Hey hey hey, everyone! Wishing you all happiness in the new year of 2026! (Though this blessing might be a bit late ːcurious_mechanicː)
Over the past two weeks, I gathered feedback from some players, and many felt the difficulty was too high, suggesting a need for something like a difficulty adjustment feature.
So, I couldn't sit still, gave it deep thought, and after staring at the moon for 45 hours late at night, I finally came up with a solution that could be implemented quickly while also serving as a difficulty adjustment:
Add a mechanism found in many strategy games to the game: a time flow change system.
Although, once I actually started developing this feature, I found it wasn't as simple as I imagined ːcurious_mechanicː.
In any case, the time flow adjustment mechanism has now been basically implemented smoothly and integrated into the game, including the Demo version.
At the start of each chapter, a new unit will now generate on the map: Clock of Time.
What can it do? Well, of course, adjust the flow of time in the game world!
Currently, there are three flow rates to choose from: Slow, Normal, and Fast. These correspond to 0.5x, 1.0x, and 1.5x the normal speed, respectively.
It's worth noting that switching the time flow consumes a small amount of resources. The purpose of this is to encourage players not to change the flow rate too casually, but instead to spend effort getting used to the rhythm of the current time flow. Adjust the speed only when encountering difficulties or feeling it's too easy.
Time flow affects the operation of the vast majority of functions in the world: the production speed of generating units, the player's gathering speed, the rate at which pressure arrives, etc. But rest assured, I've also adjusted functions that shouldn't rely on time flow so they aren't affected, such as: the player's movement speed while exploring, the speed at which UI appears and disappears, etc.
Therefore, if you find the game too difficult or the pace too fast, you can set the game to Slow speed. While this doesn't change the pressure on resources (slower flow means slower resource production), it gives you more time for decision-making, and the overall game pace slows down considerably.
If you feel you've completely mastered the game and can finish it with your eyes closed, you can also try setting the game to Fast speed. That way, it can be even more interesting.
Wishing you a pleasant gaming experience!