HGC

About the Game

Hunter-Gatherers Concentration (working title) is a turn-based puzzle-adventure that reinvents the "Memory" mechanic as a tool for exploration and survival. In this unstable world, matching tiles is no longer a simple child's game, it is a strategic language used to decipher shifting environments and capture ethereal entities.

You play as a young "Harvester" thrust into a world where material reality coexists with esoteric, dream-like dimensions. Following the sudden loss of your apprenticeship, you inherit the heavy burden of supporting a family burdened by debt and absence. To survive, you must venture into these unpredictable planes to collect resources that are not inert objects, but living entities that grow, rot, and react to your every move.

The experience is a tense, calm, yet demanding dance between the grey reality of your home and the fascinating strangeness of the "Grids." Every mistake can erode your mental or physical integrity, and every successful extraction is a vital lifeline for those who depend on you.

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Key Features

• Expanded Association Mechanics: Go beyond simple visual matching. Connect tiles through logical, elemental, or narrative links (e.g., Key + Lock, Predator + Prey) to synthesize complex artifacts.
• A Living, Mutating Ecosystem: The grid is an active world. Resources Mature from buds to rot, Spread to adjacent tiles, and Radiate visual hints through the back of the cards.
• Dynamic Entity Behaviors: Face creatures with complex AI. Some will Track your cursor, while others Mark the board with persistent scratches, Alter the environment with fire or shadows, or Flee to different terrains when discovered.
• Strategic Resource Management: Every flip costs Time or Mana. Plan your moves within strict turn limits while managing your physical and mental health bars.
• Deep Meta-Progression: Between incursions, return to your family home to Allocate gains, pay off debts, and Learn new skills or "recipes" to decode the laws of the invisible dimensions.
• Environmental Hazards & Cycles: Adapt to a Day/Night cycle that changes entity behaviors and bioluminescence, and navigate biomes with unique weather patterns and structures like "Burrows" that hide or reveal threats.
• The "Extraction" Challenge: Securing your loot isn't automatic. You must deploy an extraction portal on a clear 2x2 area, praying that malevolent spirits don't follow you back to the real world.

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Technical State (v0.0.9 - Core Loop)

Currently implemented:

• Functional Title Screen and Start sequence.
• Procedural 6x6 Grid Generation (Creatures, Resources, and Decoys).
• Core Matching Engine (LIFO Stacking & ECS Architecture).
• Active Debug Suite for testing underlying systems.

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Controls

Standard Gameplay

• Reveal Tile: Left Click
• Match Tiles: M
• End Turn: Space
• Deselect / Cancel: Esc
• Switch Grid: 1 - 9
• Rotate Board: + / -
• Reset Rotation: R
• Return to Menu: \ (Backslash)

Playtest & Debug (v0.1)

• Set Difficulty: F1 to F4
• Spawn Entities: S
• Spawn All Creatures: Shift + S
• Clear Board: C
• Cheat (Reveal All): F5
• Cheat (Hide All): F6