u/pandulfi

Artāvan is a text-driven RPG set in the first Persian empire, from Darius the Great to Xerxes. You run a great Persian house, take on a satrapy, and govern its peoples while holding to the Truth (arta) against the Lie and staying on the right side of the King of Kings (or not). Free, in-browser (works best on mobile), no sign-up.

It’s the second one of these I’ve made by directing Claude rather than writing it all myself (the first is https://domesdaygame.vercel.app), and the hard part was holding historical accuracy across a lot of generated narrative. I researched the period and kept a sourced reference layer the writing had to answer to. It has a teaching purpose: there’s an in-game encyclopaedia and almost every in-game event has a link to read about the real history behind it, with sources cited.

Curious whether it holds up both as a game and as didactic history.

https://artavan.vercel.app/

Glad to answer anything about how it was made.

Artāvan is a text-driven historical RPG. You head a noble Persian house, win a satrapy from the King of Kings, and try to govern its many peoples in their splendour while keeping the favour of a court where suspicion can cost you everything. The spine of it is arta, truth and right order, against the Lie that Darius warns against at Bisotun. It runs in a browser, free, no sign-up, no ads.

I wanted to write something that takes the period seriously and from the Persian side of it, and teaches as you play. There is a fairly detailed in-game encyclopaedia and almost every event has a link you can click to learn the history, with the sources cited.

I built a lot of it with AI coding tools, as a personal project to learn how. The history I researched myself. I’d love for people here to try it and tell me what rings false.

I’d be honoured if you would give it a try and let me know what you think. It is still very much a work in progress but any feedback is appreciated. There is an in-game feedback form (in the “More” tab).

https://artavan.vercel.app/

Game title: Domesday

Playable link: https://domesdaygame.vercel.app/

You run one household on an English manor for the eighteen years up to the Domesday survey, trying to keep everyone fed and stay off the wrong side of your lord. Runs in a browser, no download, no sign-up.
It’s grim, and the history is done properly: every event has a note on where it’s drawn from, there’s a codex of 200+ entries, and the artwork is real medieval manuscript pages.

I should say up front that I built most of it with AI coding agents. That was half the point, I wanted to learn how to do it, so I’m not actually sure whether it holds together as a game. If you play it I’d like to know where it drags or falls over.

Free to play.

Play: https://domesdaygame.vercel.app/

How I built it: https://domesdaygame.vercel.app/how-domesday-was-made.html