The Friday build review: show a change and record the next decision

Choose one change someone can inspect by Friday. Put it in a playable build when it affects the game, show it to another person, and leave a short record of what worked and what remains unresolved.

Clowdr requires weekly updates and frequent integration. This Friday review applies those expectations to a recurring build cadence. “Ship it” in the old article title is not permission to publish an unfinished game.

Agree the week's unit inside the current gate

Pick a scoped change from the work currently open to contributors. During the Slice Phase, it must help build, integrate, or evaluate the Vertical Slice. During Production, it must serve approved Feature Scope or resolve a Release Blocker.

Name the human owner, intended behavior, and handoff. “Show the approved encounter restarting through the controller menu” gives Friday's witness a checkable target. A count of closed tasks does not.

Use a small enough unit to integrate before the review. If it grows, reduce the commitment or raise the blocker with the Lead. Do not add a new feature to produce a more impressive demo.

Show three beats to a witness

Use a brief demo with three beats: the intended behavior, the visible change, and the remaining gap or next question. Link the build version and the relevant task so another contributor can inspect it later.

Invite a person who can give useful feedback on that question. When requesting a playtest, state the build stage, target platform, feedback question, and known issues. A weekly witness is useful context; it does not replace the release's required playtest evidence.

If integration failed, use the fallback honestly: show the work in progress, the failure, and the smallest next action. An “ugly commit” is a visible checkpoint with known limits, not a broken change merged into the project's playable main branch. Keep unready work on its branch until it can be integrated safely.

Make one feedback decision before Monday

Record one resulting decision: a correction, a useful follow-up check, or a reason to keep the behavior as it is. Assign an owner. If no change is justified, record that rather than inventing work to satisfy the ritual.

The weekly update then contains progress, next work, and blockers tied to evidence. Over several reviews, those records can reveal recurring integration or scope problems. A later Field Note can examine that history with its project context and limits.

Use accountability circles for a group review agenda and How We Ship for the gates. A Friday build is a production checkpoint. Publication follows a Done Project, a Release Candidate, and Clowdr's review of the Five Proofs.