READER’S FORTRESS

“Reader’s Fortress” (working title) is a work-in-progress mobile game originally designed for the 7DRL (7-day roguelike) challenge in 2023 and is vaguely inspired by the 1958 film “The Hidden Fortress” directed by Akira Kurosawa.

It is best described as an esoteric adventure game where you explore a mazelike map and collect tiles. The main goal of the game is to activate the tiles and use them to unlock an Ancient Door within 40 days.

Note: playable build currently not available

please scroll down on this page to view video and text

Players can only carry 3 tiles at a time.
To activate the tiles, players must take them to a specific location on the map.
There, they place them within a contraption and spin a Wheel.
If the Wheel is spun fast enough, the tile is visibly charged and activated.
If an activated tile is equipped, the player will gain its ability.

For example: once charged, the MEMORY tile allows players to see all previously taken paths on the map. This helps them to minimize movement cost and avoid getting lost.

The two main resources in the game are Time and Energy.
Spinning the Wheel and moving on the Map both progress Time and cost Energy.
To regain Energy, players can Sleep, but this rapidly progresses Time.
If either of these resources are depleted, the player “dies” and the game starts again.

Each playthrough procedurally generates a new Map and a new set of symbols for the tiles.

Players won’t know which tile is which, unless:

A) the tile is presented to the Reader
B) an activated READER tile is equipped
C) they activate and equip a tile and are able to notice what has changed about the gameplay.

Some tiles have negative effects, such as the FATIGUE tile, which increases all Energy costs.

Others only have story-related effects, such as the DREAM tile. This tile shows the player short cutscenes while they’re asleep.

NPCs can be found in certain locations to trade with for tiles, or simply to provide story context.

The Fortress location contains a Library where players can learn the lore of the world. This also indirectly explains the abilities granted by the tiles.

Clues leading to the specific tiles that are required to unlock the Ancient Door can be found here.

The design goals for this project are to create something that is...

Super lightweight (i.e. doesn’t use too much phone storage or battery): To achieve this, all graphics are drawn using in-engine draw functions such as draw_line() etc.
Easy to pick up for a quick challenge, but still deep and mysterious: The 40-day time limit and frequent player “deaths” force a manageable 10-15 minute play session while the lore and esoteric mechanics create overarching depth.
A deliberate misinterpretation of roguelike qualities: tile-based, turn-based, procedurally generated, permadeath.
Like a fidget spinner (but mysterious and nerdy)
Board game-like in its mechanics and appeal.

Thanks for showing interest in Reader's Fortress. For the time being, I've suspended development on this project. Like with most of my jams and prototypes, it started "talking" to me and telling me what it wanted to be, and so rapidly expanded in scope and never made the 7DRL deadline. Significant events in my personal life (such as getting married and relocating) caused me to put it gently aside. I still think its ideas and aesthetic are cool – and it helped me discover a cozy sort of niche for myself in the "Esoteric Adventure" tag, and there's a good chance I might pick it up again in the future.

Just as a final note I'd like to acknowledge the potential loss of visual fidelity in the videos - getting single pixel width lines to scale nicely for video is challenging!