# Can I build a game from scratch?

Pilgrimage devlog 1 · September 4, 2026

[Pilgrimage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc)

This is the first devlog for [Pilgrimage](https://www.tomjohn.design/content/pilgrimage), the game I'm making with my kids [(0:02)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=2s). The idea is something like RollerCoaster Tycoon, but instead of roller coasters it's holy relics in the Middle Ages, so think Age of Empires II meets RollerCoaster Tycoon meets I'm bored and I want to make something.

At this point it was a map. Forests are generated with glades and clearings [(0:25)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=25s), and a path runs across it from east to west with pilgrims walking along it [(0:47)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=47s). The game is about getting them to turn off that path toward your relic. Depending on who they are, they might stay, pay gold, buy food or set up shop, and as the relic gains renown more people come, and it grows into a church, then a cathedral, with shops around it [(1:11)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=71s).

![A generated map: forests with glades and clearings, and pilgrims on the path, captioned as I say: “a you know, generating uh certain number of trees for a map. There's glades, there's clearings, there's all that kind of stuff. And”](https://nlzkl2bo0qmd3uti.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/talks/clips/pilgrimage-starting-from-scratch/forests-rHOkAcChaQEZWYcOgjislpng1UQ9oN.mp4 "Clip")

Every traveller has a name, an age and stats, like Quinled the Red, a 41-year-old carpenter with piety, hunger, thirst, stamina and gold, who's looking for a job [(1:53)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=113s). Vendors set up shop along the road and people buy from them, and the goal is to get those vendors to come to your pilgrimage instead [(2:18)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=138s).

![Selecting Quinled the Red to see his stats, captioned as I say: “So, this is a Quinled the Red pilgrim. He's 41 years old. Oh, I got to put the music on. Let me put a little bit of music on. Um and uh he's got piety, hunger, thirst, stamina,”](https://nlzkl2bo0qmd3uti.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/talks/clips/pilgrimage-starting-from-scratch/quinled-the-red-cKwcRPFRSSJn2NmNAQ0Nggs5YHZvl2.mp4 "Clip")

It isn't a game yet. You can't do anything as a player, and I'm just messing around with what happens [(3:47)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=227s). I'd hit my Claude limits that day, so I was stuck for a couple of hours, but I was already working on rivers, bridges and bandits in the forest [(2:18)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=138s), and thinking about a map that's long and skinny, with terrain or a valley around it, instead of the usual big square [(3:24)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=204s). The music is a 10-hour YouTube loop of medieval music that I'm not going to use in the game [(4:09)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBk5ThoiHUc&t=249s).

![A vendor setting up shop beside the road, captioned as I say: “Oh, look look they set up shop. So, they have a little shop they set up. They're selling their wares. Heyways the quietest”](https://nlzkl2bo0qmd3uti.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/talks/clips/pilgrimage-starting-from-scratch/setting-up-shop-QPLVMjtC4zbfvqx4gIBOQ9YRyKYbjY.mp4 "Clip")

The [next devlog](https://www.tomjohn.design/content/pilgrimage-building-with-ai) came the day after.