The leylines started as a debug overlay — bright spline paths we drew to check spawn routing. This diary is about how that overlay refused to be turned off, and how it became the visual spine of the whole world.
Where we started
The first pass was literal: glowing rivers of light carved through every map. In play they read as walls. Testers hugged them like guardrails and stopped looking at the fights.
What changed
The turn came from a playtest note: “I follow the light when I’m lost, and only then.” So the lines dimmed to a whisper by default and now surge only near objectives, breaches, and the front line itself — information, not decoration.
Hold the line where the light threads thinnest.
Where it stands
Every map now carries its ley-net through the same three layers: a faint ambient weave, an objective surge, and the front-line pulse. What’s honestly unsolved: how much the pulse should telegraph a losing fight. That one’s going back to playtest.
— The Leyline team. Questions? Bring them to the community channels.