Idle RPG
In development · 2026
This is the current project; it will get its own page when it has a name.
An idle hack-and-slash RPG for browser and mobile, built around long-term character progression, build experimentation and equipment farming. Combat is fully automatic: the player's decisions live in the build, the gear and the action priorities, not in reflexes. A twenty-dungeon campaign leads into an endless mode with a leaderboard.
Project context
- Status: In development, near MVP. The deterministic simulation core is complete and verified; there is no playable build yet.
- Platforms: Browser, iOS, Android
- Genre: Idle RPG / Hack and slash
- Team context: Solo design. Implementation is AI-assisted (Claude Code) under my design direction.
My role and responsibilities
- Wrote the game design document, which is the single authority for every system
- Designed the character and build model, combat, progression and item economy
- Specified each module in writing, with acceptance criteria, before any work started
- Ran independent verification of every module against those criteria before the next one began
Systems designed
Character and build model. One persistent character with a level cap of 100, three attributes (strength, intelligence, dexterity) and one talent point per level spent in a large passive talent tree. Respec is free, and builds are saved as reusable presets so experimenting never costs progress.
Combat. Damage and defences, critical hits, accuracy against evasion, block, armour and magic defence, and status effects (burn, poison, chill, freeze). Because combat runs itself, the player shapes it through action cadence and a choice of four action priority policies, from a fixed priority list to a round-robin rotation.
Progression. A twenty-dungeon campaign for the MVP (100 planned for release), then an endless mode that scales without limit, with checkpoints every hundred floors and a best-floor leaderboard. Offline rewards, automatic progression and auto farming keep the character moving between sessions.
Item economy. Ten equipment slots, five rarities and procedurally generated affixes, with rarity setting how many affixes an item rolls. Inventory is unlimited and salvage is the only way to dispose of items, so the economy has a single, readable sink.
Designed for verification
The simulation is deterministic and seeded: the same inputs always produce the same outcome. That makes every fight replayable and checkable, which serves two purposes. Players get replays and a leaderboard whose results can be recreated, and during development every system can be tested against exact expected results rather than by eye.
Process
The project runs on a written pipeline I designed:
- the game design document is the single authority, and no implementation introduces a design decision of its own
- every module is proposed, audited and approved in writing, then turned into a technical specification with numbered acceptance criteria
- each module is independently verified against those criteria, by a separate reviewer, before the next one begins
As of September 2026 the verified test suite stands at over a thousand automated tests.
Why this project matters
This is the most complete expression of how I work: progression and economy designed as one connected system, and a process that turns written design into working, verifiable builds.