Introducing Code & Conquer

Software engineering has everything you need for a strategy game: competing priorities, limited resources, unlikely heroes, and deadlines that seem to develop a life of their own.

So we're making Code & Conquer, a satirical deck-building game about building teams and delivering software. You're not writing code. You're managing the chaos around it.

The idea

Recruit developers into your teams. Every person adds capacity, skills, and sometimes a new problem to solve. Take on work packages, race rival teams, and figure out which cards to play when it matters most.

The objective sounds simple: ship the work. The path there is less predictable.

Why a deck-builder?

Cards are a surprisingly good way to represent the little decisions that shape a project. A new recruit can shift a team's capabilities. A perfectly timed power card can change the outcome. A shared work package means everybody has reasons to hurry—and reasons to interfere.

It's also an opportunity to make the rituals of software development a little ridiculous. That's not a criticism of developers. It's an affectionate acknowledgement that some of this stuff is objectively absurd.

What's next?

We're working through the core gameplay, board presentation and the balance between competition and controlled disaster. Expect ideas to change as we test them.

We'll share progress here as the game develops. In the meantime: keep the coffee hot, the builds green, and the estimates suitably optimistic.