#ruinsOfCalaworm is a turn-based Dungeon Crawler, where you explore ancient Ruins and bump into Witches and Eldritch Horrors (based on an obscure 90s German cult game).
Think #roguelike, but less stats and no builds - just you and the Dungeon.
• Demo available.
• Release sometime later in 2026.

The Fire Vampires in #ruinsOfCalaworm aren't your standard fantasy bloodsuckers - their design is partly borrowed and inspired from 1933's short story "The Fire Vampires" by Donald Wandrei, which later got incorporated into Cthulhu Mythos.
And they can be pretty scary ...👻🔥
#roguelike #indieGame

Patch v3.11.10.17 // Smaller Start Region & Better Layouts Greetings, Witches and Plague Doctors alike, This patch addresses two major pain points from the previous build: watching two streamers (courtesy of DFuxa Plays & Macbigicekeys ) engage with the game,...

One final patch before release ... this one addresses two important pain points, which may affect player retention.

• Fixed Unsolvable Layouts in procGenerated Regions
• Smaller Starting Region
• Plus numerous other tweaks, polish and QoL-stuff

#ruinsOfCalaworm #roguelike #indieGame

Another bug, damn. 😬Not as serious, but may lead to the generator creating less shortcuts in regions with procGenerated achictecture (a.k.a. loops), than intended (already fixed).
Otherwise, I'm on track with post-production. Game's in a VERY good state. 🤗
#ruinsOfCalaworm #roguelike #indieGame

Story in #ruinsOfCalaworm is told via notes from different POVs. They are the only persistent thing between runs. I added a progression bar, for completionists.
However, engaging with it is totally optional - I even took measures to make it super-easy for you to completely ignore all lore.❤️

fry from futurama is wearing a red jacket and glasses ALT: fry from futurama is wearing a red jacket and glasses

Some regions in #ruinsOfCalaworm are procGenerated. Turns out that the generator CAN produce layouts which are unsolvable (w.o. forcing u to bash doors). Culprit are the swappable MagicBarriers. They ARE considered when distributing keys, but apparently logic here is flawed.
#roguelike #gameDev

Champ Monsters in #ruinsOfCalaworm have one primary form (determines appearance and stats), and a random secondary form (any other monster), from which it inherits traits and abilities.
Here's a Mi-Go that tunnels around and spits bile like a Dhole.
2 eldritch horrors for the price of 1.
#roguelike

Anyone else had Bluesky down?
I think I broke the internet with my release date announcement for #ruinsOfCalaworm, lol.

a south park cartoon shows a man urinating in a bathroom ALT: a south park cartoon shows a man urinating in a bathroom

Sry to got u hyped with my earlier (now deleted) post.
#ruinsOfCalaworm will release around that date (plusMinus), and certainly b4 GTA6, but I just commissioned 1 last music track with my awesome court composer @composertom.bsky.social, and I want that cut and dried before making further promises.

Updated Demo of #ruinsOfCalaworm soon.
If u already got a strong opinion about the game, new build will not change that. But too large Tutorial Region may be hurting retention (watching Streamers made it apparent), so its main purpose will be just to get u to the meat of the game a lot faster.

a man with a beard is smiling with his eyes closed while sitting in a dark room . ALT: a man with a beard is smiling with his eyes closed while sitting in a dark room .

More optimization work: managed to free around 100 MB of RAM space by forcing my iniRoutines to clean up various tempImages, which are only relevant for loading and scaling sprites on startup.
#gameDev #coding #ruinsOfCalaworm

Before #ruinsOfCalaworm, I made an ultra-simple Pirate Roguelike (local gameJam). You collected Tots 'o Rum and dug for treasure. Foes couldn't move, but I experimented with different procGen algorithms, depending on whether it was Beach, Woods or Dungeon.
Never finished it, but learned a lot.🦜💀

Just now received notice, that one of my most loyal players is still with me, and very much hyped for the release version of #ruinsOfCalaworm.
I don't need to sell 10k units. #gameDev is but a passion, and if just one other person on this planet is enjoying my thing, I regard myself as a success.❤️

On track with testing & finalizing #ruinsOfCalaworm.
No major bugs anymore. Bit of polish here and there, updating obsolete legacy text blurbs. Properly balancing economy IS kinda impossible, tho, Tim Cain was right.😅
Gut feeling is my best bet here, with a nudge in player's favor.
#gameDev

The Miniboss Battle always leaves a giant mess in its wake. 😅
Shortly after a Dimensional Shambler swapped me into a closed off area of the Region ... luckily I found a Teleport Trap, which can get me back into the fray.
#ruinsOfCalaworm #indieGame #roguelike

Another night in the #ruinsOfCalaworm ...
#roguelike

This is how #ruinsOfCalaworm started out, back in 2020 ... found some devDiary shots, from the very first 10 days of development.☺️
Looking back now, it's crazy how the project has evolved, and I'm amazed that I actually stuck with it until the finish line. #gameDev is a mountain!
#roguelike

elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall ALT: elmo from sesame street standing in front of a wall

#ruinsOfCalaworm is a solid 7/10, but I might be biased here, so for you it'll probably be more like a 6.5.
That's still half a point better than IGN awarded CRIMSON DESERT, tho, and on par with HEROES OF THE STORM (which was awesome).
There, now it's official. ☺️

#ruinsOfCalaworm is a rework from an obscure 90s German #roguelike called "Die Gemäuer von #Kalawaum".
It's a more streamlined thing: no ranged, no builds, few stats, just you and the Dungeon, bumping into Witches and Eldritch Horrors.
With blessings from the original's dev!😎

Original vs. my thing:

Thx 4 hosting.🫶

#ruinsOfCalaworm is a rework from an obscure 90s German Crawler called "Die Gemäuer von #Kalawaum". It's a more streamlined thing: no ranged, no builds, few stats, just you and the Dungeon, bumping into Witches and Eldritch Horrors.

Left: Original
Right: My thing
Both: 0% genAI art

Then #ruinsOfCalaworm would like to have a word with you. 😁

New run, now with the Lady Avatar ...
Not gonna release #ruinsOfCalaworm, until median (default) difficulty settings are tuned in such a way, that I can beat it pretty consistently. 🫡
Fun romp for me will still mean a reasonable challenge for any player new to the game's mechanics.
#roguelike

The kind of polish you don't notice, unless it isn't there ...
FOW-Tiles now come in bitwise-coded patterns, i.e. stuff reaching outside visible areas (e.g. trees or idle-shifting monsters) aren't cut off anymore.
Proud of this one!🥰
#ruinsOfCalaworm #gameDev #roguelike

Before --> New --> Debugged

a man in a black shirt is standing in front of a fire and the words do it ALT: a man in a black shirt is standing in front of a fire and the words do it

I have this weird masochistic urge to set #ruinsOfCalaworm release date to the same date as GTA 6, just because I can, lol. Got no shareholders to piss off, anyway. And it also would give a me a concrete finish line to work towards.🤔
My inner Shia LaBeouf be like
#gameDev #indieGame

Seeing streamers play #ruinsOfCalaworm made me realize that players apparently spend way more time in the Tutorial Region than intended. Once you know how stuff works, you only go through the motions there, with barely any headwind.
Consequently I now made it smaller.
Like, really really small.🥹

Happy Saturday to you as well.☺️
I am done with core development on my turn-based Retro Dungeon Crawler #ruinsOfCalaworm. Now playtesting every day, while adding small touches of polish here and there, fixing (minor) bugs, and tweaking numbers.

Not spoiling what is happening here, lol, just saying that you might underestimate the variety of challenges that the #ruinsOfCalaworm might throw at you, as well as the utility of the tools provided to you. Stuck between Dholes, Hitpoints down to a sliver.
I survived that.😅
#roguelike

Thx 4 hosting.🫶
#ruinsOfCalaworm is a turn-based Dungeon Crawler, where you explore ancient Ruins and bump into Witches and Eldritch Horrors (based on an obscure 90s German cult game).
Think #roguelike, but less stats and no builds - just you and the Dungeon.
Release later in 2026, Demo on @itch.io.

Alrighty, the Shambler is down, I repaired my Hatchet (+2 Success Rating), now I just need to find the second half of the Map (and maybe work on restoring my Sanity).
#ruinsOfCalaworm #roguelike #indieGame

Trapped deep down in the vaults, with a Dimensional Shambler on the loose. Poisoned, caught 3 Madness conditions, my hatchet's cracked, but I think I can survive this.🥹
The true challenge of #ruinsOfCalaworm is not combat or stats, but learning layouts, and knowing what monsters can do.
#roguelike