Week 6: Momentum

Week 6 — why momentum isn't a score with a different name, and the one constant that decides how a mechanic feels

29 March 2027

Every mechanic so far resets the instant a gesture ends — the next press starts from zero. Momentum is the semester’s first mechanic that doesn’t, and that changes what “playing well” means: it stops being about any single press and becomes about not stopping, which is a different kind of skill from anything weeks 1–5 asked for.

It’s worth being precise about what momentum isn’t: a score. A score also persists, but it never punishes inaction — it just waits. Momentum has to decay on its own, unprompted, or it collapses into being a score with a different name. Decay rate is the one number that decides whether the mechanic feels tense (fast decay, constant pressure) or forgiving (slow decay, occasional lapses tolerated) — the first place this semester where a single tuning constant changes a prototype’s emotional register, not just its scoring.

Outline#

• why persistent, decaying state asks for a different kind of skill than anything in weeks 1–5
• momentum versus a score: the difference is that momentum has to punish stopping, not just remember
• decay rate as a tuning constant that changes how a mechanic feels, not only how it scores