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Justin Nixon

Work / Testgrounds

Testgrounds

A hex-grid tactics game in Godot 4. Two archons fight over spires and citadels, and a frozen JavaScript reference served as the balance oracle.

Period
2026-05 to 2026-06
Status
repo private, screenshots below
Repo
private, walkthrough on request
01

What I decided

  • Rather than port and tune at once, I froze the JavaScript build as the balance reference and grew the Godot port against it.
  • Twelve summonable monsters, each with an evolved form. Two bosses, an eight-mission campaign, and a roguelite gauntlet with a between-battle draft.
02

What shipped

  • The Godot 4 build. Status effects, twelve abilities, elemental weather, fog of war, mission objectives, and a persistent veteran campaign with permadeath.
  • Records and thirteen achievements, content unlock gates, and a screenshot hook that drives to any screen for capture.
  • Art complete on 2026-06-14, twelve evolution and boss sprites, in a 16-bit pixel style with a procedural synth score.
03

Proof

  • Gameplay board
    A hex-grid tactics map in greens, browns and blues with level-up text over units, panels for Azure Archon and Crimson Archon, a Pyrowyrm unit card and a battle log.
    The Wraithspire board. Turn one of a skirmish on the hex frontier, with the archon panels and a unit card on the right.
  • Bestiary roster
    A grid of twenty-eight small pixel-art monsters on black with names beneath, from Archon Azure to Wyrm.
    The Wraithspire bestiary. Twenty-eight hand-made unit sprites loaded in the Godot build.
04

Captures

  • A hex-grid tactics map in greens, browns and blues with level-up text over units, panels for Azure Archon and Crimson Archon, a Pyrowyrm unit card and a battle log.
    The Wraithspire board. Turn one of a skirmish on the hex frontier, with the archon panels and a unit card on the right.
  • Eight pixel-art creature portraits on black, labelled Archon Azure, Archon Crimson, Pyre Colossus, Storm Tyrant, Leviathan, Infernite, Glaciamaw and Hexlord.
    Testgrounds battle portraits at cutaway scale. Archons, bosses and evolved forms rendered for the cinematic battle scene.
  • A grid of twenty-eight small pixel-art monsters on black with names beneath, from Archon Azure to Wyrm.
    The Wraithspire bestiary. Twenty-eight hand-made unit sprites loaded in the Godot build.