u/Straight-Tea-8564

O Coliseu

Fala, galera! Esse é um dos módulos novos que estou desenvolvendo para ZOMBRA, meu jogo de apocalipse zumbi. A ideia é uma arena clandestina, com jaulas que vão abrindo e uma arquibancada reagindo à confusão.

Você entra para tentar sobreviver às ondas de zumbis, cachorros e outros inimigos. Quero que cada rodada pareça parte de um espetáculo perigoso. O vídeo mostra o módulo em desenvolvimento.

Estou preparando a experiência para solo e cooperativo online com amigos. PvP multiplayer online também está nos planos para uma etapa posterior. Ainda não é um lançamento pronto.

O que vocês acham da arena e da plateia reagindo durante a luta? Mais sobre o projeto: https://zombra.online/

The Coliseum

This is a new module I’m developing for ZOMBRA, my zombie apocalypse game. It is an illicit spectacle in the middle of the end of the world: cages open one by one, releasing waves of infected, dogs and other enemies while the crowd reacts to the chaos.

The idea is to enter with friends and survive the rounds together. I’m designing the module for solo and online co-op; multiplayer PvP is planned for a later stage. This footage is work in progress, not a finished release.

This is a gameplay preview of the module. More about the game: https://zombra.online/

Compartilhei ZOMBRA aqui há alguns dias e agora tenho um trailer novo, com melhorias nos personagens e mais cenários. É o jogo de sobrevivência com zumbis em pixel art que estou desenvolvendo.

Desta vez o vídeo começa na base dos sobreviventes e passa pela cidade abandonada, pelas ruínas e pela missão de escoltar a picape da Dona Cida. Também refiz a montagem para mostrar mais movimento, hordas e chefes.

Ainda está em desenvolvimento, com foco em solo e coop online. O trailer e a lista para acompanhar o lançamento estão em https://zombra.online/

Olá, pessoal! Estou apresentando meu projeto ZOMBRA, um jogo de ação em pixel art inspirado em Left 4 Dead e Killing Floor.

Você parte de um QG de sobreviventes, escolhe uma classe e chega de helicóptero à cidade. A missão mistura exploração de casas e outros prédios, loot aleatório, ondas de infectados, chefes e melhorias entre os ataques. O encerramento é uma fuga até o helicóptero de extração.

O projeto inclui seis classes, talentos, mais de 20 tipos de zumbis, dez chefes e eventos como apagões, neblina e lua de sangue. O co-op também está em desenvolvimento.

Plataforma: navegador. Status: em desenvolvimento, com testes públicos planejados; ainda sem data de lançamento anunciada neste post. Esta é uma apresentação do projeto, sem oferta de venda.

Fonte: sou o desenvolvedor. Informações e lista de espera: https://zombra.online/

I'm developing ZOMBRA with Phaser 4 and plain JavaScript: a top-down zombie horde shooter that runs in the browser. Node.js handles the multiplayer side, which is still in development.

The gameplay combines wave combat with exploring buildings for randomized loot. Players choose a class at a survivor HQ, deploy by helicopter, buy upgrades between waves and try to reach extraction at the end.

Most of the game's environment art and effects are generated in code.

I'm sharing the project here because it's built with Phaser. It is not open for public testing yet, but I'm planning a testing phase soon. Project information and waitlist: https://zombra.online/

Happy to discuss the Phaser side with anyone working on a similar game.

Some time ago, I posted here about Pawbound, an MMORPG I’m developing with a lot of AI involved in the process, especially for creating assets.

I eventually reached a point where continuing to use characters baked into spritesheets became impractical. Since I plan to add outfits, equipment, and cosmetics, I would need thousands of different combinations and spritesheets.

Because of that, I vibecoded my own tool for creating and adjusting 2D rigs using JSON. It allows me to separate character parts, adjust positions, control layers, test animations, and swap equipment and other assets in real time, without generating a complete spritesheet for every possible combination.

I have no professional experience with animation or rigging, so I’m learning a lot as I go, but I’m really excited about the results so far.

The game is here for anyone who wants to check it out: https://play.pawbound.online/

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Edit, since some people seem to be misunderstanding the main point of the tool:

I know tools like Spine and DragonBones already exist. I am not claiming that I invented rigging, skeletal animation, timelines, mesh deformation, or character-part swapping.

The main difference is that my workflow is assisted by AI.

I am a complete beginner when it comes to rigging and animation. With traditional tools, I would first need to study animation principles, walk cycles, timing, weights, meshes, bones, and the software itself before I could create something usable.

With this tool, I can give Claude the rig structure, references, instructions, and existing animation data, then simply ask:

“Create a walk cycle.”

“Create an attack animation.”

“Now create a running animation.”

The AI generates the animation data, adjusts the rig, weights, and mesh deformation when needed. After that, I only need to review the result and make small corrections through the timeline.

So the point is not that existing tools cannot do these things. The point is that I no longer need to manually create the entire animation or become an experienced motion designer before I can use them in my game.

This was a problem I personally had, so I built a tool to solve it, and it has been working very well for my project.

A while ago I posted this project on Reddit and got a lot of mixed reactions.
https://www.reddit.com/r/aigamedev/comments/1ud0bej/i_built_an_mmorpg_with_ai_in_just_30_days/
Some people hated the fact that I use AI during development, while others were excited and asked if they could test the game. Well, it's finally online! I now have a website and a dedicated server, and everyone is welcome to jump in and try it.

One thing to keep in mind is that I only have a Brazilian server at the moment because I live in Brazil. If there's enough interest and I get good feedback from the community, I'll set up a VPS in the US (and possibly other regions), which should greatly improve latency for players outside South America.

The website and game are live now! I'm mainly looking to stress test the server and networking. I want to see how the ping, WebSockets, Node.js server, and KVM perform with real players.

Feel free to do whatever you want. Explore the world, level up, fight each other, try to break things, look for bugs, or just mess around. 😄

The game is still in alpha, so there are only a few maps and lots of features are still being developed, but there's already enough content to have fun and help me find issues.

I'll keep the server online until Sunday, then I'll take it offline again so I can continue development.

One last note: the game doesn't support mobile devices or Safari yet, so for the best experience, please use a chrome/mozilla/edge browser.

I'd really appreciate any feedback!

Link: https://pawbound.online/

I've always loved MMORPGs in the style of Ragnarok Online.

The simple but charming sprites, the grindy progression, the connected maps, the social interactions, and that feeling of being part of a living world always appealed to me.

About a month ago, I decided to try a personal experiment.

I've been programming for over 20 years and have worked on web applications, games, servers, and multiplayer systems. This time, instead of opening an editor and writing the code myself, I wanted to see what would happen if I took a different role.

The idea was simple: use AI to generate code, create art, animations, sounds, and content, while I focused on defining systems, architecture, gameplay, reviewing results, and making decisions.

To my surprise, after just 30 days, the project became something genuinely playable.

So far it includes:

• A persistent multiplayer world
• 6 playable classes
• Character progression, levels, and attributes
• Real-time combat
• Dozens of animated monsters
• Quests and daily quests
• Connected maps with towns and exploration areas
• Guilds, chat, and player trading
• An auction house and in-game mail
• A pet system
• Crafting and equipment refinement
• Portuguese and English support
• A website, wiki, and bestiary

I'm not sharing the game's name yet because I still consider this an experiment, and I want to do a small soft launch first to validate stability, performance, and latency with real players.

The most interesting thing I've learned is that AI didn't really make the decisions for me. It mostly accelerated execution.

Most of my time was still spent thinking about systems, refining mechanics, reviewing implementations, fixing issues, and deciding what should be built next. Less time typing code, more time designing.

I'm curious how other developers see this. And honestly, would knowing that much of a game's art and code was AI-assisted affect whether you'd play it?

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After several repeated questions, I'll post it here:

FAQ:
Is this actually multiplayer, or just one player?
Real multiplayer. There is an authoritative game server (Colyseus on Node.js) running rooms that multiple players connect to at the same time. The client only sends input and renders what the server tells it. The server owns combat, movement, spawns and loot, so nothing is "fake" running locally. State syncs by area of interest, meaning you only receive updates about players and enemies near you, which is how it stays performant. If two people are in the same area they see and affect each other live.

What is the tech stack?
Phaser (TypeScript) on the frontend. Node.js + Colyseus for the realtime server, PostgreSQL for persistence (characters, inventory, guilds, market, mail, etc.) and Redis for sessions/caching. Nginx + Caddy on top for routing and TLS. It is a normal codebase, not a no-code tool.

Is the progression persistent?
Yes. Your character, level, items, guild and everything else are stored in PostgreSQL, so it persists across sessions and is shared on the same world.

How was the art made?
The base images are AI generated and I iterate a lot on them, it is not one prompt and done. I am upfront that the art is AI, and yes it has a recognizable look right now. Polishing it is on the roadmap.

How are the animations done?
A pipeline built on Seedance 2.0: I feed the character art, generate idle/walk/attack clips, matte out the background and slice them into sprite sheets that Phaser plays.

What about audio?
Sound effects via ElevenLabs, music made with AI tools, played through a custom layered audio system in the client.

Was AI doing everything by itself?
No. I used Codex, Claude and Cursor depending on the task, but I defined the architecture, designed the systems and made the hundreds of small decisions to make it all fit together. AI sped up the work, it did not replace the work.