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:
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.