# Level / AI Design Notes

Running list of level-specific design quirks and idiosyncrasies noticed during play-testing,
separate from `docs/PATCHES.md` (binary bugs/fixes) and `docs/FUNCTIONS.md` (RE progress).
These are candidates for the **Remaster** variant's "bug fixes" bucket (see `docs/HANDOFF.md`
section 1) while staying intact in the **Faithful 1:1** variant. Nothing here has been
reverse-engineered yet -- these are gameplay observations to revisit once the AI/level-loader
code (MAP/STUF/LAND, enemy AI) gets decompiled.

## World 1 (Badlands), first level

**Unreachable stranded drop from a flying enemy.** One of the final flying enemies in this
level has a patrol/movement pattern that can carry it over a tall piece of terrain. If it
isn't killed early -- before most other enemies in that area -- it can end up dying while
positioned over that tall terrain, and its item drop can land somewhere physically
unreachable (stuck on/above terrain the player can't get to).

- Not a crash or technical bug -- a level/AI design issue remembered from the original game,
  confirmed again during a 2026-07-03 playthrough.
- Workaround (as originally learned): kill this specific enemy early, before it can drift
  into the problem area.
- **Remaster candidate:** once `STUF<lvl>.DAT` (entity placement) and the AI/pathing code are
  decompiled, this could be fixed by adjusting the enemy's patrol bounds, or by making drops
  from airborne kills fall to the nearest reachable ground instead of wherever the enemy died.
- Not yet reverse-engineered -- no addresses, no code path identified. Revisit once AI/level
  loading is a priority (see `docs/HANDOFF.md` section 7, items 4-5).

## Template for new entries

```
## World <N> (<name>), level <N>

**Short description.**  Longer explanation of the quirk, when it happens, how to reproduce
or avoid it.

- Bug or design quirk?
- Reproduction notes / workaround if known.
- Remaster candidate? What would the fix look like.
- RE status: not yet investigated / found at VA 0x... / etc.
```