A small studio building one game properly.
Dogback Studios makes strategy games you play with people you know, against AI rulers who play by the same rules you do.
How we work
Dogback is one director working with AI agents. The director decides what the games are and whether they are any good. The agents write, test and review the code.
That only works if the discipline is real. Every change has to pass automated checks before it lands, and the checks are written before the features they cover. What a test cannot judge, like whether a battle feels right or a treaty is worth signing, gets decided by people playing the game.
If anything we ship contains generated material, the store page will say so.
What we hold to
Short on purpose, so we can be caught breaking them.
- 01
The bots play by your rules.
AI rulers use the same commands and see the same fog you do. When one of them has a handicap, everyone in the lobby will see it, and nothing in our games can be bought for an advantage.
- 02
We show builds, not mock-ups.
Every screenshot on our sites comes from a build that runs. We do not announce dates we cannot keep, and a feature goes on the store page after it is in the game, not before.
- 03
Fewer systems, more consequences.
Three mechanics that push on each other beat thirty that do not. A new idea has to change a decision you were already making, or it stays out.
- 04
You, a friend and two bots make a full game.
One evening, four rulers, three towns. That has to be a complete match on its own, not the small version of an eight-player one.
- 05
Tests first, then taste.
Every change passes automated checks before it lands. Whether a battle feels right is a question for the people playing it, so we ask them.
Where we are
Our first game, Until We War, is in development for Windows and macOS on Steam, with Linux later. It went by the working title Covenant until it had a public name. There is no release date yet, and there will not be one until the game is worth paying for.
Press, business, or something about the game?
Write to us and a person will write back. If you're stuck playing Until We War, the support desk on untilwewar.com is the faster route.