August Review
It's the first Saturday in a new month, so the time to look back on the previous one has come.
What a month it was. I thought I had an air conditioning problem. Like most bugs, it went deeper though: it was actually an electrical problem. Some unsolicited advice that may save you a lot of money or even your life: if you detect a persistent smell of slightly rotted crab, sniff your outlets. It may very well be the smell of burning and/or melting electrical components. Frankly I'm thankful I caught it just in time and didn't have a fire. Long story short, I'm a little behind on my targets. Moving on...
Balancing is important work. It makes terrible screenshots though. That said, I spent some time trying to get the numbers right for the peace negotiations content. I'm reasonably happy with the current state of it, at least for the time being.
While finishing up this section, I noticed a few strange things though. For example, let's say you're currently besieging a county. You conclude a peace, but another war remains. Because of the timing involved, the game would fire an appropriate siege event targeting the now-neutral county after the peace, but before you reach the main war dispatch! That's not intended of course, so now there's special logic for that.
This is the same solution as many 4X games use: bouncing the forces back to friendly territory. It isn't instant in Dei Gratia Rex though, as the process takes a month.
While working on the numbers, it also occurred to me that demanding too much — especially of a wroth or prideful sort — would be seen as an insult and not good-faith negotiation. In such a case there would be no counterproposal and negotiations would break down. This is desirable sometimes, for instance if you don't really want peace yet but also don't want to anger your own people by refusing to even discuss the matter. From a gameplay perspective, it also serves as a disincentive to ask for everything and see what sticks.
I also spent a fair bit of time this month doing a lot of research and a little practice in marketing. Many indie games release every day. Almost all of them fail. Very few do much on the marketing front. I'm going to do the best I can to get the word out, but in an appropriate and non-spammy way. I can't afford a big ad campaign, so a lot of this is going to be social media and word of mouth. I'd appreciate it quite a lot if you were to tell someone who might be interested about the game.
The good news is that during August we got over the 1,000 total wishlists mark. A lot more work is needed on that front, but it is at least a strong sign that some people are interested.
I had intended to release DGR late this year, but before the winter sales period. That might have been a bit ambitious, and in the interim COVID-19 happened. The release is now planned for early next year.
I hate to push the date back, but it actually may be a good thing on the whole. Between now and the holiday sales, approximately everyone who might cover DGR is going to be very busy with Crusader Kings III. A small, niche release like DGR would get lost in the shuffle were it to release in the next two to three months. If I'm honest, I'd be playing it too right now if my computer wasn't 10 years old!
Thanks for reading. Another update next month, hopefully of a more exciting nature!
What a month it was. I thought I had an air conditioning problem. Like most bugs, it went deeper though: it was actually an electrical problem. Some unsolicited advice that may save you a lot of money or even your life: if you detect a persistent smell of slightly rotted crab, sniff your outlets. It may very well be the smell of burning and/or melting electrical components. Frankly I'm thankful I caught it just in time and didn't have a fire. Long story short, I'm a little behind on my targets. Moving on...
Balancing
Balancing is important work. It makes terrible screenshots though. That said, I spent some time trying to get the numbers right for the peace negotiations content. I'm reasonably happy with the current state of it, at least for the time being.
While finishing up this section, I noticed a few strange things though. For example, let's say you're currently besieging a county. You conclude a peace, but another war remains. Because of the timing involved, the game would fire an appropriate siege event targeting the now-neutral county after the peace, but before you reach the main war dispatch! That's not intended of course, so now there's special logic for that.
This is the same solution as many 4X games use: bouncing the forces back to friendly territory. It isn't instant in Dei Gratia Rex though, as the process takes a month.
While working on the numbers, it also occurred to me that demanding too much — especially of a wroth or prideful sort — would be seen as an insult and not good-faith negotiation. In such a case there would be no counterproposal and negotiations would break down. This is desirable sometimes, for instance if you don't really want peace yet but also don't want to anger your own people by refusing to even discuss the matter. From a gameplay perspective, it also serves as a disincentive to ask for everything and see what sticks.
Marketing
I also spent a fair bit of time this month doing a lot of research and a little practice in marketing. Many indie games release every day. Almost all of them fail. Very few do much on the marketing front. I'm going to do the best I can to get the word out, but in an appropriate and non-spammy way. I can't afford a big ad campaign, so a lot of this is going to be social media and word of mouth. I'd appreciate it quite a lot if you were to tell someone who might be interested about the game.
The good news is that during August we got over the 1,000 total wishlists mark. A lot more work is needed on that front, but it is at least a strong sign that some people are interested.
Release Date
I had intended to release DGR late this year, but before the winter sales period. That might have been a bit ambitious, and in the interim COVID-19 happened. The release is now planned for early next year.
I hate to push the date back, but it actually may be a good thing on the whole. Between now and the holiday sales, approximately everyone who might cover DGR is going to be very busy with Crusader Kings III. A small, niche release like DGR would get lost in the shuffle were it to release in the next two to three months. If I'm honest, I'd be playing it too right now if my computer wasn't 10 years old!
Thanks for reading. Another update next month, hopefully of a more exciting nature!