Virtualord, The Virtual Conqueror Release Date

02 Sep 2026Developer post

Development Update: August 2026

August 2026 has been another very busy month for Virtualord! I managed to release a new alpha build despite I wasn't expecting to make it by the end of this month, as you can see in the "what's next" section of my previous update on Steam, and I also already started to work on ne

August 2026 has been another very busy month for Virtualord!

I managed to release a new alpha build despite I wasn't expecting to make it by the end of this month, as you can see in the "what's next" section of my previous update on Steam, and I also already started to work on next version.

It's usually the other way around with development time predictions, but I am glad I was wrong this time!

0.6.9 released

On the 28th of August I released version 0.6.9, which completes the tutorial and that can be considered a first Release Candidate for the demo. In this version you will find all main updates described later in this post, but if you want a quick preview of what's new in this release, you can watch this new video:

Watch on YouTube

If you want to try this latest version, you can join us on Discord, where you will find a Windows and a Linux build.

Main updates

These are the main features I worked on during the previous month.

Third tutorial mission and 2 new maps

Most of the development this month went into completing the third and final tutorial mission, which offers around 30 minutes of gameplay.

In this mission you will have to set up a base and to prepare for a first attack to the enemy's one.

Working on this tutorial also forced me to fix and to improve a lot of things, so now the game is much more stable and enjoyable than in all previous build.

Once I finished the tutorial I also created the 2 missing maps of the first planet, which means that after playing the full tutorial you will be able to keep playing 2 more missions freely. That, combined with the tutorial, should guarantee 2 hours of gameplay to the demo.

New and improved auto-camera

I implemented a new auto-camera that truly tracks movements of moving objects.

The first version I implemented at the end of May was something I hacked together and that wasn't up to the task, especially when mini-units were moving. This new one works perfectly especially with them and makes it much easier to follow what's happening.

I also made sure to fix all the weird behaviors that were happening when the view was close to the edges of a map.

I still need to improve how things work when enemies are playing, but the overall experience has improved a lot.

Resource spending

From this new release, every time your units or structures spend some resources, you're going to see the amounts spent where that's happening.

This not only gives you a better idea of what's going on, but it also makes the scene more lively.

New scene elements

I started to create new content for the demo and the first addition was cactus bushes.

Cacti behave like trees, which means they grow, then start to reproduce and eventually they end up occupying some surrounding cells.

Another new scene element was a different type of mountain.

There's absolute no difference in terms of functionalities with the old ones, they are just static scene elements, but they offer more variety and color to the scene.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

game is auto-saved after every turn while playing the tutorial
settings dialog is now available while playing the tutorial too (this will be part of next release, 0.6.11)

also many other fixes and changes that you will find in the full changelog accessible from the main menu of the 0.6.9 release.

What's next

The plan is to have a first playtest session on Steam around mid-September and to release a first version of the demo by the end of it or on the first week of October, all depending on how things go during the playest.

In the meantime I will work hard to iron all the known bugs out and to add some useful features to the next builds.

Wishlist & follow

support and follow the development of Virtualord by adding it to your wishlist on Steam.

View game page

Original post

04 Aug 2026Developer post

Development Update: July 2026

3 big news July 2026 has been a hectic month for Virtualord! These are the 3 main news from this past month: 0.6.7 released On the 6th of July I released version 0.6.7 , which features the second tutorial mission and a lot of new features and fixes. You can read more about it in

3 big news

July 2026 has been a hectic month for Virtualord! These are the 3 main news from this past month:

0.6.7 released

On the 6th of July I released version 0.6.7, which features the second tutorial mission and a lot of new features and fixes. You can read more about it in my previous dev-log post or you can watch the following dev log video:

Watch on YouTube

If you want to try this latest version, you can join us on Discord, where you will find a Windows and a Linux build.

Game officially announced

On the 13th of July I officially announced Virtualord to the world. That basically means that I started to contact the press and to post on more online communities about it.

For this special occasion I also published a first trailer which you can find on the Steam page of Virtualord or on YouTube:

Watch on YouTube

1,000 wishlists

On the 30th of July, the Steam page of Virtualord passed 1.000 wishlists, hopefully the first of many milestones.

I wrote a post to celebrate this first achievement, you can read it here on Steam.

Main updates

Despite a lot of work went into the game announcement and trailer, I kept working on the game every day of the month as usual. These are the main features I worked on during the month of July.

Load & save

Most of the development effort this month went into implementing a key feature that was originally planned for next major version (0.7.0). I decided to anticipate it because completing the tutorial is starting to take time and it's not realistic to ask people to start every time from the beginning.

Things are simplified at the moment as there's only one save slot and it's not possible to save during the tutorial yet, but it's a start and more features will be completed for the demo.

Despite the missing features, loading and saving is already pretty solid and it is super fast, on average it takes only 1ms for both actions.

In the current version of Virtualord, your game is automatically saved when you enter a new screen, but you can also save while playing, even if with a twist...

Unlike most games, you can't save from a pause menu, but saving is an actual action of your control center. Also, saving is not free, it costs resources and the more frequently you want to save the more expensive it gets. That's to stop people to save before every turn basically.

New selection UI

Selected units and structures will no longer have that semi-transparent overlay on top, as you can see in every single screenshot posted in previous updates.

Now when an object is selected you will see an health and energy bar on top of it and the cells where it stands will be enclosed in 4 isometric corners.

As a bonus feature, now all structures that can be selected show the new UI, whereas in the past some (like walls) were missing the selection overlay.

Another related feature is that when selecting an object which is part of a group (like mini-units), all elements of the group will be selected, but the one you clicked on will be highlighted differently.

This is to differentiate single-effect actions like destroying the selected object, from group actions, like moving mini-units to a target destination.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

focus areas in the tutorial are now animated to catch attention more effectively.

also a few other fixes and changes that you will find in the full changelog accessible from the main menu of the next upcoming release.

What's next

The goal for the month of August is to complete the third tutorial mission, which will also complete most of the game demo.

It's unlikely I will be able to release next version (0.6.9) by the end of this month, but I am pretty confident you can expect that by the second week of September and hopefully a first public demo release by the end of that month.

Wishlist & follow

support and follow the development of Virtualord by adding it to your wishlist on Steam.

View game page

Original post

06 Jul 2026Developer post

Development Update: June 2026

I am going to start this dev log with some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that I didn't manage to release a new alpha build at the end of June as planned. That's because the amount of work needed to finish it was just too much to handle in a single month. The good n

I am going to start this dev log with some bad news and some good news.

The bad news is that I didn't manage to release a new alpha build at the end of June as planned. That's because the amount of work needed to finish it was just too much to handle in a single month.

The good news is that I am going to release it this afternoon or only 1 week later it was originally planned.

If you want to try it, make sure to join my Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build for the next 2 months or a new build is released.

In the next few days I am also going to publish a video dev log that will showcase all new features and changes of this new release, Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch it.

Main updates

As I mentioned in the intro above, this month I worked extremely hard and the result of that is a big number of new features, fixes and changes. These are some of the major ones.

Second tutorial mission

Most of the work this month went into the second tutorial mission. Pretty much everything I did this month was dedicated to it. This new mission represents a big improvement over the first one, in both terms of things you can do and size.

Just to give you a quick comparison, it's possible to complete the first tutorial mission in 5-10 minutes, whereas the second one takes 20-25 minutes. That's not just because the map is bigger (70x70 vs 50x50), but also because it introduces a lot of new gameplay elements to the player.

We could say the first one is a teaser while the second one represents the actual game more closely!

Even if the tutorial guides you during the whole mission, you have much more freedom and choices compared to the first one. The idea is to hand full control to the player gradually. Testers will tell me if it works or not!

Automatic gates

One of the key aspects of the new tutorial mission was setting up defenses, like towers, walls and gates.

During the development of the tutorial I realized that asking players to open and close gates manually every time was a bit annoying, so I decided to automate them.

Now when any of your units crosses a door, it will open automatically and it will close right after your unit moves away from it.

It is still possible to open and close them manually if you want and as a bonus features they will all close automatically at the beginning of your turn to avoid to leave gaps in your defenses.

An improved Research Center

Another game element highlighted in the second tutorial mission is the research center, so I spent quite some time improving and expanding its features.

First of all you will see the Research Center flashing when a tech upgrade can be unlocked and if you select it, you will immediately see the number of upgrades you can unlock as a notification floating over your action buttons.

I also wanted to make more clear which upgrades can be unlocked and which can't, so the former have a different color now.

Finally, in case your Research Center stops to generate research points because it runs out of resources, you will see a blinking icon that notifies you of that.

They are all little improvements, but combined they help a lot the user experience and they make the difference between a prototype and a full game.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

when setting a unit's action to attack, it remains set after shooting (it used to go back to move).
barracks have new graphics
Added several new tech upgrades that can be unlocked from the research center

also a lot of fixes and changes that you will find in the full changelog accessible from the main menu of the next upcoming release.

What's next

As mentioned in the intro, the first thing I will do after publishing this dev-log is going to release version 0.6.7, make sure to join us on Discord if you want to try it.

After that I will spend the rest of this week working on the game announcement and on the announcement trailer, so expect big news coming soon!

Once that's done I will go back to development full-time aiming at releasing the final 0.6.X version by the end of August. That version will be the final alpha of the demo, but I will tell you more about that in my next dev-log at the beginning of next month.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

05 Jun 2026Developer post

Development Update: May 2026

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of May 2026 Main updates These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of May 2026. They will all be part of next alpha build (0.6.7) that will be released at the end of this mo

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of May 2026

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of May 2026. They will all be part of next alpha build (0.6.7) that will be released at the end of this month.

This month has been heavily influenced by the PLAY festival I attended at the end of May, you can read more about it and how it went here.

First tutorial mission

The first tutorial mission is fully playable and it will guide you to learn all the basics concepts in Virtualord.

I also managed to change and improve things after I watched people playing it at the PLAY festival.

Some improvements are:

Now it takes less than 10 minutes to complete it (it used to be 13-15)
Cells are highlighted with an isometric outline to reduce confusion when clicking
unit and structure actions are way faster, making the gameplay more enjoyable

Probably there will be further adjustments in the future, but this is a solid state for the demo release.

Automatic camera

I implemented a new automatic camera that follows your units and mini-units when they do something, it also moves over your defensive towers when they shoot an enemy.

As bonus feature, It can be disabled in settings in case you want full control over the camera (I usually prefer that).

Probably it will all require some tweaking in the future, but it works good enough for now.

New scene elements

I am adding more content to the game in preparation for the demo release,

I created 2 new sets of trees and some new rocks. You can see all of them in this screenshot:

Here there are just single trees, but variations with 2, 3 and 4 trees are all done as well.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

now scrolling gradually accelerates to the speed defined in settings. This can also be disabled in settings if you prefer constant speed.
New settings allow to customize selection and action buttons.

What's next

The main goal for the month of June is to release the next alpha build (0.6.7) which will feature the second tutorial mission and all the improvements and new features I presented in this post.

I expect to release it by the end of the month, so stay tuned for updates and join us on Discord if you want to try it.

In the long term the plan is to release the first version of the demo with 3 playable missions by the end of August, but even if I believe it's doable, I am not able to confirm this yet. Make sure to wishlist and follow Vitualord to get the next updates.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

29 May 2026Developer post

Virtualord at PLAY 2026, how it went

Last week I showcased my indie strategy game at "PLAY, the games festival", which is the biggest event dedicated to board and RPG games in Italy. This was the first time I let people play it live. Before that, only a few members of my Discord server tried it and even if their fee

Last week I showcased my indie strategy game at "PLAY, the games festival", which is the biggest event dedicated to board and RPG games in Italy.

This was the first time I let people play it live. Before that, only a few members of my Discord server tried it and even if their feedback has been very useful so far, watching people playing it has been extremely helpful.

People played Virtualord, a lot

First of all I wanted to thank every single person that tried Virtualord.

Even if the indie games area was in a remote wing of the exhibition I still managed to get tens of people playing my game.

Guys played it, gals played it and surprisingly many kids played it too, some with their parents, but mostly on their own! One kid played it in the morning for a very long time and then he came back at the end of the day asking if he could play again!

Once again, thanks to each and every one of you.

The staff played it too!

Several members of the staff played Virtualord too, mostly when we were starting in the morning and there were only few visitors wandering around, especially in our wing.

One of them liked the game so much he played the whole first mission tutorial (15 minutes), plus the second mission on his own for over 35 minutes for a whopping total play time of over 50 minutes!

Watching someone playing my game for so long made me extremely happy and proud. I hope more and more people will do it when I release the first public version of the demo in 2 months.

I got a visitor from Reddit

Surprisingly someone saw a comment I left on Reddit, where I was mentioning that I was going to be at this event, and showed up at my booth.

We also took a picture together, which actually is my only picture from this event. At least I can prove I was there!

How this affected the development

Watching people playing my game made me immediately realize what the main pain point were and what needed to be changed or improved, especially in the tutorial.

I didn't push people for feedback and I tried to not stay close to them while they were playing, this is because I thought this was the best approach for the audience there. Nevertheless I resecived some useful feedback and I learned a lot from what I saw.

I am going to discuss all changes and new features in the next dev log, which you will find here on Steam next week, but in the meantime I can tell you that the next alpha release of Virtualord will be way better than the latest one I released earlier this month.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

19 May 2026Developer post

Virtualord at Play 2026, the games festival

I am happy to announce that I will present Virtualord for the first time at an exhibition later this week. From the 22nd to the 24th of May I will be in Bologna (Italy), at " PLAY, the games festival ", which is the biggest event dedicated to board games and RPGs in Italy. There

06 May 2026Developer post

Development Update: April 2026

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of April 2026, an important month for Virtualord as it marks a radical change in the project's planning. New alpha ROADMAP After releasing version 0.6.0 at the end of March, I started to work on next vers

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of April 2026, an important month for Virtualord as it marks a radical change in the project's planning.

New alpha ROADMAP

After releasing version 0.6.0 at the end of March, I started to work on next version as usual, but something happened.

At the beginning of April I received an invitation to present Virtualord at an important live event at the end of May in Italy (announcement coming soon). There I will present a first demo of Virtualord, which basically means now I am working on that.

This is the updated roadmap:

As you might notice, the upcoming 0.6.5 version is basically done, I just need to polish a few things and to check everything is fine before releasing it for testing.

In case you wanted to try it, you can join our Discord server where you will find a Linux and a Windows build soon.

After this next release I will keep working on the tutorial, which will be the core of the demo of Virtualord. Once that's completed I will go back to the next major version where I will restart to implement new features.

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of April 2026. They will all be part of next alpha build (0.6.5).

First tutorial mission

The most important feature implemented during past month is the new tutorial that guides you during the whole first mission.

Playing it takes about 13-15 minutes and it teaches your all the basic concepts to play the game like conquering structures, mining resources, building walls, mission goals and how to move around.

New cell conquest

The cell conquest action has been remade from scratch and improved.

Now you can start the conquest far from your unit. Also there's a new panel that shows how much energy your unit will spend and what resources are needed for the conquest. When you lack the amount of resources required, it will turn red to highlight the situation.

New wall building

Wall building has been revamped too.

Now you can select a starting point and an end point and your unit will build a wall from the start to the end, even if the start point is far from it. Also in this case there's a panel showing all resources needed for your action.

New unit move

Now when you move a unit you will see the path it will take and its energy cost.

Also this panel will change color when your unit doesn't have enough energy for the desired destination.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

Added button to game UI to immediately move the camera back to your base.
Added new panel for warning messages.

plus many other minor fixes and changes that you will find in the changelog of the 0.6.5 build.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

10 Apr 2026Developer post

Development Update: March 2026

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of March 2026. Version 0.6.0 released Fourth alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 24th of March and it's currently available for testing. If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of March 2026.

Version 0.6.0 released

Fourth alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 24th of March and it's currently available for testing.

If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.

In case you wanted a quick preview you can watch this dev log video that shows and explains all new features and changes:

Watch on YouTube

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of March 2026. They are all already included in the latest release.

New UI

Most of this month's work went into the remaking of the game UI.

To give you an example of what the UI used to look like in all previous builds, this is the old trading dialog:

And this is the new version:

As you can see they look different, but the style is similar, that’s because I wanted to improve what I already had, instead of creating something completely new.

Now it's also easier to identify buttons and different sections of the dialog, which was another goal of this new iteration of the UI.

New factions selection screen

As part of the new UI work I also remade the faction selections screen from scratch.

This is the old version:

And this is the new one:

As you might have noticed, I also redesigned the faction logos and extended the faction description a bit.

2 new languages

Virtualord now speaks French and German too!

If you want to suggest a new language you can leave a comment below.

If you want to help with new translations you can join our Discord Server.

Fixed and improved rendering

All previous versions of Virtualord were affected by some annoying bug that (on a few occasions) was rendering things that are in the back on top of things that are in the front.

I am happy to say that I fixed it and I also spent some time optimizing things to reduce changes in the rendering list to a minimum, achieving so a faster and more reliable rendering.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

I introduced support for 3 different sizes of planet featuring 5, 7, and 9 missions.
Now there are hidden mission goals, which are goals that are not revealed until you complete them.
Loot boxes now require unit's "conquest" (interaction) to give a reward.

plus many other minor fixes and changes that you will find in the changelog of the 0.6.0 build.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

06 Mar 2026Developer post

Development Update: February 2026

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of February 2026. This month I didn't release a new alpha build mostly because I am working on things that are taking longer than expected, but also because I wasted several days when my laptop decided to

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of February 2026.

This month I didn't release a new alpha build mostly because I am working on things that are taking longer than expected, but also because I wasted several days when my laptop decided to abandon me. The fact that February is a 28 days month didn't help either, even if having 2-3 extra days would have not made a huge difference anyway.

The truth is that good things take time and I am taking the time they need to do them right. Check out the "What's next" section below to see what's going on with the release and when to expect it.

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of February 2026.

New resource: research points

Now the research center can generate research points, which are a new resource to manage in game.

Your production can be controlled allocating resources in a dedicated dialog. Money, material and energy are mandatory to produce points, whereas blobs and diamonds are not, but they can increase the production.

Tech upgrades

Once you have generated enough research points you can spend them in a new dialog where you can unlock many tech upgrades.

Upgrades are divided in 5 categories and even if I only implemented a few for next release there will be hundreds in the final game.

New mission goals

I created 12 new mission goals to expand the existing ones. Now they are more than 30 and I am planning to add even more in the future.

I also recorded a live coding session while working on some new code for the mission goals dialog, in case you missed it you can watch it on YouTube.

New exploding loot box

I introduced a new loot box that offers better rewards, but it has also a chance of exploding when you collect it. The explosion will damage and maybe kill your unit, so it's up to you to decide if it's worth the risk or not.

I also redesigned the graphics of the standard loot box, which is now smaller and brighter.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

Loading screens are now divided for game areas to reduce memory usage

plus many other minor fixes and changes that you will find in the changelog of the 0.6.0 build.

What's next

I am planning to release next alpha version (0.6.0) in 1-2 weeks, before the 20th of March.

This is how the roadmap looks at the moment:

I am currently working on a new iteration of the UI, so expect to see new screenshots in my store page by the end of the month.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

06 Feb 2026Developer post

Development Update: January 2026

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of January 2026. Version 0.5.0 released Third alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 31st of January and it's currently available for testing during all month of February. If you want to try it,

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of January 2026.

Version 0.5.0 released

Third alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 31st of January and it's currently available for testing during all month of February.

If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.

In case you wanted a quick preview you can watch this dev log video that shows all the new features and changes in this new alpha release:

Watch on YouTube

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of January 2026. They are all already included in the latest release.

Upgrading units and structures

Units and structures gain experience points when they do things and now they can level up when reaching enough points.

Each new level allows to assign points to modify the attributes of your unit or structure. That will affect their abilities, like speed, resistance, etc...

Multi language support and 2 new languages

Virtualord now speaks Italian and Spanish too!

I added a new multi-language system which allows to change language at runtime without restarting the game.

I am also planning to add the following languages in the upcoming months: French, German, Portuguese.

But it's likely I will add more before the 1.0 release, according to users feedback.

If you want to suggest a new language you can leave a comment below.

If you want to help with new translations you can join our Discord Server.

New structure: city

I introduced a new structure that can only be conquered by your units: a city.

Cities are made of city blocks and a faction needs to conquer all external blocks to have full control over a city.

Once a conquered city is connected to your base it generates money at the beginning of each turn.

Warning messages

Before this new release unit actions were failing in mysterious ways and your only feedback was a sound. It was enough to understand that something was wrong, but not what or why.

Now when an action fails you get a short text appearing above your unit that tells you what's the problem. It disappears after a couple of seconds or if you move your unit.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

Added a new bunch of sound effects, especially for units.
Camera automatically moves over visible AI units when they do something.
New game now starts directly playing the first mission. Tutorial changed accordingly.

plus many other minor fixes and changes that you will find in the changelog of the 0.5.0 build.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

05 Jan 2026Developer post

Dev Update: December 2025

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the previous month Version 0.4.0 released Second alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 23rd of December and it's available for testing during all month of January. If you want to try it, you can join the

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the previous month

Version 0.4.0 released

Second alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 23rd of December and it's available for testing during all month of January.

If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.

In case you wanted a quick preview, you can watch this video that shows all new features and changes:

Watch on YouTube

Main updates

These are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of December 2025. Some are already part of the current alpha build, but others are completely new and will only be available in the next version (0.5.0).

Tower defense mechanics

Basic tower defense mechanics are fully implemented.

Now for the "defense" side there are towers that automatically shoot enemies in range at the beginning of their turn, even if I am planning to let players control them directly.

For the "offense" side, there are mini-units that move and attack autonomously after you set a target destination.

At the moment there's only 2 types of mini units available, 1 shooting enemies in range and 1 exploding next to enemies, but I am going to add more in the future.

Weapons and shot modes

Now units and structures can use different weapons and there are 3 different types of shot you can choose when attacking an enemy.

You also get a panel showing all the probabilities and energy cost when you’re attacking and you move your mouse over a target.

At the moment the only weapons available are lasers, but more will be added in the future.

New tutorial look & feel

I redesigned the look&feel of tutorial panels, which now are are different from standard ones in game, This makes it easier to spot them when there are other UI elements on screen.

The tutorial hasn't changed much and it's not finished yet, but it will be completed and improved for the first beta release.

New move mechanics and overlay for units

Units follow new rules when moving.

Now moving to non-visible cells is not allowed and movements are limited by the energy left.

I also implemented a new UI overlay that clearly shows when you can move and when not and the energy cost for your move.

Minor updates

Some other changes worth a mention are:

Collecting blobs and diamonds shows the number of objects collected on top of the unit that collects them.
After alpha testers reported frequent crashes I decided to take some time to make Virtualord more stable. As a result I fixed 4 bugs that were causing crashes and tens of memory leaks.
Game objects show hit points when hit, fatal hits are highlighted in red.

plus several other minor fixes and changes that you will find in the changelog of next release.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

04 Dec 2025Developer post

Dev Update: November 2025

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of November 2025. I am also going to publish a video version of this update on my Youtube channel soon. Make sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss it. Where is this project going? Last month I publi

Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of November 2025.

I am also going to publish a video version of this update on my Youtube channel soon. Make sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss it.

Where is this project going?

Last month I published this roadmap to better define the development of the next versions of Virtualord.

I will keep an updated version in the store page and I will keep track of all future updates in this discussion in the community forums.

Next alpha version 0.4.0 will be released in a week or 2.

If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.

Main updates

Tower defense mechanics (WIP)

This is going to be the main new feature of the next alpha release, but at the moment it's not completely finished yet.

So far I implemented 2 units and 1 structure that can spawn squads made of 1-5 mini units.

You won't control these squads directly, but you can set a target destination and they will automatically move there at the beginning of your turn, even if their move takes multiple turns. They will also engage with any enemy they encounter.

This will allow you to create waves of mini units that recall the ones in Tower Defense games. The main difference is that in Virtualord you will be able to use them to attack (but so will do your enemies)!

Over the next few days I will implement a dialog to select what mini units to create, but also 1 or 2 more types of mini units to give alpha testers a choice.

New planet map

There's a new planet map that introduces a new progression in the missions to play to conquer a planet.

Now it's possible to conquer a regular planet winning 3 missions plus a final one (the one in the center) and a small planet winning only 3 missions.

It's always possible to play more missions in case you wanted to gain more resources and to complete the game at 100%.

Self destruction

Now all your units and structures, but your base, have a self-destruction button that allows you to destroy them.

You have the option to dismantle things quietly or to blow them up causing damage to everything around, For example you might want to do that if you're fatally wounded and surrounded by enemies.

Minor updates

attributes of all game objects now influence gameplay. for example a unit with a high speed and a low resistance will be fast, but easily damage by enemies.
map stats are no longer random and reflect actual data of the maps. These are the stats you can find in info panel of the planet map screen.
it's now possible to pause and to quit the tutorial while playing it.

plus several other fixes and minor changes that you will find in the changelog of next release.

Other news

I created a new account on Bluesky, which I am planning to use as my main "short text social network" from now on.

If you use it, you can follow me to get more frequent updates on Virtualord.

Wishlist & follow

View game page

Original post

31 Oct 2025Developer post

A new beginning: VIRTUALORD

it's been 1 year and 10 months since my last update and it's likely that many considered this game yet another vaporware. At some point that was almost true because the development has been on hold since June 2024, but things are different now! I restarted the development at the

it's been 1 year and 10 months since my last update and it's likely that many considered this game yet another vaporware. At some point that was almost true because the development has been on hold since June 2024, but things are different now!

I restarted the development at the beginning of October and things are moving forward fast and steady, also a lot has changed since my last update, so let me show you what's going on.

A new beginning

If you used to follow my dev logs you might remember that this game was a RTS called Virtueror, but that's no more.

After a lot of thinking and planning I decided to turn this game into a Turn-Based Strategy game which also comes with a new name: VIRTUALORD.

Why?

The main reason behind the change of genre is that my vision for this game (ex.: RPG elements, slow pace action, limited amount of units you can control, etc...) suits better a TBS than a RTS.

Another reason is that I was afraid that a polished RTS would take me forever to make and it wouldn't be good enough for most gamers anyway. I am a solo developer with very limited resources after all!

The name change is mostly because I wanted to break with the past, but also because many complained that "Virtueror" was hard/weird to pronounce and I think that's fair.

Current status

Obviously things changed and evolved a lot since last dev log and I am happy to announce that Virtualord just hit version 0.3.0 which is also the first alpha build.

In the meantime let me show you the main new features of this upcoming release:

Turn based system

This obviously is the biggest change for this release as it transforms the game a lot.

As you might expect, each unit/structure has a certain amount of energy that can spend every turn, but on top of that there's a team energy that stops all your actions when exhausted.

Both energies are recharged at the beginning of each new turn, but only the team one is fully recharged, whereas units and structures recharge their energy based on their attributes and level.

Multiple mission goals

Now every map has multiple primary and secondary goals that are listed in a dialog accessible from your base.

When you complete a goal you can collect its rewards that depend on the current map and the difficulty level.

Once you complete all primary goals, you can decide if you want to leave the current map with an immediate win or if you want to keep playing to complete all secondary ones too.

In my opinion, this is a big improvement over the old design based on a single goal.

Tutorial

A game tutorial is already fully implemented, even if it doesn't cover all aspects of gameplay and it doesn't have dedicated maps yet. This will change in the future, but what's in place now is already enough to teach you all the basic concepts you need to play Virtualord.

New structures

There are 4 new structures that extend and support a richer gameplay.

1) Trading post:

this is going to be your marketplace where you can buy and sell resources using a dedicated dialog.

Buy/sell prices are dynamic as they depend on actual resources of the map you're playing.

2) Barracks:

barracks allow you create all soldier units.

3) Hospital:

this structure can heal nearby units, but it can also create medics, a special unit that can heal others.

4) Research center:

in the future this structure will allow you to generate research points and to access the tech tree.

Other changes

I put a lot of work in this release and listing all changes and new features would take too long here, but these are some notable ones:

A new panel becomes visible when you select one of your units or structures. It shows you its current status and some basic stats and it allows to open a dialog that shows all sort of stats and attributes.
Units and structures gain experience while doing something, this will allow to upgrade them in the future.
The AI is fully adapted to the new turn system and it can also perform new actions like building structures, collecting objects and shooting trees.

There's also a lot of UI improvements and bug fixes as usual.

Join the alpha testing

Last, but not least, I am happy to announce that the first alpha build of Virtualord will be available in a few days.

To take part in the alpha testing simply join the Discord server of the game. There you will get access to a Windows and a Linux build from the 3rd of November until the end of the month.

People who will take part in alpha testing and will provide useful feedback will be rewarded with a Discord role and a mention in the game credits.

Wishlist & follow

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Original post

31 Jan 2024Developer post

Dev update January 2024 - Virtueror 0.2.0

Welcome to the first dev-log of 2024, which casually comes on my birthday. I am happy to celebrate it with the biggest update in terms of new features since I started working on this project! As I mentioned in my previous update I was expecting this month to be productive, but fo

Welcome to the first dev-log of 2024, which casually comes on my birthday. I am happy to celebrate it with the biggest update in terms of new features since I started working on this project!
As I mentioned in my previous update I was expecting this month to be productive, but for once reality exceeded my expectations.

Without further ado, let's dive into all the new features and changes.

Mission accomplished!

I am proud to start this dev-log announcing that one of the main missing features is fully implemented... at last it's possible to complete a mission!

At the moment there are 3 different mission types and more will be added in the future.

The mission completed dialog will be expanded and improved in the future, for now I just wanted to implement a minimal version to get done with this important feature.

The results of your conquest are also reflecting on the planet map of course and when you complete a mission that territory will be assigned to your faction and new missions will be unlocked.

Abandoned temple

The second main task planned for this month was a special structure that can be considered as an advanced loot box: an abandoned temple.

You will find abandoned temples while exploring maps with your units.

When you make your unit interact with one using the action button you will get a dialog that asks you to allocate some resources. Those resources influence exploration time and success rate and obviously the more you spend the better conditions you'll get.

Then you can start the exploration or you can leave. If you decide to proceed you will see a new dialog when the exploration is completed. This dialog will present you three possible outcomes:

Exploration failed, but nothing happens
Exploration failed and you have to choose between 2 penalties
Exploration succeeded and you can choose between 2 rewards (see next screenshot)

When your exploration is successful the temple will also be conquered and it can be linked to your base to expand your influence area.

At the moment rewards and penalties are all affecting your resources and their production, but also the existing resources on the map. More and different ones will be added in future updates.

A medic joined us

I introduced a new unit: a medic. Not surprisingly, it is specialized in healing other units.

Healing is a new unit action implemented this month and it's something all units can do, but medics do it better of course.

AI will shoot you

This month I also spent some time working on the AI, which now is able to attack your units when in range.

Another very important new feature is the possibility to interrupt a task when a higher priority one comes up (like for example attacking an enemy).

Planet screen redesign

I worked on a partial redesign of the planet screen. This is how the screen looked before:

And this is how it looks now:

It's important to keep in mind that this is not the final design, just a new iteration and that things will change again in the future as I work on new features and add more content.

Map dragging

Even if it was already possible to navigate a map by edge scrolling and the WASD keys I decided to implement mouse dragging as it feels more natural for quick/short movements of the camera.

This feature also comes with 2 options in the settings dialog to control the speed of each drag and to disable entirely the dragging as you can see in the following screenshot:

Minor updates

- Many fixes and improvements in the game code and in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror.
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1700 (Virtueror + SGL combined, as usual), which means a very respectable +108 commits from the previous month. That is more than double the commits I put together during the month of December... not bad!

The secret of so many commits is that I worked on Virtueror 28 out of 31 days this month and as you can see from my commits heat-map the difference with the previous months is pretty clear:

Now my goal is to do at least as well during the month of February.

What's next

This time I won't anticipate anything because I am planning something special for next month.
I can only disclose that next update will be a true milestone for the project and, if all goes well, it will bring a new minor version as well.

In case you wanted some anticipation, you can follow the development as it happens and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

Support this game, wishlist and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Original post

31 Dec 2023Developer post

Dev update December 2023

Welcome to the last update of this 2023. This month has been pretty slow for the development of Virtueror as the holidays and a few other things took a good chunk of my time, nevertheless I am glad I managed to continue a slow, but steady progress. Let me show you the main new fe

Welcome to the last update of this 2023.
This month has been pretty slow for the development of Virtueror as the holidays and a few other things took a good chunk of my time, nevertheless I am glad I managed to continue a slow, but steady progress.

Let me show you the main new features and changes from this month of development.

Loot box

From now on, you can find a new collectable object spread around the maps: a loot box.

Loot boxes can be collected by your units and reward you with a random amount of resources.
I was tempted to add a (low-probability) negative reward too, but for now that's not going to be implemented and it will remain just an idea.

Growing trees

Trees are no longer a static scene object, but they can grow and expand in the surrounding cells, in a way that recreates a growing forest.

Growth is not as fast as the one represented in the previous image, but you can expect to see the scene changing over time during a mission. Also keep in mind that trees can be destroyed by your units (like anything else on the map), so you can always clear up areas if needed and no green protester will show up to face your lasers! ːsteammockingː

Minor updates

- Mission mini-map is now only available when a radar station is connected to your base.
- Map editor received a few improvements to simplify the workflow when creating and deleting objects.
- A few fixes and improvements in the game code and in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror.
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1592, which means +47 commits from last month. It's not much, I know, but as I said the holidays took their toll this month and it's better than nothing anyway!

What's next

For next month I will finally implement some basic game end, that will allow to complete a map when playing to conquer it and that will affect the planet map.
I am also already working on a special structure that can be considered as an advanced loot box and that will give more complex rewards, both positive and negative this time.

Other things will be decided in the next few weeks.

This time I will also try to release a new alpha build at the end of the month as traditionally January has always been my most busy month of development (probably cold and rain do not help doing anything else). Hopefully the tradition will stay the same this new year too!

Do you think I'll manage to put enough work for a new release in the next 31 days?
The only way to find out is to follow the development and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

Support this game, wishlist and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Original post

30 Nov 2023Developer post

Dev update November 2023

If you have been following this project in the past year you might know that once again I had to put it on hold... but once again I came back to the active development and the good news is that for a while I'll keep working (almost) full time on it! Anyway, enough said about that

If you have been following this project in the past year you might know that once again I had to put it on hold... but once again I came back to the active development and the good news is that for a while I'll keep working (almost) full time on it!

Anyway, enough said about that, let's focus on what I did during the month of November 2023.

Long life to the Map Editor!

This month I focused mostly on the development of the map editor and I managed to get a first working version that can be used to create, edit, load and save a map.
Everything is still a bit rough and it will require many little improvements before it can be used by others, but it's usable enough for my development needs, so I am happy with what I achieved so far.

Now let me show you all the current features in detail.

A core feature of every editor is placing objects on a map. This can be done here after selecting the wanted object from a dedicated panel:

Every time you add an object to a map the cells underneath and around it are automatically updated to reflect the proper type.

Objects that have multiple variants, like mountains or trees, are also procedurally randomized to add more variety to the scene.

It is also possible to edit every single object when selecting it:

This allows to fine-tune the elements on a map in case you're not happy with the current randomization.

Something less visual, but very important is the capacity to load and save map files:

Right now the editor is operating on a single, hardcoded file, but as I said I'll be the only one using it for a while, so it's not a big issue.

All this combined will allow me to create maps in the editor and to use them in game.
Also from now on it will be fairly easy to add new features as all the basics are already covered.

Someone might argue that it would have been better to spend more time on the game as it's not finished yet, but the map editor had to be done anyway and it's always been extremely frustrating to postpone other changes because I didn't want to waste hours updating the existing maps manually with a text editor... so here it is!

Another important reason for working on the editor is that to get everything done I was forced to sort out some tech debt the project has been carrying on for a long time, that's where 3 weeks of work went into. Even if it's not been fun, it was very needed and it will help any further development.

Minor updates

- New map file format to support all the changes and new features
- New structure dialog shows structures grouped by category
- Units move along the conquest path while conquering cells (as they used to do) and along the planned design path while building walls
- A few fixes and improvements in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1545.
From now on I will report the new number on every update to keep track of much (coding) work I manage to do in a single month.
Also keep in mind that this number is the sum of the commits of Virtueror and SGL (the game library I created for it), as they are pretty tightly coupled at the moment and there's no reason to consider them separately.

What's next

For next month I will probably focus on gameplay, game UI and AI development, something that's been neglected for too long.
I think an achievable and very useful goal is to implement some basic game end, that will allow to complete a map when playing to conquer it.
Other things will be decided in the next few weeks.

Hopefully I'll be able to release a new alpha build at the end of December and if all goes well you can think about it like a late Christmas present.

Do you think I'll manage to put enough work for a new release in the next 31 days?
The only way to find out is to follow the development and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

Support this game, wishlist and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Original post

28 Feb 2023Developer post

Dev update Februrary 2023 & new alpha 0.1.2

Special post as this is about the usual monthly dev log, but also to announce the second alpha build of Virtueror. New alpha build available To be honest it's another pre-alpha build, but hopefully people who are going to try it will still appreciate the new features and improvem

Special post as this is about the usual monthly dev log, but also to announce the second alpha build of Virtueror.

New alpha build available

To be honest it's another pre-alpha build, but hopefully people who are going to try it will still appreciate the new features and improvements, which are all listed here and in the previous dev log.

Unfortunately there's no major update for the gameplay (hopefully that will come in the next build), but a lot of new minor features and improvements, hence the codename: "does it run better?".

As for the first build, if you want to try it join the Discord server of the game as that's where you can already find the links to download both the new Windows and Linux build.

Control areas

Now colored lines on the map highlight the area you control, which is based on your connected structures. Obviously the more you expand your base the bigger this area will get.

I will probably change the graphics of the lines in the future, but for now the important thing is this new feature is implemented and working fine.

In-game settings

Until last update it was only possible to access settings from the main menu, entering a dedicated screen. Now they are also accessible in game while playing a map.

News & updates dialog

I created a dialog in the main menu that will list all changes in new builds and eventually any kind of relevant news.
This might seem a secondary feature, but it's very useful to make early testers aware of changes from previous builds, especially when a build spreads over more than 1 month of development, hence more than 1 dev log, like in this case.

Minor updates

- Now all UI has some kind of sound effect associated to major actions like mouse over and clicks.
- Implemented new UI widgets: scrollbar and scrollarea.
- Video settings now allow to choose from 3 different video modes: borderless, fullscreen and window.
- Added map scrolling speed control in game settings.
- Fixed camera ending with an empty screen when scrolling diagonally.
- Several fixes and improvements in game library code
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

What's next

For next month I want to go back to focus on gameplay and AI development, something which I couldn't manage to do in the last few weeks.

I also want to try to solve all the weird tech issue the game has on Windows because until I do that I won't be able to release a public alpha and to access a broader audience.

I wish I could be more specific when talking about my future plans, but as now I work on Virtueror on the side of a day job it's hard for me to offer a detailed roadmap.

Check out next month's dev log to find out what I will manage to achieve during the next 5 weeks of development.

Support this game, wishlist and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Original post

02 Feb 2023Developer post

Development update January 2023

Welcome to the first update of 2023. This is also a special update because it's the first one after I started closed alpha testing about 3 weeks ago, so let me tell you what happened with that and how things are going. Closed alpha started On the 13th of January I released the fi

Welcome to the first update of 2023. This is also a special update because it's the first one after I started closed alpha testing about 3 weeks ago, so let me tell you what happened with that and how things are going.

Closed alpha started

On the 13th of January I released the first alpha build, for Linux and Windows, allowing all the people in the Discord server of the game to try Virtueror out.

So far almost 20 people downloaded the game, which is okay considering the very little gameplay which is fully implemented at the moment. Nonetheless I received some very useful feedback and I found out about some issues that I wasn't aware of.

That allowed me to focus my work for the rest of the month on annoying bugs and most wanted features. Also, because of that, I keep considering the community behind this game the most important asset I could have.

Closed Alpha testing will continue for at least 2-3 months and I am going to release a new build at the end of February.
If you want to be one of the first gamers to try Virtueror join the Discord server of the game as that's where I will share the links to download all the early builds.

Music and sound effects

The main feature for this month is the brand new audio support in the game engine, which now allows me to add music and sound effects to the game.
Unfortunately having this feature fully implemented took more time than I expected, which means I could spend less time on other major features, but at least everything seems to work fine and now I can count on a solid base that should cover most of the game's needs.

At the time of writing I already added several tracks and a couple of sound effects to game, Everything is still to be considered a placeholder for now, but I will try to finalize things in the upcoming months.

I also implemented a first version of the audio settings dialog, which allows to control volumes and to disable music and sound effects.

Tooltips

Another important new feature is support for tooltips in the GUI library of the game engine.
This is something that was suggested as key feature by a playtester and which will help me explain the game a little better before a tutorial is in place.

I will also use tooltips to extend the existing UI, for example showing more information when moving your mouse over the resource bar. That's a classic way of providing more detailed info without cluttering the screen too much.

New structure: Radar Tower

I added a new structure: Radar Tower. It's like a smaller (and cheaper) radar station, but it offers a smaller visibility radius. It can be used to extend visible areas more easily.

New scene elements: Trees

I also added a new scene elements to add more variety yo the maps: trees.
They are not static like other scene elements as they grow and change over time. That should help to make the maps more lively and real.

I am also planning to make the trees expand in the surrounding cells when they reach their last stage, but that's something I am going to implement in the upcoming weeks.

Minor updates

- New exit dialog
- New dialog to create a new map in the map editor
- Game is paused when the window is minimized
- Fixed several crashes and bugs
- Minor changes in game UI
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes

What's next

I am currently working on the second alpha build, which has the goal to be more stable and closer to the actual game, features-wise at least.

The week following the release of the first alpha build I posted a poll on the Discord server of the game, asking people to help me define the development roadmap and these are the top priorities according to their votes:

~~Audio support~~
AI
Tutorial
Gameplay
Map editor

The first feature is already implemented, so I will focus my work on the others, even if I am not planning to do anything for the tutorial yet as there's still a lot to do and to finalize before I can start with that.

Support this game, wishlist and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Original post

13 Jan 2023Developer post

Alpha 0.1.0 now available!

I am happy to announce that the first alpha build of Virtueror is now available for testing! To be part of the alpha testing you can join the Discord server of the game , where you will get access to a Windows and a Linux build. People who will take part in alpha testing and will

Updates & announcements

0.6.9 released

Main updates

Third tutorial mission and 2 new maps

New and improved auto-camera

Resource spending

New scene elements

Minor updates

What's next

Wishlist & follow

3 big news

0.6.7 released

Game officially announced

1,000 wishlists

Main updates

Load & save

New selection UI

Minor updates

What's next

Wishlist & follow

1,000 thanks

Next milestone ahead

Main updates

Second tutorial mission

Automatic gates

An improved Research Center

Minor updates

What's next

Wishlist & follow

Main updates

First tutorial mission

Automatic camera

New scene elements

Minor updates

What's next

Wishlist & follow

People played Virtualord, a lot

The staff played it too!

I got a visitor from Reddit

How this affected the development

Wishlist & follow

New alpha ROADMAP

Main updates

First tutorial mission

New cell conquest

New wall building

New unit move

Minor updates

Wishlist & follow

Version 0.6.0 released

Main updates

New UI

New factions selection screen

2 new languages

Fixed and improved rendering

Minor updates

Wishlist & follow

Main updates

New resource: research points

Tech upgrades

New mission goals

New exploding loot box

Minor updates

What's next

Wishlist & follow

Version 0.5.0 released

Main updates

Upgrading units and structures

Multi language support and 2 new languages

New structure: city

Warning messages

Minor updates

Wishlist & follow

Version 0.4.0 released

Main updates

Tower defense mechanics

Weapons and shot modes

New tutorial look & feel

New move mechanics and overlay for units

Minor updates