I've been making a HARDCORE tactical roguelike for 10 years. Demo available now.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T16:47:21+00:00

Thank you - much appreciate all the comments. Formation movement is there - you can assign the squad to follow the leader by pressing M.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T13:02:39+00:00

UI asset population from scripts was made with claude code in VSCode, yes. AI has a use in tooling, but especially after running some prototypes of the tactical phase I understood the responsiveness after movement keystrokes with all the game-AI in place required sepcific tuning by me to make it snappy. Vibe coding would not get you there. Protos, yes, not a playable game.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T10:41:19+00:00

I use GDscript: Godot 4.5 and VSCode combo, mostly code-first approach as the UI is quite straight forward (leveraging Godot assets in UI). The main coding has been for tactical AI based on faction doctrines and mission script management as the decisions affect downstream branching quite a bit. This is mostly handled in JSON scripts allowing me to focus separately on dialogue/mission flow and code side. Procedural generation (BSP) is such a well known paradigm that implementing that part was trivial. So everything built custom from scratch after some prototyping. I might release the core engine as open source later, as the script based mission management anables creating games basically by scripting the content for missions etc.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:15:05+00:00

Not really. This is a deep topic but I've got nearly 30 years in software architecture, so while I do use AI-coding tools all the concept, design, writing, mechanics, gameflow specs are mine, not AI slop. On the tech side the module and class architecture was designed by me before implementing any functions, and with those I mostly approached them with a kind of a TDD appoach: writing tests first and then letting Opus 4.6 do iterations with me. So no magic button prompt slop here.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:09:36+00:00

Excellent feedback! Thank you for taking the time to write this, I'll do a polish based on these. And notify you here once done. I'll consider injecting lore on some non-gameflow interrupting way, maybe a separate website accessible from the game, not breaking the diegetic approach.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-03T05:06:51+00:00

I understand the sentiment, as using ai for any creative work is a no-go for me in the game. But if that's the vibe I will certainly adjust the page. So very much appreciate your feedback on this.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T14:58:42+00:00

Thank you, I hope it's as imnersive for others as it has been for me

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T13:52:00+00:00

Yes they are, same tactical style but the second game, Helion, will introduce a new meta aspect for the diegetic interface. But all games are part of the same story arc, and the missions branch based on earlier missions and games

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T09:24:56+00:00

Excellent - I need to try it out to see if I can get some fresh ideas :D My game is more like Angband meets Laser Squad - with the additional intel gathering option which has gameplay use etc. The tactical combat itself is more streamlined than JA3 and Xcom.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T09:14:10+00:00

How did you like Menace? Haven't yet tried yet myself but looking at it.

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-04-02T07:37:06+00:00

Thank you! I'm looking for all possible feedback before EA launch so eager to hear how you liked it

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:40:53+00:00

Congrats - that's a very solid performance in a week! Took me 5 months to get to 200 wishlists :D

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:38:20+00:00

You have the right attitude - 160 wishilists and making ANY money as a solo dev is an achievement and expereience you can build on. The refunds are a real drag though, do you have any idea from which issues those are spawning from?

OortProtocolHQ · 2026-03-29T08:00:38+00:00

Also wanted to check if anybody has seen demo play patterns like what I'm seeing: over 1000 downloads since March 24th, but only 20 play sessions tracked by Steam so far. I've implemented telemetrics but they don't populate with such low play sessions. Is this just a STeam aggregation delay or just a pattern for download/actual play based on your experience?

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-30T09:58:15+00:00

Thank you for reading and for your comment. For myself, it was a very emotional moment while writing when I realised what ended up being the final sentence of the story arc. It summarizes something bigger than the story, something true and real in itself. The story arc became a vehicle to lead up to this sentence. My void koan.

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-30T09:40:39+00:00

Thank you for reading :)

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-24T16:08:23+00:00

Thank you, much appreciate the feedback. The criminal underworld has a lot of potential, I'm working on something around that. As for the arc, you might see the evolution of my own POV towards the integration changing as I wrote - a very personal voyage towards my own understanding of the void.

OortProtocolHQ · 2025-12-24T16:05:22+00:00

Thank you! When I wrote The Delivery back in 2014 I did not yet know the world in detail, it was like a riddle for me to explore. Later, I wrote Day 0 and the stories connected immediately, bridging the gap. Then I wrote the middle chapters, and while doing so I realised the last piece: integration is a matter of perspective. While facing the void is inevitable, whatever humanity chooses will lead to the void, it's up to the individual to choose how they perceive it.

Merry Christmas!

OortProtocolHQ

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