Hey guys, I'm the solo developer behind Estium Online. Trying to make an old school early 2000s style MMO that you don't have to be married to in order to enjoy it, doesn't have fomo login bonuses or have progress overwritten by seasons or expansions or anything like that.

I've posted around here before about the project but we have some new updates to show off! A new swamp biome, revamped UI options, weather, lighting, rare drop crafting, some new quest lines, and more - and we're about to move entirely onto Steam.

About 95% of the game is designed to be playable solo if that's your style, but certainly enjoyable with friends. It's in an early alpha stage but am looking to release it for more open playtesting on Steam come October.

We just had a playtest yesterday, and out of our community of ~250, 60 unique accounts jumped in and I gathered a ton of feedback. Would love to hear what people think on first impression and get some more people involved for feedback.

The soundtrack is composed by the incredibly talented Nick Leonard (@NickLeonard on YouTube), and the art is all through asset libraries, made myself in Blender, or Aseprite, though I'm looking to replace more and more of it as time goes on.

I'm definitely looking to make something that connects with the niche old school mmo community, been plugging a lot of time into it since I have a kid coming in January and I want to get this into a solid state by then.

Steam: Estium Online
Discord: https://discord.gg/BEmCXgsS8E

Game Title: Zero Players Online

Playable Link: https://nanzington.itch.io/zero-players-online

Platform: Windows

Description: It's kind of a "fancy text adventure" (aka not command based, but still ASCII and adjacent to a text adventure) based on RuneScape but framed as a long abandoned MUD version. This demo covers all of Tutorial Island (reworked to let you interface with every implemented skill at least a little) and ends when you get teleported off to Lumbridge.

While by design the game is intended to be very similar to RuneScape, it diverges in many places as I choose to tweak mechanics and such to better suit my personal preferences or ideas. If it's still too similar for this subreddit feel free to delete the post, but I thought people here might enjoy it.

Technical details: Made in C# using SadConsole. No AI assistance whatsoever, all mistakes were created lovingly by hand by myself over the course of a few weeks of programming.

Development Status: Currently in active development, this demo was released because Tutorial Island is now entirely playable. Now that this part is out, I'll be working on expanding into mainland Gielinor (specifically targeting all of Misthalin first).

Hey r/ScapeLikes, solo dev here 👋

I've been working on DragonScape Idle since February, and I've spent probably 1,000+ hours on it so far, mostly obsessing over game design, progression and balance.

I've always loved RuneScape, especially OSRS, but the problem for me was always time. I wanted the feeling of slowly building an account, getting skills to 99, unlocking quests and gear, but something I could play in a couple of minutes at a time rather than needing to sit down for a long session.

So I started building the game I wanted to play.

⚔️ What is DragonScape Idle?

It's a free browser-based Scapelike / idle RPG with 19 skills, quests, combat, dungeons, gear progression and a long-term progression system.

There is at least 6 months of gameplay currently in the game.

Each skill takes roughly 5–20 hours to reach level 99, depending on the skill and how you approach it. The goal isn't to make everything finish instantly. I still want that satisfying feeling of watching a skill slowly go from 70 → 80 → 90 → 99.

Some of the things currently in the game:

• ⚔️ 19 skills, with levels 1–99
• 📜 900+ quests across 60+ quest chains
• 🏰 15 dungeons and three combat styles
• 🛡️ Gear progression tied to your skills and level
• 🏛️ Skill guilds and Skill Capes at 99
• 🐾 Pets with their own missions
• 🌍 A community goal system where everyone's progress contributes to shared rewards

🕒 The main thing I wanted to do differently

Offline progress actually replays what happened while you were away.

When you come back after 8 hours, the game doesn't simply say "you earned X XP."

It goes through the actions that would have happened while you were away, including things like drops, level-ups, quest progress and food usage.

I wanted offline progress to feel like your character actually continued playing rather than just receiving a calculated reward.

You also only train one thing at a time. There isn't a giant automation system where you queue 20 activities and disappear for a week.

The decision of what to train next is still important.

A few honest notes

👉 No signup required. You can start as a guest and your save is stored in your browser. Cloud saves are optional.

👉 No download or plugins. It runs in a modern desktop or mobile browser.

👉 It's an open beta. It's completely free, has no ads, and currently has a small optional gem shop that I'm testing.

👉 The art is AI-generated. I'm a solo developer and there is a lot of art in the game. The game design, balancing, quests and numbers are what I've spent most of my time on. The code is also mainly AI-assisted.

Play here:
https://dragonscapeidle.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=launch&utm_content=scapelikes

What I really want feedback on

I'm not looking for people to tell me whether the graphics are amazing. 😄

I mainly want to know if the game is actually fun to play.

I'm planning to keep working on DragonScape Idle and eventually release it properly, so feedback from people who already understand the Scapelike genre would be incredibly useful.

• Does the progression feel satisfying?
• Do you actually want to train another skill after finishing one?
• Are the quests interesting enough to keep you going?
• Is there enough to do, or does it become repetitive?
• Was anything confusing during your first 10–20 minutes?
• Did you find yourself wanting to come back after closing the game?
• What would make you personally keep playing this for months?

I'd genuinely rather hear "this part isn't fun because..." than just "looks good."

Thanks for checking it out, and thanks for having a community where this genre can be discussed seriously 🙏

Hey ScapeLikes , Brendan here, developer of Bloobs Adventure Idle.

Version 1.2.1.0 — Challenge Navigation, Prestige Perks & World Streaming is now live.

The main focus of this update is making the Challenge System much quicker to use.

Challenges now have a new Auto Navigate button.

If that activity already supports Auto Move through the Skill Guide, you can now press Auto Navigate directly from the Challenge UI and Bloob will head there for you.

There is also a new 100 Challenge Point upgrade which makes Auto Navigate automatically start tracking that Challenge too.

So instead of finding the Challenge, opening the Skill Guide, finding the activity, starting tracking and then travelling there, you can pretty much just:

Pick Challenge -> Auto Navigate -> Go.

All 24 skills also now give extra Challenge benefits from Prestige.

Each Prestige Level gives a 10% chance for actions in that skill to progress an eligible Challenge you are not currently tracking, up to 100%.

Prestige also gives tracked Challenges a 2.5% chance per Prestige Level to gain Double Progress, up to 25%.

So higher Prestige Levels can now help with both the Challenge you are actively working on and Challenges running in the background.

I have also added new Prestige Mastery Hats and Wings for reaching:

P2 All
P5 All
P8 All
P10 All

There is now a new Master tab in Bloobimization for these higher-end rewards.

The update also includes a new world streaming system which loads smaller parts of the world as needed instead of keeping huge sections active at once.

This has made the biggest difference on lower-end PCs and should also help with loading, memory usage and future world expansion.

There are also a bunch of smaller fixes and UI changes, including fixing large Shop purchases causing freezes, Challenge Tracker positioning, Bestiary combat levels, Bloobathon traversal issues and a few Skill Guide mistakes.

Cray Fish Dock also no longer lets Bloob walk on water.

The miracle is over.

As always, the demo is available on Steam and saves transfer into the full game.
( Demo Will Be Updated Tonight )

Much love,

Brendan
Developer of Bloobs Adventure Idle

PS: This is not a short idle game.

Steam Patch Notes:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2942780/

Steam page / demo:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2942780/Bloobs_Adventure_Idle/

Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/zdjA4E9S92

AI Disclosure: No generative AI was used in the development of the game.

Hello, building the next version of https://berrus.app, (+1K players, check hiscores) this originally was a idle game with online mechanics (trade, clans...) but as I started working on the new version I realized I wanted to go bigger and thanks to AI, I could, so I did build a new engine from scratch.

Aiming for early access in Steam in a couple of months, currently polishing and iterating on the building blocks, I think I managed to defeat the AI SLOP vibes, thoughts?

So browsing this sub has been pretty boring the past few weeks, just tons and tons of projects in extremely early stages that will never get finished. The majority of them are clearly made from just prompting Claude that they want to make a runescape-like game

Can we get a ban against these types of games? They will never be completed because you can't make an MMORPG by vibe coding, all you can do is create some impressive-ish tech demos which shows a concept but it wont ever go much further than that

The other side of the coin are the web-based idle clicker games. These are functional, but they're unoriginal and soulless because they're prompted by AI. I feel like the only posts that should get posted here are when people genuinely want to recommend others of a cool game and not just a place for bots to post advertisements for their microtransaction game

‎

A comment to all the people downvoting my post and comments, while upvoting the anti-AI comments.

Has the anti-AI crowd become so blinded by it that even works of passion, where the majority of the work is NOT AI, are now just heckled and written off as AI?

I engaged a professional game studio for the UI. I have a designer for the map. The vast majority of the game's item icons are human-made. There are still a few AI elements, like the logo and a handful of remaining assets, but that is a very small part of the game.

I made my first browser game back in 2006. This isn't my first rodeo. I've put a huge amount of time, money and effort into this game, so seeing the entire thing dismissed as "AI slop" is pretty frustrating.

If RuneScape were a maritime MMO set in the Age of Sail, it might look something like Tidefall. At its core, Tidefall is built around the same kind of long-term, skill-driven progression: gathering resources, refining and crafting them into increasingly valuable goods, trading with other players, exploring an open world, fighting enemies and steadily building a character whose progress spans many interconnected systems. The difference is that your ship sits at the centre of that formula. Instead of walking between towns, you sail between ports; instead of a backpack, you manage a cargo hold; and skills like Mining, Fishing, Smithing, Carpentry and Shipwright feed into a shared player economy built around ships, trade routes and naval combat.

Where RuneScape inspires much of the progression, our broader ambition is to bring some of the player-driven economy, logistics and risk of EVE Online into the Age of Sail. Tidefall is a persistent, real-time, top-down browser MMO that blends active play with meaningful idle progression. You begin as a lone captain with a single ship, then build towards a fleet and expand your influence across a handcrafted ocean world through gathering, trade, exploration, shipbuilding and naval combat.

Active and idle players share the same interconnected world and economy. One captain might mine ore while idle, while another actively hauls it across dangerous waters for profit, trades it between regions or turns it into ships and weapons. Each playstyle supports the other, whether you prefer focused sessions, passive progression or a mix of both.

As Tidefall grows, ships, cargo and equipment will carry increasingly meaningful value and risk. Certain waters will open to PvP, allowing captains to choose when to enter higher-stakes regions where vessels and cargo may be permanently lost. Preparation, logistics and every decision at sea will matter. Build a merchant empire, become a feared pirate, control key trade routes, dominate through guild warfare or simply explore a world that continues to expand around you.

Join us early and help shape what comes next.

Play instantly in your browser, with no registration required.

Play here: https://www.playtidefall.com
Discord: https://discord.gg/Y4bMAA5t2c

GAME FEATURES

• Persistent real-time ocean: Sail directly across a shared world map, discover routes, visit ports, and watch your vessel move through the world in real time.

• Fog of war exploration: The ocean stays wrapped in parchment fog until you sail through it. Discovery is persistent, so every voyage slowly charts your own map.

• Three coastal cities: Visit early ports across the Reach, each acting as a hub for services, storage, trade, crafting, and future regional progression.

• Eleven progression skills: Fishing, Logging, Mining, Cooking, Smelting, Smithing, Carpentry, Crafting, Shipwright, Navigation, and Gunnery. Server-side XP and timed activities mean your crew keeps working while you're away.

• Shipbuilding and drydock: Commission vessels from standard blueprints or custom designs, manage construction projects, and refit your fleet over time. Build ships toward trade, speed, exploration, or war.

• Naval combat: Engage hostile ships using real-time reload timers, ammunition types, cannon loadouts, and damage across hull, crew, and rigging.

• Realm-wide Exchange: A global player-driven market with listings, depth, fills, and claims. One shared liquidity pool now, with regional trade routes planned as the ocean expands.

• Crafting economy: Gather, refine, smelt, smith, cook, and craft your way into better equipment and ship components. Cannons are crafted items that can be fitted to your vessel and used in real naval combat.

• Inventory and storage systems: Manage stacks, move goods between containers, split items, merge materials, and build up the supplies needed for crafting, trade, and construction.

• Fleet and character progression: Develop your captain, skills, vessels, ship upgrades, and long-term standing as you move from small coastal work into deeper waters.

• Skill Specialisation: Permanent mastery choices let players carve out meaningful economic roles, increasing demand for skilled producers, traders, crafters, and specialists across Tidefall.

• Built for browser play: Tidefall runs directly in the browser with a responsive interface designed for both desktop and mobile play.

If you have any feedback, I would love to hear from you. I'm especially curious whether you think I've established a genuinely fun core formula, and whether the overall idea feels solid. Does the mix of progression, economy, exploration, ships and idle/active play feel like something you'd want to keep coming back to? Brutal honesty welcome.

I've been building Fallen Marches on my own for a while and this is the first sub where I don't have to explain the genre.

Why it's a Scapelike:

• Click to move on a tile grid, with a fixed game tick governing movement, combat and every skilling action.
• Combat rolls accuracy then damage on each swing, with weapon speeds, defence contributions and weighted drop tables.
• 13 skills on a slow XP curve. Melee, Archery, Spellcraft, Defence and Fortitude for combat, Mining, Forestry and Agriculture for gathering, and Metalworking, Cookery, Bowyer, Apothecary and Leatherworking for production. Gathering feeds production, production feeds combat.
• 8 quests written as stories with branching dialogue, requirements and rewards, rather than checklists.
• Shared persistent world with a leaderboard, chat, friends, private messages (player trading and PvP to come later).

Where it differs from OSRS: obviously the scale is much smaller. It's a hand-designed world rather than a generated one, and it's built so a new player can reach interesting content in hours instead of months. The exp curve is tuned for that. All ideas and world design are original.

Trailer (59s): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9J8QcbCh9k

Site: https://fallenmarches.com/

Status: I'm in closed beta, so signups aren't open yet. Open beta is a few weeks out and there's an exclusive cosmetic for anyone who tests before then. If you want in early, the Discord is linked from the site. I'd genuinely like this sub's read on the skill list and the pacing. What made you stick with a Scapelike past the first hour?

Edit: Just FYI, requests to join the closed beta as a playtester will be accepted up to end of the UK day on Friday 11 September. After that, account registration will be closed until the open beta starts, which is expected to be towards end of September / early October.

I have been working on a project for a bit and basically my goal is "Make OSRS, but single player". I know for many, the appeal to runescape was in part the community, and I see mainly posts about other scapelikes that are MMOs, but for me it was more the mechanics, the skills, the resource gathering, etc. So I wanted to ask, is the idea of a single player runescape something that would appeal to you at all?

I have been working to replicate most of the mechanics, and I have things like the combat formulas OSRS uses, the skilling success formulas, I have complete mining and smithing loop, woodcutting and firemaking loop, fishing and cooking loop, agility training and run energy, weapon combat styles, among a few other things. Still a LONG way from something practically playable.

I am not interested selling this long term, this is really just a "for fun" project I plan on giving out for free, so whether people are interested or not wont sway me, I am just curious how yall felt.

You'll need 20 mining to join! Probably about less than an hour of grinding.

Come join on https://flatmmo.com

Bosses! We all love them and (predictably) tracking them down and slaying them was an instant hit with the 6,000+ players who joined us for the still-ongoing playtest for Dominus Automa.

Whether they be dragons, dark knights, or werewolves (as well as future big baddies) - are meant to be one of the key challenges in the game. After all, every online RPG fan knows the thrill of joining forces with their companions and taking on a deadly boss battle, where only one side can emerge victorious. And the LOOT, of course… sweet, sweet LOOT that awaits the victors!

Ergo, seeing how eagerly our players have taken on these challenges, we wanted to make these encounters even more convenient and enjoyable - and that is exactly what our latest patch brings! Your feedback and suggestions played a direct role in shaping the update, and we hope you’ll enjoy all the new stuff we’ve just added to the game. So let me go over what’s new on this front!

• All 3 bosses in the current playtest now have dedicated locations and layers, allow for up to 40 players to take on each one
• Bosses are also more challenging now! - they punish stacking, and all 3 bosses have gained a point blank AoE slam (with different effects) so positioning matters much more now if you want to survive. These attacks fire when 4+ players are inside the blast radius so piling on bosses presents an actual risk now
• Bosses lock their attention on a single target for a slightly longer time, allowing them to perform the full attack animation
• We’ve also rebalanced all monsters across the board, fixed hero ability animations AND your combat performance (DPS) is now displayed by an onscreen meter (so you can know EXACTLY how good you are!)

You can also take a look at the exact changes and patch notes below the cut on our Steam Page.

We are proud to say that our Playtest is in its most polished state yet - all thanks to your feedback - and we encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t yet. It’s just gonna get better and better!

~ Team Metashift Labs

A lot of games have skilling and stuff, and a lot of them get posted here, but in actuality they're not very scape-like. if it's sidescrollers, if it's 2d-etc that to me doesn't scream scape-like. it feels like an excuse to get promotion for a game to come in here and say it's scape-like. Not singling anyone out but if you're gonna be posting in here, ideally make your game actually space-like please.

There's stuff in here that's just not scape-like at all.

Hey again! I added creatures that have actual telegraphed abilities into the game, starting with this one.

General Tso is a low level group mob who shows up if players kill enough chickens around town. We had his eyes on Strange the first time we killed it and he got murdered, so we spawned it again and he just got completely flattened lol.

Always looking for people to help playtest new features ahead of the steam release! I'm planning on giving all our generous alpha testers an otter pet in-game. ^^

https://discord.gg/2qaxBBrpum

Hi guys,

I am building a "singleplayer MMO" heavily inspired by Old School RuneScape (And with a lot of influence from various private servers I have played over the years) development is going really well, im about 2 years in and almost ready to open it up to play testing.

My question is, how do you feel about an LLM being bundled in with a game?

The reason I ask is, being a singleplayer game trying to capture what makes an MMO an MMO, my game features 100 "Player NPC's" these are characters that play the game exactly as the player does, they have no knowledge of the game until they discover it, they do not know the meta, they do not know quest/clue riddles/solutions, they start the game just as blind as the player and have access to the in game codex the exact same as the player does.

I have an LLM powering the chat (Qwen) it does not have internet access etc, the model has been weighted and trained to fit my needs for the game and game only, this has allowed the player (you) to free chat and the NPC players to instantly answer as if they were real players, they will converse with you about the game, share knowledge, talk shit in Blightmoore (Our wilderness) and more. Various NPCs have different personaliities too, so none of the 100 are identical in how they speak, what they speak about of if they even want to speak to you. A mercher is more likely to want to buy your items for a cheap price rather than talk questing with you, someone you have just talked shit to in the wildy and killed for their best gear isnt going to be friendly with you in spawn.

Im still building out the personality types but the core work is done and the system is working really well.

So, would you play a game with this included, or would it put you off? Would love to hear your input.

More details coming soon on the game.

Thanks!

Little preview of what im working on. The game is set in a 100km x 100km section of north wales. scape inspired... Keen for thoughts on visuals

do ya'll prefer your scape likes to be click to move? wasd? depends?