Tap or drag on the map to walk. You are the orange dot; the dashed circle is your radio range.
ReceiverRare, night onlyFriendOther playerYou
Conditions
How it behaves (v0.12)
Your creature is your ID: MARKZKI hatches on first boot. Its look is drawn from the SHA-256 hash of its name, so every device looks different.
Privacy: strangers only see the creature name. Your own name is shown to friends only.
Physical keyboard: the same BlackBerry-style keyboard as the T-Deck, no on-screen switching. Numbers and symbols are printed small above the letters: press alt, then the key (alt + W = 1, alt + P = @). sym locks them until you press sym again. The microphone key gives 0 with alt.
No touchscreen: the paper plane key = yes/open/send, the erase key = back, SPACE = next in a list, letters in a box = shortcut. The screen shows the same symbols as the keys.
Chat list: + NEW PRIVATE GROUP stays on top; below it the conversation with the latest message comes first. Your cursor stays on the same chat when the list reshuffles.
Private groups: in Chat, + NEW PRIVATE GROUP is at the top. Type a name, tick friends, then SEND INVITES. Each invite is an encrypted direct message carrying the group key. Inside a group, the send key on an empty line opens the group menu (invite, who's in, leave). Group and EVERYONE messages show if they were sent and via how many receivers; there are no read receipts on the mesh. Up to 8 groups.
Home: four tiles only: Chat, Radar, Friends, Collected, plus M (next to your Meshling) for settings.
Friends: walk up to someone (within 60 m) and press Q, or add them by ID. An ID request waits until that person is in reach.
Mesh (MeshCore): handhelds never pass messages on, only receivers do. Planting receivers is what builds the network. No route? Messages wait and retry.
Radio: MeshCore EU/UK Narrow, 869.618 MHz, the setting the Dutch MeshCore community uses.
Collect: stand within 250 m of a receiver you hear directly: K collects it, N reads the messages people left there and lets you leave one.
Levels 1 to 9: collect receivers (+10, rare +40), meet people in person (+20), plant a Beacon (+100), and earn when others collect your Beacon (+15) or it relays messages. LV7 needs your own Beacon, LV9 a Beacon collected by 25 players. Your creature evolves at LV3, LV6 and LV9, and everyone sees your level next to your ID.
Rare receivers: two rooftop receivers (amber) only wake up at night. By day the Radar tile says how many are asleep, the radar shows them as dashed amber rings marked zz, and standing next to one tells you to come back at night. Flip Night in the simulation panel to try.
Sounds: short chiptune tones made by a tiny synth, the same kind the T-Deck speaker can play. A private message, a group message and # EVERYONE each sound different. You also hear a swoosh when sending, a tick when delivered, a sonar ping when a receiver is in reach, a coin when you collect, a sparkle for rare finds, a fanfare for a level up and a rising sweep when your Meshling evolves. Under ME, V cycles the alerts: sound + buzz, buzz only, silent.
Extras: GHOST hides you from strangers, SOS sends your position to everyone in reach.