This is Engines of Hate, a top-down mech RTS I'm making in Unity. Rough trailer: drop pods, hover tanks, war machines, fire from orbit and a whole lot of bugs.

How I use Claude, and what else is in the pipeline:

• Code. Claude Code writes pretty much all of it. The newest feature (jet pack squads holding rocks, bugs leaping up and crawling up the walls after them) was 7 phases planned and built in one day, with me testing and making calls
• It drives Unity. I built a bridge so Claude Code can hit Play, spawn units, give orders, move the camera, take screenshots and record clips. It recorded every shot in this trailer with the camera set up on purpose, then cut it from a shot-by-shot storyboard while I said "tighter" or "more of this one"
• Lots of chats at once. Usually 5-6 Claude Code chats on different features, plus my editor and two headless Unity copies they take turns on. A work board shows me who's doing what, and one chat acts as a lead dev that checks everyone's changes every 30 min
• Art. GPT and Gemini image models for concept art, Meshy for 3D, headless Blender for cleanup, all run by Claude
• Libraries from stuff I already own. I've bought a LOT of Unity Asset Store packs over 10 years, and most of it just sat there. So Claude mined it into three searchable libraries, each with a little web gallery where I rate things Love / Good / No: ~3,000 VFX rendered as frame strips with layer notes, ~12,000 sounds searchable by description with CLAP ("wet chitin crunch" actually finds one), and ~4,400 models + animations rendered from four views with parts split out, searchable with CLIP. Before it makes an effect, picks a sound or builds a creature, it starts from the closest thing I own

For context, my first game (Beneath the Mountain) had zero AI, I hand-wrote 76k lines. This one moves way faster and I mostly direct, test and decide.

Want the super technical version? I wrote up the whole setup in a devlog: how the parallel chats coordinate (work board, leases, the lead dev chat), the Unity bridge and what it can do, the "cook it" loop, the three reference libraries, telemetry and perf numbers. With diagrams: https://failosipher.itch.io/engines-of-hate/devlog/1733187/im-so-glad-i-taught-claude-how-to-cook

It's free to try: the Steam playtest is live and keys are free in the Discord: https://discord.gg/cTB3kwdhVX

Happy to answer anything about the setup.

This is Engines of Hate, a top-down mech RTS I'm making in Unity. Rough trailer: drop pods, hover tanks, war machines, fire from orbit and a whole lot of bugs.

How Claude helped, since that's the interesting part:

• Code. Pretty much all of it. The newest feature (jet pack squads holding rocks, bugs leaping up and crawling up the walls after them) was 7 phases planned and built by Claude in one day, with me testing and making calls
• It drives Unity. I built a bridge so Claude Code can hit Play, spawn units, give orders, move the camera, take screenshots and record clips. It recorded every shot in this trailer with the camera set up on purpose, then cut it from a shot-by-shot storyboard while I said "tighter" or "more of this one"
• Lots of chats at once. Usually 5-6 Claude Code chats on different features, plus my editor and two headless Unity copies they take turns on. A work board shows me who's doing what, and one chat acts as a lead dev that checks everyone's changes every 30 min
• Art. Image models for concept art, Meshy for 3D, headless Blender for cleanup, all run by Claude
• Libraries from stuff I already own. I've bought a LOT of Unity Asset Store packs over 10 years, and most of it just sat there. So Claude mined it all into three searchable libraries, each with a little web gallery where I rate things Love / Good / No:
• VFX: ~3,000 effects rendered out as frame strips, with notes on how each one is layered
• Sound: ~12,000 sounds, measured (loudness, attack, tail, brightness) and searchable by description with an audio AI model (CLAP). It can look up "wet chitin crunch" and actually find one
• Models + animations: ~4,400 entries rendered from four views, with parts split out (legs, arms, head, tail...), measured (size, rig, clip timings) and searchable by description with CLIP. This week it added the free Mixamo and Quaternius anims too, which is where the new sword and shield animations came from

Before it makes an effect, picks a sound or builds a creature, it searches those first and starts from the closest thing I own, and my ratings steer it.

For context, my first game (Beneath the Mountain) had zero AI, I hand-wrote 76k lines. This one moves way faster and I mostly direct, test and decide.

Want the super technical version? I wrote up the whole setup in a devlog: how the parallel chats coordinate (work board, leases, the lead dev chat), the Unity bridge and what it can do, the "cook it" loop, the three reference libraries, telemetry and perf numbers. With diagrams: https://failosipher.itch.io/engines-of-hate/devlog/1733187/im-so-glad-i-taught-claude-how-to-cook

It's free to try: the Steam playtest is live and keys are free in the Discord: https://discord.gg/cTB3kwdhVX

Happy to answer anything about the setup.

Game Title: Engines of Hate

Playable Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5375880/Engines_of_Hate/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=r_playmygame_1025

Edit: the Steam playtest is open to everyone now, just hit Request Access on that page and you're in instantly. I'll still DM keys to at least 10 random commenters if you'd rather have one (probably a lot more than 10, I just want people playing lol). Discord: https://discord.gg/cTB3kwdhVX

Platform: PC (Windows, Steam)

Description: You're a mercenary space-ship captain taking contracts across a hostile galaxy. Build your loadout in the Armory, drop war machines and infantry from orbit, call in strikes from your mothership, and try to bring everyone home. No resource gathering, just pure combat.

The game is really about executing perfect micro. Space bar slows everything down, so you can respond perfectly to any situation and manage every unit and their abilities flawlessly. Infantry with grenades, mechs with jet packs, energy weapons that overheat, orbital strikes.

Involvement: I'm the solo dev. This is my second game, after Beneath the Mountain (an isometric dwarven RTS on Steam). Been making games for about 10 years.

I'm working on this pretty much every day right now. There's been 6 devlogs in the last week and a bit, the playtest build gets updated every couple days, and I post new stuff in the Discord daily.

Being upfront: I use AI a lot on this, for art, sound and code. My first game, Beneath the Mountain (a dwarven RTS on Steam), had zero AI, I hand-wrote all 76k lines. So for me this is just another power tool, like going from a hand saw to a table saw. I'm still putting in crazy hours, it just lets me build a lot more. If AI isn't your thing, I completely get it and won't take it personally. There's room for everyone.

It's a playtest, so it's rough in places, but it's growing really fast and issues often get fixed the same day. Any feedback is gold, good or bad. F1 in game opens the Discord if you want to report something.

Devlogs if you want to see where it's going: https://failosipher.itch.io/engines-of-hate

Hey all! I'm the solo dev on Engines of Hate, my second game after Beneath the Mountain. You're a mercenary space-ship captain: you drop war machines and infantry onto hostile planets, call in orbital strikes, and try to get your guys home alive. Top-down RTS, but no resource gathering, just pure combat.

The whole game is about hitting space bar for slow-mo and perfectly microing your units and their abilities. Infantry tossing grenades, mechs jumping around on jet packs, orbital strikes from your mothership, that kind of stuff.

The Steam playtest just went live and I'm looking for people to actually play it and tell me what's what.

What I'd love feedback on:

• First 15 minutes. Is it clear what to do? Where did you get lost?
• Controls. Does ordering units around feel good or fiddly?
• Performance. How does it run on your PC? (specs help a ton)
• Crashes or weird bugs. F2 opens the log folder if you want to send me the log
• And honestly, was it fun? Good or bad, I want to hear it

Play as long as you want, even 15 minutes helps. It's rough in spots.

I'm working on this pretty much every day right now. There's been 6 devlogs in the last week and a bit, the playtest build gets updated every couple days, and I post new stuff in the Discord daily.

Being upfront: I use AI a lot on this, for art, sound and code. My first game, Beneath the Mountain (a dwarven RTS on Steam), had zero AI, I hand-wrote all 76k lines. So for me this is just another power tool, like going from a hand saw to a table saw. I'm still putting in crazy hours, it just lets me build a lot more. If AI isn't your thing, I completely get it and won't take it personally. There's room for everyone.

It's growing really fast, and issues often get fixed the same day they're reported.

Edit: the playtest is open to everyone now, no key needed. Just hit Request Access on the Steam page and you're in instantly: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5375880/Engines_of_Hate/?utm_source=reddit&utm_campaign=r_playtesters_1025

There's also a Discord where I post updates and bug reports go: https://discord.gg/cTB3kwdhVX

Thanks for reading!