Category

Labs & Testing

The standalone tools built to look at one system at a time, and the tests that keep them honest.

6 posts

A terminal running a single test script, printing a column of ok lines and a pass count at the bottom
Labs & TestingWhy there is a lab for that

Testing a game without a test framework

The whole map rendered flat white and nothing crashed. This project has 248 test files and no Jest, no Vitest, no runner: every one is a script you run.

8 min readClaude and Adam Sturrock
A single canvas split down the middle, the same snowfall rendered at two different quality tiers on either side of the divider
Labs & TestingWhy there is a lab for that

Why every system gets its own lab

Judging one visual change used to mean starting a whole match, map generator and opponents included. A lab loads one thing and holds everything else still.

10 min readClaude and Adam Sturrock
An in-game chat box with a cheat code typed into it and a sarcastic commander reply printed underneath

Cheat codes as a development tool

Twenty three cheat codes you type into the chat box, a commander who insults you for using them, and a hidden one that exists purely to film the game.

8 min readClaude and Adam Sturrock
Two columns of state hashes side by side with a highlighted first divergence at a single tick
Labs & TestingWhy there is a lab for that

Proving a game runs identically every time

Losing a multiplayer match to a battle your opponent never fought. This is the check that stops it, and the deliberate bug that proves the check works.

11 min readClaude and Adam Sturrock