seedlord_com

joined 1 week ago
[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

Thank you for your comment; I really appreciate it.

I’ve only just started working on this, but I’d like to get some feedback from the community so that it can be as community-driven as possible. As for staffing, it’s possible that I might need to hire a few developers to help me out.

Regarding AI, in the first phase of the project, I’ll likely rely heavily on AI for the artistic aspects (e.g., icons, background), but I prefer local models over hosted ones for the same reason you mentioned. For the code, I’ve been a developer for years before AI even existed, so I use it as a companion to speed up my work on the smaller tasks.

Finally, regarding community voting, votes will obviously be weighted, and in any case, voters must provide a valid reason to vote, so I expect to filter out trolls and the like right from the start. We’ll definitely have to see how things play out based on what develops.

 

Hi Everyone,

Starting as a teen playing browsergames (PBBG), I found the biggest issue, both then and now as an adult, is with three pillars:

  1. The oldest players beat you with the wallet, not with the skills. I can tell you a lot of these situations I've experienced directly.
  2. Stay at the top level of the guild, you need to pay like a monthly subscription, or you will be fired.
  3. You need to set up an alarm to fleet the troops every day or alert with a huge sound for EACH attack you receive. It's like a job.

Recently I've spoken with my friends, he and I shared a lot of these games during the years, and we are searching for something new, and we have found only the usual games that survive the years. After some weeks of the game, we have found the same issue above. So I've decided to start a new game.

What is SeedLord?

The idea behind SeedLord is very simple: it’s an economic game where you can’t attack other baronies. By its very nature, it must be a “NO-PAY-TO-WIN” game, and the main goal is to win through skill, not through a snowball effect or the size of your wallet. I therefore decided to implement a "reset" limit: more specifically, after 120 days, the current world will end and a new one will begin, to ensure that players don’t win simply because they signed up first, rather than for other reasons.

The core of the game is trade and diplomacy, and how these are managed:

  1. You start with a single seed, which grants a multiplier for harvesting a specific resource (for example, more wood per hour) after that you must specialize in a specific "role" such as the Wizard (explained in detail below).
  2. Now you must produce resources, focusing on trade or diplomacy during the day.
  3. As the game progresses, harvesting zones will be created. Some are event zones. There, you can collect specific resources needed to construct certain buildings and rare resources, you must control them to win the game. The zone will also provide you with Sigils based on specific criteria.
  4. The goal of the game is: collect the gold and Sigils needed to "win the world" before the others. Each world has specific settings. If you and your guild win, you’ll earn a permanent title in the Hall of Fame.
  5. Dominate the world, you can participate in multiple worlds at the same time.

Choose your specializations!

At the start, you can choose a specialization, which isn’t a limitation but a multiplier for your economy. Each specialization relies on the others.

Farmer: This is the first specialization that produces a LOT of food and other plants based on their rarity. If you manage it well, it will guarantee you a boost in gold right from the start. Everyone needs one.

Herbalist: You can create many potions and other items based on the plants needed in the shared area.

Wizard: You have intelligence-based abilities: for example you can decode messages intercepted by spies or predict where event zones will appear.

Blacksmith: You have the power to create a specific building that others cannot build, you can control "scalability" for other players.

Lumberjack: You can build a larger warehouse to store items and other specific buildings that require "wood".

Rancher: You can raise animals like horses (to boost movement) and other animals to sell.

General: You have a military boost, so the zone is easier to defend, BUT you have to buy EVERYTHING, your internal production is very limited.

Why no PvP?

A quick behind-the-scenes look: I hate it when you spend 3–4 months building something that will be destroyed in 10 minutes. Let me be clear about this: if you lose because of a "skill in the game" that’s PERFECTLY FINE.

But if you lost everything because of, for example:

  • "double-crossing" guild leaders.
  • bug abusers.
  • troops boosted by real money. And so many others of you have likely had the same experience.

So, I’ve thought long and hard about this mechanic, and the only solution is: the combat will be brutal, but only in shared zones, event zones, diplomacy, and the market. No buildings will be destroyed.

The monetization rule

This is very crucial for me. Before writing ANY line of code, I put it at the top of every file, and the line is:

"Real money purchases cosmetics and comfort features only. It cannot buy resources, troops, production speed, or any advantage that interacts with other players competitively."

It’s not a brilliant idea, but it’s simply unreasonable, and for me, it’s a non-negotiable. To uphold the community guidelines, I’ve created a rigorous community review process before any feature is made public.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Has the idea been conceived and is it feasible? Good.
  2. Will it pass the test of the phrase above? Fantastic!
  3. Post the details on the public page and wait X days for the community to validate it. Did the community rate it as fair?

If you fail ANY of these checks, the idea will be rejected, FULL STOP, NO EXCEPTION.

What is the current status?

I’m in the pre-alpha phase; I don’t have a release date yet, and I’d like to gather honest feedback and criticism about the project. I want to develop the game together with the community, not just for it. This feedback is very useful for every stage of the project, even after launch.

I’ve created a public page where you can learn more and join the project as "founding lords". This is the fastest way for me to gather initial feedback on the project and discuss its key aspects with the community. It’s completely free, and you can sign up in a minute.

Join here: go.seedlord.com

For any questions or more details about the project, please write your question below. I'm very happy to answer you!

PS: This message has already been approved by the moderator.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for the comment and for sharing the link... BEEP BOOP. :D

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Genuinely appreciate this, thank you.

You're right that Lemmy is new territory for me still learning the culture and clearly stepped on some landmines along the way.

On LLMs I'm pretty firm in my position: useful only when you already know what you're doing, only to move faster, and absolutely not a replacement for understanding your own work. And they get it wrong constantly even then which is exactly why you need to be able to read, write, build and debug without them first.

Local models I'm fully on board with in principle. The environmental point is well taken. The problem I keep running into is that for actual coding tasks, the local options that are genuinely good enough still want a GPU setup that costs more than a full datacenter expecially now with the RAM shortage. If you have any recommendations on that front though models, setups, anything that punches above its weight I'm all ears. Seriously.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 0 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Genuine question, not rhetorical: is a rough, unpolished pitch actually more respectable than a structured one, just because no AI touched it? I'm honestly curious about the reasoning there.

My take is that the ideas the design decisions, the systems all of that came from my head, not a prompt. AI helped me organize and present them clearly. If the same thoughts were written in half-broken sentences with no structure, would the content be more trustworthy? Or just harder to read?

Also worth noting every reply in this thread, including this one, is me. No AI, just typing here. If the concern is about respect for the reader's time, I'd argue that trying to engage genuinely with every comment counts for something.

I do hear the broader point thougth. AI-generated content has burned a lot of people and the distrust is completely earned at this point. I'm not dismissing that. I just don't think using a tool to structure your own ideas is the same thing as having a machine think for you but I get why the line feels blurry from the outside.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip -1 points 6 days ago

Yeah, totally fair right now it's just words on a page, I get it.

But that's kind of exactly why I'm posting here instead of disappearing into a basement for two years and reappearing with a finished game nobody asked for. I'd rather show the concept early, collect real feedback from people who actually play these kinds of games, and build something that reflects what the community wants not just what sounds good in my own head.

So if you've got thoughts on what's missing or what doesn't work, genuinely interested to hear it.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip -3 points 1 week ago

The game won't be AI slop, i've covered that pretty thoroughly in a comment above if you want the full breakdown. But hey, thanks for comment by either way!

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip -3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Haha yeah, the name. I noticed the... problem... somewhere between brainstorming and actually building everything out. At that point you're already attached to it and renaming feels like surgery. Not ruling out a change down the road though, fair point.

On the P2W thing I hear you, but I genuinely don't think "stuff costs money" automatically means you have to sell power. Riot built an absolute empire off cosmetics alone. League, Valorant billions in revenue, zero mechanical advantage sold. Is it easy to pull off? Hell no. Does it require a much stronger design discipline and a game people actually want to spend time in? Yes. But it's been proven to work at massive scale. My bet is that players in 2025 are more willing to pay for identity and cosmetics than most developers give them credit for. I'd rather build something worth paying for than sell shortcuts.

As for the website you're completely right that it's bare, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But here's the thing: I made a deliberate call not to fill it with AI-generated art or Figma mockups just to make it look like something it isn't yet. As a player myself, I'm genuinely tired of seeing gorgeous trailers and promo images that have zero relationship to the actual game. It's become almost a meme at this point. When I have real gameplay, real screenshots, real footage that's when I'll show something. Authentic over polished-but-fake, every time.

So yeah the site is bare because the game isn't done. That's kind of the honest version of game development nobody likes to show.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago (4 children)

On top of the other advice, Pillow is definitely worth considering for this. It’s a solid library that fits this use case perfectly.

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

You shall not pass... into the world of systemd!

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

Keep us updated!

[–] seedlord_com@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 week ago

You should probably look at this from a few different angles. Is the n8n instance internet-facing? And is it actually reading the email content? If so, it might be vulnerable to various attacks. Can a user manipulate the input in any way?

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