I'm making a randomly generated survival game akin to Minecraft and the elder scrolls. This is my current crafting system for weapons (including any straight bladed weapons, axes, maces, bows, crossbows, and primitive firearms) as well as tools. depending on the sizes, as well as what you make it from you will have upsides and downsides (regular speed vs strength + other more unique advantages for later metals). Each aspect is customizable and you will be able to find blueprints for different variations of each weapon and tool type, whether that be world loot, or unique boss loot. None of the textures or models are final, just tester pieces, as is the rest of my game currently, but as I'm almost finished with a releasable version, I will be going through, fine tuning, and remodelling and texturing all my current stand ins. As far as other features go I'm keeping quiet until closer to release, which will be between half way to late next year, but as a generalized list of contents, expect bosses, dungeons, magic, a kingdom system, questing and lots of other stuff

I’m working on Finding Needle in the Stack, a free 3D browser game built around searching a giant haystack for one needle. I wanted to share the project with other devs.

The excavation changes the space you play in. You can hollow out tunnels and walk through them, while unsupported hay can collapse. The dug-out grid saves locally, so the tunnels are still there when you return.

There’s a progression loop around selling the other things you uncover, buying better tools and metal detectors, and eventually using automatic sifters. You can also choose purist mode and do the search by hand.

One of the useful lessons from building it was how different mobile testing could be. The initial load once froze for about 14 seconds; breaking the work into smaller chunks helped.

I’m an engineering student in India and have wanted to make games for years, so getting this playable and sharing it has been a big step for me.

It’s built with Three.js, using my own code and help from AI tools. The inspiration came from Needle In A Haystack Simulator.

Playable on desktop and mobile: https://findingneedleinthestack.com/

I’d be interested in how you’d balance the early hands-only digging against the first few tool upgrades. How much should that opening stretch ask of the player?