Pandamonium
A manual-input action roguelike with a morality-driven Balance system — my first Godot project.
An action-roguelike prototype: a panda with a bamboo staff where every attack is a manual click, not an auto-battler. My first game project, built systems-first — a data-driven ability system with combos, an item system, a morality-based Balance mechanic that buffs and debuffs stats, a between-waves shop and economy, and enemy wave spawning.
What it is
A skill-based action roguelike: you play a panda wielding a floating bamboo staff, and — unlike survivors-likes — every basic attack and ability is a manual click, aiming for a higher-skill loop. It was my first game project (Godot), so I’ll frame it honestly: a solid systems core with a slice of content on top, rather than the full game the design document imagined.
What I built
The real work was the systems — the parts that have to be extensible before any content is worth adding:
- A data-driven ability system with a set of working abilities.
- A combo system: certain abilities used one after another produce special effects beyond what they do on their own.
- An item system with purchasable items.
- The Balance mechanic (below) — the items and abilities you hold shift a morality balance that buffs and debuffs your stats.
- A between-waves shop with a currency you earn from combat.
- Enemy wave spawning and several enemy types.
Balance — the mechanic I like
Balance is the system I’m most happy with, and it’s fully wired in. Every item and ability you hold carries a moral weight — good, evil, or neutral — and your overall balance shifts your stats: lean evil and you gain damage and lifesteal but lose HP and defense; lean good and it reverses; sit neutral and you trade raw power for ability strength with no penalty. It turns “what should I buy?” into a real playstyle choice rather than a hunt for one optimal build — the kind of tension-driven system design I enjoy.
What stayed on paper
The larger scope in the design document — the full 20-wave run, bosses, the three biomes, and item rarity tiers — I designed but didn’t build before moving on to bigger projects.
Why it’s here
It’s the earliest thing I’d show, included for an honest picture of where I started: my first project, but one where I already reached for real systems — data-driven abilities, combos, and a morality-driven economy — that the projects after it built on.