Diplomacy is Not an Option News

Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

As you know, the core of Diplomacy is Not an Option is the defense of a settlement from vast crowds of enemies. Almost in all game modes, these crowds belong to one particular faction. The preview of the story campaign is no exception. By choosing between joining the rebellious peasants or continuing to serve your King, you determine your main enemy - the Royal Army or the Rebels.

Initially, Diplomacy is Not an Option was designed so that only one enemy faction is present on one map. The concept fits easily into the plot and the gameplay. While creating enemy rosters we aimed to make each faction unique, and not just in terms of appearance. The idea was that your strategy should change depending on who you were fighting against.

Later, we found out that those who have a successful tactic against each faction might get bored halfway through the story campaign when almost all of the enemies have already been introduced. However, if you imagine players being forced to quickly change a winning strategy during a single mission... "Diplomacy is Not an Option wouldn't feel so monotonous. We tested the new mechanics in the "Mixed up" challenge, where you are fighting against the Undead, the Rebels, and the Royal Army at once.

And how does all this relate to the story campaign, you may ask?

Well, thanks to his outstanding diplomacy skills, the protagonist of the game will somehow alienate several powerful figures at the same time. As a consequence, there will be missions with the attacking waves belonging to different factions. This means that when forming defense lines you will have to be more flexible in order to adapt your fighting style against fundamentally different enemies.

That's all for today. But in the future, we will continue to bring more details about the story campaign.

Thank you for being with us. See you next time.

Yours, the Door 407 team

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

Today starts the Steam Autumn Sale: from 21 to 28 November you can buy "Diplomacy is Not an Option" with a 20% discount.

Here's an extra reason to do so! Quite soon, at the beginning of December, we are releasing a new update for our game. Let us tell you what will be included in it right away.

If you haven't had enough soul crystals to make magic in DiNaO, we have good news for you. Meet the long-promised Alchemical Transgressor. No more waiting for crystals to drop from the bodies of fallen enemies. Build the Transgressor and produce crystals yourself!

We've already told you about the Market improvement, but we'll mention it again. After the December update exchanging resources will become much easier, and the Market box is getting a refreshing look thanks to the eye-pleasing animation.

Sandbox mode is also getting a UI improvement.
We also added a lot of useful things. Don't want to waste your time customizing the attacking wave? Just choose one of the presets we've created. The preset determines the attacking wave's faction, as well as the number of enemies. Don't like to be distracted by the economy? With the update you can legally cheat in the Sandbox mode - add resources at will, make the building's construction instant and even free, as well as troops' training. For those who need more dynamic battles, the December update will present a brand new tool with which you can draw... with enemies. (Enemies will appear on the map, following the mouse cursor).

And for dessert. The advanced formation management comes to DiNaO. You will be able to customize the width and density of the battle formation. We believe this is a good feature for those who tend to experiment with battle tactics.

Once the update is released - and it will happen, we remind you, in early December - we will publish an article detailing all the new features. Thank you for your attention.

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

A long time ago, when our game didn't even make it to Early Access, we showed you the first concepts of the warriors from the Sarranga tribal alliance. Since then you haven't heard a thing about who they are and what part they are going to play in the plot. As for Sarranga warriors... Well, they haven't even bothered to show up on a battlefield.

At this point we must warn those who want to see the single-player campaign "from scratch": minor spoilers are ahead. So if you feel like avoiding them, don't read the text below this article.

Why did we remind you about the ancient post? That's because the Sarranga got a renewed unit roster. And yes, it was already approved and tested. (We did mention that part of the campaign went through internal testing, didn't we?) Meet the new Sarranga tribal alliance!


Allow us to introduce: Sarranga's Accurate one, Sarranga Bombus, Sarranga's Mighty one, Sarranga swordtail, Priestess of the Bombus cult, Sarranga's nimble one, Sarranga's "Scorpio", and... Niniende Quartet.

If you guessed who's who, then our Artist and Writer did their job. If you haven't guessed - write about it in the comment section. It's never too late to give these two a session of full immersion into the game's reality by using authentic medieval torture.

But who is in the picture, you may ask? Where did they come from? The answers lie on the surface. For those who have gone through the campaign preview, they will not come as a revelation. You do remember that at the end of the preview part of the campaign, our protagonist Milord, is forced by circumstances to travel to a land far away?

Well, turns out those lands are inhabited. Sarranga live there, relatively well, and then the protagonist of the game comes to... There are possible options actually. So, to avoid more serious spoilers let's keep silent about the goal-setting, and return to the Sarranga themselves.

So, they lived on their own land until they met Milord. If they had any problems, it was only because of the undead hanging around for at least several centuries. That explains Sarranga's gloomy look (Yes, definitely that. The necessity to recognize in the game your troops and enemies from afar has nothing to do with Sarranga's look). Naturally, the best way to avoid being seen by a ghoul is to look like a real ghoul. Become a ghoul yourself. Be scarier than a ghoul (since you've seen ghouls already - you can guess what to expect from Sarranga warriors).

But there's more. In one of our trailers, you may have noticed Claire from Accounting. Thanks to her extraordinary looks and exceptional love for dressing details (especially hats), Claire became a source of inspiration for our artists to create the image of Princess Shankhar.


You can see that Shankhar appears in the videos that tell the tale of Milord's misadventures. Which means that her part in the story campaign is very much tangible. Moreover, we can confirm that in some cases she will replace the Counselor, who is familiar to most players. And some of you will even be able to see her in action on the battlefield.

The plot of "Diplomacy is Not an Option" often offers you to change the faction you play for. And now, without unnecessary spoilers, we declare: it is possible that the Sarranga tribe is not simply another opponent in our game...

Well, that's all we have to say for today (you do know the entire team acts under a Non-Disclosure Agreement here).

Thank you for your attention, Good Lords and Fair Ladies.

Until next time!

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Good Lords, Fair Ladies!

It's been two months since the last update, and we're already eager to share the first details about what will be added to the game in the near future. Specifically, let's talk about the new market box.

Not only have we brought visual improvements to it, but we've also added some features. "Why would you do that?" - you may ask.

Here comes the answer. The Market is an important mechanic that helps to manage the resource base wisely. Players who actively used it complained that the box was not exactly convenient. Some even found the trading annoying. In addition, during the game, you need to keep in focus many different points - from direct participation in military actions to strategic planning of the economy of the settlement. So it's easy to forget about an order placed on the Market. We decided to fix all the above-mentioned issues at once.

[h3]Allow us to introduce you to the way we see it[/h3]

Starting from the upcoming update, you will be able to track the path of the zeppelin (whether it is flying for cargo or already returning with it) with the help of eye-pleasing animation. Moreover, additional indication is visible both in the market box itself and at the bottom of the main screen. Of course, to make this tool blend seamlessly into the game's interface, we have visually redesigned the box. It became more attractive while keeping its simplicity and clarity.

With the upcoming update, the Marketplace gets two new features. Now its box may open automatically if an order is completed and/or if you have a shortage of the resource you are trading. (The game pauses when this happens). Combined with the ability to repeat the last order, these new features greatly reduce the complexity of trading, while giving you more control over it.

If anyone feels that all of the above is unnecessary, don't worry, you can simply leave all these options disabled.

The Market box transformation is just one of the improvements we're preparing for you in the next update. Next time we'll talk about more features to come. Thank you for being with us!

Yours, the Door 407 dev team

Bug Fixes:

• Game loading stuck on 70% for a long time on some machines. Improved game initial load times.