Cube. Another idea I'm not building. · Zäsur

Same deal as last time. I had an idea, I will most likely never build it, and sitting on it feels worse than putting it out. So here it is. Take it, argue with it, ship something cooler than whatever is in my head. If you somehow make it and get rich, buy me coffee and pretend we planned this.

Working title: Cube.

The pitch

Imagine a cube of worlds. Not one shared map with 27 people stepping on each other’s toes. Twenty-seven separate worlds, stacked as a 3x3x3. Each player gets dropped into their own one. Biomes are random. Forests, swamps, mountains, whatever. Enough variety that the cube feels alive. Doubling is fine. I’d rather have redundancy than twenty-seven fragile unique snowflakes.

You work with what your world gives you. One person logs. One digs ore in the mountains. Someone crafts. Someone smiths. Someone tailors. Time is limited, so you can’t do everything well. People have to decide who does what and then stick to it.

The goal is simple and mean: together you gather, transform, and equip the whole group so you can fight the boss that shows up when the countdown ends.

That boss fight is the point. Everything before it is prep.

Scale

3x3x3 is the big one. Twenty-seven players. High stakes event energy. I picture it as something competitive too, like a big raid where strong players from all over show up for one run. It also works for normal people with a team, but twenty-seven is a lot of moving parts.

So I’d also want a 2x2x2 mode. Eight players. Same fantasy, way more manageable. Same cube idea, smaller cube. That feels like the version most groups could actually finish.

Resources need to move somehow, otherwise the forest guy has wood and the mountain guy has ore and nobody has a sword.

My gut says: central stash. Players put materials in. Not “everyone can take from everyone automatically,” because that turns into griefing real fast. You choose what you contribute. Trust, pressure, and social accountability do the rest. I’m not locked on the exact UI. Shared board, deposit-only chest, whatever. The rule I care about is that contribution is intentional.

The countdown

I’m open here. Could be a week for short raids. Could be a month for the big ones. Rust and others already proved timed pressure can work. With the right people who actually want to play, both shapes feel exciting.

Short run: scramble, specialize hard, show up undercooked or overprepared and find out.

Long run: real planning, real roles, real dread when someone goes quiet for three days.

Why it’s spicy

If someone quits, everyone loses. That’s not a bug in the concept, that’s part of the temperature. It’s a team sport with no bench. High stakes on purpose.

I know that’s brutal. I also think that’s where the stories come from. Who carried. Who disappeared. Who put the last batch of ore in the stash at 3am because the countdown was almost up.

What I haven’t figured out

A lot. How the stash works in detail. Exact biomes. Exact boss. Whether worlds stay sealed until the fight or you can visit each other. How matchmaking works for the competitive version. How you punish griefing without killing the vibe. Whether failed raids leave anything behind.

I’m fine leaving those open. This isn’t a design bible. It’s a seed.

The hook

A cube of pocket worlds. Random biomes. Forced specialization. A shared stash you have to feed. A countdown. One boss. Eight players or twenty-seven. Win together or lose together.

If that sounds like something you’d stay up for, you already get it.

I’m not building Cube. If you are: take the bones, rename it, make it better. Climb carefully, or in this case, craft carefully. There is no solo win condition.