- 01Estimate round-trip cost
- 02Choose target and route
- 03Gather and monitor reserves
- 04Refill and depart again
Oxygen and return planning
Oxygen drains away from supply points, so exploration must budget the return trip and a reserve as well as reaching valuable targets.
The player's decision
Collect one more resource or return while the route remains affordable?
Original scenario
Original setup: ten oxygen units; movement and gathering each cost one. A resource four steps away costs nine round-trip, leaving only one spare action.
Start with this prototype
Build eight cave nodes, one oxygen source and three resources. Spend oxygen per discrete action and show known return cost. Return two items to win; retry depletion. Omit real-time swimming physics.
Change one variable
Vary reserve and resource depth; compare oxygen on return rather than assuming larger tanks improve play.
What to observe in a playtest
Can an exactly affordable return refill? Are actions charged once and resources restored on reset?
Take the full design card
Includes rules, scope, tuning questions and sources for further planning. It does not create a project automatically.
Original analysis · version 1
Common pitfall
Map distance must match movement cost, and supply reliability must be visible.
Observations and sources
Cases refer to public documentation. Developers and community wikis are credited separately; document review is not a claim of hands-on testing.
- Subnautica
Exploration consumes oxygen, while underwater habitats replenish it.
- Astroneer
Tethers extend oxygen supply into explored space, an infrastructure alternative to carried reserves.
Brief for the studio
Opens the AI studio with the brief below in the input. You can edit it. Nothing starts automatically.
Build eight cave nodes, one oxygen source and three resources. Spend oxygen per discrete action and show known return cost. Return two items to win; retry depletion. Omit real-time swimming physics.
Covers are original AI-generated style illustrations. Game names reference publicly visible design choices and remain the property of their owners. This atlas does not supply screenshots or assets from those games. Prompts and combinations are original drafts for new games.