Roadmap

A gated plan — prove it's fun before building on it

Solo ARPGs die from building content on top of a loop that was never fun. So the plan is built as a series of gates: each phase ends in a yes/no question that must be answered before the next begins. Nothing is built yet — this is the path.

  1. 0

    Prove the loop

    Grey-box, no art, no story. Move, attack, an enemy that dies, an item that drops, is picked up and equipped so a stat visibly changes.

    Gate: is move → kill → loot → equip actually fun? Everything waits on yes.

  2. 1

    One class, vertical slice

    One class (the Hoplite), its skill tree, tab-target combat, the full loot loop, and one small themed zone of Eleusis — polished to shipping quality.

    Gate: a 15–30 minute slice that feels like a real game.

  3. 2

    The full Act 1

    All the act's zones, the grounded-crisis story, the boss, shrine blessings, and the first difficulty tier — still one class.

    Gate: playable start to finish, 1–2 hours, fun the whole way.

  4. 3

    The other two classes

    Archer and Oracle — their trees, abilities and balance. The architecture makes this mostly content, not new systems.

    Gate: all three classes viable and genuinely distinct.

  5. 4

    Polish, tiers & ship

    Higher difficulties, uniques and sets, audio, UI polish, options and the save system. The companion book finalised.

    Gate: a stranger can install it, play any class, and hit no blocking bugs. Ship it.

Honest about the size

A shipped Act 1 is a serious, multi-year effort at hobby hours — and that's with the scope discipline baked in: a short act, single-player, buy-don't-build for animated art, one thing finished before the next begins. The single most important milestone is the very first one: reaching a grey-box loop that's genuinely fun de-risks everything after it.