r/Textbasedgames

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on a small indie project in my free time — a post-apocalyptic text-based RPG called Dustline.

It’s not a huge game — around ~20 minutes to reach the final location — but I wanted to actually finish something and ship it instead of endlessly prototyping.

I’m building it with C# and WPF (yeah, not a typical gamedev stack 😅), which was an interesting challenge on its own.

Here are a few things I learned along the way:

• Scope matters more than ideas I had multiple prototypes before this (web, console, different versions), but nothing was finished. Cutting scope to something small finally worked.
• UI is harder than logic Since it’s a text RPG, everything depends on how readable and responsive the UI feels. WPF helped, but also forced me to think a lot about layout and flow.
• Balancing progression is tricky even in simple games I added 10 locations, enemy scaling, items, and a final boss — and it still took a lot of tweaking to make it feel somewhat fair.
• Finishing feels very different from starting This is probably the biggest one. Even a small completed project feels better than 5 unfinished ones.

Right now I’m at the stage where I’m deciding what to do next:

• polish and expand this game further
• or move on and make a bigger second project with what I learned

Also curious what you think:

👉 Does a short (~20 min) text-based RPG even make sense as a paid game on Steam?

LInk: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4626470/Dustline/

I’d really appreciate any thoughts or feedback 🙏

Six weeks ago I launched The Fifth Family, a browser-based mafia/crime RPG with native iOS and Android apps.

The state of the districts right now:

- 1,800+ players have signed up

- ~300 are logging in daily

- ~730,000 Plinko balls dropped in the casino

- 445,000+ crimes committed across the world

- 69 families have formed

- ~17,000 heist sessions pulled so far

- ~2,300 player-to-player market trades completed

- 190 active listings on the item market right now

That's small enough that you'd actually matter if you joined this week. The top of the leaderboards isn't locked. Family hierarchies are still being decided. Arena season rankings are open and start over weekly. If you've ever wanted to drop into a browser mafia game where you have a real chance of being in the Hall of Fame, that time is now!

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What the The Fifth Family actually is:

- 7 districts to climb through, starting Downtown and currently up to The Waterfront. A named boss at the end of each upon bronze mastery completion.

- 52 crimes with mastery progression. The more you commit a specific crime, the better you get — and rare item drops unlock at mid game districts.

- Real PvP with consequences. Stat-based combat (Strength, Defence, Agility, Dexterity). Wins steal cash from the loser's wallet. Losses send you to hospital for a real-time cooldown.

- Every combat formula is visible in the gym — block, dodge, crit all on the same checkpoint table from 5% to 50%.

- A highly popular Street Intel system with prestige & global variables that can alter your chances. A real place to grind Legendary loot.

- Player-driven economy. The Fence buys your loot for Mafia Gold. The Item Market lets you list anything in your inventory for cash. Every price you see is set by another player with alternative routes through the NPC Shop(Fifth Shop).

- Async Weekly Arena where the top 100 win rewards — cash, gold, exclusive gear, and a unique Arena Belt cosmetic that only the #1 player gets each season.

- Working in-game stock market with 4 companies and live price movement.

- 11 multi-stage heists with push-your-luck mechanics, capped at 6 per day so you can't just grind them - strategy matters to maximize your daily earnings.

- Smuggling routes between districts with dynamic pricing.

- 5-rank family hierarchy (Associate → Soldier → Capo → Underboss → Don) with family perks, real-time chat, and upcoming Family war systems.

- Mansion system with upgradable rooms.

- Bloodlines (Warlord, Shadow, Empire).

- Battle Pass with 150 tiers. 8 careers. District mastery with permanent cash bonuses.

Why I think it's worth your time:

Mobile-first design. Native iOS and Android apps. Same account as web. ~68% of our actives play primarily on Mobile. Not only that, we're trying to evolve differently to your typical RPG's in this genre - the similarity will always be there, but how we implement our vision is different.

Transparent systems. Every combat formula, every stat tier, every drop rate is visible in-game. No hidden multipliers.

Weekly content cadence. Public Gazette for patch notes/news, fast response on Discord, real feedback loops with players. The async Arena, Blood Bonds, a rebuilt Rackets, Street Racing mini-game, +32 new Items, step based Heists, 7 new Real Estates & much more all added since launch.

Sign-up is email and password. No install unless you prefer the App.

Thirty seconds.

Game: https://www.thefifthfamily.com/