Progress

After the same scenes were built in three.js, Godot and Unity and measured on older-machine settings, and the Unity open map ran smoothly on a 2019 iMac, Unity was chosen for the full game. The next open map adds five region maps, missions from the books, save and load, and a key legend. Explore the open map

Everything made for the game so far is now in one public place, with the playable samples, all eleven dragon pages, the game design document, the engine tests and this timeline.

A duel-select screen, the Book 1 fractions duel, four new duels for Books 2 to 5 (The False Forecast, The Trash Tide, The Vanishing Trick and The Copied Alarm) and the Silent Beacon finale against Nullwyrm and the Dull King, all built from one shared set of rules. Both builds passed their independent playtest reviews: Unity in the late morning, Godot at midday. Both use the dragons with the face fix. Play in Godot · Play in Unity

Terra explores the blocky Greenwild: walk, run, fly low, dig and build, and find four science sparks (soil layers, water clarity, plant ID and erosion). It was built to find out whether older school computers can run an open world. A same-morning fix lets the Space key lift Terra after the Fly button has been clicked. Explore the preview

After a loading-speed fix it is ready in about 17 seconds on a simulated school Chromebook, and it now asks phone players to turn the screen sideways. Play the Godot version

Sludgeburn lost the ghost 'eyes' on his cheeks, a second snout painted above his real mouth and an extra nostril. Small marks were cleaned up on Zephyra, Marina, Lumen and Nullwyrm. All eleven faces were checked. See the face check

In the Roar you can now see inside the open mouth from the side; before, a wide wall of cheek skin hid it. Each dragon was rebuilt and reviewed on its own, and the last one went live that evening. Before and after

A small helper bone closes the see-through gaps behind the hind knees of Kairo, Lumen and Terra.

Kairo and Maya face Sludgeburn and Gritsnare at the Blackridge forge in a fractions battle, built twice from the same rules, in Godot and in Unity. The Unity version passed its playtest review that night. Play the Unity version

The two-dragon engine test runs in the browser in Godot and in Unity, so the engines can be compared by hand. Engine tests

The author asked for a duel for every villain pair and for an open-world test map, to see whether older machines can take it.

A better phone layout, close-ups of the eyes, and new showreels for Terra, Zephyra and Lumen. The dragons

The author approved a plan to make the inside of the open mouth visible from the side (done the next day).

A hub page linked every dragon and file in one place. This site grew out of it.

Sludgeburn, Heatfang, Plastitide, Toxibloom, Glarebyte and Nullwyrm (12 metres tall, the final boss) were each built, checked, independently reviewed and published. Meet the villains

Added to the engine test, it came out bigger and slower to start than Unity 6.3, so 6.3 stays the Unity choice for now. The design document was updated with the numbers. Game design document

At the author's request Godot became a third engine candidate. The same small two-dragon scene was built in three.js, Unity and Godot and measured for download size, start-up time, memory and frame rate. Engine tests

The villains' wing rigs were rebuilt so every wing really folds back and down at rest.

Players open a link and play, with nothing to install, so the game reaches school Chromebooks and iPads.

A turn-based dragon adventure where solving the STEM problem is the move itself, not a quiz that earns one. Read it

Terra, Lumen, Zephyra and Marina got their 3D pages.

Sludgeburn went first as the pilot, and each of the six villains got its own signature action: Stomp, Stir Winds, Loom, Spread Vines, Project Screens and Swallow Light.

The author spotted Zephyra's misplaced eye and broken wing folds and Marina's half-open mouth; they were fixed and checked again over the following days.

Zephyra, Marina, Terra and Lumen were built, each with a signature action: Test Air, Observe Specimen, Sense Vibrations and Organize Grid.

Every dragon's mouth really opens (wide in the Roar), and its wings fold back and down at rest. Kairo was rebuilt with both, with new renders and videos.

Ten AI image models, in 23 variants, drew clean turnaround views of Kairo from his book character sheet. The winning method (87.3 out of 100) is now used for every dragon. The bake-off

Kairo got a painted texture, a skeleton and seven animated actions (Idle, Walk, Run, Fly, Investigate, Roar and his signature Measure), with files for Blender, Unity, Unreal, the web, 3D printing and SketchUp. Kairo in 3D