Gatebound Simulator

Inspiration

I wanted to capture the satisfaction of chasing goals and larger numbers. Gatebound Simulator grew around that simple idea: fight, collect treasure, invest your earnings, and decide when you’re ready to push farther.

I paired that progression with active movement and dodging, so growing numbers support the action without replacing it.

What it does

Gatebound Simulator is a single-player fantasy progression game with three guided training rooms and 50 combat floors across five themed stages.

Your mage attacks automatically while you move out of enemy attack warnings. Clear a room, choose which loot deserves your limited bag space, then continue forward or return to town to sell and upgrade.

Equipment stays permanent within the session. Rebirth adds a damage multiplier and a talent point without taking away your coins or gear. Three branching talent paths offer stronger single-target spells, area attacks, and XP and loot bonuses.

How we built it

I built the game with vanilla JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Three.js, using Codex throughout development for implementation, testing, debugging, and documentation. I actually didnt edit a single line of code, audio, file, etc just testing and communicating with AI.

I used Astra to explore character rigs and animation via Blender, then integrated a licensed CC0 mage with matched animations alongside compact procedural environments and creatures. Music, effects, libraries, and assets are bundled locally.

The final packaging process combines my readable game code into one HTML entry point while keeping third-party libraries separate.

Challenges we ran into

I actually started in the Survival category but i realized I dont enjoy playing survival games, so swapped design.

Progression and balance was my biggest design challenge. Early multipliers made power accelerate too quickly, while other versions made equipment purchases feel too small. We adjusted rebirth growth and grouped equipment upgrades into larger milestones.

Mobile testing also exposed oversized menus, accidental shop openings, overlapping music, and attack-related audio hitches. We refined the layouts, separated shop interaction areas, and moved combat effects to cached audio playback.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I brought combat, loot selection, town investment, rebirth, and talents into one repeatable loop.

While I am not directly responsible (ai) for asset creation and design, I really think the game looks cool, and the themed zoned are awesome.

What we learned

Its always great to stay up to date on the latest AI advancements. This project I used the newly released Astra for animation and modeling, which was very cool.

Bigger numbers alone do not make progression satisfying. Players need understandable goals, meaningful purchases, and clear feedback showing what changed. Also in prototypes feedback and UX juice go a long way.

What's next for Gatebound Simulator

My next priority is playtesting the full progression curve: time between upgrades, rebirth pacing, boss difficulty, and the value of each talent path.

After that, we want more distinctive enemy encounters and persistent progression so players can return to their mage across sessions.