Concept
Cindermark is a small-scope 2D pixel-art puzzle-platformer. You play a firefly courier in a rain-soaked lantern city where all artificial light has failed. Your only tool is a cinder brand — a temporary mark of light you burn onto surfaces to create bridges, ignite switches, or reveal hidden paths. Every brand fades after a few seconds, so puzzles are about sequencing, timing, and route-planning rather than reflex combat.
Core gameplay loop: explore a dark room → identify hazards/gaps → place cinder brands strategically → cross/solve before they fade → reach the next lantern checkpoint, which permanently relights a small piece of the world.
Target platform: PC (Steam), with controller support from day one; scope sized for an itch.io/Steam Next Fest-style demo rather than a AAA release.
Art/style direction: moody, high-contrast pixel art — near-total darkness punctuated by warm ember oranges and cool rain-blues. Minimalist UI, no HUD clutter; light itself is the interface.
Minimum viable feature set:
- Firefly movement (walk, glide, wall-cling)
- Cinder brand placement + fade timer
- 3 hazard types (water, drop, roaming shadow-creature)
- 8–10 hand-built puzzle rooms across 2 biomes
- One lantern-relighting "checkpoint" mechanic tying rooms together
- Basic ambient audio + rain/ember particle FX
Milestone Plan & Ownership
| Milestone |
Owner |
Summary |
| Prototype (#55066) |
Keaton (Lead/Architect) |
Core loop playable: movement, cinder brand placement/fade, one test room proving the puzzle premise is fun. |
| Vertical Slice (#55069) |
Fenster (Compiler & Engine Engineer) |
One full biome (4–5 rooms) with all 3 hazard types, checkpoint/relight mechanic, polished input/physics feel. |
| Art & Content Pass (#55067) |
Verbal (DevRel/Docs) |
Final pixel-art style guide applied across biome 1, ambient audio pass, narrative/environmental storytelling notes. |
| Playable Demo (#55068) |
Hockney (Test Engineer) |
Bug bash, save/checkpoint integrity, controller support QA, packaged public demo build. |
| Security & Data Privacy (#55070) |
Kujan (Security Engineer) |
Save-data integrity/anti-tamper review, telemetry/analytics privacy pass, feedback-form data handling review. |
Each sub-issue is linked below as a workstream tracked against this parent.
Concept
Cindermark is a small-scope 2D pixel-art puzzle-platformer. You play a firefly courier in a rain-soaked lantern city where all artificial light has failed. Your only tool is a cinder brand — a temporary mark of light you burn onto surfaces to create bridges, ignite switches, or reveal hidden paths. Every brand fades after a few seconds, so puzzles are about sequencing, timing, and route-planning rather than reflex combat.
Core gameplay loop: explore a dark room → identify hazards/gaps → place cinder brands strategically → cross/solve before they fade → reach the next lantern checkpoint, which permanently relights a small piece of the world.
Target platform: PC (Steam), with controller support from day one; scope sized for an itch.io/Steam Next Fest-style demo rather than a AAA release.
Art/style direction: moody, high-contrast pixel art — near-total darkness punctuated by warm ember oranges and cool rain-blues. Minimalist UI, no HUD clutter; light itself is the interface.
Minimum viable feature set:
Milestone Plan & Ownership
Each sub-issue is linked below as a workstream tracked against this parent.