Curious Atlas: Word Trails, a Star Code Game

About Curious Atlas: Word Trails

The Curious Atlas Signal Academy trains its cadets far out among the stars, on a turning ring station above a violet gas giant. Every training run is a trail across the chart, and every world on it speaks through a beacon that sends its messages in starlight letters: each letter drawn as a little constellation, and every one of them written in that world’s own translator rule.

At each of three stops the chart offers you two worlds. Pick one and your ship streaks down the hyperlane to it. Its briefing tells you the translator rule, from a gentle drift of one step to a folded mirror alphabet, a vowel wheel or a key word. Then the transmission arrives. Tap a starlight letter and set its true letter with the console keys, or just type it. Each true letter is used once, and nothing tells you right or wrong until the message reads true, or until you ask the console to Check, which drops the wrong letters as slips.

Read a stop with no hint and no slip and its beacon lights: rings of cyan light pulse out from the ring station, and the finale gets easier. At the end of every trail waits the Academy Signal, a message in a scrambled key nobody taught you. It starts with three letters set, and one more for every beacon you lit. Twelve worlds wait on the chart, so every trail can be a different flight. There is no clock. A trail takes about five to ten minutes, and your progress stays on this device.

How to play

On the chart, pick one of the two worlds offered at this stop. Each shows its translator rule, so you can choose an easier or a harder one.
Read the briefing: it explains the rule, often with a short example. Then decode the transmission.
Tap a starlight letter (or move with the arrow keys) and set its true letter with a console key, or type it. Each true letter is used once.
Check drops any wrong letters and counts each as a slip. A hint sets one letter for good.
A stop read with no hint and no slip lights a beacon. Each beacon sets one more letter of the Academy Signal, the finale of every trail.
Press Escape or Start to pause. There is no clock.

Controls

Tap a world on the chart — fly there (or arrows and Enter)
Tap a starlight letter, then a key — set its true letter (or type it)
Arrow keys or D-pad — move; Space or Ⓐ — next empty letter; Backspace or Ⓑ — clear
Enter, 2 or Ⓡ — check; 1 or Ⓧ — hint (no beacon)
Escape or Start — pause

Frequently asked questions

What is a beacon?

A stop you decode with no hint and no slip lights its beacon. Every beacon sets one more letter of the Academy Signal for you, so the finale gets easier the cleaner you fly.

Do I need to know the rules already?

No. Every world’s briefing explains its translator rule, and most show a short example. The Faraway Relay sets one letter for you to count from, and the wreck’s scrambled key starts with its most common letters set.

Why can I use each true letter only once?

Each starlight letter stands for exactly one true letter and the other way round, so setting a true letter again moves it to the new place.

Is there a clock?

No. Take your time; pausing, switching tabs or opening Settings never costs anything. Today’s trail, the daily challenge, offers the same worlds to every cadet.