USA News Hub

Do you remember Mega Lo Mania on the Sega Mega Drive back in 1991? I decided to make a “simple” Steam game inspired by it — kind of a warm-up project.

Before I started, my thoughts were basically:

• it’s a cool game, I loved it as a kid (once I finally figured it out)

• pure nostalgia

• it doesn’t look huge in scope (dev-wise)

• the balance and core gameplay already exist — you can find it online and copy the basics, so it should be easier

Yeah… naïve optimism 😅

How development started

I told myself I’d make it in three months. And in the first month I’d have a prototype demo.

To be fair, the beginning did go fast. I set a clear goal: place buildings, assign workers inside them, and have resources being produced.

The main difference was that I wanted an isometric view (a bit like Populous), and I wanted players to choose exactly where to place buildings (no idea why, I just really wanted that). For art, I used AI-generated placeholder images — it made development way more fun than my usual colored squares.

Scope creep (because of course)

As the project grew, new ideas kept showing up. I play Age of Empires II and other strategy games a lot, so I constantly notice things I like, write them down, and then slowly try to implement them.

For example, I borrowed UI/UX ideas from AoE2: unit/building production, resource display, that sort of thing. Later I added resources directly on the island (rocks, trees), made them limited, and clickable — so you can see how much is left.

Then I played Lessaria: Fantasy Kingdom Sim and realized how much I enjoy upgrading things. I love that “progression” feeling and the endless upgrades. So I’m planning a forge and other buildings with different upgrade paths.

At one point I even asked the AI: “This is just a prototype — show me what the final version could look like.” It showed me roads between buildings… and I immediately thought: yep, I want that too.

One small video changed everything

Then a friend sent me an AI-generated video based on a screenshot of my game — basically a “what the gameplay could look like” concept. And instead of one island divided into sectors, it showed multiple islands, with airships flying between them.

So I implemented multiple islands right away… and it suddenly looked so much better.

This is basically a different game now

Pretty early on I decided the game should have multiple races: humans, orcs, elves, dwarves. And yes — multiple eras, like the original: from the Stone Age all the way to the future.

Right now I’m actively working in Aseprite on proper pixel art to replace all the placeholders.

And recently I hit a really important milestone: I started enjoying the gameplay itself. The first level is still far from my “final vision” — there are no upgrades and no era progression yet — but units run around, capture territory, and the AI has become genuinely interesting. There’s a nice gameplay loop where I’m actually having fun.

The level used to end in 15 seconds. Now it lasts around 12 minutes. I think the first mission will end up being 20–25 minutes long (one opponent, smallest map).

The level editor

I also built a level editor — and honestly, making levels is now so enjoyable. On day one I got completely hooked, just drawing islands like I was messing around in MS Paint. It’s a huge improvement over the old Unity-style grid of squares (that’s what I had at first). In the editor I can choose biomes, races, and whatever else I need right now.

The big question

Did I hit the retro vibe? Does it feel like those old 16-bit strategy games when you look at a screenshot? I really want that instant association.

This is still very early in development. Turns out having a full-time job means solo games take… a while.

If you want to follow the project, you can check out the Steam page.