# Milestone 011 playtest report

## Protocol

Run representative completed two-player matches on the target ESP32-C6 with
the locked configuration in `docs/BALANCE_REPORT.md`. Use two active players
and, where practical, one observer. Do not impose a time limit or coach a
route. Start timing when the authoritative countdown completes and stop at the
authoritative result. A draw, reconnect timeout, abandoned match, or technical
failure is recorded separately and does not count as a completed match.

For each completed match, record the maze seed or map hash, both players'
experience level, winner or draw, elapsed time, whether either player used a
vision artifact or compass, and any gameplay defect. Do not record session
tokens, Wi-Fi passwords, or other credentials.

Use at least five completed matches involving more than one pair of players.
The target is that ordinary completed matches cluster around five minutes;
there is deliberately no hard timer. If a result materially misses that target
or a participant reports a balance issue, describe it and repeat the affected
tests after any parameter change.

## Results

On 2026-09-08, the project owner confirmed that the representative physical
two-player playtests covered by this protocol worked as expected, with no
gameplay defects or balance issues observed. The owner explicitly approved a
deviation from the protocol's count and elapsed-time statistics: individual
match timing, seed or hash, and per-run fields are not required for MVP
acceptance. No hard match timer was introduced.

## Assessment

The project owner accepted the approximately five-minute target based on the
representative playtests above and approved the absence of a quantified timing
sample. This is an approved evidence deviation, not a claim of statistical
measurement. The locked configuration remains unchanged because no issue was
reported.

## Milestone 014 compact-map revalidation

The earlier results apply to the superseded `128 x 64` configuration. Test the
new `32 x 32` configuration with two players after the Milestone 014 firmware
and web assets are installed. Confirm that navigation remains understandable,
both players consider the symmetric race fair, no gameplay-blocking defect is
observed, and the match duration remains acceptable without a hard timer.

Representative compact-map results have not yet been recorded.