A late-epoch capital in the game: walls, gardens, tiled roofs and market streets, all drawn in characters

a city builder in glyphs

Glyph Dynasty

A city builder in ancient China drawn in text characters: from the first Xia settlement to the Zhou Hall of Light.

Wishlist on SteamSteam page coming soon Follow development

A whole city, drawn in characters

Glyph Dynasty is a city builder set in ancient China, from the first Xia settlement to the Zhou Hall of Light. Every roof, field, cart and festival lantern on the map is made of text characters: a dense 3/4 view where roofs overhang the street behind them and shadows fall across the road.

Underneath is a classic walker economy. Plan the streets so that people carry everything a house needs, and the city climbs on its own.

8house levels
5epochs, Xia to Han
4great monuments
5languages

What you build

Walkers

Every service walks the street

Nothing in the city happens by magic. A market vendor, a shrine priest, a healer and a tax collector each leave their building and roam the roads. A house gets water, food or a blessing only if the right walker passes close by. Carters haul millet from the fields to the granary and pottery to the warehouse: no road, no delivery.

A roadblock keeps roaming walkers inside a quarter; settlers and carters pass through
Workers go to building groups in the order of priority you set
Only houses the collector visited this month pay their taxes

 ______________  ______________
/::::::::::::::\/::::::::::::::\
|::::::::::::::||::::::::::::::|
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
 |  o      o  |  |  o      o  |
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 | (@)(@)  o  |  |  o  (u)(U) |
 | %%%%   /A\ |  | /A\   #### |
 |[==========]|  |[==========]|
 |____________|  |____________|
                                
   (u)(u)(U)     _|_     [##]   
                                
                                
      [%%][%%]          (@)(@)

              _/\_
        _<============>_
      _/||||||||||||||||\_
    _/||||||||||||||||||||\_
  _/||||||||||||||||||||||||\_
 /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
 |TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT|
 |=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
 |=-[%%%%]-=-=-=-=-=-=[%%%%]-=|
 |-=[%%%%]=-=-=-=-=-=-[%%%%]=-|
 |=-[____]-=-=-=-=-=-=[____]-=|
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 |=-=-=-=-=-|o  o|=-=-=-=-=-=-|
 |-=-=-=-=-=|    |-=-=-=-=-=-=|
 |=-=-=-=-=-|    |=-=-=-=-=-=-|
 |__________|____|____________|
/==============================\
 (@)(@)[==]              (@)
  (@)(@)                (@)(@)

Housing

Eight steps from lean-to to master's house

A house climbs on its own once walkers bring everything the next level asks for, and slides back if something goes missing for too long. Water comes first, then food and a shrine, hemp, music and a healer, pottery and a second food. Higher up come salt, tea, lacquerware, a temple and a teacher.

The nobility climbs a ladder of its own, up to the dignitary's palace
Every tile is more or less desirable, from −50 to +50: gardens, ponds and statues lift a street, workshops drag it down
Your residence pays you a stipend, and your personal savings carry over from mission to mission

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       /\
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      _/\_
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_|____|__|____|_
 [%%] ::  (u) o
 [%%] ::  (u)/H\

Food, crafts and trade

Granaries, workshops, caravans and the court

Millet and rice grow on the floodplain; wheat, beans and cabbage, pigs, fish and game feed the rest. Workshops turn clay into pottery, leaves into tea, raw jade into carvings, copper into bronze and cocoons into silk. Every granary and warehouse takes your orders: accept, fill up to a quarter, refuse or send away.

A world map with the capital of the Son of Heaven and five to seven neighbouring cities
Caravans travel the high road, ships sail the river and the Grand Canal
The court sends requests and gifts, neighbours demand tribute, and your standing rises or falls with every answer

                        .o~
                       ~(o) .
                        [==]
                        |##|
       _/\_           __|##|__
  _<==========>_     /========\
 /||||||||||||||\   /=-=-=-=-=-\
/||||||||||||||||\  |-=-=-=-=-=|
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^  |=-=-=-=-=-|
 |==============|   |-=/~~~~\=-|
 |[##]  (@)(@)  |   |=-|*^*^|-=|
 |[##]  ======  |   |-=|^*^*|=-|
 |    |  | (@)  |   |=-|*^*^|-=|
 |    |oo| ===  |   |__|____|__|
_|____|__|______|_
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 (@)(@)(@)(@)    /Y\_(=)_    (@)
                 /|\ _|_  (@)(@)
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  (@)(@)        (@)(@)(@)   [==]

                      _/\_
        _<============================>_
       /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
      /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
     /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
    ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
     |====================================|
     | [##] [##] [##] ____ [##] [##] [##] |
     | [##] [##] [##] |  | [##] [##] [##] |
     |              o |oo| o              |
     |________________|__|________________|
 ___________                           _/\_
/,',',',',',\  m  m  @              _<======>_
[===========] (      / o    m  m  @/||||||||||\
| @ | @ | @ |  |    | /3\  (      /~~~~~~~~~~~~^
|/H\|/H\|/H\|         / \   |    ||============|
|___|___|___|                     |[%%] __ [%%]|
[%%][%%] [~~][%%%%]=  _/\_        |[%%]|  |[%%]|
             (o)(o)_<======>_%%]  |____|__|____|
                  ^~~~~~~~~~~^     
                 o||  [@@]  ||o    
/=================||        ||=================\
|=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=||        ||-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-|
|_________________||________||_________________|

Faith, culture and ancestors

The ancestors remember

Three ancestors watch over the city: Tian Gong, Grandfather of the Fields; He Mu, Mother of the River; and Yao Lao, Elder of the Kilns. Each shrine is dedicated to one of them. Forget an ancestor and their element strikes back with drought, flood or fire; honour them with offerings and they shield the city instead.

Taoist temples, a Buddhist pagoda, festival squares and the New Year
Scribes' schools, a library and a Confucian academy; acrobats, stages and a theater
In later epochs thieves appear, and watch posts keep the streets safe

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          ^__/====\__^
      ^/||||||||||||||||\^
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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   ^_/||||||||||||||||||||\_^
  /||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
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   ||________|____|________||
  =||======================||=
 /__________/~~~~~~\__________\
             [@@]
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   [_]       :    :       [_]
             :    :
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                      =||=
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           /||||||||||||||||||||||||\
         ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
         l===|[##]=[##]==[##]=[##]|===l
        /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
      ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
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   _/||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\_
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  ||                |:o||o:|                ||
  ||________________|__||__|________________||
 =||========================================||=
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Monuments and epochs

Monuments that take years

The Great Wall, the Grand Canal, a royal tomb and the Hall of Light rise stage by stage. A builders' yard sends out builders and haulers with timber, stone, pottery and bronze, and you watch rammed earth turn into stone facing and battlements.

Epochs Xia → Shang → Zhou → Qin → Han open new buildings as the city grows
A campaign of ten missions across three dynasties, Xia, Shang and Zhou, plus free play from any epoch
Four ratings: prosperity, culture, security and the favour of the court

                     _(@)_
                 ^__/======\__^
               /||||||||||||||||\
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         ^___/||||||||||||||||||||\___^
       /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
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  ^___/||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\___^
 /||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||\
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     ||    ||    ||    ||    ||    ||    ||
     ||____||____||____||____||____||____||
   /________________________________________\
      ______________/~~~~~~\______________
      |#############========#############|
    ________________/~~~~~~\________________
    |###############========###############|
  __________________/~~~~~~\__________________
  |#################========#################|
____________________/~~~~~~\____________________
|###################========###################|
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Army

Walls, towers and three kinds of troops

Once the first dynasty is behind you, raiders come. Mine iron, forge weapons and breed horses; train infantry, crossbowmen and chariots in their camps and give each company its orders. Walls, gates and watchtowers make raiders pay for every shortcut.

A raid is announced a month or more ahead: you know where it comes from and how many warriors it brings
Infantry beats chariots, chariots beat crossbowmen. No dice: placement decides the fight
Rather build in peace? Free play has a peaceful mode without raids

       |   >
       |  >
      _/\_
   ^_/====\_^
  /||||||||||\
 ^~~~~~~~~~~~~^
  |o[}]  [}]o|
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  [][][][][][]
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 [============]

       /\
  ^__/====\__^
 /||||||||||||\
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^
 |o|[##][##]|o|
[]|__________|[]
|______________|
================
|:::/^^^^^^\:::|
|:o:|:    :|:o:|
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|[ ]|:    :|[ ]|
|:::|o    o|:::|
|:::|:    :|:::|
|___|o    o|___|
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  /||||||||||\
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  _|__|  |__|_
 [============]

Disasters

Rivers rise, locusts come

Flood, drought, plague, locusts and earthquake all arrive with a warning, while fires and collapses wait for neglected streets. Dykes hold the river back, water wheels save the harvest in a drought, healers stop the plague and inspectors shore up old buildings.

After a flood, the silt makes the fields richer for a year
Burnt buildings leave ruins that have to be cleared
Three difficulty levels change disasters, raids, the patience of the court and the treasury; building prices stay the same

                      _/==\_
                    _/======\_
                   ^~~~~~~~~~~^
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 |   |   |   |
=+===+===+===+==
;::.::;::.::;::.
::.::;::.::;::.:
:.::;::.::;::.::
.::;::.::;::.::;
::;::.::;::.::;:
::.::.::.::.::.:
________________

Languages

Five languages, one Son of Heaven

Play in English, Russian, French, Spanish or Simplified Chinese and switch at any moment without a restart: even the chronicle is redrawn in the new language. In Chinese the game is called 《字里乾坤》, “a whole world within the characters”, and it uses words of the period: 粟 for millet, 王陵 for the royal tomb, 明堂 for the Hall of Light.

The ruler is the Son of Heaven in every language
Names follow the epochs from Xia to Han
Chinese text uses your system font, so there is nothing extra to download

Glyph DynastyСрединное царство字里乾坤

Screenshots

Captured from the game itself. Click a picture to see it full size.

The ruler’s residence and its gardens
A market street
Trading ships on the Grand Canal
The city wall and its gate towers at sunset
The pagoda quarter
A festival at night
The capital at dawn
A young city on the high road
The main menu

Trailer

A short trailer is on its way.

▶ Trailer coming soon

Road to Early Access

Glyph Dynasty is heading to Steam Early Access. Dates will be announced on the Steam page.

Done
Every core system in one build
Walkers, housing, food and crafts, trade and the court, faith and culture, monuments, the army and disasters, in five languages.
Now
Playtests and polish
Sessions with outside players, balance, and the first steps of a new player made gentler.
Next
A longer campaign
Fifteen to twenty missions that introduce mechanics one at a time, from Xia to Han, and larger maps.
Next
Desktop build
Windows, macOS and Linux, tested on Steam Deck, with achievements and cloud saves.
Next
Steam page, demo and Next Fest
A demo with the first missions, so you can try before you buy.
Goal
Early Access
Regular updates, shaped by what players write.

Follow the dynasty

Add the game to your Steam wishlist to hear first about the demo and the Early Access launch.

Wishlist on SteamSteam page coming soonNewslettercoming soonCommunitycoming soon

Questions

When does it come out?

Glyph Dynasty is planned for Steam Early Access. There is no date yet; wishlist the game on Steam and you will be notified.

Which platforms?

Windows, macOS and Linux through Steam. We also plan to test it on Steam Deck. The game is played with a mouse and keyboard.

Is the map really made of text?

Yes. Every tile is a block of characters drawn on a canvas with WebGL2, or with plain Canvas where WebGL2 is missing. Zoom out far enough and the city turns into an overview map with one character per tile.

Is it a war game?

No, it is a city builder first. Raids begin once defences open in later epochs, and you meet them with walls, towers and troops. In free play you can switch raids off with the peaceful mode.

Which languages?

English, Russian, French, Spanish and Simplified Chinese. The language can be changed at any time, right from the main menu.

How much will it cost?

The price has not been announced yet.

Will there be a demo?

Yes, a demo with the first missions is planned for a Steam Next Fest.

Does this site track me?

No. There are no cookies, no analytics and no requests to other servers. Only your theme choice is kept, in your own browser.

中Glyph Dynasty