Why we're making FortWar

Hi, I'm Jeff. I'm a software developer, and these days I make games with a lot of help from AI. FortWar is the game I've wanted to make for about six years.

The idea that wouldn't go away

Six years ago I started thinking about one kind of game: an interactive stream game where chat is a first-class citizen. Not a poll that pops up now and then, not a gimmick bolted onto a game built for one player. A game where the people watching are really in it, and what they do matters.

I wanted a game that keeps running while you sleep. Your fort is always on. The horde doesn't wait for you to log in. So you can't do it alone: you enlist your friends and your chat to help you survive, and you compete against other real players doing the same thing.

That's FortWar. You claim a hex on a shared planet, mine crystal, build walls and turrets, and hold out against waves that grow the longer your fort stands. Other commanders' forts sit right next to yours on the map, and some of them will come for you.

Playing with friends who aren't at their desk

Here's the part I care about most. A lot of my friends aren't going to sit down and play a full strategy game, but they will have a stream on like TV. I wanted them to be able to play with me anyway.

In FortWar, anyone in chat can join with !join. Their little avatar walks into your fort and gets to work: !mine puts another drone on your mine, !support turret makes a turret fire faster, !defend sends them to the walls. When enough of chat types !charge, someone gets to call down an orbital strike with !strike. Chat even gets to name the boss before it arrives.

None of that needs a controller, a download or an account. Just chat. It's real help, and it adds up. A fort with a lively chat behind it holds out longer than one without.

Built together, live

The other thing that makes FortWar different is how it's made. I build it live on stream at twitch.tv/kiralumen, with AI writing a lot of the code alongside me. When you say something in chat ("the turrets feel weak", "what if chat could name the boss?"), it can go straight into the game, sometimes the same night.

FortWar is about a month old. In that month it went from an empty hex map to boss waves, a day and night cycle, raids between real players, stream chat that can save your fort, and a horde with seven kinds of monsters. A lot of that came from people watching and saying "what if…".

What this blog is for

This is where I'll share the story as it happens: why things are the way they are, what changed this week, and what's coming. Some posts will be small, like a new animation or a smarter turret. Some will be bigger. All of them are about the same thing: having fun and building something together with our friends.

Come build it with us

• Play: FortWar is free in your browser at fortwar.io. Claim a hex and see how long you last.
• Stream it: bring your chat. They'll help, and maybe save you.
• Watch it get made: twitch.tv/kiralumen. Comment on the stream, and your idea can go straight to the AI building the game.
• Talk to us: join the Discord and send feedback any time.

See you on Kepler-442b, commander.

— Jeff