Dev Blog 3: Regaining Momentum

Rather than force it and risk a long recovery, I made a deliberate choice: step away from coding for a bit, and keep moving the project forward in other ways.

If you’re new here: Shattered Bounds: Battlegrounds is a short, replayable AR combat experience built around a King-of-the-Hill loop—designed for small teams, fast onboarding, and repeat play.

A Necessary Pivot

Instead of writing code, I shifted to work that was lower strain but still meaningful progress:

• Updating and tightening business documents
• Revisiting long-term planning and milestones
• Deepening the worldbuilding and narrative foundations

Unexpectedly, this is also when the foundation for the world’s magical language finally clicked into place.

The magic system is built around state change, not intent. Magic doesn’t care why something is happening – only what state is changing, how, and under what conditions. That decision has big implications for gameplay, AI interpretation, and long-term scalability. It also means players can use magic with partial understanding – sometimes successfully, sometimes with consequences.

Burnout Lifted, Development Resumed

This past week I returned to the codebase, and the burnout had clearly lifted. When I came back to the problems I’d been stuck on, things started moving again.

Over the last stretch, several core technical issues were resolved:

Player world position is now stable and consistent Player targeting is functioning correctly Enemy targeting is now reliable and predictable

These fixes sound small on paper, but they’re foundational. They unblock everything that comes next.

• Once targeting works, combat works.
• Once combat works, waves work.
• Once waves work, the game exists.

What I’m Working on Next

The next couple of weeks are focused squarely on gameplay systems, not polish:

• Building out the enemy system (behavior, lifecycle, cleanup)
• Implementing and tuning the wave system
• Finalizing the Hill system and healing space (control, scoring, contested states)

This is the heart of the Battlegrounds experience. When these systems are stable, the game will be playable end-to-end in its simplest form. After that, the project transitions from “building a game” to “improving a game.”

What Comes After the Core Game

Once the basic loop is complete, the remaining work breaks down into clear categories:

Closing Thoughts

This phase was a reminder that progress isn’t always linear, and stepping back is sometimes the most productive move you can make. The project is healthier for it. I’m healthier for it.

If you’re interested in joining the project – email me at contact@shatteredbounds.com