Ercan LabsFoundry Tactics
A turn-based tactics prototype set in an abandoned factory where robots fight over the assembly line.
How this was measured: File and test counts from the repository tree; no performance claim is made for a prototype.
- INPUT
- oyuncu
- yapay zekâ
- QUEUE
- inisiyatif kuyruğusıralı liste
- MAP
- ızgara
- siperhücre durumu
- DATA
- birim tablosu
- yetenek tablosu
Problem
A tactics game is a grid, a turn order and a damage model; everything else is presentation. The prototype question was narrower: does a small factory map with destructible cover produce interesting decisions in ten turns?
I built it to answer that, not to ship it.
Constraints
- Runs in a browser with no engine: the grid, the turn queue and the AI are written directly.
- Each unit needs a readable silhouette on a dark floor; no texture budget.
- Content is data: units, weapons and cover are rows, not classes.
Architecture decisions
Turn order is an explicit queue
Initiative is a sorted list that is recomputed only when it should be, so the player can always read who acts next. Hiding this behind timers made the prototype unreadable in playtests.
Cost: Less fluid than real-time, and that is the point.
Cover as a state on the tile
Cover is a property of the map cell, not a per-unit buff, so destruction changes the map for everyone. This made the factory layout the real design surface.
Cost: Every ability has to query the map; the AI needs path awareness.
Data-driven units
Units, weapons and abilities live in data files; a new enemy is a row and a sprite, not a new class.
Cost: A runtime validator is needed to catch a typo before the game crashes.
Proof
- Files95
- Tests11
- Scopesingle factory map
- Statusprototype, not shipped
Known limits
- No playtest data beyond my own sessions; no claim about fun.
- Art is placeholder; the silhouette work is the only presentation decision evaluated.
- Not balanced, not localised, not released.
What I learned
A prototype earns its keep by answering one question. Mine was whether cover changes decisions; the answer was yes only after the cover became part of the map, and that cost two rewrites of the ability system.