ARC-1 — Ambient Residue Collectibles MVP Specification for Field-First AR Discovery, Single-Take Transfer, and Afterfield Decay

Canonical definition

ARC-1 defines a field-first augmented reality collectible system in which hidden user-placed entities are sensed through haptic and chromatic signals, revealed in situ, transferred once, and reduced over time to a fading non-interactive afterfield.

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Abstract

ARC-1 specifies a minimal viable architecture for a collectible system based on field-first discovery rather than map-first spawning.

A user places a hidden entity into the environment.
It is not immediately visible.

Discovery unfolds as:
• haptic signal
• chromatic bleed
• spatial reveal
• single-take transfer

After transfer:
• the object disappears from the world

If unclaimed:
• it decays into a non-interactive afterfield

ARC-1 defines a new interaction grammar:

presence → sensing → reveal → transfer → disappearance → residue

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Core claim

Discovery should begin as felt presence, not visual certainty.

A collectible is not something you see first.
It is something you enter.

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Core shift

Traditional AR:

→ map → icon → object → capture

ARC-1:

→ field → signal → approach → reveal → transfer → decay

Collectibles become:

temporary environmental traces

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The ARC loop

place → hidden
hidden → sensed
sensed → bleeding
bleeding → revealed
revealed → claimed
claimed → transferred
transferred → vanished

or:

revealed → expired → afterfield → dissolved

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Detection grammar

1. Haptic pulse

A single pulse indicates nearby presence.

Not continuous.
Just a threshold.

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2. Chromatic bleed

Color appears before form.
• signals type
• gives direction
• creates atmosphere

The object is not yet visible.

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3. Reveal

Only when alignment is correct:

→ the entity appears in place

Lightweight.
Embedded.
Not dominant.

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4. Transfer

One action:

“Take it with me”

No battle.
No throw.
No ritual.

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Entity model

Each collectible:

E = { id, anchor, type, chroma, state, decay, payload, owner }

Field form:

E(t) = A × C × R(t) × P

Decay:

R(t) = e^(−λt)

States:
• active
• weakening
• afterfield

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Decay and afterfield

Decay is not failure.
It is structure.

Lifecycle:
• active → claimable
• expired → non-claimable
• afterfield → faint residue
• dissolved → gone

The world becomes:

layered in time

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Placement logic

ARC-1 is user-placed.

Not system-spawned.

Meaning enters the world through:
• choice
• location
• intent

The system does not decide relevance.
The user does.

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Personal box

After transfer:
• object leaves the world
• object enters personal layer

This separates:

world presence
from
owned presence

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Minimal MVP

One loop:
• one placer
• one finder
• one object
• one environment
• one pulse
• one bleed
• one reveal
• one transfer
• one afterfield

Nothing more is needed.

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What ARC-1 is not

ARC-1 is not:
• a map-based game
• a spawn system
• a radar interface
• a persistent object grid
• a traditional collector

It is:

a residue-based discovery system

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Conceptual contribution

ARC-1 combines:
• hidden placement
• pre-visual sensing
• chromatic signaling
• local reveal
• single ownership
• disappearance
• residue memory

This creates:

collectibles as environmental events

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Minimal form

place → sense → reveal → take → fade

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One-sentence summary

ARC-1 turns collectibles into temporary field events that are sensed before seen, claimed once, and remembered only as fading residue.

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Keywords

ambient AR; ARC-1; residue collectibles; field-first discovery; chromatic detection; haptic signal; single-take transfer; afterfield decay

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Canonical statement

A collectible should not persist.
It should pass through the world.

Paper index

Return to the full paper layer:
softvector.pub/papers

Softvector

Paper:

ARC-1 — Ambient Residue Collectibles
MVP Specification for Field-First AR Discovery, Single-Take Transfer, and Afterfield Decay
Author
Raynor Eissens
Version
1.0
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.19366174
Year
2026
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One-sentence definition
Ambient Residue Collectibles (ARC-1) defines a field-first augmented-reality collectible system
in which user-placed hidden entities are discovered through haptic and chromatic pre-reveal
signals, revealed in situ, transferred once into a personal collection layer, and reduced over time
to a non-interactive fading afterfield.
ARC-1 is a playful applied branch of the Ambient Era Canon: a field-first residue collectible
architecture that translates chromatic detection, single-take transfer, and afterfield decay
into a living AR loop.
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Zenodo Description
Abstract
This document specifies the minimum viable architecture for a user-placed augmented-reality
collectible system based on field-first discovery rather than map-first spawn logic. In ARC-1, a
user places a hidden collectible entity into a real environment through AR anchoring. The entity
is not immediately visible to others. Discovery begins through a short haptic pulse and a
chromatic bleed that signals type, state, or field identity before any visual reveal occurs. Only
after proximity and orientation thresholds are satisfied does the entity appear as a lightweight
anchored visual presence.
The collectible can then be claimed once and transferred into the finder’s personal box or
inventory layer. Immediately after claim, the original world instance disappears. If the entity is not
claimed before expiry, it decays into a transparent non-interactive afterfield. This afterfield
remains softly detectable as residue but can no longer be collected or interacted with as an
active object.
ARC-1 therefore defines a new interaction grammar for AR collectibles: hidden placement, pre-
visual sensing, reveal through field intensity, single-take transfer, disappearance from world
state, and persistence through decay residue rather than perpetual visibility. The system is
positioned as a lightweight ambient alternative to centrally spawned, map-visible, infinitely
reproducible collectible logic.
Core definition
ARC-1 is not a conventional location-based game mechanic in which a central system spawns
entities onto a map. It is a user-placed residue architecture in which presence is carried into the
environment, sensed before it is seen, and transferred out of the environment upon discovery.
The system is built on seven principles:
1. Field-first discovery
The environment does not present collectibles as explicit icons or map
markers. Detection begins as environmental signal.
2. Haptic-first thresholding
The first meaningful signal is a minimal haptic pulse indicating that an
anchored collectible is within discovery range.
3. Chromatic pre-reveal
Before any sprite or visual entity appears, the system emits a type-color or
chromatic bleed indicating the collectible’s field identity.
4. Reveal by proximity and alignment
The collectible becomes visible only when the user enters sufficient spatial
and visual relation to the anchor.
5. Single-take transfer
A collectible can be claimed once. After claim, it is transferred into a personal
collection layer and removed from the world state.
6. Decay and expiry
Unclaimed collectibles do not persist indefinitely. They degrade through time.
7. Afterfield residue
After expiry, the object no longer exists as an active collectible. Only a faint,
non-interactive trace remains.
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Problem statement
Most AR collectible systems rely on one or more of the following assumptions: centralized spawn
logic, explicit map visibility, repeated availability for multiple users, and immediate object
visibility. These assumptions make discovery legible, but they also flatten environmental surprise
and reduce the phenomenological distinction between world presence and interface
presentation.
ARC-1 proposes a different model. Rather than asking the system to calculate what should
appear in a location, ARC-1 allows a user to place a collectible into a specific environment.
Rather than making the collectible visible from the outset, the system lets the finder first feel its
existence through haptics and chromatic field bleed. Rather than leaving the collectible
permanently available, ARC-1 makes the object transferable, finite, and time-bound. Rather than
erasing expired placements entirely, it preserves weak residue as an environmental memory
layer.
The result is a collectible architecture closer to hiding, finding, carrying, and losing than to
conventional spawn-and-capture loops.
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MVP scope
The MVP is intentionally narrow.
ARC-1 does not attempt to solve city-scale mapping, public moderation, multiplayer economies,
or complex battle mechanics. It defines the smallest playable loop required to validate the
grammar.
The MVP includes:
• one placer
• one finder
• one anchored collectible entity
• one physical environment or image-anchored surface
• one haptic detection pulse
• one chromatic bleed phase
• one reveal phase
• one “take it with me” transfer action
• one personal box destination
• one post-transfer disappearance
• one post-expiry afterfield
The MVP excludes:
• battles
• throwing or projectile mechanics
• rarity economies
• multiplayer combat
• map-based radar
• infinite respawns
• large-scale community systems
• procedural biome classification
• complex social or monetization layers
The goal of the MVP is not feature completeness. The goal is to validate the feel and
coherence of the loop.
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System model
ARC-1 can be described as a state machine:
Hidden → Sensed → Bleeding → Revealed → Claimed → Transferred → Vanished
or, if not claimed:
Hidden → Sensed → Bleeding → Revealed → Expired → Afterfield → Dissolved
Where:
• Hidden = the collectible is placed and anchored but not visible.
• Sensed = a haptic pulse indicates nearby presence.
• Bleeding = a chromatic field begins to appear on screen.
• Revealed = the anchored visual presence becomes visible.
• Claimed = the user actively chooses to take the collectible.
• Transferred = the collectible moves into the personal box layer.
• Vanished = the original world instance is removed.
• Expired = the collectible’s active life has elapsed.
• Afterfield = only a fading non-interactive residue remains.
• Dissolved = the residue fully disappears.
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Entity model
Each collectible in ARC-1 may be represented by the following minimal structure:
E = { id, anchor, type, chroma, state, decay, payload, owner }
Where:
• id = unique collectible identifier
• anchor = environment anchor or image-space anchor
• type = classification or field category
• chroma = color profile used during bleed/reveal
• state = current lifecycle state
• decay = time-to-expiry and fade parameters
• payload = optional attached data
• owner = current holder or null if still in world
A more formal field expression may be written as:
E(t) = A × C × R(t) × P
Where:
• A = anchor validity
• C = chromatic/type identity
• R(t) = residue intensity over time
• P = payload structure
If decay is modeled exponentially:
R(t) = e^(-λt)
Where λ is the decay constant.
This gives three practical thresholds:
• R(t) > θ₁: fully active and claimable
• θ₂ < R(t) ≤ θ₁: visible but weakening • 0 < R(t) ≤ θ₂: afterfield only, non-claimable ⸻ Detection grammar ARC-1 discovery does not begin with image recognition of a visible object. It begins with a layered signal grammar. 1. Haptic pulse When the user enters the collectible’s detection radius, the device emits one short pulse. This confirms nearby presence without yet revealing identity. The haptic pulse should be minimal. It is a threshold event, not a continuous feedback loop. 2. Chromatic bleed After the pulse, the screen begins to receive a type-specific or field-specific color bleed. This is not yet the object itself. It is the collectible’s ambient signature. The chromatic bleed serves three functions: • it confirms that the pulse corresponds to a meaningful nearby placement • it communicates field identity before full reveal • it gives the user a directional and atmospheric cue 3. Visual reveal Once the device orientation and anchor alignment cross reveal threshold, the collectible appears in situ as a lightweight anchored visual presence. For the MVP, this presence may be a 2D sprite-like image rather than a full 3D animated asset. This is deliberate. The system prioritizes legibility, speed, low friction, and environmental fit over cinematic realism. 4. Transfer interaction The MVP uses a single affirmative action: Take it with me No projectile logic is required. No multi-step capture ritual is required. Transfer is sufficient to validate the architecture. ⸻ Personal box layer Once claimed, the collectible is no longer part of the environment. It moves into a personal storage layer. The personal box layer performs four roles: • confirms successful acquisition • preserves collected entities after world removal • separates world-presence from owned-presence • enables later browsing, indexing, or future gameplay In the MVP, the box can remain minimal. It does not need battle systems, sorting logic, breeding logic, or progression systems. It only needs to prove world-to-box transfer. ⸻ Decay and afterfield Decay is not an error state. It is a core mechanic. If a placed collectible is not claimed before expiry, it should not simply disappear without trace. Instead it passes into an afterfield phase. Active phase The collectible is claimable and visible after reveal. Expiry threshold The collectible becomes non-claimable. Afterfield phase A faint transparent residue remains. This residue may still be sensed or visually noticed, but it cannot be taken. Dissolution The residue fades out completely. This transforms the environment from a binary field of present/absent objects into a temporally layered field of active presence, fading memory, and disappearance. ⸻ Payload logic ARC-1 allows a collectible to carry optional payload. Examples of payload include: • a short message • a creator signature • a route hint • a stat card • a collectible category • an environmental tag • a timestamp • a soft invitation to another location For the MVP, payload should remain lightweight. The point is not content volume but transferable meaning. ⸻ Placement logic ARC-1 is user-placed rather than centrally spawned. This design choice is critical. It avoids the need for the system to infer what should appear in every location. Instead, meaning enters the environment through placement. Placement therefore includes: • choosing a location or image anchor • assigning a collectible entity • assigning type/chroma • defining active duration • optionally defining payload The placer performs the semantic act. The system then carries, reveals, transfers, and decays that act. ⸻ Visual design constraints for MVP The MVP should remain visually lightweight. Preferred visual logic: • one short haptic pulse • one clear chromatic bleed • one low-friction reveal • one simple transfer button • one faint residue veil on expiry The system should avoid: • map clutter • radar clutter • excessive HUD • complex 3D character animation • dense menus during discovery • long interaction chains ARC-1 depends on softness, not interface overload. ⸻ Technical MVP architecture A minimal implementation may use: • ARKit or ARCore for anchoring • a lightweight environment or image anchor • one collectible asset layer • one chromatic overlay layer • one haptic trigger • one box/inventory storage layer • one local or test backend for persistence Suggested MVP modules: 1. Anchor Module Stores and restores entity placement. 2. Detection Module Calculates proximity and threshold crossing. 3. Bleed Module Renders type-color field before reveal. 4. Reveal Module Displays entity at anchor. 5. Transfer Module Removes entity from world and adds to personal box. 6. Decay Module Controls expiry, afterfield visibility, and dissolution. 7. Box Module Stores claimed entities. ⸻ Success criteria for the MVP ARC-1 MVP succeeds if the following can be demonstrated in one coherent loop: • a user places a collectible at a real anchor • another user or later session enters discovery range • the device emits one short haptic pulse • a type-specific chromatic bleed appears • the collectible reveals at the anchored location • the user presses “Take it with me” • the collectible is added to the personal box • the original placement disappears • after expiry, only a non-interactive afterfield remains If these nine conditions are satisfied, the grammar is validated. ⸻ What ARC-1 is not ARC-1 is not: • a generic AR object anchoring demo • a map-first collectible game • a central spawn system • a standard scavenger hunt • a full battle game • an infinitely persistent world-object architecture • a conventional inventory collector without environmental memory ARC-1 is specifically an ambient residue-collectible architecture. ⸻ Conceptual contribution The conceptual novelty of ARC-1 lies not in any single component taken alone, but in the integration of the following sequence: • user placement • hidden presence • haptic detection • chromatic pre-reveal • local reveal • single-take transfer • disappearance from world state • decaying non-interactive afterfield This produces a collectible logic that behaves more like a temporary environmental trace than like a conventional spawn. ⸻ Future expansions Future versions may include: • multi-user city-scale layers • route-based residue systems • team or bundle placements • rarity classes • collaborative trails • box-to-world redeployment • reputation fields • social permissions • creator identity gradients • broader ambient carry systems beyond collectibles These are not required for the MVP. ⸻ Conclusion ARC-1 defines the smallest coherent implementation of a field-first AR collectible system based on user placement, pre-visual sensing, single-take transfer, and residue decay. Its contribution is the shift from map-visible spawn logic to hidden environmental presence; from direct visual object presentation to haptic and chromatic approach; and from indefinite persistence to reversible, fading, temporally layered world memory. The MVP is therefore sufficient not because it is feature-rich, but because it proves a complete new loop: place → sense → bleed → reveal → transfer → vanish → afterfield ⸻ Keywords ambient AR, augmented reality collectibles, field-first discovery, haptic detection, chromatic reveal, residue systems, ephemeral collectibles, single-take transfer, afterfield decay, user- placed AR entities, ambient interaction design, ubicomp, HCI, AR persistence, environmental anchoring ⸻