Terminal Leave: where things stand
The first devlog entry: what Terminal Leave is, what already works as of mid-July, who is building it, and what this devlog will cover.
A week ago the game got a name and a domain. It's called Terminal Leave, and with this post I'm starting a development log. First I'll describe where the project stands today; after that, news will alternate with posts about how we got here.
What the game is
Terminal Leave is turn-based tactics for two players where turns happen simultaneously. Both players plan their soldiers' actions at the same time: routes, facing, fire, watching a sector. Once both have locked their orders, the server resolves the round and both watch their plans play out. There's no waiting for the other side's turn.
The other half of the game happens between battles. Soldiers are persistent: each has a name, a face, a country, stats and a service record. The dead don't come back, the wounded have to be carried off the field, and those left behind are listed as missing in action. Equipment is made of specific items with serial numbers and wear, and whatever stays on the battlefield can be taken by the enemy.
It runs in the browser, with nothing to install.
What already works
As of mid-July the game has:
- simultaneous turns on a shared timeline, and battles between two live players via matchmaking;
- a first battle against a bot with no signup;
- per-cell fog of war: cone vision, thin walls and fences that block sight and stop bullets, height differences;
- 17 weapons, magazines and calibres, grenades, suppressive fire on a cell;
- battlefield loot and carrying out the wounded;
- squad headquarters: soldier files, warehouse, shop, hiring, memorial;
- progression from what soldiers actually do in battle, with no levels, and medals the commander approves personally;
- a no-loss training mode for newcomers;
- Russian and English versions.
For now the game only runs on my machine: there's no public server yet. Soldier art is temporary, and a number of animations are missing. There are no proper multi-storey buildings yet either — only height differences.
That is what I am working on next: soldiers should look the way they are equipped — with different armour and a set of moves for each weapon. Maps, armour and weapons come after that.
Who's building it
I'm building the game on my own. I have been at it for about a year — until recently in my spare time, for myself. With a name and a domain it goes public for the first time. I'm a backend developer by trade, working in Node.js, and the server side is the heart of this project: only the server computes the battle, the client just shows the result.
I use AI agents as a development tool. The architecture, the decisions, code review and verification are mine. This isn't vibe-coding and it isn't an “AI-made game”: I have kept a log of decisions from the very start, and the project has hundreds of automated tests, and CI checks that a recorded battle plays back exactly.
What this devlog will cover
Development news, whenever something new lands. In between, posts about what came before this one: how the turn model was chosen, why battles are deterministic, how loot, fog of war and soldiers with faces came about. The first of those is due in a few days.