Happy end of year celebrations!
On behalf of the whole Studio Imugi team, we would like to wish you the best end of year celebrations. This has been a particularly troubled period for the game industry, and as we reflect on these past few months, we realize that we have been lucky to withstand the storm when so many of our fellow game devs have been critically impacted by the numerous layoffs. We hope that this end of year break will allow them to enjoy quality time with friends and family, and for the new year to be full of opportunities and successes.
As part of our development process, the whole team sat down to reflect on the past months and how the game has evolved since January. Here is a brief recap of our key 2024 milestones:
GAME REVEAL:
Jongwoo, Etienne and Martin travelled all the way to Köln, Germany, to attend Gamescom and introduce Bonaparte to the gaming press. We had a pretty neat booth, and a fully packed agenda with over 80 individual meetings! Our passion for this project was definitely conveyed with many positive previews: PCGamesN defines Bonaparte as “a visionary mix of Civilization, Crusader Kings, and… Armored Core”. We couldn't agree more :3
If you haven't already, please consider wishlisting Bonaparte and don't miss out on future news & announcements.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2560340/Bonaparte__A_Mechanized_Revolution/
STEAM NEXT FEST:
We participated in the Steam Next Fest in October and crafted a custom demo for the occasion. If you haven't found the time to check it out yet, the demo is still available to play. Head over the steam page and hit that download button :)
INSIDER INITIATIVE:
After engaging early this year with a tight group of strategy veteran players, we have finally kickstarted our insider initiative in November. We strongly believe that engaging with players early in the development process can help our team craft the best game we can.
We now have monthly dev builds available to test, and dedicated Discord channels where insiders can voice their opinions, share feedback & ideas, directly with the team.
Join us & make your voice count!
ANNUAL DEVELOPMENT REVIEW:
The game has progressed A LOT this year, thanks to the amazing work of our (tiny) team. From visuals to gameplay features, bug fixes, balancing, narration, music & audio, here is a brief look at 2024 major developments:
- We have completed the design and visuals of our strategic map. With the help of our Historian, we have invested a lot in making sure our late 18th century map of France was as authentic as possible. As shown below, it now includes the proper regions/départements segmentation, refined visuals, and many usability improvements (to better see the control of different factions, the population support, or the location of other squads & armies). Interactions on the strategic map have also been dramatically improved, from army movement to district management.
- A lot of effort was also spent on improving our tactical battles. We have built and keep iterating on tools that allow us to create new battle arenas, and generally pushed visual quality across the board with better rendering, animations and particles, that make our arenas a lot livelier!
Aside from the map, the visual quality has also been pushed on the units and the attack resolutions. The animations and textures for our 2D units as well as user interface elements have been drastically improved, and we started integrating special effects, and audio cues.
Actual tactical features were also developed and implemented, such as the morale/heat system and the various unit abilities (such as the Colossi 'intimidation', or the cavalry 'trample' charge below).
- We implemented new historical figures to the game, each with its own 2D portrait and particular political alignment, that player can interact with. As well as many new illustrations for the different game screens.
- We expanded our political gameplay with the National Convention system that allows players to gain power, participating in elections and submitting reforms to be voted on. The game simulates population classes (the masses, bourgeoisie, and clergy) and player choices now directly impact political standing, and available options on the strategic map through negotiation, military actions, or propaganda.
- And a ton of behind the scenes work to support development moving forward (such as an autosave feature, bug fixes, balancing, etc...).
The team will stay busy until we launch Bonaparte in Early Access later next year in 2025. And we have planned to add most of our narrative content, while improving our existing systems and implementing more content.
- the Studio Imugi team
Thanks for checking out our annual review! Our team is excited to launch Bonaparte in Early Access later next year in 2025. Until then, we'll be busy working on improvements to the National Convention, adding new battle biomes, as well as writing and integrating new narrative content for the campaign.