Brasshaven: Forge an Industrial Empire
Inspiration
We wanted to create a game that combined the strategic depth of a city-building tycoon with the distinctive atmosphere of steampunk. A world powered by brass machinery, steam engines, airships, and experimental technology gave us a setting where every decision could feel connected to the growth of an industrial civilization.
That vision became Brasshaven, a game about transforming a small industrial settlement into a thriving empire. We wanted players to do more than build structures: they needed to manage interconnected resources, plan expansion, research new technologies, and make difficult decisions when unexpected events threatened their progress.
What It Does
Brasshaven is a steampunk city-building and resource-management game. Players build and upgrade industrial buildings, manage production, and invest resources to expand their city.
The game features multiple interconnected resources, including Brass Coins, Gears, Steam, Oil, Research, and Aether Crystals. Players must balance these resources to develop their production network, unlock technologies, and expand into new territory.
Beyond construction and resource management, players can complete contracts and milestones, send airships on expeditions, and respond to city events and emergencies. Each decision involves trade-offs between immediate growth and long-term development.
The ultimate goal is to advance the city's industry and technology toward completing the Great Engine.
How We Built It
We built Brasshaven as a web-based game using React and TypeScript, with Vite supporting the development workflow. We used a component-based architecture to organize the interface and game systems, allowing us to develop and refine individual parts of the experience.
We focused on connecting the game's economy and progression systems with a visual interface that makes managing an industrial city engaging. This included building construction and upgrades, resource displays, research progression, contracts, expeditions, and interactive city events.
We also improved the city's visual presentation, including building illustrations that reflect different building types and upgrade levels. We refined the interface to make resource information, objectives, notifications, and construction options easier to navigate.
Throughout development, we tested important parts of the application and iterated on the interface to improve the overall gameplay experience.
Challenges We Faced
One of our biggest challenges was bringing multiple interconnected systems together into a cohesive game. Resources, building costs, production, research, and expansion all influence one another. Designing these relationships required us to think about how individual mechanics affect the entire economy.
Another challenge was balancing information density with usability. A city-building game needs to communicate a lot of information, but presenting everything at once can overwhelm players. We refined the interface to make important information accessible without allowing notifications and resource details to dominate the screen.
We also had to balance ambition with the limited time available during a hackathon. We prioritized core gameplay systems and then improved the visuals, feedback, and overall presentation so the project would feel like a cohesive experience rather than a collection of disconnected features.
What We Learned
Building Brasshaven helped us better understand how to structure a larger application, organize reusable components, and connect multiple systems within one interactive experience.
We also learned that game design involves more than implementing individual features. The relationships between systems, the clarity of the interface, and the feedback players receive all influence whether the experience feels intuitive and rewarding.
What's Next
We want to continue improving Brasshaven's economy, progression, and visual presentation. Future improvements could include additional buildings, deeper production chains, more meaningful city events, and further opportunities for players to customize their industrial empires.
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