News, updates, and dev logs from Inselnova, a browser-based island strategy game.https://inselnova.com/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-11-vague-prompts-claude-code/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-11-vague-prompts-claude-code/I labelled 1,410 of my own prompts to Claude Code. When I left the decision open, it went wrong about half as often. Except for copy.Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-10-first-and-hannah-leave-a-restless-frontier/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-10-first-and-hannah-leave-a-restless-frontier/The Saturday Chronicle follows the week’s sustained rivalry between First and Hannah, then turns north to Hannah’s fighting with Nordreich and out to the new governors taking first holdings and new charters.Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-09-world-news-shows-the-whole-fight/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-09-world-news-shows-the-whole-fight/World News shows the whole fight, alliances name an heir, the Desk folds and filters its reports, and rain crosses the map.Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-06-bigchris/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-06-bigchris/BigChris was the third player to join Inselnova's first world. He cheesed it on day two, lost constantly, found my report bugs and slowly faded out.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-04-the-black-tide-remembers/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-04-the-black-tide-remembers/The Black Tide holds a grudge, Honour and bounties come to the Tavern, and any battle can be replayed.Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-03-turtle-blues-pulls-down-five-nordreich-banners/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-10-03-turtle-blues-pulls-down-five-nordreich-banners/Saturday week in review from Founders World: Turtle Blues of Hannah tears down five Nordreich banners across Bosun's Spur and neighboring spurs, while Windy Walrus logs a thick packet of victories against The Black Tide, including main-house cuts at Fogfield Anchorage and Ravencliff Cay. Miko Misan keeps the raid lanes punctual, Dindi's returns stay numerous, and new colonization appears at Rowanwatch Nook and GrumpySardine Isle.Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-28-release-to-organic-traction/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-28-release-to-organic-traction/Seven months from release: direct messages, Reddit, a Discord spike, then comparison pages. By August Google and ChatGPT sent most new players.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-28-quality-of-life-first-batch/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-28-quality-of-life-first-batch/The first batch of quality of life fixes: a simpler Market, clearer Workshop crafting, a page for every alliance and @mentions in chat.Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-24-player-feedback-loop/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-24-player-feedback-loop/Every new player gets a feedback message an hour after joining. 17.5% reply, active players far more. The numbers, and what the replies turned into.Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-24-the-lumen-rupture/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-24-the-lumen-rupture/The Risen come through when the Black Tide's Lumen hoard climbs too high. Claim sea rocks, forge doctrine shot and hunt them down.Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-20-ui-that-shows-state/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-20-ui-that-shows-state/Inselnova shows you the game state on the map, patrols, fires, wealth, instead of printing it. Visual design is where AI coding agents are weakest.Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-19-all-governors-turn-on-the-tide-and-unknown-still-circulates/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-19-all-governors-turn-on-the-tide-and-unknown-still-circulates/Week bulletin from Founders World: the conflict board now reads All Governors versus The Black Tide (4,874 to 2,587, war clock 7h). Windy Walrus frees Duskshade Bluff, while Miko Misan logs 19 actions against Tide shores with one return still marked "unknown". Flowkap, Turtle Blues, roxx, Ankhor, Barbaros, Spartan84, and MONAD keep the naval strategy and conquest ledgers busy, as marketplace trading clears 197 exchanges.Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-14-island-stewards-seat-one-officer-for-life/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-14-island-stewards-seat-one-officer-for-life/Seat a steward on a Dominion island: one officer for life who takes it past level 20 and rises from Reeve to High Steward.Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-13-new-player-waves/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-13-new-player-waves/Every marketing push brings a wave of vocal players who help build the game, then rotate out around mid-game. Six months of data on the pattern.Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-08-boots-and-bullets/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-08-boots-and-bullets/I started a second game from an empty folder to see if the way I build Inselnova still works without Inselnova's harness. Ten days, 721 commits and 62 Claude Code sessions later, Boots & Bullets is a playable demo with fifty missions, multiplayer and its own analytics, and the harness had to be rebuilt from scratch alongside it.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-06-chatgpt-replacing-slack/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-06-chatgpt-replacing-slack/Slack isn't dying, and I still think ChatGPT replaces it. A ChatGPT thread is already one person short of a Slack channel, and once the other people get let in, the conversation with the AI becomes the place work happens.Sun, 06 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-05-three-black-tide-slips-return-with-the-outcome-left-unknown/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-05-three-black-tide-slips-return-with-the-outcome-left-unknown/Founders World week in review: roxx drives fifteen recorded strikes into The Black Tide without a man missing, Windy Walrus and Flowkap add fresh damage on Tide coasts, and Miko Misan receives another battle slip that refuses to declare its result. Turtle Blues and Florentia keep the raid lanes loud, newcomers begin scouting Small and Medium Island, and Lusty Longboat climbs to #8 as the Harbor Board learns to file around blank ink.Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-04-your-island-in-the-water-and-routes-that-mind-themselves/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-09-04-your-island-in-the-water-and-routes-that-mind-themselves/A quality of life pass across the daily game: the island you look at every session, the reports you read, and the chores in between.Fri, 04 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-30-tick-engine-lazy-resources/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-30-tick-engine-lazy-resources/How Inselnova runs a persistent world on one 1-second loop and computes resources on read instead of writing them to the database on a timer.Sun, 30 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-29-black-tide-grime-returns-with-the-outcome-left-blank/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-29-black-tide-grime-returns-with-the-outcome-left-blank/Founders World, week in review: roxx and Flowkap keep steady pressure on The Black Tide across Small Island, Medium Island, and the Tide's named pockets, while one entry at Black Tide Grime refuses to close. Turtle Blues leads the raid ledger at 944, Florentia follows with 421, and the Harbor Board spends the week pretending paper can be weighed into obedience amid naval strategy, conquest, and raids.Sat, 29 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-24-clearing-a-black-tide-island-takes-a-siege/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-24-clearing-a-black-tide-island-takes-a-siege/One fleet no longer clears a Tide island. The paper stops reusing its own phrases. Named stone now stands in every stretch of water.Mon, 24 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-23-retrospective-building-with-ai/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-23-retrospective-building-with-ai/A retrospective on building a deep multiplayer browser strategy game with AI, from a web developer who had never finished a game, and what it taught me.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-22-ocean-9-5-turns-back-thebobmob-and-the-patrol-boats-still-do-not-return/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-22-ocean-9-5-turns-back-thebobmob-and-the-patrol-boats-still-do-not-return/Founders World, week in review: Flowkap forces the Black Tide off Small Island and Medium Island, roxx keeps pressure on BigChris while also striking BartigeBert and BOBYDOG, and Noob Nation scouts and plunders the gold-named coasts as Ocean 9:5 rejects TheBobMob's claim. The Harbor Board's missing-boat refrain becomes dockside habit.Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-18-break-up-the-ships-you-cannot-berth/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-18-break-up-the-ships-you-cannot-berth/Your yards will break up ships and war engines for a quarter of their materials back, siege cost is flat again, and a long list of fixes.Tue, 18 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-17-character-creator-ai-art/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-17-character-creator-ai-art/Inselnova has eight fixed avatars and the next version needs far more faces than that. Here is the chroma-key pipeline that turned AI-generated sheets into a character creator for a browser strategy game, the two implementations it cost, and what the whole run billed.Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-15-the-quartermaster-proposes-blue-dye-for-oars-again/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-15-the-quartermaster-proposes-blue-dye-for-oars-again/Founders World, week in review: patrol boats kept failing to return, an unknown raider kept its name line perfectly empty, and the Harbor Board answered with counting, recounting, and more liberated Black Tide shores than anyone cares to initial. roxx and Miko Misan measured Matte1cat by force while Vexed Flamingo measured the marketplace by weight.Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-15-a-thousand-governors/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-15-a-thousand-governors/Six months and just over a thousand governors into Inselnova, a browser strategy game: who actually stayed, how search quietly became a steady source of players while I wasn't marketing, and the three-stage plan from here.Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-08-medium-island-is-freed-twice-and-the-harbor-still-counts-ships-twice/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-08-medium-island-is-freed-twice-and-the-harbor-still-counts-ships-twice/Founders World week in review: Flowkap and Aye-for-an-Aye struck Medium Island against the Black Tide, each returning with a blackened idol as other Tide shores were recorded as liberated, some without a name. roxx ran a long, tidy raid-circuit through BigChris' islands without losses. Miko Misan broke into the top ten on a surge of raids, while Lusty Longboat raised a fresh charter at PeglegKraken Quay.Sat, 08 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-03-combined-attacks-muster-fleets-from-every/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-03-combined-attacks-muster-fleets-from-every/Send fleets from several islands at one target so they land together, then commit yours to an alliance strike that sails on an officer's order.Mon, 03 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-01-an-audit-opens-and-the-harbor-counts-ships-twice/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-08-01-an-audit-opens-and-the-harbor-counts-ships-twice/Founders World, week in review: roxx drives clean raids through BigChris' dormant outer islands, then orders an independent audit at SplashFish Nook. The Black Tide loses ground at Medium Island, Black Tide Chills, and Black Tide Pall, while BoomStinger Landing sees fresh repulses. Hidden raises a new flag at MapSquid Quay as Luminous Reveller's name briefly touches the top ten on a posted board.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-26-supply-routes-run-themselves/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-26-supply-routes-run-themselves/Set a shipment between two islands once and a crew loops it for you. Research becomes a climbing tree, and your world prints its own daily paper.Sun, 26 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-24-debug-in-my-head/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-24-debug-in-my-head/After a year of AI-assisted development, I've lost the thing I was proudest of: being able to debug my own code in my head. On the trade behind it, and what it quietly costs.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-19-many-ai-sessions/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-19-many-ai-sessions/Most people run AI one agent at a time, which wastes their time. I pushed to four and the cognitive switching burned me out. Here's the system that made running multiple AI coding agents work: every session starts from a ticket, a small /now-what skill catches me up, and the work is split across separate editors.Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-18-medium-island-was-freed-twice-this-week-and-both-times-it-paid-in-a-blackened-id/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-18-medium-island-was-freed-twice-this-week-and-both-times-it-paid-in-a-blackened-id/Saturday review for Founders World: Black Tide-held ground was cleared again at Medium Island as Flowkap and Aye-for-an-Aye each forced a victory and brought home the same curious spoil. Aye-for-an-Aye also climbed to #8 on the realm board after new colonization at CrabPickle Watch and heavy plunder. Windy Walrus remains the realm's largest presence, while smaller courts like kelti, roxx, House Of Stark, and Peppy Bosun keep their own ledgers busy.Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-15-conquest-loosened/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-15-conquest-loosened/Capture or liberate any rival colony regardless of login, survive punching up, and watch the sea come alive.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-14-ai-tests-tdd/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-14-ai-tests-tdd/I build Inselnova test-first: ask AI for a failing test, then let it code until green. Better code, but 5,000 AI-written tests get slow and brittle.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-12-building-an-end-game/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-12-building-an-end-game/After months on the mid-game, players who reach the late game keep asking what they're playing toward. The old browser strategy games answered that with a server reset. I'm building a real end-game instead: a second world you choose to sail into.Sun, 12 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-10-claim-an-ocean-the-residents-decide/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-10-claim-an-ocean-the-residents-decide/Claim a stretch of open ocean and let its residents vote it yours, raise motions in the new Alliance Council, and feel a rebalanced plunder game.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-09-ai-skills-library/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-09-ai-skills-library/A tour of the Claude Code skills I use to build a browser strategy game, in the order I actually run them: scope a ticket, balance the economy, check the cascade, write a failing test, ship the version.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-06-ai-coding-skills/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-06-ai-coding-skills/How to write and chain AI coding skills so a coding agent works your way: less typing, fewer bugs, and repeatable results instead of guesswork.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-04-from-daily-releases-to-weekly/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-04-from-daily-releases-to-weekly/How a project shifts from feature factory to steady, tested releases once real users arrive, shown in a browser strategy game with real numbers.Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-03-call-for-aid-and-alliance-ranks/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-07-03-call-for-aid-and-alliance-ranks/Raise a Call for Aid and your alliance sails to defend you. Alliances now climb six ranks, and the new Tavern deals games of nerve.Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-27-agentic-domain-layer/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-27-agentic-domain-layer/I ask AI to investigate my game's database instead of building dashboards. It changed how I think the end of SaaS plays out.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-27-blockade-their-convoys-patrol-your-coast/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-27-blockade-their-convoys-patrol-your-coast/Three new ways to fight at sea: raise a patrol to guard your waters, blockade enemy convoys, and read raiders off your Watch Tower.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-25-removing-the-signup-wall/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-25-removing-the-signup-wall/I'd never built a game, so I started with a loop, not a plan. Five onboarding rebuilds, each one a data-driven experiment rather than a step on a roadmap.Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-22-rob-a-harbour-by-stealth/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-22-rob-a-harbour-by-stealth/A new stealth Plunder raid that slips into enemy harbours, plus alliances that earn XP from quests, raids, and just showing up.Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-20-midgame-players-vanish/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-20-midgame-players-vanish/Three months of live data on the players who quit my browser strategy game mid-game. The most invested ones don't fade out, they stop all at once.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-18-claude-code-vs-codex/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-18-claude-code-vs-codex/Codex writes better code, but after months running both I moved everything back to Claude Code. The difference is iteration size, not quality.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-18-your-harbour-now-caps-your-fleet/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-18-your-harbour-now-caps-your-fleet/Your harbour now caps how many ships an island can hold, plundering counts double, and Tideline Finds wash ashore as a sealed sea-crate.Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-16-dread-lord-has-won-ninety-five-battles-and-lost-one/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-16-dread-lord-has-won-ninety-five-battles-and-lost-one/Dread Lord ran the longest win streak the Founders Archipelago has recorded, forty-five straight, then stopped coming to the water and, by his own word, retired undefeated. Windy Walrus now sits first with two hundred and six islands. The Black Tide has been thrown back two hundred and sixty-eight times in a fortnight and is still arriving.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-16-cant-tell-if-finished/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-16-cant-tell-if-finished/Why I've been shipping features into my multiplayer browser strategy game out of fear, what my retention numbers do and don't tell me, and why the game doesn't know what it is yet.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-12-golden-age-browser-games/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-12-golden-age-browser-games/There's talk of an indie golden age. The barrier to making an old-school browser strategy game has fallen away, so they're everywhere. That was never the hard part. The hard part is deciding what to build.Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-10-ai-loops-verification/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-10-ai-loops-verification/My AI loop workflow finds, fixes, and proves bugs in my own systems. Here's how it works, what it needs to be safe, and the work I won't hand it.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-09-old-school-genre/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-09-old-school-genre/A wave of new browser games look like the old ones, and people call them clones. It's a genre, the same way Minecraft clones became survival-crafting.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-09-empty-granaries-now-starve-the-garrison/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-09-empty-granaries-now-starve-the-garrison/Let an island's food stores hit empty and the garrison starts to die, Colony rank and up, and blessings now count when the fleet lands.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-06-priming-ai-mentor/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-06-priming-ai-mentor/I built an AI marketing mentor by priming three chatbots and letting Claude Code distil the output into a reusable skill. The trick is priming.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-05-king-of-the-tide-and-goods/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-05-king-of-the-tide-and-goods/A new alliance event where the island sinks and drowns your troops, goods that rush any job, and a safe way to ship lumen.Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-04-event-lockout/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-04-event-lockout/My king-of-the-hill event for a browser strategy game broke twice. One alliance walled off the islands in thirty minutes. What failed, and the fix.Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-02-pacing-survey/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-02-pacing-survey/I sped up my browser strategy game to ask less of players. The survey said I'd done the opposite. Faster meant more check-ins, not fewer.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-02-inselnova-now-speaks-german-and-korvath/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-06-02-inselnova-now-speaks-german-and-korvath/Inselnova now plays in German, and a new war god, Korvath, opens up the first time you raze an enemy island.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-31-office-strategy-game/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-31-office-strategy-game/Most strategy games want your whole evening. Inselnova wants about five minutes, twice a day, in your browser. The fun part is getting a few coworkers in, so there's a quiet war running under the workday.Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-31-fleet-templates-save-a-loadout-reload/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-31-fleet-templates-save-a-loadout-reload/Save a send as a reusable fleet template and reload it to pre-fill the dispatch in a tap, plus a rebuilt Realm overview.Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-27-governor-s-morning-report-see-what/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-27-governor-s-morning-report-see-what/A once-a-day Morning Report opens after time away, with overnight tallies, what Brann found on the shore, and a Days of Rule streak.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-26-wealth-statues-are-live-pick-a/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-26-wealth-statues-are-live-pick-a/Raise a wealth statue at Main House 15, feed it coin to climb Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and rise up the new Wealthiest leaderboard.Tue, 26 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-23-black-tide/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-23-black-tide/Most persistent strategy games eventually wipe the world and start over. Inselnova never does. An NPC faction called the Black Tide takes over abandoned islands and attacks their neighbours, so the world cleans itself up instead of resetting.Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-23-flotsam-salvage-and-a-balance-pass/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-23-flotsam-salvage-and-a-balance-pass/Sinking ships leave salvageable flotsam, a new Community tab, redesigned fleet cards, and a batch of economy balance changes.Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-22-every-attack-and-capture-in-a/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-22-every-attack-and-capture-in-a/Hold contests get a live Ledger showing every attack, settlement, and capture as it happens, plus a new Events tab and Nyssa's Trade Wind rite.Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-21-the-black-tide-is-hoarding-your/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-21-the-black-tide-is-hoarding-your/The Black Tide now raids your lumen and stashes it on its own islands. Watch the hoard from your tower, raid it back, and bring home a Blackened Idol.Thu, 21 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-20-shutter-your-realm-while-you-are/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-20-shutter-your-realm-while-you-are/Close every island for up to 21 days so no one can raid you while you're gone, and run your alliance from a shared Operations war room.Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-18-ai-harness/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-18-ai-harness/Inselnova is my first game, built solo with AI, three months live with real players. The AI is fast, and just as fast at shipping a mistake. The real work was the harness: a set of skills and gates every change has to pass before it reaches live.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-18-alliance-hold-contests/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-18-alliance-hold-contests/Alliances fight over contested islands, you can bless allies and your other islands, a lost realm gets a comeback start, and a new pirate hunt lands.Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-15-workshops-are-live-pick-a-trade/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-15-workshops-are-live-pick-a-trade/Workshops let your island pick a trade and craft its own goods, and seizing a Forsaken island now costs the same Expansion Stress as empty land.Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-12-first-session/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-12-first-session/The early game is the gate to everything else, and too many new players weren't getting through it. Here's what five rebuilds of the first session in my browser strategy game taught me about where people stall and what actually keeps them.Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-05-going-my-own-direction/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-05-05-going-my-own-direction/Inselnova started as a copy of Inselkampf and has gone its own direction. A handful of additions came in: a bazaar, coins, council affairs, the Black Tide, a church with gods and a new resource called lumen, and a guildhall. Each one came from a real problem in the early or mid game. Here's the story behind each, and the rules that have crystallised along the way.Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-28-older-audience/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-28-older-audience/I built Inselnova because I wanted to build something. The audience that showed up is mostly returning Inselkampf players in their 40s. The early game feels slower for them than the original ever did. Here's what's pushing the next features in a different direction.Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-24-the-black-tide-held-six-harbours-none-lasted-a-full-day/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-24-the-black-tide-held-six-harbours-none-lasted-a-full-day/A hidden naval actor known as the Black Tide seized six anchorages across the Founders Archipelago at dusk on the twenty-third. Within a day, Darren, Pytale, BigChris, and Windy Walrus had broken all six. Volatile Vermillion, Boss, and Outcast Osprey threw back attacks at their own harbours. BobTheabuilder, Ezthuel, and kelti were struck. The sails have gone. The watchmen are still watching.Fri, 24 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-17-gate-identity/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-17-gate-identity/I had three ideas for getting players to invite friends. All three were wrong. A player's throwaway question gave me the right one — and it applies to alliance flags too.Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-12-release-workflow/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-12-release-workflow/I replaced Trello with a custom tracker wired into my game's production database. Players report bugs from inside the game. AI skills in my editor wrap deterministic Node scripts for branching, committing, and deploying. If CI fails, the AI fixes it and retries. Here's how the whole release cycle connects.Sun, 12 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-10-one-hundred-and-seventy-defenders-stood-at-corsairpickle-shore-none-survived/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-10-one-hundred-and-seventy-defenders-stood-at-corsairpickle-shore-none-survived/JayD33203 of the Hannah alliance struck CorsairPickle Shore twice in sixty seconds, destroying the full garrison of one hundred and seventy defenders. Pineapple Express was resolving a burglar complaint at the time. Governor Tru raided one hundred and two islands from four holdings. BigChris is now colonising toward CrabGoblet Lagoon. Two hundred and eighty-three islands are held across the Founders Archipelago.Fri, 10 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-04-bigchris-sent-three-waves-against-inselnova-shoal-two-were-destroyed-he-took-it-/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-04-bigchris-sent-three-waves-against-inselnova-shoal-two-were-destroyed-he-took-it-/BigChris launched eleven attacks against Darren's holdings at Inselnova Shoal and AnchorDeck Ridge, losing over a thousand troops before finally colonising both. Darren struck back the same afternoon. Windy Walrus raided GoblinBroadside Bay eight times in ninety minutes. Governor Pineapple Express resolved twenty council affairs at CorsairPickle Shore, including two goats and a fox. Forty governors now hold territory across the Founders Archipelago.Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-04-150k-lines-ai-typescript/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-04-150k-lines-ai-typescript/Inselnova has 179,101 lines of TypeScript across 1,015 files and 1,272 commits. I didn't write most of it. Here's what that actually means, why it works at scale, and what the senior dev who quit at 150K lines got wrong.Sat, 04 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-03-building-the-devlog/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-03-building-the-devlog/Sat down in Claude Cowork, dumped six weeks of raw notes about building a browser strategy game, and came out with 5 blog posts, a tone system, SEO integration, cover image generation, and a reusable skill. Here's how the pipeline works.Fri, 03 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-01-blind-coding-workflow/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-04-01-blind-coding-workflow/Built Inselnova's core gameplay loop on a road trip using Claude Code on mobile. Tests first, skill files for context, AGENTS.md as a living spec, plan mode to prevent scope creep. Three weeks in, one bad release.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-30-bigchris-sent-1-646-troops-to-flotsamscallywag-shoal-he-now-owns-it/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-30-bigchris-sent-1-646-troops-to-flotsamscallywag-shoal-he-now-owns-it/BigChris launched six assaults against Darren's holdings at FlotsamScallywag Shoal and AnchorDeck Ridge, losing 439 troops and one full wave before finally razing both settlements. Windy Walrus holds twenty islands after sending fleet after fleet against one medium island that repeatedly refused colonisation. Billy No-Crew conquered his first territory. Eighteen new governors have arrived. The alliance Fairytale has formed and contains one member.Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-30-the-flags-are-flying-and-the-watchtower-is-staffed/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-30-the-flags-are-flying-and-the-watchtower-is-staffed/Alliance leaders can fly custom banners, a watchtower shows all your islands on one board, fleet logistics are redrawn, and the Black Tide appears.Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-28-connected-features/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-28-connected-features/Rebuilt a 25-year-old strategy game with a simple rule: nothing gets added unless it connects to something else. The gameplay loop that emerged extended the first session from 2-3 minutes to 10-20 minutes.Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-25-finding-early-adopters/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-25-finding-early-adopters/Found 8 daily active players by messaging old Inselkampf fans on Reddit directly, then refined onboarding with achievements and psychology tricks. 330 site visitors, 41 signups, 8 completing the first achievement set.Wed, 25 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-24-two-officers-were-assigned-to-the-eastern-pier-at-corsairpickle-shore-their-repo/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-24-two-officers-were-assigned-to-the-eastern-pier-at-corsairpickle-shore-their-repo/Windy Walrus colonised nine islands in four days and now holds seventeen across the Founders Archipelago without a single naval defeat. Billy No-Crew raced the tide at SkullPistol Spire and a rogue wave swept supplies overboard. Eight new governors claimed settlements. The alliance Hannah has doubled to two members. Something large was sighted off CorsairPickle Shore. The officers have requested reassignment.Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-21-replacing-saas-with-ai/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-21-replacing-saas-with-ai/Built custom analytics, error tracking, and re-engagement tools instead of paying for SaaS. Total monthly cost under $20. Each one took a few hours with AI. Here's how and whether you should try it.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-20-governor-gipe-resolved-fourteen-affairs-in-one-day-at-goblinbroadside-bay-he-arr/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-20-governor-gipe-resolved-fourteen-affairs-in-one-day-at-goblinbroadside-bay-he-arr/Fourteen new governors claimed islands across the Founders Archipelago in a single day. Governor Gipe processed fourteen council affairs within hours of making landfall at GoblinBroadside Bay, including a baking contest, a complaint catapult, and an ink catastrophe. Windy Walrus colonised three islands and now holds eight. Darren led all naval engagements this window. The goat has been found. The owner was not who anyone expected.Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-18-a-goose-described-as-miraculous-appeared-at-emerald-bay-the-council-did-not-act-/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-18-a-goose-described-as-miraculous-appeared-at-emerald-bay-the-council-did-not-act-/Governor Darren's council let a miracle goose expire unclaimed at Emerald Bay while handling a storm-damaged beacon and a drillfield levy on the same island. Windy Walrus launched twelve engagements without loss and now trails only Darren in naval activity. The alliance First lost two members. A new alliance called Hannah has one. Spy crews across the Founders Archipelago have improved from zero percent to nearly seventy.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-17-founders-archipelago-the-harbor-at-roguerig-fort-is-no-longer-empty/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-17-founders-archipelago-the-harbor-at-roguerig-fort-is-no-longer-empty/Governor Windy Walrus launched six engagements after three dispatches of recorded inactivity at the harbor. Spy operations across the Founders Archipelago have improved dramatically. The goat ate a ledger.Tue, 17 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-16-founders-archipelago-picklegalleon-hollow-has-reopened/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-16-founders-archipelago-picklegalleon-hollow-has-reopened/PickleGalleon Hollow reopened after twelve days of silence, six expired affairs, and one uncelebrated pirate wedding. BigChris colonised seven islands in two days and now holds twenty. Twenty-one spy missions were launched across the archipelago this week. None succeeded.Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-15-founders-archipelago-a-second-alliance-has-formed/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-15-founders-archipelago-a-second-alliance-has-formed/RogueRig Fort logged twenty domestic affairs in forty-eight hours, including a collapsed quarry and a guard dog ultimatum requiring formal acknowledgment that General is a very good boy. Darren conquered his first island. A new alliance lasted less than a day.Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-14-built-a-strategy-game-in-two-weeks/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-14-built-a-strategy-game-in-two-weeks/30 years coding, built a multiplayer island strategy game in two weeks using Claude Code, Codex, and ChatGPT. Started blind on my phone during a road trip. Sharing the workflow, the mistakes, and what I'd do differently.Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-13-founders-archipelago-nineteen-additional-engagements-one-governor/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-13-founders-archipelago-nineteen-additional-engagements-one-governor/While BigChris added nineteen engagements to his weekly total, Governor Benny at SnorkelBoots Bay dealt with a ghost ship, a forged edict, and a diplomatic banquet involving barnacles. The ambassador has not written back.Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-12-founders-archipelago-the-week-the-fleet-awoke/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-12-founders-archipelago-the-week-the-fleet-awoke/One engagement in week one, one hundred and four in week two. Governors BigChris and Darren account for every last one. Twenty governors launched zero. A harbor pilot is sleeping on deck. This dispatch contains details.Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-12-new-governors-are-now-greeted-at-the-gate/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-12-new-governors-are-now-greeted-at-the-gate/New governors get a welcome on arrival, the market confirms trades in place, you can recover lost access by post, and twenty new affairs landed.Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-10-founders-archipelago-the-fleet-was-not-circling/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-10-founders-archipelago-the-fleet-was-not-circling/Governor BigChris launched twenty-eight naval engagements in four days. Governor Darren added fourteen in two. The previous dispatch described his fleet as idle. The navigator has not revised his report. The Harbor Board has noted the timing.Tue, 10 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-08-the-week-we-merged-release-notes-with-the-road-ahead/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-08-the-week-we-merged-release-notes-with-the-road-ahead/Low happiness now weakens attack, fleet speed, spying, and colony odds, and you see your real odds before you launch a fleet or a charter.Sun, 08 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-06-founders-archipelago-opening-week/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-03-06-founders-archipelago-opening-week/Twelve governors. Thirty-three islands. One attack, by Captain Stormborn, who lost. The two governors who would go on to combine for one hundred and four engagements the following week launched zero. The Harbor Board's logbook has had quiet hours.Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-02-23-harbor-week-when-the-queues-finally-clicked/https://inselnova.com/chronicle/2026-02-23-harbor-week-when-the-queues-finally-clicked/Build and training progress, live queue timers, and finished actions now show right at the main desk, with no opening the stores ledger.Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT