Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the humble foundations of what is going to be a truly epic mid-game with the release of Alpha 3. My mind was so awash with the possibilities and my hands so trembling with excitement that I attacked this new section willy-nilly, and only the wisdom of time allowed me to realize that no matter how mighty the edifice, the foundations must be strongly laid. I believe that I have finally achieved this.
From this foundation, expansion and elaboration of the FreeHolder formula can proceed apace, in smaller manageable sections, making for smooth feature additions, more complete bug-squashing, and coherent player dev input. With this platform, we should be able to get back to a more consistent development schedule, even if some of my time will be taken up by working a regs job for a living. For now.
I haven’t an utterly exhaustive list of all the small tweaks and additions I have made, due to the frenetic pace of development over the last few weeks. I have highlighted below the major new features implemented in this alpha, and keep in mind that this is not a fully-formed game section, but rather the solid core for a series of hotfixes and additions that I intend to keep coming as fast as I can. You should be able to get a feel for what the mid-game section will be like, and this will help you tell me what needs to be added, improved, or removed. As I’ve said many times before, this game section requires our alpha players more than ever to lend their development strength to ours. Ideas, suggestions, complaints, comments, or anything else is sorely needed as we try to turn FreeHolder into Super FreeHolder, effectively.
There are a number of ongoing bugs from previous alphas that I need to squash that you all have been kindly reminding me about. I know that the early game is not glitch-free and totally feature complete; however, I had to ignore some issues in order to forge ahead into new territory with the limited time I had at my disposal. These bugs will again be a high priority, and please remind me if they are not squished! I greatly appreciate your help.
Due to the holidays, my immediate schedule has many demands on it that will affect my ability to update this alpha during December, and I thought it would provide some peace of mind if I literally told you when I should be available and/or working.
Dec 22: Totally unavailable.
Dec 23: Partial availability, forums and coding. (am or pm)
Dec 24: Partial availability, forums and coding (am only).
Dec 25: Totally unavailable.
Dec 26-28: Full availability, forums and coding.
Dec 29th: Totally unavailable.
Dec 30-Jan 1: Partial availability, forums only.
Jan 2: Totally unavailable.
Jan 3-??: Back in the saddle.
When I can, I want to keep forum discussions moving even when I can’t actually code the game, since there will be much to discuss. Advanced classes, magical spells, items, and about a zillion other things still need to get coded and lots of art created - your preferences will help me focus my efforts.
I thank you all for the astounding patience and heartfelt support that you have displayed towards our humble game. I hope that you are reassured that we are committed to keeping this thing rolling, even if we have to scrape together the final development dollars ourselves.
FreeHolder would not be what it is without all of you. You have my gratitude, and Matt’s. Happy Holidays to one and all.
Sincerely,
Chris Crooks
CEO, RogueWare
New Major Features
Mid-Game Transition
-3 available factions
-Transition requirements tracked at Taverna starting year 3
-Faction journals (plot and character descriptions) integrated
Factions
-Faction capitals framework implemented
-Factions offer some villa protection against bandits if requirements fulfilled
-Hostile factions may send strike forces to raid your storehouse
-Faction basic and mid-level enemies in battle partially implemented
-Player faction offers mission choices
Missions
-Player faction offers a variety of missions each year
-Amount of success determines resource gains by faction
Bandits
-Bandits may occupy villa spaces, and upgrade to camps and forts if left too long
-Bandits may be dispelled with military force only right now
New Art
-New Event Icons
-New Faction Banners
-New Faction Enemy Sprites
-New Equipment Sprites