Like many of our games before it, Hex Gambit: Respawned was scored by the eminent Mike Reagan (Outwitters, Space Food Truck)! You can give the soundtrack a spin right now while we all wait for the game’s launch on March 6.

This album features some expanded versions of the original Hex Gambit’s battle themes, plus a handful of fresh thinky-fight tracks like Cooldown and Intimidation. Stream or buy it today on BandCamp.

Strategy fans, mark your calendars, because One Man Left returns March 6th with my latest project, Hex Gambit: Respawned! HGR is a turn-based battle sport coming to Steam and all major consoles. Command a squad of minions, bouncing across their oddly elastic heads to harvest Victory Points from your opponents. Just don’t give up too many points of your own in the process…

HGR is a massive project, chock full of ways to play:

• Cross-platform online multiplayer
• Take on the world and rank up in Competitive 1v1
• Battle 1-4 friends online or on a couch with Free for All, 2v2, AI opponents, Player Handicaps, AND House Rules to mix things up
• 21 single player challenges with Easy to Hard difficulty options, plus a throwaway story with jokes!

If you’ve been following OML the past few years, you know that HGR has been a long time in the making, and I can’t WAIT for you guys to finally get your hands on it. I’m tremendously grateful for the help from my publisher, Blowfish Studios in making this happen (my first console game!), and I honestly feel like it’s the coolest game I’ve ever worked on.

Another year of full time, mostly unpaid game development accomplished!

I was really hoping that Hex Gambit: Respawned would make 2023 One Man Left’s comeback year, but we just missed the cutoff. Now eyeing a 2024 launch, HGR will be my first console game and the first time I’ve partnered with a publisher. Exciting stuff on the horizon!

I don’t really know what to expect for launch, but it will feel great to have a new game I can point to when people ask “what have you made?” Our older projects are showing their age, and there’s nothing I can do to fix them.

I spent my 2023 working on an unannounced, goofy Food Truckin’ game that’s now feature complete! It’s a less RNG, single player evolution of Space Food Truck with lots of cool new ideas, and I’m in the process of polishing it up to show off next year.

So what’s the plan for OML in 2024? Launch a game and tee up another one! It’s been four years since Alex left, and I’ve been working hard to put awesome projects in the pipeline. These games are the best work of my career, and next year you’ll finally get to play what I’ve been up to!

Happy New Year everyone, and best of luck with all of your mad adventures in 2024!

It’s that time of year where family events and other distractions abound, but work continues in the One Man Left basement laboratory!

First, on the topic of Hex Gambit: Respawned, I’m sad to report that our release window has been pushed to next year. Adding cross-platform multiplayer on top of all these ports is no simple thing, but the game is in capable hands and I know it’ll be worth the wait! Sign up for the mailer or check back here for the latest.

While my publishing partner hammers away at HGR, I’ve been cooking up a single player successor for our old roguelike deckbuilder, Space Food Truck. This month I squeezed in one last goofy feature: Vegetarian Mode!

The new Food Trucker has illustrations of the meals you make, and the recipes themselves have been designed to make sense (it’s not a random selection of ingredients like SFT). So if you don’t find dishes like Meatcakes™ very appetizing, you can tick this on for alternate menus that remove all the Meat cards from the game. It was a weird idea I had while watching Avatar, so you can thank Aang for this one.

In Hex Gambit: Respawned news, we’ve resumed submitting the game for its next platform certification after resolving some networking issues. You’ll find the release date posted right here once it’s ready!

As for the Food Truck Returns project, this month I’ve got the game feature complete with full controller support! It’s all polish and artwork from here, with maybe some extra scenarios to add down the road.

The wait for a new OML game has been a long one, so it feels good having a second project lined up. I think these games are the best work of my career, and I can’t wait for you guys to play them!

No Hex Gambit: Respawned news just yet. Still working through those bugs and prepping for another console certification. I’m disappointed that we didn’t hit the summer release date I hinted at, but it takes what it takes!

Work continues on the new Food Trucker project in the meantime. My list of art and sound needs is long, but the features I have planned for launch are looking like they’ll all be sorted out before the end of the year.

My last fun one is the difficulty system I’m working on now. Space Food Truck had a flat difficulty select based on hot sauces: mild, hot, etc. The new game will have a customizable menu with lots of options like truck HP, crisis intensity, shop price hikes. Each aspect you make harder cranks up the spiciness, and the spicier you get, the bigger the score bonus you’ll receive for beating the scenario!

Hex Gambit: Respawned update: Some unfortunate networking bugs cropped up this month, so we have to get those sorted out before submitting the game to our last launch platform. Creeping ever toward the finish line!

Alex (my old partner) playtested the new Food Truck game this month! That was momentous because he was the lead designer on Space Food Truck, so I was eager to get his thoughts on the new direction. Very constructive, and fun to watch him encounter all the new mechanics for the first time.

I added the proper menu flow this month, from the startup logos to the “Press whatever to start” screen. It’s weird how much more real that makes the thing feel. Like it’s no longer a prototype, but a real game that needs a lot of art.

I also added the ability to rename your food trucking business and choose its logo, so fantasy food truck logo design has become sort of a side gig.

Feeling like there will be some movement on the Hex Gambit: Respawned front soon. I say that a lot, so take it for what it’s worth. Last year’s July post was when my side of HGR’s development wrapped, so happy anniversary! Porting to every platform and adding crossplay multiplayer takes time, but the publisher is doing a great job from everything I’ve seen, and it will be very cool when it’s ready.

It’s been a long limbo, but the new Food Truck game is keeping me occupied! Hard to believe it’s a year into development now.

Early in the month I ran some in-person playtests, took note of the times I had to verbally nudge players in the right direction, and am in the process of converting those into in-game nudges. Space Food Truck is a neat game design, but I want this Trucker to be more self-explanatory and approachable. A lot of awesome art is also starting to materialize, which I’ll show off sometime after HGR launches.

The Food Truck project has a tutorial implemented now with some fun dialogue and an in-game help menu, so last month’s mission of getting the game ready to teach new players is accomplished. I even recorded myself doing some voices for a couple of characters, which is a goofy first.

Next up for Food Truck is to get some 0.1 testing feedback, see how well those tutorials are working out and what people think of the current levels.

Hex Gambit: Respawned‘s console certification continues. Nothing but steady progress to report at the moment. Release date/trailer will be posted here and on twitter @onemanleft. Getting a summer release window vibe, if that helps you hang on!

Still filling my pre-launch time getting a head start on the new Food Truck game, which is getting into solid playtesting shape. I broke a lot of stuff a while back, but was able to play through all five of the game’s map scenarios this month.

I’ve got the highscore goals for 1-3 stars honed to a sweet spot challenge-wise, and am working on getting dialogue and a help menu in. Next month, the game should be able to teach testers how to play without me being there.