Hey everyone, it's been over half a year since the Next Fest demo so I wanted to give you a quick update on what I've been working on.
First, I'm happy to say the game is now in alpha. This means I'm done designing new mechanics and am focusing more on improving everything + adding content. It also means I can post more things here on Steam. If you remember, I began dev logs 2 years ago but it was so early in development that what I wrote about quickly went out of date. However, now I'm ready to share more so expect a new dev log in June.
So what have I been working on during winter and spring? The strategy layer has been 90% of the focus. It took much longer than expected because it's super important. Feedback on the tactical layer has been fantastic, but that means nothing without a good strategy layer. That's why I took extra time to working out the mechanics -- economy, logistics, labor policies, procedural events, squad management -- until they felt right. I'll start sharing more details soon but be sure to watch the PC Gaming Show on June 9th for a preview.
Meanwhile, here are some other dev highlights from the last few months.
- Melee weapons and kicking
- Morale and surrender mechanics (for both player and AI)
- Robots and drones
- Artillery/mortar mechanics (still not sure if we need both tbh)
- New weapons -- mining drill, shock baton, shotgun, sniper, grenade launcher, RPG
- Improving AI, esp teamwork logic when attacking/defending specific objectives
- Redesigning UX (building on the painful but important lessons from Next Fest)
Well, that's it for now. Thanks for supporting the game and being patient as I take my time cooking things up. Hope you will tune in on June 9th!
-Yuji
(PS: These post do not appear on the store page unfortunately, but you can click Follow here and they will appear in your Steam News section. Or you can follow me on Discord, Twitter or Reddit where I always post a link to these. Lastly, you can subscribe to the newsletter if you want an email alert when I make a post.)