Tempus Fugit
It's been a long time since my last update, way back in August. The second half of 2024 really pulled me in too many different directions; I spent most of my time trying to balance working on 3 different game projects and in the end, none of them made anything like the progress I wanted.
Shorter Focus
Partly for financial reasons, and partly for my own sanity, I've started 2025 by focusing on smaller games. I've managed to finish Ambient Dark, which will come out until March. And I've a second small game that will be announced in the next few days, that similarly is close to completion and should release in the next couple of months.
Both those games will be in Steam NextFest, alongside Critias Empire. My plan is to spend February before the festival on Critias Empire, finishing up as many features as I can before NextFest, with a view to release the full game a couple of months later. For those not aware, Steam NextFest is a big deal and a game can only ever be in the festival once, so I want to make sure the game is as good as it can be. But also I'm hoping this will be the push needed to get the game within sight of the finish line, instead of something I'm forever tinkering with.
Road To The Finish
To get Critias Empire where it needs to be for that, I am going to have to be a bit ruthless with features and concentrate on the things that are really vital for the game. That means Festivals feature will get moved to post-launch update. As well, making new disasters, while fun, is something I can shift to after the "main" game is finished, and just keep adding in post-release.
That "main" game will have much larger maps than what are currently in the demo scenarios, with longer play times, more Gods, and more wonders. I've also concluded, after much thought, that the game is best served by having fixed balance settings / difficulty levels. I will therefore balance the game to give specific experiences. Currently I am thinking along the lines of:
- A genuinely chill game where disasters are more helpful than hurtful.
- A more narrative focused game where the impact of decisions and God-Player interactions really ramps up.
- A game that is far more of a mechanical challenge with much harsher limits on things like worker bonuses.
I should be giving updates on each of these as I implement them. In the meantime though, I'll be finishing off the Decisions system and re-implementing the Tutorial, so expect to see those in the next update.
The Legend of Atlantis
Finally, I'm excited that Critias Empire is part of the Myths and Legends festival, which starts today! (Jan 29, 2025). The legend of Atlantis might be one of the more well known stories to have been handed down from ancient times, but the fact only the first half of the story has made its way down through history to us is telling about all the possibilities it sparks in the imagination.
My hope with Critias Empire is that it can be a way for people to explore a bit further some of those "what if..?" type scenarios and imagine what the ancient world was like in the spaces between what records and archaeology can tell us!