Scanning & currencies
How it works
A scan bundles the signals a device can read into a ScanBundle and submits it. The
server distills two numbers from it:
- Entropy - how much genuine, varied information the reading carries.
- Coherence (0.4-1.0) - whether the signals reinforce or cancel. Aligned signals reinforce; opposed phases, heavy motion, and saturated signals cancel.
The effective entropy that drives every roll is entropy × coherence - so more data
is not a guaranteed win. Each scan resolves to one of three outcomes:
- Beast - a creature appears. This needs an identity signal (QR > barcode > NFC > image features, or a derived identity from ambient Wi-Fi/sensors). Chance rises with entropy.
- Resource - currency, food, or a drive (see below).
- Nothing - even a good reading can collapse to nothing via destructive interference.
For account play, stats are rolled server-side with a per-scan secret nonce, so clients do not choose their account beasts’ stats. The species is deterministic from the bundle; the individual is not.
Currencies
| Currency | Type | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Shards | soft (start 50) | Drives, food, potions/revives |
| Cores | rare currency (start 0) | Nova Drive, node boosts |
Both drop from resource scans, scaled by entropy.
Scan in your browser · Premium
Open Scan to submit manually to your signed-in account. Type one code, scan a QR/barcode, or capture/choose an image. A new camera input replaces the previous one.
Camera permission is requested only when you open it. Photos are reduced to a perceptual hash and a six-color palette on your device; no photo is uploaded. Optional orientation readings use your browser’s real sensors where supported. Denied or unavailable sensors are skipped.
Scans share one browser-node cooldown across tabs. There is no background or automatic scan mode on the website. For ongoing sensing, use a node or app. Catch queued discoveries directly on Scan with drives from the same account inventory.
Finds across your devices
Scan separates pending beast sightings from resource finds. Watch sprites, check the expiry timer, catch with an owned drive, or dismiss a beast directly on Scan. Beasts appear in pages of 20; name, rarity and type filters and sorting apply before pagination. Caught beasts move to Beastiary, which contains only beasts you own. Premium resource history shows up to 100 resource finds in a scrollable table, with device filtering and newest/oldest ordering.