Rune language¶

This is the design-facing view of the rune system: what runes mean to players, how sentence grammar should feel, and what behaviors are approved for puzzle design. Engineering implementation details live in Rune system core.

Rune categories¶

Category	Purpose	Examples
Noun runes	Identify object classes or concepts in the world.	Tree, stone, fire, water flow, clock, time
Verb runes	Describe a tendency or rule applied to the subject.	Transform into, move toward, rotate, reverse/grow/rewind concepts
World/meta runes	Affect the wider world state or interpretation layer.	Reserved for later act structure

Sentence patterns¶

Pattern	Design meaning
`NOUN + VERB`	Apply a one-target behavior to all matching subject objects.
`VERB + NOUN`	Apply a one-target behavior per GDD. Planned in validator — see GDD implementation status.
`NOUN + VERB + NOUN`	Apply a relationship between subject and object nouns.

Noun behavior notes¶

Tree — affected by gravity; horizontal branches can become walkable.
Stone — affected by gravity; can act as walkable geometry.
Fire — can burn nearby trees or other flammable targets.
Water flow — has direction and depth; can push or buoy objects.
Clock parts — second hand, minute hand, hour hand, gear, starry sky, polishing bench, and time are narrative-bearing nouns for the clock puzzle family.

Verb behavior notes¶

Verb names are player-facing clues, not hard definitions. A verb should behave like a tendency whose exact outcome depends on the noun pairing.

Verb	Baseline design expectation
Transform into	`A + verb + B` changes A into B while preserving location, rotation, and scale.
Move toward	`A + verb + B` moves A toward the nearest B at activation, blocked by obstacles.
Rotate	Usually changes orientation or starts rotation for matching subject objects.
Reverse / rewind	Returns or inverts a state based on the noun context.

Unless a puzzle specifies otherwise, removing a valid sentence should remove the ongoing effect and restore the target to its prior state.

Authoring rule¶

Each new rune should answer:

What does the player observe before learning the word?
What sentence pattern introduces it safely?
What is the clearest first puzzle that proves its meaning?
Which noun/verb combinations are intentionally unsupported?

Change history¶

2026-05-23 — Gabriel Li — Sentence patterns synced to GDD; VERB + NOUN links implementation status.