Devlog
Short notes from the build, newest first. RSS
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23 Jun 2026, 12:00 UTC
We put up a sign
80SHACK has a website now, with a roadmap and this devlog. The game is still pre-alpha, but you can follow along here. There is an RSS feed if you would rather subscribe than visit.
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19 Jun 2026, 18:00 UTC
Refine and repair
A round of refactoring and fixes: cleaner internals, a couple of stubborn save and load bugs put to rest, and the help screen finally mentions how to dial a board.
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15 Jun 2026, 19:00 UTC
You can dial now
DIAL and CONNECT landed as real commands. Pick up the modem, call a number off a scrap of paper, and a board answers. The opening of the game plays end to end.
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24 May 2026, 17:00 UTC
Breaking the monolith
A big refactor: one giant file became many small ones. Nothing the player sees, and everything the game needs to keep growing.
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12 May 2026, 23:00 UTC
Secrets on the wire
Easter eggs and secrets went in early, because a hacking game should reward poking at things. Some of them are still waiting to be found.
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12 May 2026, 19:00 UTC
Save and load
A proper save and load system went in. The winter persists between sessions now: money, mail, heat, and all.
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12 May 2026, 15:00 UTC
Games inside the game
You can type in and run little BASIC programs on the AMY 16, just like 1983. Hunt the Wumpus, a snake, hangman, blackjack, a lunar lander, and more are on the tape.
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11 May 2026, 20:00 UTC
Time, at four times speed
Fixed the game clock and untangled the timing code. One clock drives the whole world at 4x real time, so sessions and days tick by the way they should.
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10 May 2026, 22:00 UTC
Too much radio
Spent far too long on the radio. It needed doing. The bedroom has sound now, and the world feels a little more awake for it.
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10 May 2026, 16:00 UTC
One engine for every host
Rebuilt the host engine from the ground up. A bulletin board, a bank, a telephone exchange, and a UNIX box are all the same machine underneath now: pure data over one state machine.
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09 May 2026, 21:00 UTC
Writing the world down
A lore dump and the start of a world bible. The AMY 16, Uncle Mark, and the threads that tie the town to something larger now live in writing before they live in code.
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09 May 2026, 18:00 UTC
Day one
First commit. 80SHACK begins as a folder and an idea: a kid, a home computer, and a town in coastal Maine in the winter of 1983.