Today, Slava Ukraini! hit the 60,000 users mark. Most game downloads (34%) are in Ukraine, with the US (8.5%) and Poland (7.7%) second and third. Somewhat unexpected, the fourth most common download location is China, with 5.7% of the downloads made from there. On top of that, there are 27 individual downloads from the Russian Federation (even though the game is not available on the Steam store in Russia, so I don't really know how that works). As anyone paying attention to the exact wording above may have noticed, there is a difference between users and downloads, but Steam doesn't detail the registered location of the users, just from where the downloads are made. A single user may download the game multiple times - or not at all - so the statistics are not always easily interpreted and I can't say how many users are actually in Russia for example.
As I've said previously, the interest in the game has been very much higher than I had ever expected and if I'd known that I probably wouldn't have been very comfortable in releasing it in tha state that it was - and in many respects still is.
With a large user base, no bugs will remain undetected and I've had to spend more time than I'd hoped to resolve both bugs and logical issues. I'll continue to do so and on top of that try to squeeze in some time do expand and improve the actual content and game modes.
Anyway, thanks for all the encouraging feedback, even though the game is very raw. It does get under my skin sometimes when people write reviews complaining about the graphics or the lack of smooth and diversified game modes, even though on the logical level I know they're comparing it to high quality games from professional gaming studios - which a single hobby dev like myself cannot ever compete with.
Meanwhile, the war is still going on and on the eastern front Ukrainian forces are being hard pressed by the Russian invaders. Brave Ukrainian men and women are fighting for their country, their freedom and their right to be a part of the European community. Some of them are making the ultimate sacrifice, but their resolve remains unbroken.
A Google search for "NBU special account" will get you the link to the special account set up by the National Bank of Ukraine in support of the armed forces. Making a donation is simple and secure and every single cent counts, so please consider doing so. As always, make sure you verify the authenticity of the recipient before you make a donation.
Slava Ukraini!
Mathias