Jonathan
🎮 Strategy Game Movement System
A two-part project designed to support rapid prototyping and simulation for grid-based strategy games.
This system combines:
- 🛠️ A browser-based Strategy Game Level Creator for fast map design and iteration
- 🧠 A C# console-based simulation engine for turn-based movement and combat logic
🧩 Overview
Designing levels for grid-based strategy games is often slow and fragmented - game designers may need to manually define tile maps, terrain types, and unit logic using engine-specific tools or handwritten data formats. This makes it harder to iterate on what “feels fun” during early development.
To bridge this gap, I built a two-part system:
- A visual Level Creator, allowing designers to quickly sketch out maps, assign terrain, and export them in a structured JSON format.
- A minimal C# reference implementation, which consumes that JSON to simulate movement and combat, demonstrating how the exported data can be used by a game engine or AI-powered translation workflow.
The C# implementation includes a clean, modular Dijkstra pathfinding algorithm that can be easily:
- Copied directly into engines like Unity
- Translated into other languages (e.g. JavaScript, C++, Rust) using LLMs or developer tooling
Together, these tools help speed up the early design loop: from initial level design → prototype → test. By decoupling level creation from engine constraints, this system gives teams a flexible, engine-agnostic foundation to build on - whether they’re using Unity, Unreal, or something custom.
🛠️ Strategy Game Level Creator (Frontend)
A browser-based visual editor that functions like MS Paint for strategy game levels. It lets you:
- 🎨 Draw grid-based maps using your mouse, assigning different terrain types
- 💾 Export maps as JSON for use in game engines or backend simulations
- 📂 Re-import saved maps to continue editing or testing later
- ⚡ Rapidly prototype level layouts and iterate on terrain balance and map feel
🖼️ Example Usage
👉 Try it here! → Strategy Game Level Creator
- NOTE: This tool works best on desktop in Google Chrome or Firefox. ⚠️ Mobile browsers are not supported.
🧠 Turn-Based Simulation Engine (Backend)
A C# console application that:
- Loads exported maps from the Level Creator
- Simulates unit movement and combat using a shortest-path algorithm that accounts for terrain cost and movement range
- Resolves victory conditions based on terrain and unit data
The backend focuses on core game logic and mechanics, and is designed to serve as a foundation for integration with Unity, Unreal, or any game framework. For more details, please see the README on GitHub.
📂 Source Code
Each repo includes documentation, code samples, and usage instructions.