Ember Horde

The problem

One of the newest genres in the museum takes away the trigger. You only walk; your character acts on its own; you choose where to stand and which upgrade to take. That moves the game into your feet and your choices. That leaves a question: if the player is not watching a trigger, what should they be watching?

The rule that solved it

Make the answer one thing: the light. You walk a lantern-bearer through eight minutes of shadow-moths, and the radius of your light is your health. Everything you throw only reaches as far as your light shines. Every touch from a moth shrinks the light; the wisps that fallen moths leave behind bring it back. So getting stronger and staying safe are one thing, and the edge of the light is where the danger is.

At each level-up you pick one of three upgrade cards. Survive the eight minutes and you see dawn. Your score is your time, the moths you cleared, your level, and a bonus for reaching dawn.

What we left out

What we left out was the trigger, and with it a separate health bar: your fire fires itself, and the light is the only meter. The moth waves, wisp drops and level-up cards all come from the run’s seed, so a run can be replayed and checked before its score counts.

Try this

Spend a minute standing still and watch how far your light reaches, then walk toward the wisps and watch it grow. Every choice in the game comes back to that circle. At each level-up, read all three cards before you take one, because the cards are dealt by the seed and a replay of the same run will offer the same choices. Survive to dawn for the bonus.

The maker’s note

The twist is the lantern: the radius of your light is your health, and everything you throw only reaches as far as it shines. Every touch from a moth shrinks it; wisps from fallen moths bring it back. Survive eight minutes to see dawn. The moth waves, wisp drops and level-up cards come from the run's seed, so a run can be replayed and checked. Score is time, moths, level, and a bonus for reaching dawn.

This is the note printed on the game’s own page. The Daily Puzzle Hall explains the idea it borrows, under three design ideas we borrowed.