StepForgeA duel where the wall can block you too
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I'm building StepForge on my own, and GridCraft is the quietest part of the project. It's an app with two two-player board duels. No reflexes, no rush: you make a move, think, and wait for your opponent's move. Below is a short look at how they work and why I made them this way.
Block or Run: a shared goal
The board is 12 by 8 cells. Two players start side by side and race to the same top row. Whoever gets there first wins. There are no draws.
On your turn you do one of two things: step forward (if your opponent is in the way, you can jump over them) or place a wall. You get 10 walls per game. A wall covers one or two segments, and you can't block the path completely — there is always a way to the goal.
That's where the main idea lives. The goal is shared, and the row is the same. So a wall that knocks your opponent off their shortest path may well force you to take a detour too. You almost always want to place one, but every time you have to work out who it will cost more.
I like that there is no "correct" strategy you can run on autopilot. There's one simple question on every turn: run or interfere. And the price of a mistake shows on the board right away.
The turn timer is 60 seconds. That's enough to think, and too little to drag a game out.
FoxOwl: slide until you stop
The second game feels completely different. The board is 6 by 6, and each player has six pieces: foxes for one, owls for the other. The setup is fixed.
A piece moves in a straight line and doesn't stop until it hits the edge of the board or another piece. You only choose the piece and the direction — where it ends up is decided by the board. You win with four of your pieces in a row, in a line or a column. Diagonals don't count, and there are no captures.
The rules can be explained in a minute, but working out a move is harder than it looks. Often the best move isn't the one that builds your own line, but the one that stops your opponent from closing theirs. A sliding piece changes the picture on several cells at once, and you have to keep that in your head.
Why it's built this way
I wanted to make games where calculation wins, not finger speed. That's why there is almost no randomness in either: the setup and the starting position are known in advance, and everything is decided by what you saw on the board and what you thought about your opponent's move. When you lose, you usually understand why — and in my view that's the best thing a short game can give you.
Another nice side effect: the barrier to entry is low. The rules of both games fit in a few sentences, so you can sit down and play right away, with no long tutorial.
How to play
Games are turn-based. Moves arrive with a small delay — the client polls the server about once every three seconds — so this isn't instant online play, it's a game at your own pace. For a game over lunch or on the road that's enough, and nobody stops you from thinking about a move.
The modes available right now:
- finding an opponent;
- a campaign against the AI: 16 levels in Block or Run and 8 in FoxOwl — handy when there's no second person around;
- rooms with a code, for when you want to play a specific person;
- tournament brackets, a rating, and daily tasks.
The interface is translated into eight languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Ukrainian.
Where to find it
GridCraft is on Google Play, and it also works as a mini app in Telegram — no installation, right in the chat. The Telegram version uses your Telegram account to sign in.
An honest word about money: the app has ads and in-app purchases. You can play without them, but I don't want to hide that they exist.
What isn't there yet, so as not to mislead anyone: an iOS version, game analysis, move hints. Those are ideas, not promises. What already works: two games, campaigns, rooms and a rating.
If you want to try it
The easiest way to understand Block or Run is to play the first campaign level and, at some point, place a wall you'll regret later. That's normal, it's by design.
If the game seems confusing, boring or broken to you, I want to know about it. One person can't see all of their own mistakes, and every honest message genuinely helps me.