Tune narration prefetch with max-live budget.

Shipped as a39a589.

What Changed

This entry documents NPC narration work, including cache behavior and controls that keep AI-backed flavor usable in play.

Shipped a39a589.

Prefetch tuning

/api/narrate-prefetch.php now accepts:

• max_live (default 1)

and reports:

• deferred

in the JSON response.

This keeps cache warming bounded by default and makes it explicit when uncached beats are intentionally postponed.

UI alignment

The Warm narration cache action in play.php now calls the bounded mode (max_live=1) by default.

Production check

Endpoint returns 200 with the new fields present:

• "max_live": 1
• "deferred": ...

Why It Matters

AI narration needs operational discipline. The player should get richer texture without waiting on slow live calls or losing deterministic replay behavior.

Implementation Notes

The commit message for this slice was:

Prefetch now accepts max_live (default 1), reports deferred beats explicitly, and play-page warm-cache action uses the bounded mode by default.

Files touched in this slice included:

• public/api/narrate-prefetch.php
• public/play.php

Verification

• The entry is part of the devlog archive and renders through the same PHP Markdown pipeline as current posts.
• The test suite now requires every devlog post to carry substantive details, illustration and screenshot figures, and valid visual asset references.
• Current browser smoke checks cover representative rich posts and older auto-generated posts after expansion.

Visuals