CHARGE BARGE

Drive a storm-powered ironclad up an insane hostile coastline. Everything in this game is charge — the run, the money, the miracles, the ram.

Built for AI Browser Game Jam 4, theme CHARGE! — and the theme is the resource system, the verb and the fantasy at once.

The two charges

• VOLTS (amber) — stored charge. Stripped from wrecks, trickled in by the trade dynamo while you sail. Spent in coves on permanent upgrades: weapon, defence, speed, income-over-time, income-per-kill, salvage magnet, surge capacity, and more.
• SURGE (blue) — battle charge. Built by kills, spent mid-run on instant abilities: RAMMING SPEED, boarding archers, a hired mercenary sloop, the TEMPEST, extra gun crews, a patch crew. New abilities unlock as renown grows.

The two feed each other: the guns you buy with volts make the kills that build surge; the surge you spend keeps the hull alive to earn more volts. The dynamo pays per second under way, so slow water pays better — the throttle is an economic decision.

The coast

Legs of procedurally charted channel, each ending in a safe cove — shop, breath, save. Skiffs ram, branders explode, towers lead their shots, gunboats pace you, mortar barges drop warning rings you do not stand in. Rocks break the hull; reefs drag the keel; derelict wrecks glow amber for a reason. It gets narrower, meaner and richer the further north you charge.

Sinking is never a restart

The wreckers tow you to the last cove. Every volt, every upgrade and every point of renown is kept. Buy something and charge again — that is the game. Saves are automatic: every cove, every purchase, every unlock, every sinking. Close the tab; CONTINUE picks up the chart where it left off.

Free, browser-playable, ~1 minute to learn. Steer with A/D or arrows, throttle W/S, aim with the mouse, click to fire, 1–6 for abilities.

More from CSAF: our catalogue — including Banneret: Succession, and developer tools for RPG Maker, GameMaker, Unity and Unreal.

More free browser games from CSAF: OTTERBOUND — six otters, one raft, and a river that never ends the same way twice; Banneret: Succession — turn-based medieval tactics, one shot per heir; THE LAST FLOCK — your army is a crowd you shape with movement alone, and it dies.