Show HN: Wesnoth wouldn't run on my phone -- I rebuilt the combat in the browser
hexnoth.com
A few months ago I started experimenting with building a turn based tactics game with a combat system heavily inspired by the Battle for Wesnoth. The main reason was that I could not make Wesnoth work on my phone :D I iterated on it over and over, polishing graphics, finding background music, balancing units, and here it is. There is a fully playable skirmish mode -- 3 factions x 3 units x 3 levels. AI opponent, 4 difficulty levels, fog of war, time of day changing unit stats, various terrain types and traits (poison, healing, others). It runs in the browser and -- if you choose to sign in -- it syncs across devices. You can start on desktop and finish on mobile.
I wanted to make it casual, but also serious at the same time. For me many games are either too complex and require much time (like most of 4x) or too naive in terms of combat system or graphics (like many mobile games).
I'm developing campaigns -- I already have a rough scenario for the first campaign, and the first playable match (not released yet). My main focus is on single player game, while there is also a multiplayer in progress.
My goal was to make all game modes free and with no ads. There is a single paid feature -- verified play, which basically means we verify your games server side, so you can participate in future global ranks. I'm not sure if that's enough to cover costs, but we'll see.
I’m still a dev with a full-time job. Hexnoth is so far mostly a hobby project, and it's fulfilling in terms of artistic expression and storytelling. I won't create the next Baldur's Gate or Age of Wonders, but I feel great power and agency, and I can shape it nearly entirely the way I want. Or the way you'd like to have it -- just drop a message.