The idea for this little game started with the 2022 Global Game Jam. The theme was “duality”, and I’ve always been fascinated with the “map/territory relation” explored by Borges and others. I decided to explore what it might be like if the map were the territory, and this is the result.

So far I’m pretty happy with it. The goal of the prototype is simple – learn how to change the world so you can get out. The visual theme is dungeon-like, simply because I happened to have assets of that form available (and I’m not much of an artist).

I don’t yet know what I want the underlying fiction to be, but I’m toying with the idea that you find yourself trapped at the bottom of a half-finished dungeon, in a kind of inversion of Rogue. One wonders how (and why) anyone would construct something as large and complex as a typical video game dungeon, and perhaps the magic of their construction lies in the creation of models that then manifest in the dungeon’s constructs. And what if you found yourself in one where something went wrong partway through construction, leaving the models and other detritus lying about? I like the idea of telling a story through the remains of this process, and with a little Terry Pratchett style humor, with a touch of the old Dungeon Keeper, for those who remember the 90s.

Just a rough idea at this point, but I think it could be fun. There are a lot of interesting challenges and puzzles one can explore with these parts. I created a Discord server, and a public issue tracker (mostly for my own purposes, but feel free to comment and vote if you like). Feel free to follow along if you want to look over my shoulder, or offer ideas. I’d love to hear them!