Writing
Posts from the Old Light devlog, newest first.
33 posts
2026
Old Light now has named regions and regional leaderboardsOld Light's galaxy now groups its sectors into named regions, each with a leaderboard ranked by sector bonuses held and a public page anyone can read.How empire borders and territory work in a shared galaxyEvery Old Light system claims the hexes within two of it, and the older claim wins where empires overlap. How territory, capture and sectors interact.Old Light's galaxy now has its own pages: live stats and sector pagesSee how busy the Old Light galaxy is without logging in, from live galaxy stats and records to a public page for every sector that has held a star.Games like Neptune's PrideGames like Neptune's Pride: slow real-time space strategy you play over days or weeks, from Solaris and Subterfuge to a persistent browser galaxy.The best strategy games for Chromebook in 2026Strategy games that run on a Chromebook with nothing to install: browser games, Civilization VI on Android, Stellaris in the cloud and a free browser pick.Peace treaties in a browser strategy gameOld Light has binding peace treaties: 14 days, signed in a deal, and neither side can walk out alone. How diplomacy works in a browser strategy game.Delta encoding multiplayer game stateDelta encoding and game state sync in a multiplayer browser game: what goes in a galaxy state patch, and why each viewer gets a different diff.Games like Tribal Wars, set in spaceTribal Wars in space: browser strategy games where star systems are the villages you conquer on a shared map, and how close the match really is.No publisher would fund a browser MMONo publisher would fund a browser MMO in 2026. Notes from a solo indie dev on what it costs to build and run Old Light alone, and why that math works.Gratuitous Space Battles and the case for auto-resolve combatGratuitous Space Battles made you design a fleet, then took away the controls. What auto-resolve combat costs a space strategy game, and what it buys.Emergent gameplay from plain rulesEmergent gameplay explained with five concrete examples from a live strategy game: plain rules, and the situations nobody scripted falling out of them.Your empire now has a public profile pageOld Light empires now have public profile pages: rank, score, territory map, every system they hold, and the empires they border. Settings can hide yours.See the whole galaxy: Old Light's in-game map and searchOld Light now has a full galaxy map inside the game and on the web. Search it by name or coordinate and jump straight to an empire, sector, or system.Games like Pardus: browser alternatives worth playing in 2026Pardus alternatives for 2026: browser games still alive in its lane, from a trading sim to a newer shared galaxy you check in short sessions.Why Elo ratings don't work in a persistent strategy gameElo and MMR suit matchmade session games, not a persistent 4X where nothing resets and there are no matches to score. What a galaxy leaderboard uses instead.Game networking for a slow strategy gameGame networking for a slow browser strategy game: WebSocket deltas instead of FPS netcode, and the time-anchor bug where both sides do time math.6 things every good browser strategy game needsWhat makes a good browser strategy game: six things the format has to get right, from no pay-to-win to a world that runs while your tab is closed.Persistent universe games that don't need 20 hours a weekPersistent universe games keep running while you are offline. The big ones want your life; living-galaxy games for short sessions, and where Old Light fits.Games like EVE Online, without the 20-hour weeksGames like EVE Online sorted by what you miss most about it, from Elite Dangerous and X4 to EVE Echoes, Prosperous Universe and Old Light.Games like Astro Empires and AnacreonBrowser games like Astro Empires and Anacreon in 2026: OGame, Neptune's Pride, Interstellar Empires and more real-time space 4X, compared side by side.