:// Workshop Rivals

You are a robot engineer competing in an underground fighting circuit. Your edge isn't reflexes — it's what you build in the workshop before the fight starts.

Assemble your machine from modular parts: weapons, power cores, processors, gear systems, ability chips. Each body slot holds a grid. Every engine part you slot in changes the stats, shapes the synergies, and influences how your robot actually behaves when it fights.

Then you press Fight — and watch.

Workshop Rivals shows you the battle. Your robot moves, strikes, and reacts in a top-down arena in real time. You'll see exactly when a build choice pays off — and exactly what failed when it doesn't. One button lets you trigger your robot's signature ability at a key moment, but the outcome was already decided in the workshop. The arena is the proof, not the gameplay.

Earn money from victories. Repair damaged parts after losses. Upgrade between fights and climb a tournament ladder of rival engineers, each with a distinct build style designed to test yours. Losses hurt, but the career doesn't end on one bad night.

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:// Features .

• Modular robot workshop — 5 body-part slots (HEAD, TORSO, ARM ×2, LOWER), each a container for engine parts that stack stats, synergies, and abilities
• Visible arena auto-battle — top-down real-time combat you watch unfold, not a numbers summary screen
• Roguelite career mode — no permadeath; part damage, repair costs, and tournament debt create meaningful consequences without ending your run on a coin flip
• Part synergy system — matching parts unlock bonus thresholds; combinations reward experimentation without requiring a spreadsheet
• Rival builder cast — named opponents with distinct strategies and escalating difficulty; personal grudge matches, not random spawns

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:// What Kind of Game Is This?

Builder auto-battlers have proven there's an audience for the workshop puzzle. Workshop Rivals takes that same satisfaction and adds the part that's usually missing — a real arena where you can see your build either vindicate your choices or expose them.

The workshop is the puzzle. The arena is the payoff.

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:// Status Note

> Early in development. The first devlog is up — follow the page if you want to watch it get built. No timeline yet; this one will take a while to do right.