Tech stack.

The engine, code, creative tools, licensed assets, AI services, and real cash cost behind The Black Relay.

Cost to date

$416

One-time assets

$180

Current tool run rate

$236/ mo

Project cost ledger.

Every known project-specific charge is listed here. Tools without a recorded cost stay visible instead of quietly disappearing from the total.

POLYGON — Military Pack

One-time

$150

Characters, weapons, props, and prototype environment

The current low-poly military baseline from Synty Studios.

In use

Compass Navigator Pro

One-time

$30

HUD compass and map

Useful for the prototype, but planned to be replaced by a project-owned system.

Replace

Codex

Monthly

$200/mo

Engineering, testing, documentation, and site development

The primary AI development subscription used across the project.

Active

ElevenLabs

Monthly

$6/mo

Generated sound effects

Used selectively alongside real and CC0 sound libraries.

Active

Meshy.ai

Monthly

$10/mo

Generated 3D references and mesh experiments

Outputs are references or temporary experiments, not the canonical asset source.

Reference

Tripo

Monthly

$20/mo

Generated 3D references and voxel experiments

Used as a separate reference lane before useful directions are rebuilt as project-owned source assets.

Reference

Unity + web infrastructure

Plan-based

No project cost recorded

Game engine, source hosting, and website hosting

No separate project-specific charge has been logged for Unity, GitHub, or Vercel.

Active

CC0 sound libraries

Public domain

Weapons, impacts, footsteps, reloads, and machine audio

Sources and provenance remain documented even when attribution is not required.

In use

Item	Role	Billing	Cost	Status	Note
POLYGON — Military Pack	Characters, weapons, props, and prototype environment	One-time	$150	In use	The current low-poly military baseline from Synty Studios.
Compass Navigator Pro	HUD compass and map	One-time	$30	Replace	Useful for the prototype, but planned to be replaced by a project-owned system.
Codex	Engineering, testing, documentation, and site development	Monthly	$200/mo	Active	The primary AI development subscription used across the project.
ElevenLabs	Generated sound effects	Monthly	$6/mo	Active	Used selectively alongside real and CC0 sound libraries.
Meshy.ai	Generated 3D references and mesh experiments	Monthly	$10/mo	Reference	Outputs are references or temporary experiments, not the canonical asset source.
Tripo	Generated 3D references and voxel experiments	Monthly	$20/mo	Reference	Used as a separate reference lane before useful directions are rebuilt as project-owned source assets.
Unity + web infrastructure	Game engine, source hosting, and website hosting	Plan-based	No project cost recorded	Active	No separate project-specific charge has been logged for Unity, GitHub, or Vercel.
CC0 sound libraries	Weapons, impacts, footsteps, reloads, and machine audio	Public domain	$0	In use	Sources and provenance remain documented even when attribution is not required.

What the project runs on.

The stack is intentionally practical: prove the game with a strong prototype, keep source assets editable, and replace temporary dependencies only when the game earns the work.

Game runtime

The playable prototype and the systems underneath it.

Unity 6.5: Editor 6000.5.1f1. The engine for the offline third-person PvPvE prototype.
C#: Gameplay, AI, inventory, combat, relay objectives, tools, and editor automation.
Universal Render Pipeline: URP 17.5 for the low-poly battlefield, fog, lighting, and thermal sensor work.
Input System + uGUI: Player controls, interactions, menus, tactical HUD, inventory, and deployment screens.
AI Navigation / NavMesh: Runtime navigation for companions, hostile soldiers, patrols, and the current Skirmish map.
Shader Graph + Timeline: Rendering experiments, presentation sequences, and bounded cinematic timing.
Unity Test Framework: EditMode and project-level regression coverage for the growing gameplay shell.

Art and animation

A practical mix of licensed packs, hand-authored assets, and AI-assisted references.

Synty POLYGON Military: The active character, weapon, prop, and airfield baseline while the original art direction matures.
MagicaVoxel: The canonical hand-editable source for new voxel assets owned by the project.
Mixamo + Mecanim: Humanoid locomotion, weapon, ladder, carry, and interaction animation retargeting.
Meshy.ai: Fast mesh concept and silhouette experiments. Useful references, not final source assets by default.
Tripo: A separate generated 3D and voxel experiment lane. Promising references are rebuilt into project-owned source assets.
Blender + Blockbench: Blender handles bridge and cleanup work; Blockbench remains available for legacy .bbmodel assets.
glTFast: Unity-side glTF support for generated and converted 3D asset experiments.

Sound

Generated effects where they help, grounded recordings where they matter.

ElevenLabs: Generated sound effects for rapid prototyping and filling narrowly scoped gaps.
CC0 libraries: OpenGameArt, Freesound, and Kenney sources for firearms, reloads, impacts, footsteps, and sci-fi effects.
Unity Audio: Project-owned mixer groups and profiles for weapons, ambience, machines, UI, and distance treatment.

Website

A small, fast marketing site with no CMS or heavy content platform.

Next.js 16 + React 19: App Router pages, reusable React components, metadata, images, and static-first content.
TypeScript: Typed content and components across the public site.
Tailwind CSS 4: Responsive layout and the military-terminal visual system, supported by a small amount of custom CSS.
Vercel: Deployment and hosting for theblackrelay.com.
Git + GitHub: Version control, feature branches, reviewable changes, and the source history for both game and site.

Development workflow

AI-assisted development with the project decisions kept in the repository.

Codex: Code, tests, debugging, Unity editor tooling, research, documentation, and site implementation.
Unity AI Assistant: Installed as an experimental Unity package, not treated as the project source of truth.
Repo-owned documentation: Source-of-truth, art direction, architecture, roadmap, decision log, and asset-pipeline documents.
Local-first verification: Focused automated checks plus real Unity Play Mode and browser review before a slice is considered done.

Built in public. Updated as the stack changes.

This ledger reflects the tools and costs known on July 28, 2026. Replaced assets stay in the history; new costs get added when they are actually incurred.

Last updated // 2026.07.28