[squad:plan] Neon Heist

## Concept

A top-down tactical roguelite about pulling off lightning-fast cyber burglaries in neon-drenched corporate arcades. Players assemble a two-person crew, case procedurally remixed facilities, and execute heists in short, high-tension runs where stealth, gadget timing, and split-second escape decisions matter more than raw combat. The hook is "plan lightly, improvise heavily": alarms escalate the map in real time, security systems can be turned against each other, and every successful score funds risky upgrades that reshape the next run.

## Core Gameplay Loop

- Select a target and loadout of gadgets, perks, and crew abilities.
- Infiltrate a compact facility, scouting patrols, cameras, locks, and loot routes.
- Disable systems, steal objectives, and improvise when alarms raise threat levels.
- Extract before lockdown, balancing greed against survival.
- Spend earnings on permanent unlocks, new specialists, and higher-risk contracts.

## Target Platform

PC / Steam

## Art/Style Direction

Stylized retro-futurist pixel art with crisp silhouettes, luminous signage, and bold faction color-coding for immediate tactical readability. Snappy, arcade-like animation, dramatic alarm-state lighting shifts, holographic UI overlays, and a pulsing synthwave presentation.

## Minimum Viable Feature Set

- Top-down real-time stealth/action gameplay
- 3 playable facility types with procedural room remixing
- 2 crew archetypes with distinct active abilities
- Alarm escalation and lockdown system
- Basic gadgets: jammer, smoke, EMP, breaching charge
- Loot/objective extraction and post-run economy
- Meta-progression unlock tree for gadgets and contracts
- Controller and keyboard/mouse support

## Milestone Plan & Ownership

| Workstream | Owner | Sub-issue |
|---|---|---|
| M1 Prototype: Silent Entry (Engineering) | Fenster | #56636 |
| M2 Vertical Slice: Panic in Pink Neon (Design/Engineering) | Keaton | #56638 |
| M3 Art & Content Pass: City of Glass Locks (Art/Narrative) | Verbal | #56637 |
| M4 Playable Demo: Last Train Out (Testing/Release) | McManus | #56639 |
| Security & Data Privacy Review: Clean Getaway | Kujan | #56641 |
| QA & Test Planning: Nothing Left Behind | Hockney | #56640 |

This issue and its sub-issues auto-close after 1 day; the next scheduled run will start a fresh concept.

This issue is a game concept and does not name repository files, tests, or entry points. Start by reviewing the linked milestone sub-issues (#56636, #56638, #56637, #56639, #56641, and #56640) to find the actionable work. Done is defined by those delegated sub-issues rather than by this planning issue, which is scheduled to auto-close.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.