This is our first game we are developing and publishing. We thought Early Access would be a good way to go. We released the game in August 2023 in Early Access, when it was still quite early in development – perhaps too early. The state of the game is much better in user experience now, and had we not released earlier then perhaps the Early Access would have been released today instead. We thank our early supporters of Early Access, and wish more will support us as we iterate the product!
In addition to Early Access, we are also setting up Steam Playtest so more users can playtest the game without reaching out to us on Discord.
As the game approaches completion, the final released version of the game will likely be published around Q4 this year (2025), at which point the price of the game and package will be increased. Early Access page update here: Early Access
A summary of development changes to the game since early access release:
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- Game intro sequence added
- Ocean renderer updated
- World map rendered updated
- Settlement border renderer updated
- UI templates and colors updated
- Game name and logo changed
- Localization support added, partially localized to 8 languages
- Mac OSX ARM 64-bit builds support added
- Research game mechanics added and removed
- Loyalty of units and settlements and desertion mechanics added
- Tutorials added to Learning campaign scenarios
- Level editor updated, including scriptable event system
- Various new sound effects added
- AI and pathfinding logic updated
- Several new illustrations added
- Outposts added, with partial mechanics shared with Settlements
- Army management, movement and combat added
- Seasonal change transitions added
- Weather particle effects added
- Zone weather effects game mechanic added
- Food Production Zone selection mechanic added
- Fortifications which can be built on open zones mechanic added
- Several new UI screens added and UI reviewed many times
- Mechanic to upgrade Zones food production added
