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Galactic Rogue
Early AccessCreator, Game Designer, Architect, Developer
PC-first space roguelite with real-time auto-combat, C# / Godot .NET 8. Your ship is a hull and a handful of slots: what decides a run is the weapons and modules you bolt in, and how their synergy tags stack. 14 weapons, 10 modules, 5 enemy archetypes plus an elite and a boss, 14 events each with its own pixel-art scene. Five synergy tags (FIRE / SHIELD / SPEED / TECH / BRUTE), three tiers each, climbed by stacking duplicates. Branching sector map: combat, events, shops, rest, elites, a boss. Every sector runs hotter than the last: heat sets the floor on the next jump's danger, and the threat is shown before you commit. Risk / extract loop: push deeper for richer loot, or extract to bank it. Die and the run's bank is lost. Deterministic balance, calibrated through headless simulation. Runs of about 15 to 25 minutes.
What this project proves
Early Access · itch.io · simulation-tested balance
Current state
Early Access on itch.io • Windows • FR interface, EN planned
Design focus
Context
The game was rebuilt from scratch on a C# / .NET 8 foundation, to grow content and systems without debt and ship a public Early Access on itch.io that proves the core loop in real conditions.
Challenges & constraints
Finding the right risk / reward balance so each run feels tense without being frustrating, and validating it by measurement rather than intuition. Building weapon + module synergies deep enough for replayability without breaking auto-combat readability. Externalizing pixel art production (local 8 GB VRAM is not enough) while keeping a coherent style and a controlled cost.
Results & learnings
Early Access published on itch.io (Windows). Complete loop: sector map, auto-combat, synergy-tag builds, station meta-progression (hull, weapons, reactor). 14 weapons, 10 modules, 14 illustrated events, 5 enemy archetypes plus elite and boss. Deterministic balance calibrated through headless simulation, replayable at a fixed seed. French interface for now, English is planned.
Production timeline
- GDScript prototype validates the risk / extract loop.
- Full rebuild in C# / .NET 8 to make content growth viable without debt.
- Core loop, sector map with heat and threat, station meta-progression.
- Early Access published on itch.io.
Key decisions
- Keep auto-combat so the skill sits in build and extraction decisions, not raw dexterity.
- Rebuild in C# / .NET 8 instead of stacking onto the GDScript prototype.
- Show the threat before the commit: pushing your luck must be a read, not a blind gamble.
- Tune balance against deterministic simulation numbers instead of intuition.
- Externalize pixel art production instead of waiting for a local hardware upgrade.
Tech Stack
Features
- ▸Real-time auto-combat
- ▸Risk / extract loop
- ▸5 synergy tags, 3 tiers
- ▸14 weapons, 10 modules
- ▸14 illustrated events
- ▸5 enemy archetypes + elite + boss
- ▸Heat and threat shown before the jump
- ▸Upgradeable station (hull, weapons, reactor)
- ▸Deterministic simulation-tested balance
- ▸Runs of 15 to 25 minutes
Related paths
Links
Production note
Auto-combat is a design choice, not a limitation. The real skill comes from the decisions: what to equip, when to push, when to extract. And the most structural decision was making the threat readable before you commit. Without that, the risk / extract loop is just a disguised dice roll.