Don't Die! You Got 1 Life!
The game's called Don't Die! You Got 1 Life! It's a permadeath dark fantasy RPG game with a twist, where you climb a tower, fight bosses, make choices that change where you go. The playtest demo is playable now. I'm the creative director, Claude's on the team, and I hope to reduce the stigma around AI game development.
The road to the finished demo
- LIVE
Playable now
Battle your way through Floor 1. Permadeath, but with a twist: go down in a fight and you can drag yourself back up, just weaker each time. The combat has proper weight to it, and the choices you make actually change the environment and the game around you!
- IN PROGRESS
Building now
What is waiting past your final fall. Basically the moment your climb looks over, and whether you can claw your way back from it.
- PLANNED
Next for the playtest
Floor 0, a safe little entrance floor, with some cool buildings and NPCs. An examine mechanic so you can explore the areas before a fight, learning about your foes before you take them on. Another side-room boss, a few other Floor 1 bosses, and I want to experiment with a possible traps mechanic, where players can make things to damage enemies, like spikes or such. Not sure if it'll work, but I want to test it.
After this, working on the underworld loop and bosses. This is a super exciting feature that plays into the whole life / death cycle of the player character.
After this, working on more floors, for example floors 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on, which will also include new weapons, bosses, quests, NPCs, and likely new mechanics too!
- LATER
True permadeath
A proper permanent perma-death mode. I am switching that on later in Early Access, once it is actually tested and balanced. Not promising it at launch, I would rather deliver it when it is right.
This means if you decide to switch to this mode and get defeated in the game for good, you will be blocked from trying again. This mode is for those who want a genuine challenge, with real stakes on the line, with the possibility to lose it all, or to be the one who climbs out on top!
How it's actually made
This is a one-person game. I'm the creative director, which basically means the vision, the quality control, all the decisions, the endless "no, not that, this" bits, that's all me. Claude's on the team handling the coding, and shaping the art from my reference images and my critiques. Nothing ever ships on the first go. It's kind of the same back-and-forth a director has with an editor, actors, etc, just faster. I'm writing about the common questions and misunderstandings down below, because from what I've observed, this way of doing things is very stigmatised and misunderstood.