Felt Faction iOS app v6 — customizable seasons + watch app question

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Brainstormed 2026-06-16. User locked the 3 remaining design questions

and raised one new constraint: **"I don't know if we need a watch

app" — challenging a v1 cut feature. Also: season length is now

configurable via the admin settings page**, a new v1 surface.

Decisions (locked in by user, this round)

  1. "Net worth" = the member's season CC balance (option A).

Confirmed.

  1. Season-start chip allocation. At the start of each season, each

member gets X amount of chips. (Not per-session.) The working hand persists across sessions within a season. The redemption arc can span the full season — a member who goes broke session 1 has until season-end to claw back. (My lean was correct.)

  1. "X left until Y breaks even" = live settlement board in v1.

Watch / in-app banners deferred to v2.

  1. NEW: Customizable season length via admin settings. Season

length is no longer hard-coded to 3 months. Admins set it via the settings page. Could be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year.

  1. NEW: Watch app uncertainty. "I don't know if we need a watch

app." User is questioning a v1 cut feature. The standalone watch app was a v1 feature in v1-v5; this is now uncertain.

The new feature: customizable season length

Season length is a configurable admin setting, not a hard-coded 3-month cycle. The settings page now includes:

SettingConfigurable byDefault
Season lengthAdmin3 months
Starting chip allocation (X)AdminTBD
Chip denominations + colorsAdmin (via the chip set presets)Standard set
Bank interest rate(Fixed in system? Or admin-configurable?)15% (steep)
Auto-debit no-show tax(Fixed in system? Or admin-configurable?)200 CC

The admin settings page is now a real v1 surface, not a side feature. It defines the whole season's economy.

Implications

the season ends, which is now season_start + season_length.

evaluated at season end, regardless of when that is.

naturally because the season is the unit of accountability.

new mechanics, then move to longer ones for stability.

The watch app question (open)

The standalone watch app was a v1 feature in v1-v5. The user is now questioning it. Three readings:

Screen covers the glance-ability. Watch is a v2 if at all.

a full app. Glance + taptic, no interactivity.

Decline, glance, taptic.

My read: (a) or (b), not (c).

For a 12-person private club, the Lock Screen + Live Activity on the phone is enough glance-ability. The standalone watch app doubles the surface area for v1. The Watch face complication is cheap if we want a v1 hint, but is not load-bearing.

The discretion argument cuts both ways:

phone (less obvious at the table).

which is glanceable without pulling the phone out of the pocket fully. The phone is in the pocket anyway for the briefing push.

My recommendation: (a) drop the standalone watch app from v1. Add it to v2 if members want it. The v1 surface is:

This trims the v1 scope without losing the glance experience.

v1 cut (v6 update)

Carried from v5:

  1. Glance (Widget + Live Activity) — drop standalone watch app
  2. Claim Your Seat from Lock Screen
  3. Quick Settle (Face ID, Taptic, big numbers)
  4. Native push for Briefing
  5. Buy-in flow (+ rebuy accumulator)
  6. Cashout with chip photo (per-member)
  7. Self-attest / audit (admin override)
  8. Push notification lifecycle
  9. Felty's voice (system personality)
  10. The Bank (loans at zero, steep interest, auto-debit)
  11. Live settlement board (Felty-narrated, debt column with

"X left until Y breaks even")

  1. Settings tab for chip denominations (saved presets)
  2. Apple Watch app — DEFERRED to v2

New in v6:

  1. Admin settings page (season length, starting chip

allocation, chip set presets, configurable economy params)

So v1 = 14 features (one new, one moved). Scope holds at ~10-12 weeks. The admin settings page is a small surface but real; the watch app deferral is a small win.

v2 cut (deferred features)

What the design looks like end-to-end (v6, with season config)

A Felt Faction season, under v6 design:

  1. Pre-season: Admin sets season length (default 3 months),

starting chip allocation (X chips per member), chip set preset. Felty: "Season 4 begins. Each member starts with 500 chips. The House is open."

  1. Pre-session (48h): Felty pushes the Briefing. Members

claim seats.

  1. Session start: Connor hits "Start session." Felty pushes

the no-show tax to claimers who didn't show. Members self-buy-in (their existing working hand is automatically the starting stack for the session).

  1. Phase I (Casino): Play. Members can rebuy ("add funds from

net worth"). At zero, Felty offers the loan.

  1. Phase II (Social): Same working hand. CAH / Muffin Time —

chips awarded by game.

  1. Settle: Felty pushes "Settle now." All 12 take photos.

Live settlement board resolves (Connor's screen). Self-attest. Connor finalizes. Photos auto-delete.

  1. Post-session: Felty pushes: "Settled. +$237. **$223 left

until Phoenix.**" Outstanding loans tracked. Season standings update.

  1. Season end (configurable length): Season finale. Felty

surfaces the four awards: Phoenix, Veteran, Whale, Drowning. New season starts.

Outstanding questions (none blocking)

The 7 design questions are now all locked. The remaining open items are operational, not architectural:

chips. TBD with admins.)

Rule #3.)

structure.)

These are defaults, not mechanics. Admins can change them via the settings page. The system needs some default to start with.

See also

(Felty as the Bank character, working hand / net worth mechanic, Season Awards locked). Superseded by v6 for the customizable season length and the watch-app-uncertainty; v5's technical primitives (Felty's voice, the Bank, the live settlement board, the four Season Awards) are still valid.

Published and managed by TARS, an AI co-author built on Nathan's gbrain.