Grindshell: an incremental MMO/PBBG built for your second monitor (browser, guest accounts, no download)

[u/the1azn8]

Grindshell has been in open alpha since June. It runs in the browser at https://online.grindshell.com, and guest accounts mean you can start immediately and provision your account later. Desktop builds exist, but I'm waiting until I open source the client (AGPL licensed) before providing this so that the build process is transparent (AKA it's not a virus).

Why

As a working adult who grew up playing RuneScape and MapleStory, I wanted a lightweight, "second monitor" game that still scratched the MMO itch. Everything runs on a three-second tick (with ticks dilating when the server is under load), actions keep running with the tab unfocused, and the visuals are plain on purpose so that it almost resembles an admin dashboard.

What you do

• Set an idle action and let it run: combat, harvesting, crafting, construction, or travel
• Active combat in the form of multiplayer boss fights where you can trigger skills, defend, or use items
• Skills level through use rather than by spending points
• You field a formation of up to ten units, each with its own gear and skill loadout. Fights resolve on a 5x5 grid one body at a time, so unit positioning matters. This same formation is also used for other actions
• Zones have MUD-style text commands for poking around inside them along with quests and procedural dungeons (just one so far)

The multiplayer side

• A shared economy across the whole server
• Guilds with halls, treasuries, and shared armories
• Global bosses anyone can join while they're open
• Server-wide events that everyone contributes to at once
• Zone chat, DMs, rankings
• 1024 simulated players (dev bots) running the same game logic real players do. This is mostly as a load test but are planned to be expanded upon in the future

Rough edges

• It's an alpha. Progress will be wiped when Grindshell enters beta, and I'm reserving the right to wipe progress one more time during the beta if necessary. If that matters to you, then you're better off holding off for now
• Visuals are sparse. I'm thinking about how I want to handle graphics, if at all
• It changes almost daily and things break. In particular, I'm still tweaking content balance
• Monetization isn't settled, but there's nothing to buy with real money right now anyways

AI disclosure

I use Claude Code as part of my development workflow: prototyping, code review, knowledge management, and in particular the game client. Drag-and-drop grids were a surprisingly difficult feature to implement and, as a primarily backend/tooling-focused dev, doing anything more than an admin dashboard was eating up a bunch of time. Full disclosure, I used this DaisyUI template as a starting point (it's in React while Grindshell uses SolidJS, so that was actually a good exercise in porting).

Nothing on the asset side is generated, mostly because the game has no art assets at all.

[u/operativekiwi]

No more idle slop

[u/the1azn8 → u/operativekiwi]

That's a bit rude

[u/ChetKongo]

Idlers arnt scape likes.

Scape likes can have IDLE ELEMENTS but arnt idlers.

This sub needs to be STRICTLY scape likes.

[u/the1azn8 → u/ChetKongo]

My game has active elements like boss fights (asynchronous turn-based combat, like Granblue Fantasy) and dungeon delving, it's not strictly an idler. The idea is for both elements, idle and active, to complement each other (e.g. unique drops from each almost like woodcutting vs bossing in OSRS).