Rephrased Game Macro

Source: Google Sheet

Last synced: 2026-09-23 16:00 UTC

Data hash: fdae09ca2f1619ea99fa767993887c8e8e711f18905318b3e9593d2b0b70b160

This page is generated by sync_rephrased_game_macro.py for the website/wiki and personal vault. Edit the Google Sheet, not this file.

At a glance

• Macro areas: 5
• Design beats / sub-areas: 34
• Verbs acquired in sheet: Repair, Open, Rise, Freeze, Grow, Rotate, Destroy
• Nouns acquired in sheet: Door, Tile, Sky, Stair, Tree, Water, Wall, Column, Wind, Mirror, Box, Light, Fire, Fake World, True World
• How to edit: change the Google Sheet; this page is regenerated weekly.

Area index

Area	Beats	Acquired runes	Design summary
Scholar Shrine + The Archive	10	Repair, Open, Door, Tile, Sky, Stair	Player will encounter the first several runes, be able to witness and build up the connection between runes activation and environmental ch…
Star Tree Grove + Mirror Lake	10	Rise, Freeze, Tree, Water, Wall, Column, Wind, Mirror	The first natural area that player visits, where they will acquire runes of the same kind. Grove is an area the features a (really small) o…
Cascade Town	6	Grow, Box, Light	A vegetation-rich town where the player’s goal is to ascend from the lowest level to the highest, using various objects throughout the town…
Skyborne City + The Cricible	5	Rotate, Destroy, Fire	A city floating in the air, first revealed to the player through its reflection on Mirror Lake. Unlike the Cascade Town, the city is compos…
Astral Tower	3	Fake World, True World	The Astral Tower is an observatory connected to the Scholar’s Shrine, built for studying the night sky. For reasons unknown, the scholars s…

Rune progression

This is a readable summary of where verbs/nouns are acquired and which rune vocabulary appears in each macro area.

Area	Acquired verbs	Acquired nouns	Rune vocabulary used for design
Scholar Shrine + The Archive	Repair, Open	Door, Tile, Sky, Stair	Repair, Open, Destroy, Rise, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Tree, Freeze, Rotate
Star Tree Grove + Mirror Lake	Rise, Freeze	Tree, Water, Wall, Column, Wind, Mirror	Destroy, Grow, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Tree, Water, Mirror, Wind
Cascade Town	Grow	Box, Light	Repair, Rotate, Open, Rise, Grow, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Tree, Water, Light, Wind
Skyborne City + The Cricible	Rotate, Destroy	Fire	Repair, Rotate, Open, Destroy, Rise, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Water, Mirror
Astral Tower	—	Fake World, True World	Sky, Fake World, True World

Area briefs

1. Scholar Shrine + The Archive

Player will encounter the first several runes, be able to witness and build up the connection between runes activation and environmental change, then go through the tutorial and learn about Mind Palace(the notebook) and Mind Drawing(the output feature). Player will have the chance to start test around with the runes they have, then realize there're puzzles they can't solve yet. They will also encounter information fragments, runes that only can be used by combining with runes that will be gained in later games (=resources that they don't know how to use yet)

Rune notes: - Acquired here: Repair, Open, Door, Tile, Sky, Stair - Used / relevant here: Repair, Open, Destroy, Rise, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Tree, Freeze, Rotate

Beats

1000 · center, in front of the destroyed scholar statue

Sol lying on the ground, one hand touching an unknown rune. After a while his body starts to glow. Then he uncounciously triggered that rune, and gets brought back to life. A skeleton lies not far away

Acquires: Repair

Player goals: Press the button to interact and be able to start the game and walk around

Design goals: Showcase the process of a basic rune combination trigger changes

Experience goals: The player should get their first visual exposure to the runes and vaguely sense their supernatural effects: the character “revives.”

1001 · 1st floor

Sol seems to be in a half-destroyed shrine. Realized that he can remember nothing, he starts to explore

Player goals: Find the door that leads to another building

Design goals: - To some extent give the player freedom to explore without too much guidance - There're murals on walls but all of them are broken, meaning that there will be no information available for collecting until the player comes back again and repair them

Experience goals: The player should feel unsure of what is happening and move forward with questions in mind, gradually discovering the target door within a limited, explorable space.

1002 · hallway

Sol finds a door with rune Open carved on it

Acquires: Open, Door

Rune vocabulary: Open, Door

Player goals: Open the door

Design goals: - Teach the player to how interact with the physical rune in the level, and make the player trigger a door opening sequence by doing so - Ensure there is a physical barrier preventing the player from returning to the area where Revive is located once they reach the door.

Experience goals: The player should, through their own actions, discover for the first time how individual runes can be combined and witness the effect of that combination.

1020 · 1st floor, to Star Tree Grove

A locked door with no runes on it

Rune vocabulary: Open, Door

1040 · to Skyborne City

Around the edge of the Scholar Shrine, a section that used to be connected with Skyborne City

Rune vocabulary: Freeze, Tile

1050 · door to Astral Tower

A huge door that opens Astral Tower

Rune vocabulary: Rotate, Open, Destroy

1100 · 1st floor

A more intact space compared to the Scholar Shrine, with fully preserved floors and staircases

Acquires: Tile

Player goals: Find a route to proceed

Design goals: Tell the player that this location has been better preserved.

1101 · 2nd floor, main hall

When Sol enters the main hall, memory starts to flood into his mind, and he recalls that he was taught this rune-based language in this archive, by someone(the scholar) he doesn't seem to know anymore. Starting from the 3 runes (Repair, Open, Door), Sol now also starts to restore his memory little by little in his mind

Player goals: - Learn about Mind Palace, and how to match meanings to the runes there (essentially the pause menu) - Learn about Mind Drawing to combine strokes to create runes

Design goals: - Convey to the player that the Mind Palace represents the character’s memories and also serves as the player’s notebook, where they can annotate the meanings of runes based on their own understanding without needing to correctly identify the meaning of every rune. - Teach the player the process of creating runes through Mind Drawing.

Experience goals: The player should understand three things: through memories of learning the language, they recognize the connection between the character and the runes; they understand that the Mind Palace is their mind and a place for storing runes; and they use Mind Drawing to spell and activate their first rune, which produces no effect.

1102 · 2nd floor, mural room

A mural that shows a group of people performing a ritual to the heavens

Acquires: Sky, Stair

Rune vocabulary: Repair, Wall

Player goals: Read the mural

Design goals: Allow the player to read the Sky and Stair runes from the mural, with Stair being useful for a later puzzle and Sky serving only as a piece of knowledge whose significance is unknown for now.

Experience goals: The player should understand that murals are information-bearing elements in the game world, develop a relatively accurate understanding of the meaning of Stair, and form a vague understanding of the meaning of Sky.

1103 · 2nd floor, mural

Sol rotates the wall where the mural is on and gets to see the backside of it

Rune vocabulary: Rotate, Wall

2. Star Tree Grove + Mirror Lake

The first natural area that player visits, where they will acquire runes of the same kind. Grove is an area the features a (really small) open world ish exploration experience, but with a bunch of interest point scattered within(e.g. a rather intact ruin unlike the Shrine, where player will acquire noun such as column and wall) The Lake is where the player sees water reflection for the first time, and notice there seems to be someting in it=there's something floating in the sky.

The old shrine copies the exact layout of the Shrine(in the past), but was abandoned for research reasons, where time stops.

Rune notes: - Acquired here: Rise, Freeze, Tree, Water, Wall, Column, Wind, Mirror - Used / relevant here: Destroy, Grow, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Tree, Water, Mirror, Wind

Beats

2000 · section connected to Scholar Shrine

The edge of the Grove near the Scholar Shrine and the Archive, where the woods are relatively sparse and several small-scale ruins are scattered throughout.

Acquires: Tree, Water

2030 · section connected to Cascade Town

Part of the Grove that leads to Cascade Town

Player goals: Traverse through this part of the forest to get close to Cascade Town

Design goals: Allow the player to see the town from a distance throughout the area, or from specific locations, using strong visual guidance to lead them out of the Grove.

Experience goals: The player should go through a traversal-focused sequence, with at most a few simple, scattered puzzles.

2040 · ruins above the basement

The first relatively intact ruin the player encounters after leaving the Shrine and Archive, with murals depicting how these places were constructed by people in the past.

Acquires: Wall, Column

2041 · entrance to the basement

2050 · section connected to Scholar Grave

An area constantly swept by strong winds, where Sol discovers that he cannot move against the wind.

Acquires: Wind

Player goals: Realize that this area cannot be traversed, the player turns around and explores elsewhere.

Design goals: - Clearly communicate the direction of the wind through visual cues. - Clearly communicate the player character struggling against the wind through feedback. - Establish clear boundaries through elements other than the wind, so players do not spend too long repeatedly searching for a way forward.

2060 · 20_Star Tree Grove

A level to teach the player about Rise

Acquires: Rise

2100 · 21_Mirror Lake

Sol looks into the Lake, and he sees a reflection of a pipe-like things that is glowing at the bottom of Skyborne City. It also looks like a rune

Acquires: Mirror

2200 · 22_Scholar_Shrine_old

Visually identical to the Scholar Shrine before its destruction. Inside, there is an area resembling a cold storage room

Acquires: Freeze

2300 · 23_Scholar_Grave

Rune vocabulary: Grow

2400 · 24_Space_Under

3. Cascade Town

A vegetation-rich town where the player’s goal is to ascend from the lowest level to the highest, using various objects throughout the town to create a path upward. This is also the first time the player becomes aware of large-scale structures in the environment that resemble the runes they have encountered, operating on a much larger scale and exerting a greater influence on the environment. However, the player does not yet know how to make use of this information. For example, how to interact with these enormous environmental runes.

A bunch of lights are scattered in the town because part the it is in the shadow of the Skyborne City

Rune notes: - Acquired here: Grow, Box, Light - Used / relevant here: Repair, Rotate, Open, Rise, Grow, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Tree, Water, Light, Wind

Beats

3000 · entrance 1

Sol trying to find a way to cross a cliff

Rune vocabulary: Repair

Player goals: Find a way to cross the cliff and enter the Town

Design goals: Provide the player with rather obvious hints about how they can cross the cliff (if the puzzle is about repairing a bridge then give the clear visual hints)

Experience goals: The player should feel that they understood and solved the puzzle naturally and intuitively

3001 · entrance 2

Sol trying to find a way to cross a river. This entrance leads the player to the Garden

Rune vocabulary: Freeze, Water

Player goals: Find a way to cross the river and enter the Town

Design goals: - Differenciate the impression from entrance 1 - Help player focus on the river to realize the puzzle involves the river itself not some other objects around it - There shouldn't be any hint about rune Freeze itself, but those about Schorlar_Shrine_old are good (where you can find the rune Freeze)

Experience goals: The player should feel that they entered the level through an unconventional route and were rewarded for doing so. For players who have already entered from the intended front entrance, the visual experience should feel noticeably different

3010 · town in sunlight, 1st and 2nd layer

Sol ascends to the 2nd layer of the town

Acquires: Box

Rune vocabulary: Repair, Open, Box

Player goals: Ascend to the 2nd layer of the town

Design goals: - A level that can be played even the player has only explored the Scholar_Shrine - Player can still finish the level without having access to rune Rise - There can be trees that can't not be interacted with yet.

Experience goals: The player should feel that, despite encountering an artificial architectural structure similar to the Scholar’s Shrine and drawing from a similar pool of puzzles, the experience of solving them is distinct. The presence of vegetation should also be noticeable

3020 · Garden, 2nd layer

Sol finds this garden that belongs to a person whose name is Luna, and he learns about her research on forcing the plant to grow

Acquires: Grow

Rune vocabulary: Open, Door, Stair, Tree

Player goals: - Enter the Garden - Learn that Tree is also one kind of environmental element that can be affected by runes

Design goals: - Teach the player about rune Grow - Provide player with lore of Luna and her research

Experience goals: The player should feel the atmosphere of a garden-like laboratory built around vegetation and recognize the NPC’s importance to the narrative.

3030 · town in shadow, 2nd layer, 3rd layer

Sol enters the part of the town where it's all in the shadow of Skyborne City in the sky.

Acquires: Light

Rune vocabulary: Rise, Grow, Tree, Light

Player goals: Find a way to ascend to 3rd layer

Design goals: - Teach player about rune Light and how to play with them - Suggest that the tree needs light of any kind to grow - Rune Rise is required for player to reach the next layer

Experience goals: The player should experience a distinct change in atmosphere through shifts in light and shadow, with the qualities of light itself being the primary focus while also becoming somewhat aware of the presence of shadows.

3040 · top of the town, 4th layer

Sol reaches the top of the town and sees the whole structure of the town looks just like part of a rune top-down, but it doesn't seem activated. Then he finds the way here to go to the Skyborne City

Rune vocabulary: Rise, Wind

Player goals: Find a way to ascend to Skyborne City

Design goals: - Provide the player with the moment of looking back at all the layers they've climbed so far and realize it looks like part of a big rune top-down(doesn't need to explicit, and it's okay if they notice nothing) - The first time player can use rune Wind to solve a puzzle - There will only be 1 puzzle for this area

Experience goals: The player should experience how changes in perspective alter their perception of large-scale objects in the game world, realizing that from a greater distance, they also appear to have rune-like structures.

4. Skyborne City + The Cricible

A city floating in the air, first revealed to the player through its reflection on Mirror Lake. Unlike the Cascade Town, the city is composed almost entirely of architectural structures. A complex network of aqueducts and pipelines runs throughout the city, supplying cooling water to The Crucible. The underside of the city—the part visible in the lake’s reflection—is a series of waterways running through its foundations. These channels are continuously activated by the rune Rise, providing the force that keeps the city suspended in the air.

The Crucible is where the runes are created.

The player must, for the first time, deconstruct a rune by disrupting an active Rise rune, causing the entire city to fall from the sky to the ground.

This is also the place where the player learns about the way to interact with environmental runes of bigger scale.

Rune notes: - Acquired here: Rotate, Destroy, Fire - Used / relevant here: Repair, Rotate, Open, Destroy, Rise, Freeze, Column, Wall, Door, Stair, Tile, Box, Water, Mirror

Beats

4000 · Entrance

A level to teach the player about Rotate

Acquires: Rotate

Player goals: Learn the basic usage of Rotate

4010 · 40_Skyborne_City

4030 · mirror chamber

A place where the architects once studied how to harness sunlight. It was here that they invented mirrors.

Rune vocabulary: Rotate, Mirror

Player goals: Learn to create runes using mirror reflection.

Design goals: - The puzzle design should progress from simple to complex: early puzzles should focus primarily on the light beams themselves, gradually transitioning toward puzzles that allow players to manipulate the mirrors. - The visual cues indicating that the mirrors are interactive should be relatively subtle.

Experience goals: The player should feel the connection between the mirror-based puzzles and the area’s theme, while reinforcing their understanding of the reflective properties of mirrors.

4100 · 41_The_Crucible

A place where the architects created interactive runes

Acquires: Destroy, Fire

4090 · city bottom

Sol finally reaches the bottom of the city, allowing him to examine the pipes that form the enormous Rise rune up close. He attempts to alter the structure of these pipes.

Rune vocabulary: Destroy

Player goals: Learn how to destroy active environmental runes

Design goals: - Use narrative clues to communicate that returning the City to the ground is the intended solution. - Use clear design language at the boundaries with the other two areas to communicate that these areas are physically connected.

Experience goals: The player should experience another perspective on rune puzzles, realizing that they can also progress by deconstructing runes.

5. Astral Tower

The Astral Tower is an observatory connected to the Scholar’s Shrine, built for studying the night sky. For reasons unknown, the scholars sealed it away, and it can only be opened after the player has visited all major areas of the world. The tower provides the player with a panoramic view overlooking the entire world below, as well as another large body of water for stargazing

Rune notes: - Acquired here: Fake World, True World - Used / relevant here: Sky, Fake World, True World

Beats

5000 · 50_Astral Tower

Acquires: Fake World

Rune vocabulary: Sky, Fake World, True World

5000 · 50_Astral Tower

Acquires: True World

Rune vocabulary: Sky, Fake World, True World

5000 · 50_Astral Tower

Rune vocabulary: Sky, Fake World, True World

Change history

• 2026-09-27 — Gabriel Li — Re-synced from the Google Sheet (2026-09-23 generation).