Light — Ryan O'Loughlin

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Light: visual system

One endless map at the site's own camera angle. Light is how you travel: wake a beacon, aim it onward, pick up the cubes behind you and carry them forward.

Colour

ocean · prism

earth · amplifier

purple · splitter

sand · diffuser

dusk

flame-core

flame

green · broken

Rules

PillarsOne pillar per beam a beacon needs. Each lights as its beam arrives; the one still waiting pulses.

Great beaconsOne far-off goal at a time: a faint column of light, three beams to wake, gifts on the way. Waking it reveals the next. A chevron at the screen edge points to it.

BeaconsOnce awake, a beacon stays lit and sends its own beam. Tap it to aim. Its beam is lantern-strength.

ReachLanterns ~12 cells, small beacons ~8, great beacons ~14; an amplifier adds 5. While you carry a cube, a dotted line shows where its light would go.

TerritoriesEach great beacon you wake moves you into new land: its tint is a blend of ocean, green and earth, and so are its features (more pillars, more breaks, more hidden things). Each land is sparser and its next great beacon further away.

SavingProgress after the first stretch is kept in this browser.

GiftsSmall floating cubes. Touch one with light to collect it.

BrokenCracked cubes pass weak, stuttering light. They can't be mended: pick one up to discard it and use another. A broken cube also leaks stray light sideways, which sometimes finds something hidden.

HiddenEarth-tinted beacons and houses no one can see until light touches them.

Hands

One fingerAlways cubes. Tap places or turns. Drag from anywhere carries a cube: near a cube picks it up; on empty ground pulls a new one from the tray. Drops land on the nearest free cell.

MapThe first stretch frames itself. Then: carry a cube to the screen edge and the view follows; tap near an edge to look that way; drag with nothing to carry; two fingers; edge arrows; right-drag.

TiltScroll wheel, or phone tilt (on the real site). The view also lifts while a cube is carried.

PlaceTap a cell for a ghost, tap again. Or drag from the tray.

CubeTap to select (rises, like on the site); tap again to turn; drag to move; return button or drop on the tray. Keys: R or space turns, Delete returns, arrows/WASD move the view, Esc deselects.

First stretch (no words)

1Lantern, beacon, one prism. Turn it.

2The beacon carries on north and finds a gift. A stone blocks the way: go around.

3A beacon that needs two beams. A splitter waits on the way.

4An old chain with one cracked prism. Find it, take it out, put yours in.