GooseDevStudio is a two-person indie team building their first game together. Steel Void is a roguelike top-down tank shooter built with Phaser, with weapon modifications, multiple bosses, different enemy types, and a progression system. It's been in active development throughout early 2026, with regular updates shared in the Phaser Discord.
What Is Steel Void? A Phaser Roguelike Tank Shooter
You control a tank in a top-down arena, fighting through waves of enemies and bosses with a range of weapons and modifications. The game has a roguelike progression structure, meaning each run builds differently depending on what you pick up along the way. The current alfa-preview build includes 50 waves with different enemies and mechanics, 5 bosses, 10+ enemy types, 2 customized weapons with different fire modes, a tank skill tree and 3 biomes. The team has been steadily expanding the content, adding more weapons, more enemies and more boss encounters throughout development.
The latest version runs best on Chrome and Edge. Safari users may encounter some issues. The game is also playable on mobile, with Chrome on Android working well. On iOS, hiding the toolbar in Safari settings helps with the experience.
Physics Cloth, Weather and Map Interactivity in Phaser
One of the more technically interesting aspects of Steel Void is the map interactivity system the team has been building. This includes weather effects such as rain and wind, dynamic tree burning with smoke effects, and physics-based cloth simulation that reacts to wind in real time.
For the cloth simulation, the team used Matter.js cloth as a foundation, building on the Phaser Matter.js cloth example, and extended it with custom graphics and emblems, wind simulation via applyForce, and interaction with constraints. The result is a flag or cloth element that moves naturally with the wind in the game world — the kind of environmental detail that makes a game feel alive.
The team cut around 60% of their originally planned features to focus on shipping a solid core loop. A good reminder that scoping is part of game development too.
Steel Void in Active Development: What's Coming
The team has been open about their development process in the Phaser Discord, sharing updates on new boss designs, map interactivity features and playtesting feedback. The game has gone through several significant updates since its first public share in April 2026, with the most recent version including more content, better stability and mobile support.
GooseDevStudio is actively looking for feedback and opinions on what players expect from the roguelike tank shooter genre. If you play it, leaving a comment on itch.io genuinely helps a small indie team figure out where to take the game next.
Play Steel Void
Steel Void is free to play in your browser and works best on Chrome. Tank up, pick your weapons, and see how far you get 🛡️