The Shadow Government Simulator News

[h2]Hello fellow co-conspirators![/h2]

At first there was the demo and from there we got the game's release candidate. Now it has been unleashed into the world as a free Prologue and the results......



This is super exciting! Not only are people loving the game; we've had so many downloads it actually cracked the charts on Steam's main page!!!



This is way beyond my expectations. Who knew there was this much pent up demand for world domination ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(of course YOU knew. If you didn't suspect it, you wouldn't be part of this conspiracy, haha)

It's been a hectic week, fielding questions from players, recieving and processing feedback and fixing bugs as they pop up. The response was so high that it crashed my analytics system and the auto-bug reporter overloaded gmail!

After some last minute elbow grease however, we got it all under control ;)

I want to give a huge shoutout to the discord community who has been key in welcoming newcomers and finding hard bugs. Extra special thanks to the discord Inquisitors (@AI & @GermanPantoffel) and to @SomeoneUnknown for their help. If you want to learn more what happens in our community, join us!

👇👇👇👇
https://discord.gg/MswsPFHt4Q

So if the prologue was the second step, what comes next? Well full launch of course😏 Right now I'm fielding bugs and integrating steam achievements, but that is it. The response was so positive that we feel pretty confident in launching the game soon. There's no date yet, but when it exists, you'll be the first to know.

Happy conspiring!
Rafa

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025750/The_Shadow_Government_Simulator_Prologue/


This is only part of the upcoming full version of the game, so some of the features are not available yet, we count on your suggestions and ideas, write to us on the Steam Community Hub and on the dedicated Discord!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]If you have any questions, write to us on Discord 👇[/h3]


Back to work, see you soon,
The Shadow Government Simulator Team

The prologue of the game will be available completely for free and you can get into the world game before the full version is lunch! Check out the latest trailer! 👇
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Some of you are surely wondering what a prologue is? 🤔 [/h3]
So The Shadow Government Simulator: Prologue is a part of the full version of the Shadow Government Simulator and is completely free. The most important is that prologue allows you to get into the world of Shadow Government Simulator so you will be fully ready before the final product release! We are really excited and can't wait for your feedback!

[h3]We encourage you to consider adding the game to your Steam wishlist so you don't miss the premiere! 🔥[/h3]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2025750/The_Shadow_Government_Simulator_Prologue/


[h3]Join our community on Discord! 😎[/h3]


We are going back to work, see you soon,
The Shadow Government Simulator Team

[h2]Hello fellow co-conspirators![/h2]

Hello fellow co-conspirators!

We can finally see the light at the end! In my hands I currently have the first Release Candidate version of the game. What is an RC you ask? This is the first version of the game that has all features, all content, the proper balance, and has passed all the internal bug tests!



The next step is one final large playtest with new players from around the world. This is mostly a sanity check for our internal QA (Because nothing can defeat the concentrated power of a hundred gamers!)

If there's no major bugs, crashes or feedback. Then this release candidate will evolve into the gold version and from there.... it's go time!



[h2]Beta Update[/h2]
v0.2.60 is now up on steam on the beta channel. Contrary to expectations, this is not yet the release candidate; that's just how fresh the news above is :P I haven't opened it up to the beta yet, haha. v0.2.60 includes:

🔹A new tutorial button in the main menu
🔹Fixed Intel not being reduced with the "Making connections costs Intel" difficulty modifier
🔹Fixed the intel bar sometimes being the wrong size and overflowing
🔹Fixed bug with the reward "Captire region in 5 turns or less" not recognizing if you captured it in exactly 5 turns
🔹Fixed issue with game not saving v-sync and window preferences correctly
🔹Added backend support for traditional and simplified chinese
🔹 Smaller bug fixes and improvements

The fact these are all smaller bugs, just goes to show you how close we are to the final release 😁


Happy conspiring!
Rafa

[h2]Hello fellow co-conspirators![/h2]

Hello fellow co-conspirators!

This week is a week of several BIG news. For starters The Shadow Government Simulator was a finalist in the innovation category of the Brazilian Indie Games Fest (BIG)!!



This is pretty awesome; the fest is the largest gaming competition in Latin America, and to be considered next to such crazy good games as Peglin is mind blowing. We didn't win, the awesome One Hand Clapping got the honor, but just being in the running is really encouraging. Next time though, we'll floor the competition 💪

In other big news, the game just crossed 10,000 wishlists this week! This is a huge deal. If I may go into 'how the sausage is made' territory for a bit, Steam uses wishlists (amongst other stats) to determine how much visibility it gives games on its store and it's associated subsections (like 'New and Upcoming'). Now, Valve doesn't tell exactly how the algorithm works, but the indie developer community, by pooling it's knowledge, has figured out bits of it. It seems that at 10k wishlists Steam stops considering you a "hobby game" and starts to see you as a "legit game", making it more likely to show it to more people. It's no guarantee of success, but more players will get a chance to know about your game 😁

The final big news is that the latest beta build is a final balance candidate! In a nutshell, it's the first version of the game to be said to have a complete balance from easy to hard and from the first region to the last.

What does this mean for the game launch? Well, it depends on the feedback we get. For all I know testers might still think of this when playing the game:



But I'm hoping it's improved in the year since I was sent that image.

We'll be starting a playtest soon; but kickstarter backers with Beta access can check it out now \o/ If you do, please fill up this survey so I know how it plays.

[h2]Beta Update[/h2]
v0.2.56 is now up on steam on the beta channel. Changes include:

🔹New game balance for Regular and Hard mode
🔹New abilities that round up the units
🔹 Difficulty modifiers are added on victory as default
🔹Added several new Difficulty Modifiers to help keep the game interesting in the mid to late campaign
🔹 Fixed a crash with units sometimes not initializing correctly
🔹 Fixed a crash that would occur if you played a second campaign after winning without closing the game
🔹 A slew of minor bug fixes

Next week, I'll be focussed on gathering beta player's thoughts on the balance and adjusting it accordingly. I'll also start laying the groundwork for the playtest and the expected influx of juicy, juicy feedback. Exciting times!


Happy conspiring!
Rafa