Empirewake: Kingdoms at War

App icon
Build your Hold
Lead your heroes
Explore the Reach
Manage your inventory
Buildings
Send your scouts
Your Chronicle
Research your tech
Your guild expeditions
Your Hold

Inspiration

I wanted to build a fantasy strategy game where players develop a kingdom of their own while exploring and cooperating in a shared world. Empirewake is also a personal challenge: building a multiplayer game as a solo developer using my web development experience and AI-assisted tools.

What it does

Empirewake: Kingdoms at War is a persistent multiplayer fantasy strategy game built for mobile.

Players can:

Build and customize their city with buildings, roads, and decorations.
Recruit heroes, develop talents, equip them, and train armies.
Explore the Reach, uncover landmarks, and complete Chronicle objectives.
Join a Banner to help allies, research together, and coordinate expeditions.

Construction, research, and journeys continue over time.

How I built it

The client uses TypeScript, Babylon.js, HTML, and CSS, hosted in a Flutter shell for iOS and Android. PHP and MySQL manage persistent game state, while Node.js and WebSockets deliver realtime updates.

My core experience is in PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. I used AI tools to help implement and debug systems, while directing the design and checking results through testing and gameplay.

RevenueCat and monetization

RevenueCat handles native purchases of Crowns, an optional in-game currency spent on Treasury goods such as additional construction and research capacity or temporary protection.

The backend processes purchase events and grants currency, with safeguards against duplicate grants. The model uses individual purchases rather than a required subscription.

Challenges and accomplishments

The hardest parts were keeping multiplayer state consistent, making a detailed strategy interface usable on phones, and connecting store purchases to the game wallet reliably.

I am proud of bringing city building, heroes, exploration, and cooperation into one playable world with a consistent fantasy identity: illustrated isometric buildings, 3D heroes, and a parchment, teal, and gold interface.

What I learned

Reliable multiplayer systems need testing beyond the normal playthrough—including reconnects, overlapping actions, and delayed purchase events.

AI helped me work beyond my familiar technologies, but clear requirements, review, and testing remained essential.

What's next

My priorities are improving onboarding, refining progression through player feedback, and polishing mobile performance. After that, I want to expand exploration, heroes, and cooperative activities.

Best Game Award

Empirewake connects a customizable city with hero progression and exploration in a shared multiplayer world. Its long-term progression, Banner cooperation, and fantasy art direction are the strengths I want judges to experience.