau abilities with cooldowns. Keris arrives end of Act I.
v1.0 — March 2026 Rebuilt Section 8.3: historically accurate parallel jurisdiction model. No reputation caps. Added Corruption States system (Active / Compromised / Hostile / Dark). Closed reputation caps open question.
v1.1 — March 2026 Added Section 12: Story Bible — Arus Dalam Awareness. Documents act-by-act beats requiring physical world consequences. Defines cross-save variables and their Arus Dalam effects. Establishes production rule that consequences must be authored before mission design locks. Closed Arus Dalam narrative synchronisation open question. Renumbered open questions to Section 13, revision log to Section 14.
v1.2 — March 2026 Added Section 9: The Orang Laut — The Third Network. Full faction design including historical context, relationship model, Batin leadership structure, passive judgement system (The Orang Laut Remembers), sumpitan gifting mechanics, and fall of Malacca sequence. Closed Orang Laut expanded role open question. Renumbered Narrative Structure to Section 10, Myth and Tone to Section 11. Three open questions remain.
v1.3 — March 2026 Removed Bunga from Semangat generation sources. Bunga was inherited from the Golden Age of Melaka design and had no distinct play behaviour in this game. The three remaining sources (Parkour Flow, Perfect Parry, Stealth kills) are a complete set covering all three play pillars. Bunga retained as aesthetic descriptor for high-level parkour within the Parkour Flow bullet. Updated Javanese Shahbandar description to remove stale Silat Bunga system reference.
v1.4 — March 2026 Redesigned Warangan system: retired maintenance loop entirely. Warangan is now the Keris upgrade ceremony — performed once per trait node unlock, not tracked on a recurring timer. Materials consumed on upgrade only, found naturally and gifted by Shahbandar contacts. Removed Keris trait degradation from Semangat drain sources. Updated Gujarati Shahbandar description. Design rationale: maintenance loop was busywork without meaningful decision-making; upgrade ceremony preserves the ritual’s narrative weight as a moment of recognition.
v1.5 — March 2026 Closed Portuguese POV missions open question. Playable missions cut — high production cost, wrong dramatic framing. Replaced with two non-playable Albuquerque cutscenes: Act III (before Tuah/Jebat choice — Albuquerque receives the intelligence picture; player makes their choice knowing the city is already lost) and Act IV (the fleet advances — methodical, minimal dialogue, city burning in background). All open design questions now closed. Three implementation questions remain (Keris/Kerambit framing, Amok calibration, Bertahan recontextualisation).
v1.6 — March 2026 Reframed Amok language throughout Section 4. Removed failure state and loss of control framing. Amok now described as arriving uninvited but delivering something spectacular — the protagonist at their most dangerous, reached through the worst route. Updated Bertahan (Rage builds slower — resist reaching Amok) and Pendekar’s Resolve (once per encounter, do not break; if Rage fills again, Amok takes them anyway). Closed Bertahan open question. Two implementation questions remain.
v1.7 — March 2026 Restored Bertahan and Pendekar’s Resolve to original design. Bertahan: Amok duration +30%, reduced health decay during Amok. Pendekar’s Resolve: all stagger removed during Amok. Kebal path identity clarified — deep Kebal investment turns Amok from interruption into a weapon the protagonist endures through and dominates.
v1.8 — March 2026 Added Section 14 (now 15): GDD Todo List. 11 items across four priority tiers. Renumbered Revision Log to Section 15 (now 16).
v1.9 — March 2026 Added Section 7: Enemy Design. Eight guard types across four categories — street level (Pengawal Pasar, Laskar Sungai), compound level (Pengawal Gedung, Ketua Pengawal), Citadel level (Pengawal Istana, Hulubalang, Pengawal Dalam), and cross-zone (Mata-mata Perisik). Full detection model (four states, vision cone, 360 audio, drop kill exception). Hard mechanical line zones defined. Partial respawn rules formalised. Compound guard scaling with Shahbandar corruption states. Alert communication cascade (shout, signal device, runner). Added Codex to todo list. Renumbered all subsequent sections — document now has 16 sections.
v2.0 — March 2026 Added two items to Section 15 todo list: Mata-mata Perisik recognition mechanic design (distinct from vision/audio detection — requires own design pass) and Ketua Pengawal preparation mission design template (intelligence-gathering approach phase formalised as distinct gameplay loop).
v2.1 — March 2026 Added Section 7.6 Detection System Parameters. Covers vision cone geometry per guard type (arc, range, edge fill rate), audio propagation radii per action, environment modifiers (darkness, crowds, water, elevation, rain), social stealth threshold layer and zone validity table, and alert escalation speed variants. Todo Item 4 marked complete.
v2.2 — March 2026 Added Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir, and Hang Lekiu to Section 10.1 Key Historical Figures. Kasturi documented as the Sahabat Lima foreshadowing beat — his execution by Tuah on royal orders prefigures the Jebat confrontation. Lekir and Lekiu documented as brotherhood texture without independent narrative arcs. Clarified chain of command across Act structure: Hang Tuah is the direct operative handler Acts I–III; post-choice, Tun Perak steps forward as handler on the Istana path and Jebat becomes handler on the Gelap path. Updated Section 8.4 and Act I/II beats accordingly.
v2.3 — March 2026 Rebuilt Section 6.3 as Progression Architecture. Resolved Todo Item 5 (Economy). Design resolution: no currency system. Single mastery point pool earned across missions, ghost bonuses, Orang Laut interactions, Shahbandar network engagement, world exploration, and narrative milestones. Ilmu nodes spent freely at any time. Keris trait nodes dual-gated by mastery points and Warangan ritual (materials + location). Balai established as non-transactional home base — outfit display, ritual table, practice space. Merchant background handles equipment access narratively; no shop, no grind.
v2.4 — March 2026 Added Section 14: The Codex. System design pass resolving Todo Item 6. Eight-category tree structure (Timeline, People, Places, Weapons & Ilmu, Factions, Titles & Offices, Culture & Belief, Trade & Commerce). Wikiword navigation model with history stack and discovery-gated entry unlocks. Canonical entry template defined. Appendix A seeded with full entry register (~80–120 entries, all Pending). Priority production order noted: Titles & Offices first (required by enemy design), People second, Timeline third.
v2.6 — March 2026 Added Section 15: UI and Information Design. Full design pass resolving Todo Item 7. Minimal screen-edge HUD: Semangat as gold arc guard meter, Rage as four-stage progressive environmental distortion (breathing → heartbeat → tunnel audio → colour drain), Health as damage modelling with meter backup. No enemy awareness meters — detection read through guard behaviour. Keris trait system surfaced through Warangan ritual table as the interface itself. Ilmu tree as frictionless pause overlay. Orang Laut judgement has zero UI — world-readable only. Codex wikiword navigation with manuscript treatment. Mission intel delivered as field reports, no waypoints or objective tracker. Pause menu limited to four tabs (Ilmu, Codex, Intel, Outfits). Three HUD modes (Minimal, Clean, Assisted) for accessibility. Renumbered subsequent sections — document now has 18 sections.
v2.7 — March 2026 Major revision to Semangat, combat model, Ilmu paths, and input design. Semangat redesigned from mastery-generation resource to guard-and-spend meter (Where Winds Meet model): full at encounter start, depleted by damage absorbed and abilities used, recovered only by perfect parry. No parkour interaction — traversal always feels fluid regardless of Semangat state. Added Section 4.4: Combat Model — parry (RB, timed, recovers Semangat) and dodge (B, directional) with no passive block. Unblockable attacks telegraphed by red glow, must be dodged. Rebuilt all three Ilmu paths to 2 active + 3 passive per path: Langkah actives (Langkah Bayangan shadow dash, Lompat Harimau vertical kill), Kebal actives (Kulit Kebal 30s damage reduction, Tolak Bala force push), Pukau actives (Ghaib continuous-drain vision cone narrowing, sumpitan darts as Semangat-cost abilities). D-pad reserved for Langkah/Kebal actives; Pukau operates through sumpitan mode (L3 toggle → face buttons for darts, ADS aim). Added Section 4.6: Controller Layout (Xbox format) — full two-mode input model (Standard + Sumpitan), LB/LT flagged as open design space. Updated Section 15.2 UI: removed diegetic forearm luminescence, Semangat now a clean screen-edge arc meter. Reference games: AC traversal fluidity + Where Winds Meet combat precision.
v2.8 — March 2026 Redesigned Section 6.3 Balai from safehouse network to single safehouse, resolving Todo Item 8. One Balai in the Gedung district — ritual table, outfit wall, practice space. No NPCs, no mission briefings — the Balai is private space. Evolves across acts: bare in Act I, lived-in by Act II, atmospherically altered in Act III. On the Jebat path, the original Balai is revoked and the player establishes an improvised replacement through a short non-skippable environmental sequence. Hinterland shrines retained as alternate Warangan ritual locations. Updated Appendix A.3 entry.
MALACCA: SHADOW OF THE STRAITS — GDD v2.8 — CONFIDENTIAL