Mikh Ahmed joins me to talk about SWARMMO, a massively multiplayer online browser game he's building entirely with Elixir and Godot. After experiencing burnout from AWS Lambda and serverless tooling at a Canadian fintech startup, Mikh discovered Elixir and realized it was exactly what he'd been looking for to build his dream game project.
We explore how the BEAM's actor model maps perfectly to game architecture, with individual player processes, hierarchical AI units that form squads and platoons, and a simulation where NPCs actively compete for territory. Mikh shares his experience going from zero Elixir knowledge to building a game server that can handle a thousand concurrent AI units while using only 4GB of RAM and 50% CPU.
The conversation covers the realities of indie game development: failed crowdfunding campaigns that led to private support, the challenge of marketing when you'd rather be coding, and plans for a Steam release and version 1.0 launch. We also discuss the potential for LLM-powered NPC personalities, why minimal dependencies matter, and how game design psychology from board games applies to digital experiences.
Connect with Mikh:
- X: https://x.com/SWARMMOOFFICIAL
- SWARMMO: https://swarmmo.games/?lang=en
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