Your First February Fest Live Week Founder Timebox Worksheet in One Evening - 2026

February fest day two, 2 a.m.: #playtest reports a crash, a creator DM asks for keys, Steam discussions need a reply, and someone on the team already queued a setlive hotfix because wishlists jumped. You skipped the 7-day RC smoke stand-up, answered Discord for six hours straight, and still believe you will “patch after lunch.”

February 2027 Steam Next Fest live week is not the same problem as October fest prep time-boxing. Prep week splits engineering vs marketing before the store opens. Live week splits pager engineering, community moderation, and recovery (sleep + admin) while players are already in the demo. Teams that only filed January marketing caps or Monday capstone reconciliation still burn out when hour-three crashes hit—because cash and label truth do not cap founder hours during the fest itself.

This Tutorials & Beginner-First evening tutorial produces february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json with gates T1–T6 and optional BUILD_RECEIPT column fest_live_timebox_ok. One evening wires printable day 1–7 caps, ritual floors, community burst rules, and a defer list—before fest Monday opens.

Non-repetition note: October time-box owns T-7…T+3 prep with fest_week_capacity_receipt_v1.json. January marketing cap owns weekly marketing cash. December engineering floor owns contractor blackout hours. This URL owns live fest days 1–7 three-lane caps with february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json—distinct schema and gates from October fest_week_capacity T1–T6.

Pair February RC label evening, February prep calendar, Wednesday demo smoke, Hour-one funnel snapshot evening, forward blog #10 HOTFIX exception opinion, Course 277 forward, Guide #38 forward.

Why this matters now (February 2027 live week)

1. Wishlists convert to pager load — Hour-one funnel spikes become crash threads, refund anxiety, and “fix tonight” pressure—not trailer polish.
2. Community volume is engineering-adjacent — Bug reports in Discord look like marketing; without a community cap, engineers answer threads instead of reproducing.
3. RC prep ≠ live discipline — GREEN February RC label receipt proves upload truth; it does not reserve nightly sleep or same-day triage budget.
4. Receipt culture needs live-week rows — BUILD_RECEIPT tracks builds; partners still ask why smoke slipped on day four without fest_live_timebox_ok.
5. Post-fest debrief depends on caps — Sunday closeout row review (blog #11 forward) needs evidence that live week hours were planned—not heroic.

Direct answer: Copy the day 1–7 table into february-live-timebox-2027.md, assign pager_cap, community_cap, and recovery_cap per day, subtract ritual floor hours first, file february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json, set BUILD_RECEIPT fest_live_timebox_ok: true when T1–T6 pass—then run live week; do not improvise caps after the first crash.

What you will finish tonight

Time: 60–75 minutes first pass; 5 minutes nightly to update actual_* columns.
Prerequisites: Fest live dates locked, February RC label GREEN or scheduled, sleep floor agreed (default 7 h).

Beginner path — live week day 1–7 template

Copy into february-live-timebox-2027.md before fest opens:

Beginner math: pager_cap + community_cap + recovery_cap + admin ≤ 16 - sleep_floor (assume 16 h wake budget). If math fails, lower community cap first on D2–D4—not pager ritual floor.

Success check: Each day has one pager outcome and one community outcome—not twelve parallel goals.

Developer path — three lanes (not engineering vs marketing)

October’s marketing lane maps to community here—but live week community is moderation + escalation, not capsule uploads. Store art belongs in RC prep (February capsule safe-zone).

Gates T1–T6 (february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json)

Distinct from October: fest_week_capacity_receipt_v1 uses engineering/marketing lanes for prep; february_live_timebox_receipt_v1 uses pager/community/recovery for live—never merge JSON blobs.

Pager ritual floor — protect before feature work

pager_ritual_floor_hours = (smoke_min + row_review_min + triage_min) * live_week_days_with_risk / 60

Default live_week_days_with_risk = 5 (D1–D5). If pager_cap on a risk day is < 1 h after rituals, move promotion or defer community—do not steal smoke.

Community burst — batch, do not binge

Cross-link January marketing cap: if paid social runs during live week, subtract contractor comms from founder community_cap and add 30 min/day oversight in admin.

february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json (template)

{
  "schema": "february_live_timebox_receipt_v1",
  "fest_window": "2027-02-next-fest-live",
  "generated_at": "2027-02-16T18:00:00Z",
  "founder_count": 1,
  "sleep_floor_hours": 7,
  "days": [
    {
      "fest_day": "D1",
      "pager_cap_hours": 4,
      "community_cap_hours": 3,
      "recovery_cap_hours": 2,
      "pager_ritual_reserved_hours": 0.5,
      "primary_pager_outcome": "demo_smoke_ok_after_open",
      "primary_community_outcome": "faq_pinned"
    }
  ],
  "pager_ritual_floor_hours": 4.25,
  "community_burst_total_cap_hours": 18,
  "defer_list": [
    {
      "task_id": "trailer-v4-color",
      "reason": "exceeds_community_cap_D3",
      "earliest_day": "post-fest",
      "owner": "contractor_motion",
      "user_visible": false
    }
  ],
  "fest_live_timebox_ok": true
}

BUILD_RECEIPT pointer:

{
  "fest_live_timebox_ok": true,
  "february_live_timebox_receipt": "release-evidence/ops/FEBRUARY_LIVE_TIMEBOX_RECEIPT.json"
}

verify_february_live_timebox.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
REC="${1:-release-evidence/ops/FEBRUARY_LIVE_TIMEBOX_RECEIPT.json}"

jq -e '.schema == "february_live_timebox_receipt_v1"' "$REC" || exit 1
jq -e '(.days | length) == 7' "$REC" || exit 2
jq -e '.days[] | .pager_cap_hours >= 0 and .community_cap_hours >= 0' "$REC" || exit 3
jq -e '.pager_ritual_floor_hours <= ([.days[].pager_cap_hours] | add)' "$REC" || exit 4
jq -e '(.defer_list | length) >= 1' "$REC" || exit 5
jq -e '.fest_live_timebox_ok == true' "$REC" || exit 6
echo "february_live_timebox verify: OK"

PowerShell verify cousin

$rec = Get-Content "release-evidence/ops/FEBRUARY_LIVE_TIMEBOX_RECEIPT.json" | ConvertFrom-Json
if ($rec.schema -ne "february_live_timebox_receipt_v1") { exit 1 }
if ($rec.days.Count -ne 7) { exit 2 }
if ($rec.pager_ritual_floor_hours -gt ($rec.days | Measure-Object -Property pager_cap_hours -Sum).Sum) { exit 4 }
if (-not $rec.fest_live_timebox_ok) { exit 6 }
Write-Host "february_live_timebox verify: OK"

One-evening schedule (copy-paste)

Facilitator stand-up template

## February live week stand-up — D3

- Timebox receipt: fest_live_timebox_ok true (T1–T6)
- Yesterday: pager 4.5h / community 2h (within cap)
- Today pager outcome: hotfix only if HOTFIX-002 approved
- Today community: 45m creator DM batch 14:00 UTC
- Blockers: need hour-one funnel CSV — see [hour-one funnel evening](/blog/your-first-hour-one-demo-funnel-snapshot-csv-steam-wishlist-clicks-one-evening-2026)

jq helpers

# Community hours sum
jq '[.days[].community_cap_hours] | add' release-evidence/ops/FEBRUARY_LIVE_TIMEBOX_RECEIPT.json

# Days where pager cap < ritual reserve (should be empty)
jq '[.days[] | select(.pager_cap_hours < .pager_ritual_reserved_hours)]' \
  release-evidence/ops/FEBRUARY_LIVE_TIMEBOX_RECEIPT.json

Proof table

Scenarios A–G

A — Solo founder, zero contractors
Default table stands; community cap ≤ 3 h on spike days; recovery ≥ 2 h on D6–D7.

B — Contractor owns Discord
Subtract 6 h/week from founder community caps; add pager oversight 30 min/day in admin.

C — D2 crash + creator DM pile
Pager cap absorbs repro; community uses template-only replies—defer personalized DMs to batch window.

D — Team wants mid-fest trailer swap
Defer with user_visible: true + comms note; never steal D5 smoke block.

E — Wishlist flat, threads quiet
Do not reallocate community hours to unplanned features—bank recovery hours.

F — Partner asks “why no hotfix D4”
Show timebox receipt + HOTFIX exception list (#10 consumed).

G — Fest ends Sunday
Hand off to Sunday closeout row review (blog #11) with nightly actual_* CSV attached.

Engine-specific pager notes

Comparison pack (live week vs prep week)

Common mistakes

Reusing October caps for live week — Marketing bursts ≠ Discord moderation marathons.

Zero recovery rows — D4 burnout guarantees D5 smoke skip.

Community lane doing pager work — Engineers in #general reproducing kills hotfix quality.

No defer list — “We’ll squeeze it in” is how fest-day setlive mismatch happens when dry-run is skipped.

Merging receipts — October and February schemas differ; link pointers only.

Skipping verify script — Partners want one exit code, not a Notion essay.

Nightly actuals tracking (working dev)

Add columns to february-live-timebox-2027.md after each fest day:

Cap breach protocol:

1. Log breach in receipt notes for that day—do not hide overtime.
2. File defer row before next day stand-up.
3. Reduce next day community cap by breach hours (not pager ritual floor).
4. Attach actuals CSV to Thursday row review when D5 smoke runs.

fest_day,actual_pager_h,actual_community_h,actual_recovery_h,cap_breach
D1,3.5,2.5,2.0,false
D2,5.5,4.0,0.5,true

Store beside receipt as february-live-actuals-2027.csv for Sunday closeout (blog #11).

Printable producer card (pin above desk)

# February live week — founder timebox

- Receipt: fest_live_timebox_ok (T1–T6)
- Today pager outcome: ____________________
- Today community outcome: ____________________
- Pager cap / actual: ___ / ___
- Community cap / actual: ___ / ___
- Recovery cap / actual: ___ / ___
- HOTFIX allowed only with HOTFIX-00_ on list (blog #10)
- Hour-one funnel CSV due D4 — [hour-one funnel evening](/blog/your-first-hour-one-demo-funnel-snapshot-csv-steam-wishlist-clicks-one-evening-2026)
- No unreceipted setlive on crash threads alone

Defer list examples (live week)

Rule: Queue watching is admin, not pager—cap at 15 min/day in admin lane.

Related GamineAI reads

• October fest prep time-box
• 7-day February RC smoke challenge
• February RC branch label evening
• January marketing spend cap
• Refund signal dashboard evening
• Wednesday demo smoke ritual
• BUILD_RECEIPT beginner pipeline
• Steam Playtest isolation playbook
• Forward: Hour-one funnel snapshot evening (blog #2)
• Forward: 5-night pager challenge (blog #4) — nightly P1–P5 during D1–D5

Key takeaways

1. February live week needs pager / community / recovery caps—not only October prep engineering vs marketing.
2. february_live_timebox_receipt_v1.json gates T1–T6 (distinct from October fest_week_capacity schema).
3. One evening fills D1–D7 table, defer list, verify script, and BUILD_RECEIPT fest_live_timebox_ok.
4. Pager ritual floor reserves smoke + row review before hotfix nights.
5. Community burst is batched moderation—pair live moderation tools M1–M6 pre-D1 and refund dashboard forward blog #9.
6. October time-box is prep cousin; this is live-week execution.
7. verify_february_live_timebox.sh gives CI one exit code for live-week discipline.
8. Forward #2 hour-one funnel CSV explains D4 pager/community split.
9. HOTFIX exception opinion blocks unreceipted mid-fest patches—#10 consumed.
10. Sunday closeout consumes nightly actual_* CSV in C6—#11 consumed.
11. Course 277 + Guide #38 forward own BUILD_RECEIPT milestone; this owns worksheet evening.
12. February cluster #1–#12 opens with live-week caps—pair hour-one funnel on D4; queue playbook owns defer polling; stream overlay O pass before community co-stream.

FAQ

Is this the same as the October fest week time-box worksheet?
No—October splits engineering vs marketing for prep (fest_week_capacity_receipt_v1). February live week splits pager, community, recovery (february_live_timebox_receipt_v1).

Can we skip recovery caps if we are a small team?
No—T1 requires recovery rows; skipping them is how D5 smoke fails.

Does this replace the 7-day RC challenge?
No—RC challenge owns pre-live smoke ladder; this owns live-week hour lanes.

What if we already filed January marketing cap?
Keep it—cash caps complement hour caps; cross-link SR rules when paid social runs during live week.

Where does hour-one funnel data go?
D4 community/pager split should reference blog #2 snapshot CSV—not gut feel.

February cluster — what ships after this?
Blog-Create #2 hour-one demo funnel snapshot evening; planner row #2 in data/blog-plan.md.

What is recovery_cap in practice?
Sleep, meals, and non-work buffer—not “optional slack.” Teams that set recovery to 0 on D2–D4 fail T1 honesty checks and skip D5 smoke.

Can two founders share one receipt?
Yes—set founder_count: 2 and split pager vs community owners per day in notes; still one receipt file for stand-ups.

Does Steamworks provide hour-one funnel CSV?
Steam reporting varies by app setup—blog #2 owns export normalization; this worksheet only reserves D4 hours for that pass.