pipelines/comparator_pipeline_adoptions.json
{
"artifact": "comparator_pipeline_adoptions",
"version": "1.0",
"emitted": "2026-08-05",
"emitted_by": "harness-side script (never hand-typed)",
"provenance": "Josh 2026-08-05: 'What about their pipelines?' - the comparator program had studied the teachers' outcomes and never their production.",
"reference_pack": "docs/research/COMPARATOR_PIPELINES_REFERENCE.md",
"binding_dossiers": [
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_QUEST_WORLD_2026-08-05.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_CONTROL_PLANE_2026-07-29.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_ART_2026-07-29.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_3D_2026-07-29.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_ANIMATION_2026-07-29.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/PIPE_AUDIO_MUSIC_2026-07-29.md",
"docs/pipeline_review/tech_research/GEODATA_TERRAIN_CHAIN.md"
],
"counts": {
"adopted": 60,
"gated": 1,
"open_director_forks": 1,
"no_adopts": 11,
"total_routed": 73,
"by_lane": {
"3d": 6,
"animation": 8,
"art_vfx": 11,
"audio": 4,
"control_plane": 14,
"quest_world": 19
}
},
"gated_ids": [
"QW-8"
],
"open_fork_ids": [
"QW-16"
],
"adoptions": [
{
"id": "QW-1",
"technique": "Phase-scoped quest graph with structural scope-exit",
"teacher": "CD Projekt Red",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "quest runtime",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-2",
"technique": "One facts surface with per-fact expiry behind state_writes",
"teacher": "CD Projekt Red",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "CONDITION_EXPRESSION_GRAMMAR.md write side",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-3",
"technique": "--start-at-phase entry point for QA replay",
"teacher": "CD Projekt Red",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "quest runtime; QA loop",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-4",
"technique": "Population as spawn-set x timetable x category-tagged points",
"teacher": "CDPR + Rockstar",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "T0_Region_Index.ambient_population_band_default becomes a table",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-5",
"technique": "Composition percentages must sum correctly or a gate fails",
"teacher": "Rockstar",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "harness/ population check",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-6",
"technique": "A tiny closed ambient-verb vocabulary; variety from the join",
"teacher": "Rockstar",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CONSTRAINT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "persona / dwelling registries",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-7",
"technique": "Behaviour on the slot, not the entity",
"teacher": "CDPR + Rockstar",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "persona, faction-standing, companion re-read",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-8",
"technique": "Alias/slot-filled quest templates over keyword-tagged locations",
"teacher": "Bethesda",
"verdict": "GATED",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "participant_entity_refs fill contract",
"evidence_state": "FLAGGED_403_REVERIFY_FIRST"
},
{
"id": "QW-9",
"technique": "Quest count drives world size, not the reverse",
"teacher": "CD Projekt Red",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_FRAMING",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "region sizing",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-10",
"technique": "Every delayed consequence produces a player-legible callback",
"teacher": "CD Projekt Red",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_GATE",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "world_memory_write needs a surfaced downstream read",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-11",
"technique": "Bug reports emitted by the game carrying coordinates + phase + facts",
"teacher": "Nintendo",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "QA-loop bug emitter payload",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-12",
"technique": "Deterministic nightly world rebuild on a sector grid",
"teacher": "Ubisoft (Far Cry 5)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "GEODATA_TERRAIN_CHAIN 8.5; idle 5090 overnight window",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-13",
"technique": "Three-scale relief (landmark / view-blocking / tempo) as a computed gate",
"teacher": "Nintendo (BotW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "T0_Region_Index computed off DEM layers",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-14",
"technique": "QA traversal heat maps as the standing world-quality instrument",
"teacher": "Nintendo (BotW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "AI QA loop traversal logging",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-15",
"technique": "Per-node placement posture, hand-crafted in slice vs rule-driven outside",
"teacher": "CDPR vs Far Cry 5",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_FIELD",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "T0_Region_Index",
"evidence_state": "INFERRED"
},
{
"id": "QW-16",
"technique": "Bake-time vs run-time placement",
"teacher": "Guerrilla (Horizon)",
"verdict": "OPEN_DIRECTOR_FORK",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "stated, deliberately unresolved",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-17",
"technique": "Derive abiotic layers once per region",
"teacher": "Ubisoft (Far Cry 5)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "new Step 2b in the world chain",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-18",
"technique": "FC5 biome rule vocabulary as the PCG target shape",
"teacher": "Ubisoft (Far Cry 5)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "closes GEODATA Residual Unknown 6",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "QW-19",
"technique": "In-world task pinning to a coordinate, not a document line",
"teacher": "Nintendo",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "quest_world",
"route": "region pages / board",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-1",
"technique": "Budget-curve table keyed (tier x grade x slot); item row holds allocation only",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "mint curve table; T0_Item_Derivation_Rule references it",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-2",
"technique": "reference_drop_id + group_id on drop tables",
"teacher": "WoW-derived servers",
"verdict": "ADOPT_HIGHEST_LEVERAGE",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "T0_RNG_Drop_Table; harness/check_drop_seed_join.py guards",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-3",
"technique": "Rarity grade as a derived multiplier over an existing affix row",
"teacher": "Blizzard (D4)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "materialization_policy = DERIVED_MULTIPLIER",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-4",
"technique": "Many short category-keyed vocabularies over one long flat pool",
"teacher": "Blizzard (D4)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CONSTRAINT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "T0_Item_Axis_Registry incl. three NONE_YET axes",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-5",
"technique": "Flatten the magnitude axis at the top of the curve",
"teacher": "Blizzard (D4)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "build-space sweep end-of-curve rule",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-6",
"technique": "Per-faction arrival conditions",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "faction_arrival_condition on the condition grammar",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-7",
"technique": "Standing propagation up a faction tree with modifier and cap",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "T0_Faction_Registry + FACTION_STANDING_WIRING_SPEC.md",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-9",
"technique": "Four-phase job contract (validate-in, main, SLA watchdog, crash+cache)",
"teacher": "Epic",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "DR-2 job contract section 3",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-10",
"technique": "Per-class scheduling hints; exclusive class for heavy orders",
"teacher": "Epic",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CORROBORATION",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "routing table scheduling-class column",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-11",
"technique": "Measure control-plane overhead as batch N grows (1/20/200)",
"teacher": "Epic",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "new benchmark-day question",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-12",
"technique": "Hotfix/CVar layer for balance numbers",
"teacher": "Epic (Fortnite)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_SCOPED_QUESTION",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "engine lane",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-13",
"technique": "Generated output returned into the running editor session",
"teacher": "Epic (UEFN)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_STRETCH",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "ASSET_DROPIN_CONTRACT.md",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "C-14",
"technique": "Preview and share content BEFORE committing",
"teacher": "Blizzard (Overwatch)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "boards/publish staging surface",
"evidence_state": "SECONDARY_CAVEAT_DECLARED"
},
{
"id": "C-15",
"technique": "Species and form as rows on one fixed schema",
"teacher": "Game Freak",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CONSTRAINT",
"lane": "control_plane",
"route": "variants are FORMS not entities (GAP-185)",
"evidence_state": "COMMUNITY_DOC"
},
{
"id": "C-16",
"technique": "Rig-archetype (mould) animation inheritance",
"teacher": "Game Freak",
"verdict": "ADOPT_ROUTED_ELSEWHERE",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "body_mould_ref on the creature roster",
"evidence_state": "SECONDARY"
},
{
"id": "B-1",
"technique": "A baked VFX source-asset library under the family system",
"teacher": "Square Enix (FF7R)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "declared rung of the art lane; wave 7",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "B-2",
"technique": "Separate LUMINANCE from COLOR as its own axis",
"teacher": "Square Enix (FF7R)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_SHARPEST_TRANSFER",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "docs/element_visual_law.json + wave-7 parameter surface",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "B-3",
"technique": "Niagara module library + data-asset parameter surface first, then the 31 families",
"teacher": "Square Enix (FF7R)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_BUILD_ORDER",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "wave 7 sequencing",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "B-4",
"technique": "Family architecture settles BEFORE volume authoring (a VFX library is rebuilt, never ported)",
"teacher": "Square Enix (Rebirth)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "confirms ENGINE_OPTIMIZATION_DOCTRINE D9",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "B-5",
"technique": "Aftermath beat coupled to the place's own wind",
"teacher": "Square Enix (Rebirth)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "the AFTERMATH beat",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "B-6",
"technique": "One shared proving map with looping parameter preview",
"teacher": "Square Enix (FF7R)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "shared by VFX, animation, audio",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "CA-1",
"technique": "Four-class kit manifest per region before layout",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "CONCEPT_ART_PRODUCTION_PROGRAM.md D1-05 extension",
"evidence_state": "COMMUNITY_DOC"
},
{
"id": "CA-2",
"technique": "Kit DIORAMA built and looked at before the first real region of that kit",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_GENUINE_GAP",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "region factory step; visual-verification directive",
"evidence_state": "COMMUNITY_DOC"
},
{
"id": "CA-3",
"technique": "Persistent in-engine REFERENCE ZONE of finished kit assets",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "ASSET_DROPIN_CONTRACT.md RefZone_<region>",
"evidence_state": "COMMUNITY_DOC"
},
{
"id": "CA-4",
"technique": "Authored layout diffed against the compiled minimap as a gate",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_POST_FIRST_REGION",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "WorldPartitionMiniMapBuilder",
"evidence_state": "COMMUNITY_DOC"
},
{
"id": "CA-5",
"technique": "Consistency held by a shared trained artifact, not per-asset discipline",
"teacher": "Game Freak",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CORROBORATION",
"lane": "art_vfx",
"route": "style-LoRA ruling; no change",
"evidence_state": "SECONDARY"
},
{
"id": "A-1",
"technique": "Temp-animation stage reviewed with cue VFX present, gating final brush-up",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "creature moveset cadence",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-2",
"technique": "Three-source animation policy declared per move (reuse/generated/hand)",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_FIELD",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "creature move rows",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-3",
"technique": "Mocap/generated motion is MATERIAL, not delivery",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "validates the honest supply statement",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-4",
"technique": "Signature-mechanic register open across waves with a named owner",
"teacher": "Santa Monica",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "cast-delivery projectile; FG-01/FG-11 committed-swing window",
"evidence_state": "TALK_RECAP"
},
{
"id": "A-5",
"technique": "Windup shrinks, tell survives - as a measurable A/B",
"teacher": "id Software",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "against FG-01 measured 0.146 s windup",
"evidence_state": "TALK_RECAP"
},
{
"id": "A-6",
"technique": "Shelf playtest as a pre-commit gate with the critic read recorded",
"teacher": "343 Industries",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "QA loop is the playerbase",
"evidence_state": "FIRST_PARTY"
},
{
"id": "A-7",
"technique": "Root-cause decomposition required in critic findings",
"teacher": "343 Industries",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "animation",
"route": "the recovery window, not the windup",
"evidence_state": "FIRST_PARTY"
},
{
"id": "A-8",
"technique": "Skeleton-before-deformation order + real-anatomy citation per creature",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "creature rigs",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-9",
"technique": "A declared skin-weight repair stage",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_GENUINE_GAP",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "creature finishing chain",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-10",
"technique": "Nightly blender --background --python for bake / LOD / commit",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_HIGHEST_VALUE_LOWEST_COST",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "the 24/7 5090 box",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-11",
"technique": "ONE scripted Blender-to-UE exchange tool owning rig-switch and attachment cases",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_PATTERN",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "drop-in contract",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-12",
"technique": "Asset metadata arrives WITH the asset (id, poly count, shader, collision)",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "drop-in manifest extension",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "A-13",
"technique": "Per-appendage-class templates (tails, wings, mandibles, cloth)",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CLASS",
"lane": "3d",
"route": "creature roster",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "S-1",
"technique": "Cue audio wired into the proving map at authoring time, not after",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"verdict": "ADOPT_PRINCIPLE_ONLY",
"lane": "audio",
"route": "shared proving map",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "S-2",
"technique": "Impact envelope: low-end effort into high-frequency slash",
"teacher": "GoW round-table (Wohlwend)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_CUE_LAW",
"lane": "audio",
"route": "the impact beat",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
},
{
"id": "S-3",
"technique": "Escalate the intensity axis, hold the identity axis",
"teacher": "synthesis of S-2 + B-2",
"verdict": "ADOPT_CROSS_LANE",
"lane": "audio",
"route": "audio + VFX presentation ladder",
"evidence_state": "INFERRED"
},
{
"id": "S-4",
"technique": "Audio binding declared on the entity row where the entity is authored",
"teacher": "Nintendo (SLink)",
"verdict": "ADOPT_AS_PATTERN",
"lane": "audio",
"route": "registry-as-authoring-surface",
"evidence_state": "VERIFIED"
}
],
"no_adopts": [
{
"id": "N-1",
"rejected": "Rockstar's quest/mission authoring approach, wholesale",
"teacher": "Rockstar",
"reason": "Not a pipeline teacher: missions are compiled bytecode with native hashes rotated every patch; internal tools and language undocumented. Any lane claiming to follow it claims something unverifiable."
},
{
"id": "N-2",
"rejected": "Ziva VFX muscle simulation",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"reason": "Maya-bound, paid, outside the ruled Blender-headless chain. The quality delta is named honestly: their skin slides over simulated muscle; ours will not."
},
{
"id": "N-3",
"rejected": "Motion-capture stage infrastructure (36-150 camera studios)",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"reason": "We have no stage and will not have one; the principle (review motion with its audio in context) is adopted instead."
},
{
"id": "N-4",
"rejected": "Capcom's headcount (~60-person character section, hundreds of devs)",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"reason": "Recorded so a future 'we do what Capcom does' claim is read against it. Automation and ORDER transfer; headcount never does."
},
{
"id": "N-5",
"rejected": "Houdini Engine fur reduction / alpha optimisation",
"teacher": "Capcom",
"reason": "Not this cycle."
},
{
"id": "N-6",
"rejected": "Resource-loop-replaces-pickups design",
"teacher": "id Software",
"reason": "A genre-specific answer to a scarcity problem we do not have."
},
{
"id": "N-7",
"rejected": "Client-side binary DB2 table format",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"reason": "The format is not the lesson; the allocation/magnitude split is."
},
{
"id": "N-8",
"rejected": "Alternate ladder curves per faction",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"reason": "NO-ADOPT NOW: the nine bands are ruled canon and stay the default; ladder_ref is already shaped for a second ladder if a joinable ranked order ever earns one. Do not mint speculatively."
},
{
"id": "N-9",
"rejected": "Seasonal wipe and ladder cadence",
"teacher": "Blizzard (D4)",
"reason": "Single-player narrative RPG; the item-space lessons transfer, the cadence that motivated them does not."
},
{
"id": "N-10",
"rejected": "Multi-cluster federation at 500 nodes",
"teacher": "Epic",
"reason": "One box. Only the reason transfers: coordination cost became the bottleneck before the workers did (routed as C-11)."
},
{
"id": "N-11",
"rejected": "Print-the-2D-map-onto-terrain sculpting",
"teacher": "Blizzard (WoW)",
"reason": "Our terrain chain starts from real geodata, which already supplies the base the printed map substitutes for."
}
]
}