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Lights to place indoors (tallow candle, torch stand); docs brought up to date; the journey plan; sticky teleports in net tests; protocol 15

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Paul Bailey
2026-11-06 13:56:43 +00:00
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@@ -164,3 +164,104 @@ its edge or animals that spawn in the sea.
wolves sooner, or keep the same grace period everywhere?
4. **Which second worldlet first:** Cove (sea fishing, the beach you
mentioned) is my suggestion.
## 10. The journey: tunnelling out (proposal, Nov 2026)
A goal for the game, from Paul: once you have a good enough pick, you tunnel
through the mountain rim into the next, slightly harder worldlet, and now and
then go back to earlier ones for what only they have. This is option B
(linked worldlets) from §2, reached by digging rather than a path.
### The shape of it
- **A chain of worldlets**, each a little harder: Valley (today's island) →
Cove (sea, salt, mackerel) → Highlands (cold, deep snow, bigger packs) →
Marsh (bog iron, sickness, mists) → the Ember, the volcanic heart the game
is named for: the end of the journey.
- **The goal**, something to tell players on day 1: Old Tam talks of the
land beyond the mountains, where the fire in the earth still burns. Reach
the Ember and light the old beacon there. (Whether there's an ending or
it's open-ended is a question below.)
- **Gates:** each tunnel needs the best tool from the worldlet you're in.
The antler pickaxe (from the Old Stag) opens the Valley's tunnel; the
Highlands need a pick made from something found in the Cove, and so on.
Each worldlet has its own boss or trial, like the Old Stag.
### A different crossing each time (Paul, Nov 2026)
Players have to work out how to get from each worldlet to the next, and
it's a different way every time: tunnelling, climbing, burrowing, sailing.
Each crossing is that worldlet's puzzle, and what it needs comes from what
you've learned and gathered there:
| From → to | Crossing | Needs (a first idea) |
|---|---|---|
| Valley → Cove | **Tunnel** through the rim at a seam | the antler pickaxe, timber props, light |
| Cove → Highlands | **Sail** out of the bay and round the headland | a boat (planks, nails, a hide sail, rope), calm weather, food that keeps |
| Highlands → Marsh | **Climb** a frozen cliff | climbing picks and rope, warmth to last the climb (bear cloak, pemmican) |
| Marsh → Ember | **Burrow** under the old lava crust | a digging tool from bog iron, and a way through the heat and gas |
- **The hint, not the answer:** each worldlet shows its way out without
explaining it: a seam in the rock with old pick marks, a wrecked boat on
the beach, rope frayed on a cliff ledge. Old Tam (and his tips) nudge,
and the guide can keep it vague.
- **Coming back** uses the same crossing in reverse (the tunnel stays dug,
the boat stays moored, the rope stays fixed), so supply runs get easier
once you've made the way.
- **New systems this needs, one per crossing:** digging into a rim seam
(tunnel and burrow share most of it), a boat you build and steer on the
water, and climbing a marked face. Each is a phase of its own (J1 tunnel;
later the sail, the climb, the burrow).
### Tunnelling (the first crossing)
- **Where:** each worldlet's rim has one or two **seams**: cracked, darker
rock faces with a few loose stones at the foot, findable by exploring
(and Old Tam's tips). The rim stays a wall everywhere else.
- **How:** hit a seam with a good enough pick, many times. Each stretch dug
needs **timber props** (wood) or it falls back in, and it's dark in there:
candles, torch stands or a lantern. The tunnel is a short, built-for-it
cave (a few bends, maybe a side chamber with ore or a hazard), so it
stays hand-made rather than a hole through the terrain mesh, which the
heightmap can't do.
- **Through:** the far end opens onto the next worldlet. Walking out loads
it (a short fade, "The Cove"), with your bag, cloak and stats as they are.
### Why go back
- **Each worldlet has things the others lack.** Clay and salt only in the
Valley and Cove; little wood in the Highlands; no bears outside the
Valley (so bear fat for candles and pemmican is a supply run); a fish or
herb only one place has. Food that keeps (pemmican, salted and smoked
meat, clay jars) becomes what you carry between them.
- **Your bases stay** where you built them: each worldlet keeps its own
save file, so your Valley hut, chests and jars are waiting.
- **Time:** a worldlet you're not in stands still (as a server does with
nobody on), so a base you left doesn't starve or get raided.
### Building it (phases)
| Phase | Delivers | Done when |
|---|---|---|
| **W0-W2** | the worldlet groundwork above (terrain pipeline, worldlet in the save, several water bodies) | as §8 |
| **J1** | seams in the rim, digging with props and light, a tunnel scene, travel between two worldlets in single-player, per-worldlet save files | dig through from the Valley, walk to the Cove, walk back to your hut |
| **W3** | the Cove (§5) as the second worldlet | its suites pass, and its tunnel back works |
| **J2** | gates and supply needs: tool tiers per tunnel, resources only some worldlets have | a test bot can't open the second tunnel without the Cove's pick |
| **J3** | multiplayer travel (see below) | two players in different worldlets on one server, or the rule we choose |
| **J4** | Highlands, Marsh, the Ember and its ending | the journey can be finished |
### Multiplayer: the hard part
A server today runs one island. Options:
- **Everyone together:** travel needs every player at the tunnel (like the
sleep rule). Simplest; one worldlet runs at a time.
- **Spread out:** the server runs each worldlet that has someone in it.
The most freedom, and the most work and CPU.
- **Party leader:** whoever goes through brings the others with a vote.
### Questions for you
1. **The ending:** a real ending at the Ember (light the beacon, a last
boss, the credits) or open-ended (the journey is the goal, keep living)?
2. **The crossings:** do the four above fit (tunnel, sail, climb, burrow),
and in that order? Should a worldlet have more than one way out (a hard
one and a long one)? And for the tunnel: only at marked seams, or
anywhere in the rim (more freedom, harder to make good tunnels)?
3. **Multiplayer:** everyone together, spread out, or a party vote?
4. **How much harder** each worldlet: stronger animals and weather only, or
new rules too (thirst in the Ember, sickness in the Marsh)?
5. **Order:** Cove second (sea fishing, gentle) as planned, or straight
into the Highlands for a harder step?