Spoiler first: I have never built anything for iOS. I have no game development background. The closest I got was a few small sketches in p5.js.
I have wanted to make a game for about ten years. I never had the budget, the skills or the time. Coding agents changed the math, and this section is the log of what happens when I take that seriously.
The experiment
I am building a system that can develop and ship games on iOS, then watching how the games do in the App Store. This is a hobby, not my main work. The goal is to see what is possible with agents, to document the pipeline as it takes shape, and to find out how much engagement the games get and how many copies I can put in front of fellow gamers.
Expect posts about:
- how the agent pipeline for building games is put together
- launching and promoting a game when you have never done it
- update logs for each release
- tips and tricks, including the things that break
Where the taste comes from
I like roguelikes, mostly the Vampire Survivors kind and Slay the Spire. I also play Diablo-style RPGs, Baldur’s Gate and Divinity 2, and I like tactical games. That is the shelf the first game was built from.
Game one: Chess Meets Necromancy
I like the idea of chess, but classical chess bored me after a while, and I was never a strong player. So I rebuilt it with roguelike mechanics:
- Relics, traits and a tavern, so every run is built from the choices you made.
- A necromancer and summons, with different characters, some around poison.
- Bosses on the board. Captures are no longer one-hit. Pieces have an HP bar and attack damage, and there are thorns.
- A nemesis ladder. This one comes from Shadow of Mordor. If a boss defeats you, it comes back 5 to 10 percent stronger, and you can see the ladder of those scalings. I applied it to bosses only.
It is a turn-based chess roguelike for iPhone and iPad. It runs fully on the device, with no account, and version 1.0 has no ads and no in-app purchases.
Chess Meets Necromancy is on the App Store. If you try it, support is one email away, and I read the feedback.
What comes next
Two more games are in the pipeline. The next posts will cover how the build system works, then the launch. I will share real numbers as I get them, including the unflattering ones.