Lesson 215: Steam Refund Signal Dashboard Receipt on BUILD_RECEIPT (2026)

Direct answer: Create refund-signals.csv with stable columns, join every row to build_label (same spine as upload logs), run a Friday 15-minute review, then file refund_dashboard_receipt_v1.json on BUILD_RECEIPT. The evening beginner pipeline teaches the spreadsheet; this lesson is the live-ops receipt gate after Lesson 214 crash correlation.

Why this matters now (fest week one)

July–October 2026 fest traffic turns refund language into a build-identification problem:

1. “Crashes on launch” rows should point at symbolicated stacks—not generic gameplay.
2. “Lost save” rows should cross Lesson 212—not crash.
3. Deck heat / battery complaints may be MangoHud idle GPU case study—tag performance, not crash.
4. Store-copy drift still drives refunds when trailers promise co-op the demo lacks.

Producers need signals, not invented refund rates. This receipt proves the dashboard exists and blocker rows are closed before the next promotion.

Beginner path (30-minute receipt pass)

Time: ~30 minutes after blog schema exists; 45 minutes first fest week.

Developer path (gates V1–V6)

Weekly CSV schema (V1)

Required file: release-evidence/06-refunds/refund-signals.csv

refund_row_id,observed_date_utc,build_label,surface,platform,source,player_language_summary,tags,severity,status,linked_issue,notes
1,2026-05-20,fest-demo-2026-10-rc1,fest_public,deck,steam_review,"menu gpu heat",performance,major,open,,"see MangoHud case study"
2,2026-05-22,fest-demo-2026-10-rc2,fest_public,win64,support_email,"crash at boot",crash,blocker,fixed,GH-88,"Lesson 214 stack"

build_label replaces loose build_id when your BUILD_RECEIPT already standardized on VERSION spine—keep Steam build_id in notes if needed for Steamworks joins.

Friday review ritual (V3–V4)

Every Friday beside Thursday row review:

1. Export copy → release-evidence/06-refunds/weekly/2026-W21.csv
2. Count severity=blocker + status=open
3. If count > 0 → promotion_allowed: false on BUILD_RECEIPT until triaged or tagged wont-fix-demo-scope with FAQ update

Tag crosswalk (V5)

refund_dashboard_receipt_v1.json

{
  "schema": "refund_dashboard_receipt_v1",
  "build_label": "fest-demo-2026-10-rc2",
  "dashboard_path": "release-evidence/06-refunds/refund-signals.csv",
  "weekly_snapshot_path": "release-evidence/06-refunds/weekly/2026-W21.csv",
  "blocker_open_count": 0,
  "top_tags_last_7d": ["performance", "store-copy"],
  "paired_receipts": {
    "crash_symbolicate": "release-evidence/crash/CRASH_SYMBOLICATE_RECEIPT.json",
    "telemetry_session": "release-evidence/telemetry/TELEMETRY_SESSION_RECEIPT.json"
  },
  "gates": {
    "V1_csv_schema": "pass",
    "V2_build_label_join": "pass",
    "V3_weekly_snapshot": "pass",
    "V4_blocker_gate": "pass",
    "V5_cross_tag": "pass",
    "V6_receipt": "pass"
  },
  "promotion_allowed": true
}

Pin under release-evidence/06-refunds/REFUND_DASHBOARD_RECEIPT.json.

BUILD_RECEIPT columns

Proof table (fest week one)

Key takeaways

1. Refund signals ≠ refund rate—structure beats fabricated percentages.
2. build_label join is mandatory for multi-channel fest ops.
3. Friday snapshot proves ongoing discipline—not one-time spreadsheet.
4. blocker gate stops promotion while language screams launch failure.
5. Pair crash tags with Lesson 214—do not triage blind.
6. Save tags route to Lesson 212, not crash engineers.
7. Blog pipeline builds the sheet; this lesson receipt-gates promotion.
8. H1 capstone 217 rolls refund row into trust summary.

Prerequisites

• Refund signal dashboard beginner pipeline
• Lesson 214 — crash symbolicate
• BUILD_RECEIPT beginner pipeline
• Wednesday demo smoke

Common mistakes

• Logging refunds without build_label.
• Promoting while blocker rows open.
• Tagging everything gameplay.
• Skipping weekly CSV export.
• Inventing refund % in producer slides.

Troubleshooting

Mini exercise (45 minutes)

1. Copy blog CSV schema into 06-refunds/.
2. Add three synthetic rows (one blocker).
3. Resolve blocker → fixed with linked issue.
4. Export weekly/2026-W21.csv.
5. File receipt; set BUILD_RECEIPT blocker_open_count: 0.

Next: Lesson 216 — AI dialogue patch moderation.

Continuity — H1 2026 arc (212–217)

FAQ

No refunds yet?
File receipt with row_count: 0 and promotion_allowed: true only if fest not public—once live, V3 weekly snapshots required.

Chargebacks vs reviews?
Use source column; same schema.

HTML5-only demo?
Keep CSV—refund language still hits Steam store page for many teams.

Close blocker refund rows on paper before the next fest build promotion ships.