Walk a living hillside for nothing. Pay, and plant a tree with your name on it that stays.
terra started as an ecology simulator — watching plants grow is the draw. It has become The Commons: a shared persistent world, free to walk, where paying is how you make permanent, attributed marks.
The prototype that works is SLOPE, a first-person hillside walking-and-planting sim with seasons. It's the one that landed. A one-prompt "Warband" experiment landed meh; SLOPE landed well, so the Commons would be specified on SLOPE's base.
The hard part is drama. The honest verdict so far: slow growth alone lacks it, and whatever viral potential the thing has needs collaboration, community, or bigger user impact.
The direction was chosen in late August 2026, after pulling back from a subscription living-world — scope creep, acknowledged. The stated build focus was massive-multiplayer capacity.
It shares a design law with UNSEEN: act simply, system interprets, outcome escapes you. You plant; the seasons decide what that becomes.
An ecology sim, a hillside you walk, and a commons you can mark.
Ecology simulator
Where it started. Watching plants grow is the draw — and on its own, slow growth lacks drama.
SLOPE
A first-person hillside walking and planting sim with seasons. The prototype that landed, and the base a Commons MVP would be written on.
The Commons
A shared persistent world, free to walk, where paying is how you make permanent, attributed marks. Chosen late August 2026; build focus, massive-multiplayer capacity.