Ludii VS Mindustry

Have you tried Ludii https://ludii.games/? The AI engine will play any game on the platform, and it is a small Java program. The AI is not very good, and you would need to write a rules file, which can be tricky. But there are a lot of existing templates to modify. Though I don’t know about 4 way chess, which is what your game seems to be. I am curious about the rules. I tried the links but one didn’t work at all and the other just showed me a picture. I think the current AIs would be assuming normal chess and would get very confused. I don’t think AI is advanced enough yet where we can input novel game rules and get a game out, let alone a bunch of code for an engine for a tricky 4 way chess variant. Maybe in a few years.

Ludii games can be played on your own computer using the free downloadable player, or on the website. Games played on the player can be played against others online. There are multiple reference documents and tutorials available, and the project open source (GitHub repo, in Java).

Mindustry - The automation tower defence RTS. Java

Mindustry[1] is quite similar.

This one isn't quite the same, but OpenTTD[2] might be of interest to you. It's fun and it's simple enough for kids to get the hang of.

- [1]: https://mindustrygame.github.io/

- [2]: https://openttd.org/

Does it make sense to publish Deb packages for this game?

Also this commit: https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry/commit/5548e727501793479...

Or (while on the subject of Factorio) Mindustry:

[0] https://mindustrygame.github.io/

Mindustry is free and open source. Download the latest release from here.

It's not Factorio, but it's very similar and IMO has a much better PVP experience. Check it out! https://mindustrygame.github.io/

Sounds close to Mindustry.

Not sure what qualifies as 'highly successful', 'from the start', etc. but Mindustry[0] is GPL, is actively updated, accepts and includes contributions from third parties and is available commercially.

[0] https://github.com/Anuken/Mindustry