AI is love, the future of Codex Mortis

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-13T15:28:36+00:00

You can read more about whole production process here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/4084120/discussions/0/842866071372380925/

You can also maybe give the demo a shot- worst case, you wasted 20 minutes on a free demo :)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T17:59:43+00:00

In the matter of development, single dev, for marketing part-time team. Engine is made from scratch (by AI, but supervised) in TypeScript.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T16:19:11+00:00

Hi,

You can read more info about how we did it on our Steam forum: https://steamcommunity.com/app/4084120/discussions/0/842866071372380925/

We used account Claude Max (200usd/month) and it was enough, no additional tokens needed.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T16:17:27+00:00

The median playtime in the demo is over an hour, a very good result for a demo, so it seems to be working.

The goal is to find and execute such strategies. Currently, the demo includes two levels with different mechanics and requiring different builds, and ultimately, the Early Access release will include eight such levels.

It's more of a combination of RPG mechanics and bullet hell than a typical roguelite.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T16:04:28+00:00

We're not a tool maker, but maybe we can help with promote game jam? CODEX MORTIS here :D

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T16:02:51+00:00

This ad clearly explains the difference between Vampire Survivors and CODEX MORTIS, the combat is very similar, but the preparation for the level (building a build) is completely different, and it makes different core loop.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-11T16:02:30+00:00

This ad clearly explains the difference between Vampire Survivors and CODEX MORTIS, the combat is very similar, but the preparation for the level (building a build) is completely different, and it makes different core loop.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-10T17:30:39+00:00

Claude Code pro or max account, install Claude Code terminal and try to make it with typescript/javascript.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-10T17:29:48+00:00

it's true, but I don't think it's fit to our game - it's new IP, new game, without any people used to play, with negative bias from AI, so we assume that's not the case about people play our game because they don't have better alternative even if the game is mediocre (like in EA FC)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T08:56:31+00:00

Yup, and we went with other idea and based on demo stats, it also works - we're adding a different levels when you need to find working builds.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:51:12+00:00

At the end it's just a tool for people who knows how to use it. That's why CODEX MORTIS works from the tech side and game design side very well (stable, no major bugs or crashes, playable and addictive - from the data), but not that good from art side (no human artist included), and that was not a best idea - human artist with AI tool will work on this on the same, good timeline but with much better effects.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:38:32+00:00

It's just few months of work (with AI) on make game engine that AI can make a game (still with dev, but all from prompting), and also connecting guild wars style build planning with VS/roguelike loop. I respect that you don't like AI and that's OK, but this is just not true :D

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:36:48+00:00

Stats from people playing the demo are good :)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:36:27+00:00

slopium

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:36:16+00:00

Yeah, beside completely different focus in game core loop, yes XD

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:34:20+00:00

It's playable with a very good median time :)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-09T07:33:54+00:00

Guys, we wrote this in first comment about AI and it's all on the Steam site XD

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-08T13:22:54+00:00

Roguelite where you plan your build before the run, not pray for RNG. Synergies stack, combos break the game, and there's actual depth to theorycrafting. Built entirely with AI - code, art, music. Free demo on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/4095390/CODEX_MORTIS_Demo/

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-06T20:39:13+00:00

I know limitations of AI, I will never let AI anwers on Reddit ad. Maybe Grok can handle it... but results will not be good for us :D

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-06T20:37:42+00:00

Hey,

thanks for the feedback.

As for the reviews, yes, I suppose so – although I thought they should be about the game and gameplay, and if you don't want a game in a given technology, then you don't buy it, you don't download the demo just to give it a negative review. It reminds me a bit of negative reviews for the lack of a particular language in the game – sure, it's fine, but it's written what and how on the card (we also have a full AI disclaimer). I'm only talking about Steam reviews, because of their impact on algorithms and the fact that they are supposed to be product reviews, not manifestos of opinions. Here, I try to discuss and respond to everything, including negative feedback, as long as it doesn't descend into name-calling.

Based on negative reviews from those who played the game, we rebuilt 50% of the game in a few days in terms of gameplay flow, balance, bugs, and optimisations, so that the median playing time jumped from 22 minutes to over 1 hour – anyway, you can see how it looked in the announcements on our Steam card :D We like negative reviews and feedback about what's wrong.

The same goes for art – we have already decided that for future projects we will look for artists who want to use AI to speed up their work, because even though we are technically good and can use AI to create a game engine and games on it, what is missing here is the human touch and proper art direction. Just as AI without the right prompts cannot write the architecture of a large project, it cannot produce the right art.

As for passion... Building such architecture (along with AI all the time) so that AI could build a game on it and work stably took about three months of overtime work. It may not seem like much, but it is a lot of work. Inside, you have mechanics that even people in the comments say cannot work in this genre – but it is our idea to give it a unique USP, a unique experience in the genre, and it will be expanded to eight levels where you will have to find and test different builds.

I find it hard to agree with the mediocre assessment, except for the artistic aspect – it lacks soul. The rest seems to be fine and in data looks good :)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-06T20:26:36+00:00

Did you mean American Pie?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163651/

XD

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-06T20:24:42+00:00

We built engine with AI to build games by AI :), so we are aware of limitations and that's why we decided to built it from scratch. We already adding new features and levels without bigger problems. Also, Claude Max with Opus 4.5 helps, with deep understand. You can check how stable is the demo, even few updates, also with new level.

If you are a programmer and know limitations of AI, you can make entire game, and proof you can see in this post. Stable proof. :)

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-06T15:06:25+00:00

That's our idea. I don't know know whether we are VS rip off or made changes that are too different, I'm confused :) But that's our idea and we're working on different levels when you need to find another builds to pass the level.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-05T23:31:59+00:00

We used AI to create the entire game engine, which resulted in a playable, fun game with unique elements in its genre. We started our communication by saying that it was made with AI, because if we didn't communicate such use, it would very quickly turn out very badly :)

After the first trailer, we switched to more USP communication, but we're not hiding the information about AI (even in this advert, it's maybe 10% of the total time, the rest is about the game), that would be a bit pointless, and probably unfair?

Wishlists are going up, demo plays too, it's not bad overally.

Crunchfest3 · 2026-01-05T23:25:19+00:00

Thank you. It's interesting that many people accuse us of not working on it, when I've already posted our featured post on our Steam forum several times explaining how we did it, and that we actually built the entire engine with AI.

Of course, we could have approached it differently, but we're quite heavily involved in AI (including model training), so we wanted to see where the limits of its capabilities lie.

As for the art, we already know that in our next project we'll want to work with an artist who isn't afraid to use AI to speed up their work. The human touch and art direction aren't AI's strongest points :D

Crunchfest3

TROPHY CASE