What it is
Aether Refiner is two things. First, a puzzle game you can play anywhere: three hundred levels — thirty hand-built, the rest generated and proven winnable by the same solver — take you from your first copper ore to a finished masterwork, using the same crafting chains the MMORPG is built on — metallurgy, forestry, alchemy, arcana and textiles.
Second, it is the mobile companion to The Great Cloud MMORPG. That is the part still being built: a way to carry a piece of the world with you between sessions — its lore, its art, your companions — and to earn things in the puzzle that show up in the world. The first release is the puzzle. The companion side arrives in later versions, and what it will and will not do is set out below.
How a level plays
- Swap two neighbours. Ordinary match-three controls — one swipe, no hidden gestures.
- Three become one. Line up three of the same piece and they do not simply vanish: they refine into a single piece of the next tier, right where you made the match. Three copper ore become a bronze ingot.
- Refine again. Three of those become a component; three components become a masterwork. The board is a forge, not a clearing job.
- Meet the objective. Each level asks for specific crafted items within a move budget, with blockers and hostile pieces in the way from level six onwards.
What is in the first release
Version 1.0 — the one going to Google Play.
- Three hundred levels — 30 hand-built, 270 generated, every one solver-proven — across five crafting chains, with hostile pieces and blockers from level six.
- Plays offline. No account is needed to play, and this version requests no permissions at all — including internet access. Progress is saved on your device.
- No purchases and no ads in this version. Not a stance — they simply are not built yet. When they arrive they will meet the standard below.
- Companion features are not in this version. The "World" tab shows you where the MMORPG is; linking an account and earning things for it come later.
What is coming
Planned for later versions. None of this is in the store build yet, and each item ships as its own release with its own review.
- Companion mode. Link your Great Cloud account and carry the world with you: lore, world art, and the companions you have met in the MMORPG.
- Rewards that cross over. Puzzle achievements that unlock cosmetic items for your MMORPG character — appearance and prestige, never power, resources or trading advantage.
- A store. Extra moves, continues and cosmetic boards for the puzzle — and, in time, appearances for your Great Cloud character too. Whatever it sells will be cosmetic or convenience: never combat power, levels, resources, crafting advantage or an economic edge in the MMORPG.
- Optional rewarded videos. Watch one if you want a bonus; you will never be interrupted by one, and no level will ever need one.
- More levels. The generator that built levels 31–300 keeps going; later batches ship as updates, proven winnable the same way.
The rules those features will follow
These are design commitments, not release notes. They hold for the first version and for every version after it.
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Every level can be beaten without paying or watching anything
A solver plays every shipped level within its base move budget using legal moves only, and checks that no level can reach a dead board. A build does not ship if that test fails — with or without a store.
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Purchases here never buy power there
Anything sold or earned in Aether Refiner is cosmetic or convenience — moves and continues for the puzzle, appearance and prestige for your character. It can never grant combat power, levels, resources, crafting advantage or an economic edge in The Great Cloud MMORPG, and it is the game server, not your phone, that decides what you have earned.
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Ads, when they come, are opt-in only
Rewarded videos you choose to watch. No interstitials, no pop-ups mid-puzzle, nothing disguised as part of the game.
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No dark patterns
No countdown timers that lie, no "only 3 left", no fake players celebrating. If a level is hard, it is hard on purpose.
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You are told before the app changes what it does with data
The first release collects nothing. A version that connects to anything will be able to send data, and the privacy notice and the Play Data Safety declaration are updated before that version is released — not after.
Screenshots
Real device captures from the signed build go here before launch. These are labelled empty slots, not mock-ups — we would rather show you nothing than show you something the game does not look like.
- Screenshot to come
- Screenshot to come
- Screenshot to come
- Screenshot to come