MEET TIM

WHY I MADE THIS

I wanted to play a deep, turn-based roguelite with real loot and build variety on my phone — the kind of thing I’d been playing on PC, like Megaloot. I went looking for one on iOS and just couldn’t find it. The closest options were buried under energy timers, ads between turns, daily-login nags, and pay-to-win shops that quietly undo every decision you make.

So I made the version I wanted to play. No ads, no subscriptions, no energy, no pay-to-win. Ten floors free to try, one purchase to unlock the rest. That’s the whole business model for the base game. The one extra is Kalzania — an optional expansion, a new 50-floor campaign of its own, not a piece of this one held back.

THE SOLO JOURNEY

It’s just me. Every system, every class, every line of merchant dialogue, every enemy sprite, every translation pass. I’m not saying that to impress anyone — I’m saying it so you know exactly who’s on the other end of the email. When there’s a bug, a rough balance call, or a “why does it work this way” question, it’s me answering.

I built the first version in about three months and shipped it. Since then I’ve kept working on it on nights and weekends, and honestly it’s grown bigger than I planned: Eternal Climb, ten Wardens of the Endless Cycle, nine new heroes in the base game (Alchemist, Beastmaster, Monk, Ranger, Chronomancer, Ronin, Stormcaller, Puppeteer and Unwriter), twenty more floors past the Origin, The Author’s Word meta layer, a redesigned camp, a companion-driven battle system with living battle pets, Echoes, a full iPad layout, the Kalzania expansion with four heroes of its own, and a steady stream of patches you can read on the news page.

THE PHILOSOPHY

The free 10 floors are a real demo, not bait. They’re long enough that you can genuinely tell whether the game is for you. If it isn’t, no harm done — you keep the app and nobody pesters you. If it is, one purchase unlocks the full 120-floor climb for good. No subscription tier, no pay-to-win, no popup offering to skip a cooldown for $4.99. Kalzania is sold as what it is — a separate campaign you can choose to buy — and nothing inside the game you already own sits behind it. Optional cosmetic Supporter Packs let players back a solo dev with portraits and frames — never gameplay, never required.

I think mobile players have been treated badly for a long time — long enough to expect the worst. I’d like LootShrine to be one small bit of proof that it doesn’t have to be that way.

WHAT’S NEXT

The roadmap is really just the news page: every patch as it actually ships, no spin, no “coming soon” that quietly gets shelved. Recent updates added a native iPad layout, Echoes in the Eternal Climb, three times the souls, six new heroes, the Kalzania expansion, floors 101–120 beyond the Origin and The Author’s Word meta layer.

I’m working on more content, stronger class identity, and continued localization polish across all seventeen of the game’s languages. If you have ideas, suggestions, or bugs to report — I read every email.

If you’re interested in the technical side — SwiftUI + SpriteKit, Redux-style state, atlas-based pixel art, and running the whole thing on CloudKit and Game Center with no backend — I wrote up how it’s built in the devlog.

FIND ME

• Email: support@lootshrine.com — comes straight to me.
• In-game: Settings → “Bug report or feedback” to send a report.
• Press / creators: support@lootshrine.com — happy to talk coverage, review codes, or interviews.

(There’s an official Discord for news, patch talk and bug reports. Want a heads-up when there’s a Twitter/X or Bluesky to follow? Just mention it in an email.)