ROSE MESA — A Calm Outpost Builder in Mixed Reality

// The idea

A small world on your desk

A calm builder on a pink mesa standing on the real table: a little outpost in an alien desert, built module by module like a toy model. You place the modules and the outpost comes alive — rovers drive out to dust the panels, colonists walk between the domes, the windows light up at dusk and the conduits glow with what flows through them.

Keep power, air and water in balance and landers bring new colonists. Now and then a dust storm rolls over the mesa and the outpost has to weather it. No clock, no enemy — just the slow pleasure of watching a place take root.

// How it plays

Point, place, balance

Point and place

Aim at a plot: a ghost of the module stands there, green if it fits, red with the reason if not. The trigger places it; hold and sweep to lay a run of conduits.

Keep it in balance

Power, air and water each have a store, shown on the plaque in per cent. Solar charges the batteries by day, drills make water, greenhouses make air. An empty store dims the lights — a brownout, not a disaster.

Grow and weather

A thriving outpost earns crates, and a lander brings two colonists at a time. Outpost becomes Settlement, Colony, then Haven. Dust storms roll in — the panels foul, the rovers drive out to clean them.

PointAim at a plot

TriggerPlace · sweep

BumperNext module

MenuStart over

// The modules

Nine kinds

Each one joins to the hub through conduits. A module on its own stays dark.

HUBThere from the start: beds for two, a little air, panels on its roof.
CONDUITJoins modules to the hub; a cyan flow runs out from the centre.
HABITATA dome, beds for four; its windows light up at night.
SOLARFour panels that follow the sun and stow flat at night; charges the batteries.
ICE DRILLOnly on an ice plot: makes water.
GREENHOUSEA glass vault of plants: most of the air, drinks water.
LANDING PADWhere the landers come down with crew and crates.
ANTENNAWarns of storms early and calls the landers more often.
ROVER BAYOne rover: dusts the panels after a storm, roams between times.

// Gallery

A day on the mesa

The sun crosses the sky; the lights come on at dusk and a dust storm rolls over the outpost.

DAYThe outpost under a high sun, panels tracking the light.
DUSKLong shadows, the windows beginning to glow.
NIGHTLit windows, lamps and conduits glowing under the stars.
STORMThe sky turns ochre; the rovers wait to clean the panels.

// Magic Leap 2 · Quest · Vision Pro

It sits on your table

The mesa stands on the desk in front of you like a model, its shadows falling onto the real wood. Lean in to read the plaque, walk round to see the far side.

ROSE MESA runs on the Magic Leap 2 today, and it's coming to Meta Quest and the Apple Vision Pro. Leave your details below and you'll hear first when you can play it on yours.

// Keep me posted

Keep me posted

ROSE MESA isn't in a store yet. Leave your details and I'll email you when you can build your outpost on your headset.