The Waiting Game

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The Waiting Game

A text-based MMO experiment in active development

I'm building this game in public - throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks. It's part dungeon crawler, part idle sim, part "what if I combined every RPG system I've ever enjoyed?"

I honestly don't know where this is going. But I know where it is right now.

🎮 Play Now

Launch Game in Browser

Works on desktop and mobile. No download. Create account in 30 seconds.

Telnet: thewaitinggame.one:4000 (for the purists)

What Is This?

You crawl procedurally generated dungeons (currently not rotating) with permadeath.

When you die (and you will), you lose your level, gear, and half your gold.

But you keep:

• Prestige levels (permanent stat bonuses)
• Banked gold (100% safe)
• Achievement titles (passive income forever)
• Soulbound karma gear (if you've invested in it)
• Guild progress
• Arena rank

Every death makes your next run stronger.

Meanwhile, bots farm dungeons 24/7 while you're offline, banking resources even when you're not playing.

And there's an arena where you fight other players asynchronously for ranking and rewards.

And a gacha system that gives you equipment for completing bot missions.

And a gem socketing system because why not.

It's a lot. I keep adding things.

The Core Loop (As It Exists Today)

1. Explore dungeon floors (turn-based combat, ASCII maps)
2. Deploy bots to farm while offline
3. Unlock achievements for permanent hourly income
4. Join guilds to raid enemy servers
5. Fight in ranked PvP arena
6. Pull equipment from terminal gacha
7. Socket gems into gear for permanent upgrades
8. Buy Light or Dark karma sets and soulbind them
9. Die, reset, but passive systems keep earning
10. Push deeper next time

Or ignore half of that and just do bot missions. It's your game.

Systems That Exist (v2.7.0)

Permadeath Dungeon Crawling

• Procedural floors with ASCII mini-maps
• Turn-based combat with crits, dodges, multi-attacks
• Boss encounters
• Bestiary tracking
• Floor checkpoints

Idle Bot System

• Deploy autonomous bots to farm dungeons
• Bots earn gold, loot, and XP 24/7 (Async works / building "away" missions system)
• Upgrade bot stats and unlock new abilities
• Access deeper floors as bots level up
• Kill points for terminal gacha

Terminal Gacha

• Spend kill points on equipment pulls
• Single pull, set pull, or weapon pull
• Pity system tracks progress
• Better odds than dungeon drops

Gem & Socket System

• 7 gem tiers (Flawed → Perfect)
• Equipment can have up to 3 sockets (one gem per type, per equipment item)
• Gems provide stat bonuses 
• Socket additions cost karma

Karma Gear (Permanent Progression)

• Light Set (Warden's Bulwark) - Tank build
• Dark Set (Reaver's Hunger) - DPS build
• Soulbind gear to prevent death loss
• Add gem sockets for permanent power

Guild Warfare

• Join guilds to pool resources (Gold, Karma, AP (arena points) for guild upgrades)
• Hack rival guilds to steal Guild Data (Guild Data buys passives for members)
• Build infrastructure (Firewall, CPU, GPU) (Very early design, not balanced well)
• Guild allowances give hourly gold
• Coordinate attacks with your team 

PvP Arena

• Async battles with ranked matchmaking
• 22 tiers across 7 divisions
• Cross-tier matchmaking (±1 tier)
• Hourly attack recharges
• Passive income from ranking

Permanent Progression

• Prestige system (reset for permanent bonuses)
• Achievement titles (hourly gold forever)
• Banking system (safe gold storage)
• Karma alignment (Light vs Dark)
• Warehouse (account-wide storage)
  
• Titles and Bestiary tracking and rewards systems in place, need much testing for confirmation

Development Status: Ongoing Experiment

Started: October 4, 2025 (3 weeks to initial launch) Current Version: v2.7.0 (Nov 4, 2025) Commits: 700+ Team: Me + Claude AI for implementation

What This Means:

• I ship features fast (sometimes too fast)
• Balance changes weekly
• Systems get added, tested, tweaked, or removed
• Some things are polished, some are rough
• If you report bugs, I usually fix them within hours
• I respond to feedback and iterate publicly

This is not a finished game. This is an active experiment.

The Inspiration Mishmash

I'm borrowing concepts from:

• MUDs (text-based, permanent worlds, emergent gameplay)
• Roguelikes (permadeath, procedural generation, build diversity)
• Incremental/Idle Games (compound progression, passive income)
• Diablo-style ARPGs (loot systems, gem socketing, endless grinding)
• EVE Online (guild warfare, risk vs reward, economic warfare)
• Gacha Games (pity systems, equipment pulls, progression hooks)

Is this a good idea? I don't know. I'm finding out.

Why Text-Based?

Practical reason: I can iterate insanely fast. Adding a new system takes hours, not weeks.

Aesthetic reason: I grew up on MUDs. Text has a certain purity - your imagination does the graphics.

Accidental benefit: Works perfectly on mobile without any extra work.

Technical Details (If You Care)

Engine: Evennia 5.0.1 (Python MUD framework) Hosting: Budget VPS (might be slow during peak times) Database: PostgreSQL AI Assistance: Claude Sonnet 4.5 for implementation

The AI helps with:

• Code implementation
• Bug hunting
• System design discussions
• Balance calculations

The AI doesn't do:

• Game design decisions
• Content creation
• UX choices
• Balancing calls

I make the decisions. The AI writes the code. It's a good partnership.

What's Next?

Honestly? I don't know.

Short term:

• Floor boss difficulty management
• Tutorial improvements
• Balance passes
• Bug fixes

Medium term:

• More gem types
• Quest system maybe
• Crafting possibly
• Whatever sounds interesting

Long term:

• Figure out if this game has a point
• Refine what works
• Remove what doesn't
• Maybe it becomes something coherent

Or maybe it stays a glorious mess. We'll see.

Should You Play This?

Play if you:

• Like experimental games
• Enjoy text-based RPGs
• Want to watch a game evolve in real-time
• Like giving feedback that actually gets implemented
• Appreciate "rough around the edges but interesting"

Skip if you:

• Want a polished, finished product
• Need graphics
• Hate bugs
• Get frustrated by balance changes
• Prefer games with clear design goals

Current Player Count: ?

This is early access in the truest sense. You're not buying a game. You're watching (and influencing) one being built.

Community & Feedback

I read every bug report. I respond to most suggestions. Some ideas get implemented within days.

In-game commands: 

• bug <message> - Report bugs (not implemented "yet")
• idea <message> - Suggest features (not implemented "yet")
• guide - Read the in-game help

Or just message me here on itch.io.

Free Forever

No microtransactions. No ads. No pay-to-win. No premium currency.

Just a weird text-based MMO that keeps growing.

FAQ

Q: Is this really free? A: Yes. I'm building this because I want to, not to make money.

Q: What happens when I die? A: You lose level, equipped items, 50% of gold on hand. You keep banked gold, prestige, achievements, karma gear, guild progress.

Q: Can I play casually? A: Absolutely. Deploy bots, collect passive income, do short arena matches. Play at your own pace.

Q: Does it work on mobile? A: Yes. The terminal format is naturally mobile-friendly. While I don't recomend it, it is possible. Keyboard input is optimal for real-time combat mechanics.

Q: Will you finish this game? A: I'm not sure what "finished" means for a game like this. I'll keep working on it as long as it's interesting.

Q: Why is this free? A: Because making people pay for an experimental work-in-progress feels wrong. Services I enjoyed gave me the option to support them.

Play: thewaitinggame.one

Version: v2.7.0 - "Combat Polish & Arena Overhaul" Last Updated: November 4, 2025

Come watch a game evolve. Or don't. It's up to you. 🔥