One person, directing AI, making an online MMO

How the work runs

Many Claude sessions work on the game at once. These are the rules and tools that keep them from undoing each other's work.

• 01

  One rulebook

  Every session starts by reading the project's rulebook: the architecture, where every document lives, every build and test command, and the working rules. Escalate after two honest attempts. Never weaken a test to make it pass. Never invent lore. Ask before spending money.

• 02

  Rules that are tested

  The main architectural rule is that content packages never reference the game layer. A test fails the build if one does, so the rule cannot quietly erode.

• 03

  A workspace per job

  Each session works in its own copy of the repository, on its own branch. The folder the game is played from changes only through the shipping script.

• 04

  A gate before the test build

  Shipping merges the work into the test build, runs the automated tests on the merge, and only then pushes. A conflict or a failed test ships nothing.

• 05

  Fix guards

  When a fix is confirmed in play, Claude pins it with a test. If a later change undoes it, the guard fails, and the rule is to put the fix back, never to edit the guard.

• 06

  A control panel

  Kinfield Control, a panel Claude built, runs sessions as projects with priorities. A higher priority pauses a lower one, which picks up later. Finished work ships itself, and anything marked "needs you" waits for a person.

• 07

  Bots as testers

  A 100-bot playthrough of the campaign. Exploit hunts where bots try to duplicate items and money. Failure tests that crash clients and cut connections to check that nothing is lost or doubled.

• 08

  Pictures, not guesses

  Looks are checked from pictures. Check modes film every weapon move frame by frame and photograph every Kin, outfit and scene, so a person can review them.

• 09

  Notes that last

  Claude keeps short notes on lessons learned, from importer quirks to the build machine's limits, so the next session doesn't fall into the same hole.

Where it hit walls

The limits are the interesting part.

• It can't feel the game

  How the game looks and how it feels to play are a person's call. The rule: no change to looks or feel without a person's OK.

• A fix got lost

  Early on, the player slid more than three times faster than their feet moved. The fix landed, then vanished the same night when the folder was switched to another branch. The shipping gate and the fix guards exist because of it.

• Its first server trusted players too much

  The bots' first exploit hunt found 13 problems, three of them critical. All were fixed, and within eight days every one of the hunt's 297 checks passed.

• It declared victory early

  Background runs sometimes stopped to wait and were read as finished. A test meant to run against a real database was quietly skipped. Both were caught and fixed.

• A check that lied

  A homemade compile check once passed code that didn't compile. Now only Unity's own compile counts.

• Taste is a person's

  Voices for the characters were built and removed the same day. The dialogue has no puns. The prologue took 24 play-through notes.

Day by day

30 September

The first commit, online from the start: accounts, saves and zone servers. The game's interface kit and the character creator.

2 October

91 demon Kin and Cinderbrook Deep. The campaign's two roads and 26 dungeons. The first 100-bot playthrough. 39 music tracks.

4 October

The shipping gate and the control panel. Talking characters.

6 October

Lifeskills and homes, the same morning.

8 October

91 Wild Kin and both Wildwhim regions.

10–11 October

Combat moved onto the servers: turn battles, field fights, arena bosses and dungeons.

13 October

Steam sign-in, save safety and the failure tests.

15–17 October

The dungeon Wardens rebuilt. Text chat and parties. Up to six characters per account.

18 October

The Steam page.

20–21 October

The weapons pass: every weapon's model, effects and sounds, then combat stances and faces.

22–24 October

Batches of play-test notes, and player duels.