# A Map of Quiet Places — V1 design

An original native iPhone voyage for Galax Games. A lone cartographer tends an ivory crescent-sail vessel, follows gentle currents and charts twelve unusual places. The reward is a fuller atlas and a ship that can reach further. There is no combat, failure state, streak, notification schedule or manufactured urgency.

## A course of your own

The ship travels automatically, then surveys during the final quarter of each passage. Arrivals pay Discoveries, the principal spendable resource. Trace across the voyage scene or use Gather a current: both fill exactly the same charge meter, under the same 0.8-second input limit. Five initial touches fill the sail, granting 90 seconds at 1.7× travel and surveying speed. Charge never decays. Current upgrades reduce the required touches and improve the boost.

Select a short passage for an earlier arrival, a long expedition for greater returns, or an unfamiliar current for a new atlas entry. Selection is queued: the present arrival completes before the ship turns. The chosen route repeats automatically, including offline, until changed. Previously charted places can also be selected directly from the Atlas. No elapsed travel is discarded by choosing a different course.

First visits pay a 75% arrival bonus, 4 Postmarks and a lasting 3% additive arrival-reward bonus per place. An exceptional survey doubles every seventh arrival; Current gathering can improve this to every third. These results are deterministic across saving and offline integration.

## A vessel that changes

Six equipment families improve solar sails, instruments, Navigation, scouts, cargo and current gathering. Sails subtly expand; scouts become visible alongside the vessel. Navigation reveals routes and adds a small speed benefit. Scouts, cargo and current upgrades enter the workshop after one, two and three places respectively. The active current interaction is available immediately.

Discoveries can be spent freely: New Bearings uses total expedition earnings, not the unspent balance. Ship → Beginnings contains reviewable descriptions of both resets. Each has a separate confirmation.

New Bearings concludes an expedition and adds permanent navigational Knowledge. Passing the Atlas gives a new generation broader production and travel benefits, better starting equipment, more offline capacity and access to the final region. Total Knowledge and the entire atlas remain through both. See BALANCE.md for the exact formulas and reset table.

## The finite atlas

| Region | Places |
| --- | --- |
| The Nearwater | Lantern Reach; The Folded Moon; The Glass Grove; The Listening Ring |
| The Pale Expanse | Porcelain Shore; The Tidal Library; Cradle of Comets; The Quiet Meridian |
| Beyond the Fold | The Anchorless Garden; The Far Bell; The Weaver's Horizon; The Last Haven |

Each has original landmark artwork, a distinct arrival cue and one short observation. The final discovery presents an atlas-completion message. Deep surveys then provide a six-distance, eight-reward repeatable course. Further New Bearings, equipment improvements and generations remain available. There is no requirement to erase a completed atlas.

## Presentation

Midnight blue, muted turquoise, pale apricot and warm ivory. Dusk is subdued; Night is darker. Device mode follows the iPhone appearance. The main voyage uses SpriteKit with gently moving currents, sail motion, scout motion and restrained collection rings. SwiftUI provides readable controls, flexible text and scrolling content. System Reduce Motion and the app preference both suppress decorative movement. Haptics are optional.

The original score consists of a 96-second title theme and three 180-second regional arrangements sharing a synchronised foundation. Only the selected regional part and foundation are audible during a voyage. Music and effects have separate saved levels. The app is complete without sound.

## Scope deliberately kept small

Offline single-player; local saves and recovery; no account, server, advertising SDK, subscriptions, leaderboard, push notifications or social system. Premium Postmarks and three permanent conveniences are optional. All twelve destinations and both prestige systems are accessible without purchases. No ad-removal product is sold because the game contains no advertising.