- My next game demo is out! - 24 May 2025
My next big game is getting closer to its release. But for now, here is the free demo:
- Re-capturing the first places from itch.io players - 13 March 2025
The player named S266 blasted through the leaderboard! For a long time, the Steam platform held all of the top places, but not anymore. https://roboden-game.github.io/leaderboard/?mode=blitz#S266 https://roboden-game.github.io/leaderboard/?mode=arena#S266 https://roboden-game.github.io/leaderboard/?mode=inf_arena#S266 An itch.io platform conquers 3/5 modes! This means the competition is on again. Can you capture the flag?
- Educated Robo Update - 26 April 2024
This update is focused on a better new player onboarding experience. Important tooltips now give you much more information. For example, try hovering on any priority icon or on a faction (color) distribution bar. The updated tutorial utilizes that. Instead of giving you several messages about these priorities, it only mentions the option to hover over them to learn yourself if you want to. Some other tutorial content changes follow this principles: less text messages, more contextual hints. The tutorial difficulty was re-adjusted. It's both easier and harder now. On one hand, you get a stronger start with more drones. On another, more enemies and threats are lurking around, along with a new trigger timing schedule. Since factions were one of the most confusing part of the game, there is also an extra visual cue whether you change the distribution. There are some other minor changes as w…
- Going full-on indie gamedev - 25 April 2024
Dear gamers. Game development has been my hobby for many years now. Roboden is my first serious release, and it's definitely the first game to reach Steam. I always had some other full-time job to support my hobby. This is going to change as I'm now going full-on indie game development. I want to create new games and see how it goes. In turn, it means that I need to learn how to make money by creating games. I will start by making Roboden a paid game so I can learn some basic stuff. Maybe it can also give me enough money for a cup of coffee per month, who knows. Note that if you already have a free copy of the game, it'll stay that way. The game is also open source so in theory you can build it from sources if you so desire. The point is, we can treat this price tag as a way for you to support me. I believe a week or more is going to pass until these changes take place, but in case you…
- Asymmetrical indirect control RTS game Roboden now Steam Deck Verified - 17 April 2024
How about a free (and open source) game to add to your library? Roboden is an asymmetrical indirect control real-time strategy game about robot colonies and it's now Steam Deck Verified. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/04/asymmetrical-indirect-control-rts-game-roboden-now-steam-deck-verified
- Steam Deck Verified update - 11 April 2024
This update brings the game to the Verified (green) Steam Deck status. While it doesn't sound too involving to adjust the game for the Steam Deck, you can check out the recent code changes in the game to see that it wasn't a breeze. Change logs Steam Deck Compat Added gamepad in-menu navigation (D-pad and left stick) Added a "larger fonts" option that enables ~x1.3 font scaling (enabled by default on Steam Deck) Accessibility: Stats & Progress profile screens now use a larger base font Accessibility: credits is now a multi-page screen to fit a larger font Accessibility: made text panels background darker Note that if you started the game on your Steam Deck before, you will need to enable the larger fonts manually as the game respects your previous settings. Go to options -> accessibility to enable it. Misc Added a random drone selection button to the game lobby (all modes) Projectile hi…
- Snowfall Update - 22 December 2023
This is probably the most massive game update to this date. Here is a short overview: A new biome: snowy tundra A new colony: an immobile fortress called Hive A new turret: a resource gathering point - Refinery A new turret: a powerful AoE attack laser that requires an active crew A new weather toggle (works for a snowy tundra right now) A new special seed for Arena mode (see Infernal achievement) New achievements Several quality-of-life changes Balance tweaks Now let's get down to the details. Tundra Biome This new biome is rather harsh and challenging. Due to the cold weather, drones get discharged 33% faster. The landscape is covered in snow, trees, and landcracks, making it one of the hardest terrain for the ground units. Unlike the Forest biome, trees in Tundra can't be traversed and used for cover by ground units. Since this place was never explored before, many artifacts wait to…
- Game schemas update - 6 December 2023
This minor update implements a couple of suggestions given in the Steam reviews. By default, a pause disables the fast-forward mode. You can now disable this behavior in gameplay options. The second improvement is more significant. You can now save/load your drone builds, world, and difficulty settings using schemas. Every game mode has a separate schemas sheet with 10 slots per each.
- The Widest Update - 22 November 2023
This update has two sides: It makes the game better, like any other update would It enables Android platforms You can find a detailed changes list at the bottom of this post. The biggest one is probably a new mode called Blitz. As the name suggests, it's a faster-paced mode. This mode is also competitive, you can send your high scores to claim the best spots on the currently vacant leaderboard. As you might already know, we have a cross-platform online leaderboard. Steam and itchio were the only "clans" available so far. This is not the case anymore as Android enters that fray. Let's see whether Steam could hold its current leaderboard dominance. If you want to play Roboden on your Android device, you probably know where to look it up. :) New Content New game mode: Blitz New Reverse mode difficulty option: Elite Fleet New Grenadier creeps (available in most modes via a difficulty settin…
- Clan Wars Update - 2 November 2023
This is a non-content update that will bring you some new experiences nonetheless! I was working on better web and mobile ports of the game recently. After a couple of weeks, I managed to make new versions of Roboden run smoothly in the browser. You might be wondering: how does it concern you, a fellow Steam gamer? Well, I came up with an idea: a combined leaderboard that will highlight the player platform. And to make it more fun, let's call these platforms clans. So, every Steam game (Steam Deck included!) represents a Steam clan. This is the first and the most powerful clan right now, but things might change. It's up to you to keep the balance, or join the other side as itch.io web build introduces a separate clan! With some luck, we'll have even more platforms (ahem, clans) in the future. Having a good browser version of the game means we can upload it to social networks and see whi…
- An update of irregular shape and color - 10 October 2023
This update brings a new map shapes to the table. Previously, you could only play on a square map. But not anymore: rectangle-shaped maps can now be used in any game mode. There is also a new capturable relict object: battle platform. If you repair it, it will follow your colony. Its weapons are more effective against the flying targets. New content: Horizontal and vertical map shapes (a new world setting) "Into the Darkness" achievement Battle platform relict Screen filter option (please use with caution) Fixes: Improved performance when restarting level a lot Several balance changes to the Reverse mode
- My game for the Ludum Dare 54 - 2 October 2023
Hi! You might not know about it, but Roboden was initially created as a prototype for a ~2 week game jam that was hosted on itch io. You can still find the game on itch.io and play the online demo; although I really need to re-upload it so that the browser version is in sync with a Steam release. I enjoyed the results and wanted to give Roboden a chance to see the world. Ludum Dare is a more classic & hardcode game jam. You have to create a game from scratch in just 2 days! Many cool games start as a prototype for some game jam; my favorite example is Baba Is You. The Ludum Dare 54 was my first LD jam. I'm not that good with fast prototyping, but it was a fun experience to have. And I like the results! You can play this game here: https://quasilyte.itch.io/cavebots This game is very different from Roboden, but: It's also about robot colonies Its graphical style is similar It's an RTS wi…
- Leaderboard submission issues status update - 23 September 2023
If your score was submitted, but never appeared in the leaderboard, don't worry! I have the replays on the server as well as the error logs. I'll investigate the issue and re-run the simulations to add these scores to the board. You can continue sending the scores, no progress will be lost. Estimated time of the fix: tomorrow (24 of September). No game updates will follow as it is a server-side issue. :)
- Reverse mode v2 - 14 September 2023
I'm back with another game update! This update brings a new feature that was requested several times: the dynamic game speed toggle. Press to enter the double-speed mode, and press it again to return to the normal mode. This feature helps you to pace the game in a way you want to experience it. Another big change is focused on the Reverse game mode. Dreadnought gets a new unit: Coordinator. These new units have many purposes: Keep them around the Dreadnought for protection Use them as a diversion group to keep the pressure on your opponent Rally your other units through them Gold versions of Coordinators have another ability you would like to discover for yourself. They're also available in Classic mode as an extra challenge option. Reverse mode is much more dynamic now, give it a try and tell me what you think about it. Playing against the bot is OK, but playing with your friends is ev…
- Inferno Update - 2 September 2023
Are your robots ready to conquer the Inferno? This update includes some major new content. The new Inferno environment is the most dangerous biome to this point. The searing geysers, spitting lava, and lack of oil resources make it very unfriendly. But with high risks, there is also a high reward. New sulfur and volcanic rock resources can be found there. Bastion is a new colony design. It can't fly and its drone capacity is very limited. This is compensated by the fact that it can attack enemies on its own! A group of these colonies is deadly. Firestorm is a new turret design. It's a siege missile launcher that can reach enemies from afar. As always, there is a downside to this power: it can only attack slow ground targets like buildings and howitzers. The tutorial uses an Inferno environment now. The amount of text there is reduced as well. I'm trying to make the onboarding experience…
- The leaderboard is now available online - 16 August 2023
The Roboden site now has an online version of the Leaderboard: https://roboden-game.github.io/leaderboard/ It may be more convenient that the in-game leaderboard. You also get access to some extra information, like the drones that were used by that player to achieve a given score. I always get excited when I see a player submitting their score. Let's keep this party going! Note that submitting your score does not require any kind of registration. You don't even have to use your real username (it's possible to change it in the profile settings). As always, good luck, and good hunting.
- Build 15 is released - 10 August 2023
I'm happy to announce the first Roboden game update on Steam! Stay tuned as there is more to come! This post describes most changes to the game. This list may be somewhat hard to read as it was never meant to be a public release note. :) The next release notes post will be a bit better. First of all, you can now play Roboden on MacOS! UX: Show Dreadnought's health level in the tooltip Give an input device prompt for the new players Display drone recipe in the Drone Collection menu as well (even for T3 drones) Add drone highlighting when hovering over a recipe tab entry Auto-fill the player's name from the Steam account (this can be changed in the menu later) Controls: Reworked the default middle mouse button scroll behavior (can be reverted in the keyboard controls section) New content: Added Spectator achievement Added 1337 achievement Added Gladiator achievement New Fortress creep (av…
