XLite
Games
XCOM-style isometric tactics, procedurally authored missions
Platforms
Stack
Overview
XLite is an XCOM-style isometric, turn-based tactics game: hit-percentage combat, directional cover and flanking, line-of-sight, overwatch interrupts, grenades, destructible/degrading cover, and status effects, all running on a hand-built isometric grid, pathfinding, and turn-economy layer in Godot 4. Rather than hand-authoring every level, a Python tool procedurally generates each mission - building layouts, a road network connecting them, paired cover clusters at chokepoints, high ground, and enemy pods - across a rotation of themes (wasteland, industrial, suburban, military, and more), and rejects any layout that isn't fully reachable before it ships. The full combat and meta-game loop (roster, tech tree, save/load) runs today on procedural placeholder art while the art and audio pipeline is scoped as the last blocker to release.
Problem
Turn-based tactics games live or die on mission variety, but hand-authoring every map is slow and doesn't scale - especially for a solo-built game where level-design and art time are the scarcest resources.
Approach
Built in Godot 4 / GDScript around a from-scratch isometric grid (cartesian-to-iso math, pathfinding, line-of-sight) and an XCOM-style turn system with directional cover, flanking, overwatch interrupts, destructible cover, and status effects. Instead of hand-placing every map, a Python tool procedurally generates each mission - building footprints, a road network connecting their doors, paired cover clusters at chokepoints, high ground, and enemy pods - across a rotation of themes, and validates every layout for reachability before it's written to a mission file.
Outcome
Core combat and meta-game loop (roster, tech tree, save/load) is complete and verified by 2,407 passing GUT tests. Export configuration exists for iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and Steam; the game is fully playable end-to-end today on procedural placeholder art, with real art and audio the only remaining blocker to a store-ready release.
Highlights
- Directional cover, flanking, line-of-sight, overwatch interrupts, and destructible/degrading cover on a hand-built isometric grid
- A Python tool procedurally generates every mission layout - buildings, roads, cover clusters, enemy pods - and rejects any that aren't fully reachable
- 2,407 GUT unit tests passing across the combat and meta-game systems