A networked tactical RPG is enormous scope for a small team — grid-based combat, party synergy and progression all have to hold together before any of them are proven fun. The real risk was sinking years into systems that might never validate, so the goal was to get the core loop playable and technically viable before committing to a full launch.

Shipped a browser-playable WebGL alpha with no install friction, backed by PlayFab for accounts and multiplayer, so the grid-combat loop could be tested end to end. A public Steam page went live alongside it to build wishlists and gauge real interest ahead of full production.

Shipping a full free-to-play title solo means owning every layer at once — the core arcade loop, a balanced virtual economy, seasonal passes and a skin shop — and getting it stable enough to survive real players. With no team to split design, engineering or LiveOps, the challenge was taking it from zero to live on Google Play without any piece falling over.

Launched to ~330 daily installs and pulled organic reach across Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico with zero paid marketing — evidence the loop and store presence could acquire players on their own. It still holds ~40 monthly active users despite no updates since release, which points to genuine retention rather than a launch-day spike.

Idle games live or die on pacing — reward cadence and offline-progress balance have to feel generous without quietly breaking the economy. The goal was to test that math cheaply and lock in the pacing before sinking time into a full build.

Built a playable prototype with era-based progression driven by a data-driven economy, so the numbers could be re-tuned without touching code. Published on itch.io to test loop pacing against real sessions before scaling it up.