DevDiary

It wasn't a loading problem

03.07.2026

In "There is no engine" I said sprite animations were the spicier of the two things a game engine would have made easier. This month sprites came back and asked for a bigger conversation.

Since the alpha went out, a few people have asked what engine Larithea is built on. The honest answer is — there isn't one. Here's why I deliberately built a web game with web tools, and what I had to build myself because of it.

My secret passion is game economy

21.05.2026

Why economy is easier for me to love than balance, how the Larithea loop pushes you to craft constantly, and why I now run a simulation before designing any fight in the game.

Eighteen years on the page, one minute on screen

12.05.2026

Finished the one-minute opening cinematic for Larithea — the cold open that will play right after the tutorial. The characters first appeared in a novel I published in Ukraine in 2008. This week I got to watch them move.

4 doughnuts and a playtest

24.04.2026

Took the game to Sandbox gym on Wednesday with one nice piece of promo and four doughnuts. Walked out with a list of assumptions to throw out.

Control Freak, Gears of War, and Kling enemies

22.04.2026

Finished Cliff Bleszinski's Control Freak this week — the story behind Gears of War and Unreal. Also: experimenting with Kling animations for some of the Larithea enemies, just for fun.

Fight playout iteration

17.04.2026

The fight playout got rebuilt as comic-panel sequences. Two games shaped how it feels — Enchanted Arms for the tactics, Dragalia Lost for the charm. Also: why animations have to wait.

Blood, Sweat, and Pixels — and why I make games

13.04.2026

Just finished Blood, Sweat, and Pixels by Jason Schreier. Two chapters stood out — The Witcher 3 and Stardew Valley. Also wrapped up the design system migration and moving into playtesting.