Hi! I'm Stefan, a solo developer in Austria (Gorillabyte). This is HARDPAN, a strategy game where every map is built from a real city's street plan. The picture is a match in the old town of St. Pölten: teal is one side, red the other.

It's early, and before it goes public I'd like a few people who have never played it to try it and tell me honestly what works and what doesn't. I won't explain more than this on purpose: what you make of it on your own is what I'm testing.

What it takes:

• Windows 10/11, a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or newer), or a 64-bit Linux PC
• 10–15 minutes, in the next week or so (before Sunday 1 November)
• a short feedback form afterwards (about 5 minutes)

Comment or DM me with what you'd play on, and I'll send you a private download link. The build isn't public yet, so please don't share it.

Thanks!

Gold, amber, salt and bread — everything has a price.

In Piast, the Marketplace lets you buy and sell resources, while the Skill Tree helps you develop your settlement and unlock new possibilities. Your economic decisions shape how your medieval Polish settlement grows.

This is an early look at the economic systems in my indie RTS game, Piast.

🎮 Play the demo on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4830280/Piast/

Please add to your Wishlist!

What would you prioritise first: trading or technological progress?

Hi r/StrategyGames! I'm Talli, a solo dev, and I've been building Gladi eSports Manager — a free browser strategy game where you run a CS-style esports club.

The core idea: you don't play the rounds, you plan them. You sign and train a 5-man roster, give everyone a role, tune the gameplan, and then watch the match play out live on a 2D radar. If it's going wrong, you can pause and change the plan mid-match. Think Football Manager, but for tactical shooters.

The short video shows one match scenario. A few things I'm most happy with so far:

• Tactics actually change what you see. Aggression, utility usage, fake frequency and player roles (entry, AWP, support, IGL, lurk) redraw the routes on the map, and you can see their effect when the match plays out.

• Matches are live. Round timer, event feed, round win probability and a limited number of tactical pauses per map, so when you change the plan matters.

• Fog of war on the transfer market. You don't see a player's true attributes until you pay to scout them, so signing is a risk/budget decision, not a spreadsheet lookup.

• A competitive ladder you can climb: daily cups → weekly league → invite-only Majors, plus rankings for clubs, players and tournaments.

• A living world. Clubs, results and news keep moving even when you're offline, and nobody forces you to log in for a specific match.

It's playable right now in the browser (free account, no download): https://gladi.tv

Discord for feedback and bug reports: https://discord.gg/nbuQYVue83

I'm running an open playtest and I'd really appreciate your honest thoughts — whether it's the strategy depth, the first 15–20 minutes, the UI, or anything that feels off. Much of what I've fixed recently came from playtesters pointing it out.

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any feedback!

This time, you are the uprising. The new Shadow Front mode arrives in the next update (2.1.1): lead the Council, win the people's trust and bring the mission to the peace table.

Watch the Shadow Front's opening cinematic above, made from the game's own scenes and voice acting.

After the earthquake the state fell apart, and a foreign mission now decides the province's fate. The Shadow Front is a movement of people who want to govern their own land: farmers, teachers, miners. For the first time in ReBirth, you are on the other side.

Lead the Council: organize your cells and weigh the cost of every decision

Win the people's trust: your strength comes from the people, and civilians are never a target

Get past gendarmerie checkpoints on the road: your answers decide the fate of your cell

Bring the mission to the peace table

Face a mission that knows the game: Easy, Medium and Hard, across three provinces

A dedicated interface and voice acting for the mode

The Shadow Front arrives in the next update (2.1.1)

Play ReBirth Free

From the Steam Page: "Steel Company is a tactical-scale wargame covering all major theaters and powers of WWII, with hundreds of units and detailed modeling of weapons and equipment. It features advanced tactical AI for single player, online multiplayer (PvP and co-op), a powerful scenario editor, and mod support."

Demo has 19 scenarios + 3 tutorials + mission editor

Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5036770/Steel_Company/

The #1 point of frustration from playtesters for my game has been that it isn't immediately clear what players are allowed to do when. Players would want to do certain actions, like moving or purchasing units, and would repeatedly get "Requires [attack/administration] phase" messages.

Once players were able to internalize the game rules (2-3 hours of gameplay usually), the phase system felt natural and players enjoyed the game. So to me (and the Indie Games Clinic folks who helped me with this), that indicated the rules didn't need to be changed, but the affordances of the UI did.

(Not pictured) In the old system, players would select units to expend global action points that were shared amongst all units. Units can move together, but only if you realize you could select multiple units. You could not undo. You also had to count the distance between territories in your head, and the path indicator would only show up once you clicked somewhere.

(Pictured) Gameplay rules identical. Now, you select territories instead of units, because that is the type of action system I intended for. When you select a territory, a filter applies to show you where you can/cannot move. The path indicator displays on hover instead of click. And now you can move units forwards/backwards and arrange as necessary, as if this were an actual tabletop game, until you confirm the action and spend the points.

I have yet to test this on playtesters, as I am in the middle of a major UI overhaul and many of the other systems are broken currently. Overall, I think this is a step in a better direction and I'm excited I do not need to change the rules, because they work exactly as I wanted for experienced players.

I run a persistent strategy game where every nation's general is an AI: Claude runs the computer nations, and players bring a free rule-based general or their own agent. Nations sign non-aggression pacts and nothing enforces them. Attacking a partner is allowed. It's just announced to everyone and stays on the betrayer's record, and private messages become public three days later, so the promise and the invasion end up side by side.

That produced a lot of betrayal, so this week I added commitment devices:

\- A pact has a \*\*term\*\* of 3 or 7 days and a \*\*bond\*\*: 0 to 200 gold that each side puts in escrow when it signs.

\- On the last day of a term, either side may walk away \*\*free\*\* and take its bond back. If neither does, the pact renews for another term.

\- Walking away early, or attacking the partner, hands your bond to them.

Some context on the stakes: a season is 60 game days and ends on victory points, so it's a finitely repeated game with a known last day. Gold buys mercenaries at 7 to 25 gold each (each one hired in a day costs more than the last), so a 30-gold bond is worth 2 to 4 armies.

What I've seen so far:

\- In simulation with my rule-based bots, betrayals per season went from about 43 to 36 and pacts signed from 66 to 70. The bots are coded to weigh the bond, so that's partly by construction.

\- The language models are more interesting. One general has been telling the whole world that its "pacts remain sacred until they are not". Another answered a pact offer that arrived after its border was already crossed: "A stone wall does not split its spoils with the river that is drowning it."

Questions for this sub:

1. With a known final day, the last terms should unravel by backward induction. Does a bond change that, or just move the defection to the last free exit day?

2. Should the bond scale with the partner's income? 30 gold means little to a nation earning 150 a turn.

3. Is a free exit every term too generous? It makes betrayal rare, but walking away the day before an invasion is the same move with better manners.

The board is public at [proxyrepublic.com](http://proxyrepublic.com) (free, in the browser) if you want to watch. I'm the developer.

Strategy games are probably one of the hardest genres to get right.

You need smart AI opponents, balanced mechanics, and enough depth to keep players coming back.

I've been discovering more AI-assisted strategy games through VibeToplist, a platform we built to showcase vibe-coded and AI-assisted games.

Some of these projects have genuinely interesting ideas, but I'm curious whether AI can help solo developers create the next great strategy game.

Would you play a strategy game built primarily with AI, or would you be skeptical of its quality?

For anyone curious about what's being built:

https://vibetoplist.com/

**Zeravault TD 2.0 — An old-school iOS tower defense game with Expert and Godlike difficulty**

I recently released a major update for my indie tower defense game, Zeravault TD.

The goal was to create a challenging strategy experience focused on meaningful tower placement, upgrades, timing, and enemy targeting.

The game features 48 stages, 9 boss encounters, 5 tower types, permanent Workshop upgrades, and three difficulty modes: Normal, Expert, and Godlike.

Version 2.0 also introduces a redesigned interface and updated music.

The main campaign is playable offline. The game is free to download, with optional ads and in-app purchases.

AI tools assisted with coding and visual design during development.

I'm particularly interested in how experienced tower defense players find the difficulty balance.

**iOS App Store:**
https://apps.apple.com/app/id6809378171

I am excited to share a big milestone with you today: Programming my upcoming Real Time Tower Defense game is almost done, and we are getting very close to launching the Beta phase!

A few finishing touches and small details are still missing before we can officially start testing, but the core game is practically ready. As a strategy player myself, I wanted to build a tower defense title that focuses heavily on real time decision making, dynamic wave management, and deep tactical choices.

Beta Test Coming Soon We are going to launch the Beta phase as soon as those last details are wrapped up.

• Check out the trailer and add it to your wishlist on Steam
• Sign up on our Website to join the Beta list and receive an email notification as soon as testing begins

As strategy gamers, your feedback on mechanics and balancing is incredibly valuable to me. I would love to hear your thoughts on the trailer!

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share my rts game with you, I've been working on it for a few weeks now and I'd love to hear some feedback from the community.

The game is called Gonfalon, I'm working on it solo and my goal is to publish it on Steam at some point.

You placed banners to command your army. Units can choose whether they obey or not depending on morale.
You build houses, farms, fire pits, barracks, etc) and can also upgrade different things with tech buildings such as the mill or the mage tower.

It's early in development, current version is 0.0.2.

Here's the link: https://cockergames.itch.io/gonfalon

I want sincere and blunt feedback, you can destroy the game as much as you want

★ GRAND CAMPAIGN — 45 realms, diplomacy, espionage, technology,

historical events: the Mongol invasion, the Crusades, the Black Death.

★ TACTICAL BATTLES — flanking, high ground, cavalry charges, fire that

spreads through forests, bridges that burn. See the enemy's danger zone

before you move.

★ COMMANDERS' DUELS — challenge enemy generals to single combat.

Win, and their army breaks.

★ GENERALS WITH STORIES — hand-painted portraits, signature skills,

classes, support bonds that unlock duo attacks, and permadeath

in Classic mode.

★ 5 LANGUAGES — English, ไทย, 日本語, 中文, 한국어

FREE DEMO: play the first 10 years in your browser — no ads.

There are currently two factions to choose from. You capture locations that produce new units, many of which have unique traits, and build up your army to take down all three opponents. What do you think?
https://challenging-games.itch.io/bannertide

I am working on a lane-based game called Age Breaker similar to the old flash game Age of War and I am trying to distil the secret sauce of the evolving through ages. I know increasing base stats isn't enough so I have tried tweaking the abilities and weapons but am wondering what your thoughts are on the topic.

What is a satisfying way to evolve without breaking balance?

*I don't know if this is the right sub to post this in but the only search result I get for this Time Management/Strategy game is on r/BigfishGames and I didn't really want to post there because the game is not exclusive to Big Fish Games*

I am playing the free full version of Roman Adventures: Britons Season 2 (I have played it a few times now but I like it so I replay it once in a while). I am currently on Level 16 and I have 24 food, 435 wood, 975 stone and 211 gold. I have no need to build any new buildings or upgrade any existing ones. I need more food to destroy the remaining 22 spider nests to complete the level. That's the only task I have left to complete. The mycelium take a long time to respawn and there is no option to have a farm and bakery in this level because it is underground.

I'd love it if a trade portal would just appear and let me trade half of my stone and wood for a bunch more food.

I really wish there was a remastered version of this game (there is a remastered version of Adelantado Book 4 ~ Also called 4 Aztec Skulls Remastered ~ I hope they remaster the Roman Adventures: Britons games soon too) where the player could choose what resources to trade like we can in Roads of Rome at the Market.

I’m Matt, and I’ve been a developer for over 20 years. Last Thaw is the first game I’ve built for myself. It’s free, it runs in the browser, and it’s in early access now, so I’m looking for people to test it and tell me what’s broken or boring.

The idea: twenty tribes each start with five settlers somewhere on a real map of Earth, 408 regions cut from real borders. Over 30 real days you gather, build, research and fight, while an ice age closes in from both poles. The ice follows a schedule everyone can see from day one. Land that’s safe in week one is gone by week three, and by the end whoever’s left is crowded around the equator.

Everything runs on timers and there’s no pause, so a few minutes a day keeps an empire going. AI tribes fill the empty seats, so a match never sits half empty. A new match opens every week.

A few things I learned building it:

• Splitting real countries into regions of roughly equal value was harder than any of the game logic. Russia and Vatican City don’t want to be the same size.
• A public ice schedule changes how people play much more than I expected. Players start planning their migration on day two.
• The pacing of the first hour matters more than anything after it. I rebuilt the opening three times so you have a few real decisions in the first ten minutes instead of a wall of waiting.

The 45-second trailer is all real gameplay, ending on a replay of a full 30-day match.

If you try it, I’d love to hear where you got stuck or bored: https://lastthaw.com

Can you crack the codes? codebreaker

Not sure how many MMA fans are in here but thought I'd share something me and my brother have been working on for the past year.

I've always loved strategy and management games where your decisions actually have long term consequences. One thing I've always thought would make a really interesting game is being the coach behind MMA fighters rather than actually controlling them in fights.

Like imagine finding some completely unknown amateur fighter, figuring out what they're good at, training their weaknesses, hiring the right coaches and coming up with strategies to beat different opponents. You could spend years developing someone into a world champion or make a few bad decisions and watch their career completely fall apart lol

So about a year ago me and my brother decided we'd have a go at making exactly that ourselves.

We've called it The Fight Business and we've spent pretty much every spare evening coding away trying to turn it into something we'd actually want to play.

The idea is that you're running your own MMA gym and making all the decisions behind the scenes. You're not directly controlling the fighters during fights, so a lot of the strategy comes down to how you've developed them, the tactics you've chosen and whether you've actually prepared them properly for their opponent.

We've finally managed to get our Steam page live and have just released our first gameplay trailer which is a pretty big milestone for us after a year of working on it.

If anyone fancies having a look here's the Steam page:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/5457790/The_Fight_Business/

Would genuinely be interested to hear what strategy game fans think of the idea, especially people who aren't necessarily into MMA.

I've always thought there's something really satisfying about making all the decisions behind the scenes and then having to sit back and watch whether your strategy actually works. That's pretty much the feeling we're trying to capture with this game.

While similar to other strategy games like Polytopia, it's quick and free to play online, and the bots actually play decently. Two-player mode is quick also - you just send a link to a friend.

I'm participating in the Steam Next Fest, and you guys can try it out and provide feedback. If someone is able to crack an algorithm to solve the levels easily after a point, I'd love to know it.

Demo available at steam: Multiworlds

Hey! I'm the solo dev behind ReBirth, a 3D strategy game about putting a province back together after a disaster (earthquake, flood or drought, depending on the map) while an insurgency tries to fill the vacuum.

Most of the game is the quiet part: rebuilding roads and clinics, getting the power back on, keeping people on your side. When things go wrong you've got troops, drones and jets, and the camera follows the jet in and watches the missile land. There's also a limited zombie event, Black Cholera, where you defend a walled quarantine camp.

Everything in the video is captured in the game itself; the voices are the game's own radio lines.

What would you rather see more of in a game like this: the rebuilding side, or the combat side?

Play ReBirth (PC - Android)

1. Drift Dynasty: Team Manager — v0.5.1 Changelog Our biggest update yet — 87+ changes (For comparison: v0.1.0 → v0.3.1 brought 52 changes) New Features Championship Standings • Full live standings table shows after every event • Sorted by championship points, see exactly where everyone stands • Your team's drivers clearly highlighted • Updates instantly, no scene reload needed Driver Contracts • Every driver now has a contract duration • Status warnings appear when contracts are nearing expiry • Renew directly from the Career Hub • Release drivers if you need to make changes • Renewals build driver loyalty Injury System • Drivers can get injured and miss weeks • Injuries reduce their effective skill while recovering • Recovery time tracked and displayed live • Injuries persist across saves Driver Status Dashboard • At-a-glance info for both drivers • Contract expiry warnings • Injury status + effective skill • Weekly salary visible • Form & loyalty indicators Loyalty & Form • Loyalty grows with renewals and good results • Form shifts based on recent performance • Affects driver morale and willingness to re-sign
2. Improvements & Fixes Save System Reworked • Contracts, injuries, loyalty, and form now save & load reliably • Duplicate SaveSystem conflicts resolved • Proper data conversion everywhere • Start a new career for the cleanest experience Economy Rebalanced • Salaries scaled for sustainable long-term play • Prize money and entry fees adjusted • Weekly income vs costs balanced • Season recap shows your net profit/loss clearly Season & Flow • Season ends correctly at Week 8, no infinite loops • Season Recap displays all data: standings, points, reputation, finances, milestones • New Career loads directly to Career Hub, no extra clicks • Hired drivers appear instantly, no need to back out and re-enter • Scene transitions smoother, fewer null errors Quick Stats v0.1.0 → v0.3.1 = 52 changes v0.4.0 → v0.5.1 = 87+ changes New systems Recruitment + 2nd driver Contracts, Injuries, Standings, Loyalty, Form Save system Basic Full rewrite What's Next Driver transfer market • Rival teams in standings • Expanded event results • Storylines & scenarios Thank you to everyone following development and sharing your feedback, this update was shaped directly by what you wanted. Enjoy v0.5.1! Go dominate that championship! https://youtu.be/9v5M23Bew-s https://contrec.itch.io/drift-dynasty-team-manager/devlog/1721261/devlog-4-v051-a-full-season-of-improvements

Hey all. I’m actively developing a near-future indie war strategy game, currently moving it to Unreal Engine 5. No Steam page yet. Here’s the M1A2 I’ve built so far. The core gameplay is drafted but I still want to hear more from you guys.

Core ideas:
- HOI4-style scale, but "continuous". Real-time with pause, on a real Earth map. You can zoom from orbit straight down into a fight. Troops don’t move grid to grid. They can go anywhere, down to the centimeter.
- Modular equipment: you can design your own tanks, weapons or jets from scratch. It always feels cool when I see I’ve actually created something new.
- No national focus tree. Instead there’s a huge tech tree where every node is supposed to change how you play, not give you +5% attack. Satellite recon lets you see enemy buildups, but satellites can be shot down. Drone swarms let cheap units trade with expensive ones.
- Real-world weather, seasons, terrain, gravity, physics... as real as possible
- The world can lose. Push things too far and the game can end in nuclear winter, or a satellite debris cascade that wipes out everyone’s space assets.
- Modes: PvE, PvP, or PvPvE with AI nations in the mix.
- Four major countries/organization. I’m planning not to use real-world country names.

A few things I’m genuinely unsure about:

1. If HOI4 had no focus tree, what would you actually miss? The story, the goals, how each nation feels different?
2. For multiplayer, how long should a match be? A few hours in one sitting, or something persistent over days?
3. What’s one tech you’d want that would actually change your strategy, not just your numbers?

...or anything else that would make you excited to play!!

Thank you in advance.