Design pillars

1. The tide is the clock

Time is the only resource that never grows. Every system reads the tide: harvest yields, storm odds, prices in the village, even the Archivist's patience. Players always know how many minutes of dry ground they have left, and the answer changes how they play.

• Do: show the tide on the HUD, the horizon and the sound mix at once.
• Do: let players buy time with skill (a faster route, a shared sledge), never with currency.
• Don't: pause the tide for menus, crafting or dialogue.

2. Every crystal holds a memory

Loot is story. Each memory crystal replays a moment of the drowned city: a wedding, a flood drill, a library closing for the last time. Collecting is how players learn the world, so no crystal is filler and none is only a number.

• Do: write every crystal as a scene with a speaker, a place and a year.
• Don't: ship a crystal whose only purpose is a stat.

3. A crew, never a hero

Nobody carries a tide alone. Roles overlap enough that a solo player can finish the game, but every task gets faster, safer and funnier with a second pair of hands. No player matters more than the others.

• Do: design tools that need two people at the best moments (the big sledge, the lens crane).
• Don't: add a leaderboard inside a crew.