Hello, little deities, and welcome to the 7th monthly update.
After taking a short Christmas break, here we are again at our regular meeting. How's it going? I hope all is well.
The past few months have been very important for Deity's Domain, I have finally reached one of the major milestones. The foundations for all the features planned for the demo have finally been completed! I have started running initial tests by sharing a first build of the game with friends and colleagues in the industry.
The last major missing feature was the enemy deities and the Norne's Thread. The Norne's Thread is an item that the player will receive shortly after the game begins. This thread allows them to see the imminent future of the Island, with nodes appearing on it that we can examine. For example, a node might appear at the top of the thread, and by bringing our hand over it, we will notice that deity X will cast an Incendiary Miracle on a house in our City. We will be able to see which house will be targeted and act accordingly perhaps protecting it with a Barrier Miracle or conserving Power for another purpose and letting the house burn, leaving it to the citizens to deal with.
What is the purpose of this system and why did I want to include it? The competition between the Deities is a competition for Faith, each deity will strive to gain more followers and maintain them for as long as possible. Their faith is obtained in various ways, but the primary method is having a direct impact on their lives, whether positive or negative. Even setting a house on fire, as in the example above, will cause some citizens to convert to the deity that is currently having the most impact on their lives.
Additionally, a Deity should have the power to see things inaccessible to others. In ancient Norse mythology, destiny was traced by the Norne, and from this concept arose the idea of giving each deity access to the thread of their own island... their own Domain. However, the thread cannot show everything; there are Powers and Miracles that go beyond what the thread can reveal.
Another piece of good news concerns the AI: finally, the new system is completely integrated and stable. In the last days of January, I decided to add a new type of resource (Stone) and creating the AI behavior for collection and management was really a piece of cake it took just over an hour.
As mentioned at the beginning, I started having friends and colleagues test the build, mainly to understand the feel of the basic systems, and I am really satisfied with the initial results. These tests have led to changes in resource management and game economy, and have made me realize that there is still much to do from a user experience standpoint.
Now that the game's skeleton is ready, I will start focusing much more on user experience, polish, and functionality integration. There are still many tutorials, essential tooltips, 90% of the Miracles, visual and audio effects missing—in short, the descent begins, but it's still a long descent.
However, don't despair. Before releasing the demo, I will need testers and feedback. So for the more curious, there might be early access slots. I cannot be certain of the timeframe, but I hope to start testing around mid-year and release the demo in Q4 2025.
The tests will be conducted here on Steam for limited periods of time. I will ask participants (if available and with your consent) to share gameplay videos and fill out a feedback form, which will be invaluable for improving the game.
As always, if you have any questions, curiosities, or suggestions, feel free to comment below ːsteammockingː
See you soon, and keep following us, little deities!
