A loom and a forge
The name is a description of the work, not a metaphor we reached for afterwards.
The loom
Some parts of this work only function if they interlock exactly. A protocol layer has to match another implementation packet for packet. A rune scorer has to give every player the same answer forever. A compatibility engine has to agree with what physically fits in a chassis.
Those are warp threads. They are boring individually and the whole thing collapses if one is slack, so they get tested against an external reference rather than against our own expectations.
The forge
Other parts have to be made from raw, because nothing that exists will do the job. A Minecraft server where the generator is genuinely ours. A robot that reasons without a network connection. A parts catalogue that covers rack power and optics because no consumer tool does.
That is expensive and we say what it costs. Dust MC is three to four years to a usable release, written down as a figure rather than hedged.
Three rules that keep showing up
Own the hard part
Where a subsystem is the one we could least afford to inherit, we write it. That is why Dust MC was not forked even after licensing stopped being an obstacle.
The full reasoningBuilt end to end, or recorded as unbuilt
A component nothing calls in production is not finished. Thirty-four rows in the register are waiting on hardware and three are deliberately unbuilt. None is outstanding because nobody got to it.
Honest timelines
Where something is unplayed, unbuilt or years out, the page says so. Return of the Runes compiles and has never been playtested, so it is labelled pre-alpha.
Work with the studio
Most of what we make is public. If you want to talk about a build, a contribution or something you need made, the form reaches us directly.
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