Project overview
Break cover. Switch weapons. Evolve.
HARDMOLT is a 2D browser action game I conceived and developed with Codex, leading its creative direction. A creature crosses rocky crags, sumps and industrial kilns, collecting weapons and adaptations while fighting enemies and bosses. Cover can be destroyed: opening a route or changing position changes the way you fight.
Play on a computer with a keyboard and mouse. Menus and instructions are available in Italian and English. The title screen also includes a demonstration.
HARDMOLT in action
Concept and creative direction
I wanted to make an action game people could open with a link, without installing anything, with engaging combat and a distinctive world. Nuclear Throne was my starting reference for movement, weapons and pacing. From there, I defined HARDMOLT’s direction: a non-human protagonist, environments to explore and reshape, weapons with different roles, and bosses with individual identities.
I worked with Codex from prototyping through to release. The AI contributed proposals, code, testing tools and the implementation of revisions. I directed the work by choosing references, evaluating successive versions and deciding what to develop further, discard or redesign. My criterion was the experience of playing: how much room there was to move, how a weapon felt, how clearly enemies could be read, and how visuals and sound supported the action.
Giving HARDMOLT’s world its character
Early versions had flat-looking terrain, overly regular walls and creatures with little visual character. I steered the revisions towards more varied environments and distinctive characters, evaluating their shapes within actual game scenes. Weapons needed attention too: the melee weapon, for example, did not clearly communicate its function through its appearance.
The work on identity also covered naming and presentation. I revisited creature and weapon names, the clarity of the text and the composition of the title screen. During the logo iterations, a simplification had weakened its character. I asked for it to be reworked into a form suited to both the game and its presentation materials.
Weapons and supplies shape the pace
During one revision, limited ammunition made the melee weapon almost compulsory. The weapon catalogue offered variety, but the encounters did not provide enough opportunities to use it.
I directed the revision towards supplies, enemy pressure and weapon roles. I wanted sustained firing and switching equipment to have room in the experience, while keeping melee a useful option. This meant reconsidering the amount and placement of resources alongside enemy behaviour. Encounter density also went through several trials: too many projectiles obscured the scene, while cutting back too far drained the action of its energy.
Giving bosses room to move
I wanted bosses to be distinctive encounters that changed how the player moved and attacked. An early approach kept the whole arena visible through a fixed camera. It made the encounter easier to see, but restricted space and left combat feeling too static. I revisited that choice: the arena would remain closed during the fight, with more room, more varied geometry and a camera following the player.
Some additional organs on the second boss were firing into nearby cover without putting the player under meaningful pressure. The revision changed their placement and added a ballistic attack that could pass over obstacles, while keeping those organs vulnerable to the player’s attacks.
Interface and audio during play
I reviewed the interface around the situations in which it is used: reading information during combat, comparing weapons, choosing an adaptation or resuming a game. Growth choices take place in the safe transitions between levels; the reticle has a more visible outline and a selectable size. I also revised text that still used development terminology and was unclear to players.
Audio went through several revisions too. The early music lacked energy, and the firing sounds weakened the weapons’ sense of power. I directed this work by evaluating sound alongside combat, until I was satisfied with its pacing and impact.
Development and release
The game uses TypeScript, Canvas 2D, a DOM interface and Web Audio, distributed as a static web package. The public version includes seven levels, three environments, three bosses, twelve weapons and twelve adaptations, plus a secret area. Menus and instructions are available in Italian and English.
With Codex, I organised references, prototypes, decisions and test reports to preserve context between revisions. Release preparation included browser checks, fixes and work on how players enter and return to the game: a demonstration on the title screen, a return to the menu that preserves the suspended game, and checkpoint recovery after reloading the page. Players can choose 720p, 1080p or 1440p rendering in the settings.