Karma Kargo

A deterministic island trading game built from scratch in 28 days.

Built in twinBASIC with AI-assisted development by a database architect who has never made a game.

Free | 4.75 MB | Single EXE, no installation needed

Digitally signed by Grandjean and Braverman, Inc.

What Is This?

Karma Kargo is an island trading simulation where you buy, sell, and sail across an archipelago of 10 islands with 14 commodities. Markets run on transparent supply-and-demand mechanics—buying depletes supply and raises prices, selling adds supply and lowers prices. No hidden dice rolls. The same seed produces the same markets every time.

v0.1.0 is a proof of concept: 50-turn competitive mode, sandbox mode after turn 50, and a pure economic puzzle. Maximize your net worth through smart trading and route planning.

System Requirements: Windows 10+. Single .exe file—just download and run.

How Was This Built?

First commit: February 9, 2026. Playable game: March 8, 2026. 28 days.

The developer—a Microsoft Access MVP with zero game development experience—designed the architecture and wrote comprehensive specs in 55 Linear documents. AI (Claude) implemented the code. Less than 2% of the source code has been read by a human.

The entire UI is rendered from scratch via GDI+—no native form controls. Three SQLite databases. A generic ORM built on twinBASIC generics. Seeded RNG for deterministic, competitively fair gameplay. One EXE, zero runtime dependencies.

Where Is This Going?

This will be so much more than an island trading game.

You wake up with amnesia adrift on a small boat. You survive however you can. At first, it's simple: buy low, sell high, make money. But with a bit of money, you have options.

Live by the rules, buy a bigger ship, and double-down on your lawful trading ways.
Steal from the rich, give to the poor: a modern-day Robin Hood.
Steal from everybody, give to yourself: the life of a pirate.
Hunt down bad guys for the cash: hunting bounties and counting hund-ees.
Hunt down bad guys to deliver swift justice: the line between vigilante and pirate gets blurry...

Every decision you make impacts your moral compass: Good vs. Evil. Lawful vs. Chaotic.

Move far enough in one direction—and befriend your moral twin NPC—and you learn your full backstory.

Nine backstories. Nine revealed pasts. Nine unique abilities.

How you live reveals who you were. Who you were impacts how you live.

Adam Smith meets Sigmund Freud.

Free while in beta. Being built in public. More coming soon.

Download Karma Kargo v0.1.0 for Windows

Download v0.1.0

Windows 10+ | 4.75 MB | Single EXE, no installation needed

Digitally signed by Grandjean and Braverman, Inc.