[squad:plan] Echo Bloom

## Concept

**Echo Bloom** is a compact atmospheric strategy-puzzle game where players restore a dead alien greenhouse by planting sound-reactive flora. Every plant emits a tone, and nearby plants transform, open paths, or attract tiny pollinator creatures based on harmonic combinations. The goal is to rebuild each biome into a living musical ecosystem, balancing spatial layout, timing, and chain reactions to awaken the structure level by level.

**Target platform(s):** PC/Steam (optional later Nintendo Switch port)

**Art/style direction:** Stylized sci-fi botanical world, soft bioluminescent palette with dark environmental contrast, clean top-down/isometric presentation. Mood: calm, mysterious, quietly hopeful. Audio-first design — organic synth tones, ambient soundscape, reactive musical layering.

## Core Gameplay Loop
- Survey a dormant greenhouse chamber and identify blocked routes, empty soil beds, and dormant mechanisms.
- Plant a limited set of seed types with distinct tones and growth behaviors.
- Trigger resonance pulses to test plant interactions and observe chain reactions.
- Reposition or replace plants to create correct harmonic patterns.
- Restore biome functions, unlock the exit, and earn new seed types/mechanics.

## Minimum Viable Feature Set
- 10 handcrafted puzzle chambers
- 4 seed/plant types with unique sound-based behaviors
- Grid or node-based planting system
- Resonance pulse mechanic to activate interactions
- Pollinator creature pathing tied to plant states
- Basic progression map with chamber unlocks
- Undo/reset for experimentation
- Lightweight scoring based on efficiency/par completion

## Milestone Plan & Ownership

| Milestone | Deliverables | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Prototype (#54781) | Chamber grid + planting/removal, 2 plant types with simple interaction rules, resonance pulse + visible feedback | Fenster (Engineering/Systems) |
| Vertical Slice (#54782) | 1 polished biome (final lighting/UI/audio), 4 plant types + pollinator behavior, 3 complete chambers showing progression | Fenster (Engineering/Systems) + Hockney (QA) |
| Playable Demo (#54783) | 8–10 chambers with onboarding, save/load + settings + perf pass, store trailer copy/screenshots/feedback capture | McManus (Build & Release) + Verbal (Docs/Narrative) |
| QA & Test Planning (#54785) | Vertical Slice test plans, puzzle-break detection, demo regression coverage | Hockney (Test Engineer) |
| Docs & Narrative (#54784) | World framing, chamber text, store/demo marketing copy | Verbal (DevRel/Docs) |
| Security & Data Privacy (#54787) | Save-data integrity, telemetry/privacy review, demo feedback form data handling | Kujan (Security Engineer) |

## Workstream Responsibility Summary
- **Fenster** — Engineering/Systems: prototype + core gameplay systems ownership
- **McManus** — Tooling/Build & Release: demo packaging pipeline, build automation, release checklist
- **Hockney** — Testing/QA: vertical slice test plans, regression coverage
- **Verbal** — Docs/Narrative & Marketing: world framing, chamber text, store copy
- **Kujan** — Security: save-data integrity, telemetry/privacy review

_Note: This is a rotating daily planning exercise for the Squad team; this tracking issue and its sub-issues auto-close after 1 day._

Start by reviewing the milestone sub-issues #54781 through #54787, since this issue only describes the overall game concept and ownership plan. No source file, entry point, test, or single implementation task is named; completion is represented by the separate prototype, vertical slice, demo, QA, documentation, and security deliverables.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.