Virtualord, the virtual conqueror News

[p]Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of November 2025.[/p][p][/p][p]I am also going to publish a video version of this update on my Youtube channel soon. Make sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss it.[/p][p][/p][p]Last month I published this roadmap to better define the development of the next versions of Virtualord. [/p][p][/p][p]I will keep an updated version in the store page and I will keep track of all future updates in this discussion in the community forums.[/p][p][/p][p]Next alpha version 0.4.0 will be released in a week or 2.[/p][p]If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.[/p][p][/p][h2]Tower defense mechanics (WIP)[/h2][p]This is going to be the main new feature of the next alpha release, but at the moment it's not completely finished yet.[/p][p]So far I implemented 2 units and 1 structure that can spawn squads made of 1-5 mini units.[/p][p]You won't control these squads directly, but you can set a target destination and they will automatically move there at the beginning of your turn, even if their move takes multiple turns. They will also engage with any enemy they encounter.[/p][p][/p][p]This will allow you to create waves of mini units that recall the ones in Tower Defense games. The main difference is that in Virtualord you will be able to use them to attack (but so will do your enemies)![/p][p][/p][p]Over the next few days I will implement a dialog to select what mini units to create, but also 1 or 2 more types of mini units to give alpha testers a choice.[/p][p][/p][h2]New planet map[/h2][p]There's a new planet map that introduces a new progression in the missions to play to conquer a planet.[/p][p][/p][p]Now it's possible to conquer a regular planet winning 3 missions plus a final one (the one in the center) and a small planet winning only 3 missions.[/p][p]It's always possible to play more missions in case you wanted to gain more resources and to complete the game at 100%.[/p][p][/p][h2]Self destruction[/h2][p]Now all your units and structures, but your base, have a self-destruction button that allows you to destroy them.[/p][p]You have the option to dismantle things quietly or to blow them up causing damage to everything around, For example you might want to do that if you're fatally wounded and surrounded by enemies.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]attributes of all game objects now influence gameplay. for example a unit with a high speed and a low resistance will be fast, but easily damage by enemies.[/p]
• [p]map stats are no longer random and reflect actual data of the maps. These are the stats you can find in info panel of the planet map screen.[/p]
• [p]it's now possible to pause and to quit the tutorial while playing it.[/p]

[p]plus several other fixes and minor changes that you will find in the changelog of next release.[/p][p][/p][p]I created a new account on Bluesky, which I am planning to use as my main "short text social network" from now on.[/p][p]If you use it, you can follow me to get more frequent updates on Virtualord.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]it's been 1 year and 10 months since my last update and it's likely that many considered this game yet another vaporware. At some point that was almost true because the development has been on hold since June 2024, but things are different now![/p][p]I restarted the development at the beginning of October and things are moving forward fast and steady, also a lot has changed since my last update, so let me show you what's going on. [/p][p][/p][p]If you used to follow my dev logs you might remember that this game was a RTS called Virtueror, but that's no more.[/p][p]After a lot of thinking and planning I decided to turn this game into a Turn-Based Strategy game which also comes with a new name: VIRTUALORD.[/p][p][/p][h2]Why?[/h2][p]The main reason behind the change of genre is that my vision for this game (ex.: RPG elements, slow pace action, limited amount of units you can control, etc...) suits better a TBS than a RTS.[/p][p]Another reason is that I was afraid that a polished RTS would take me forever to make and it wouldn't be good enough for most gamers anyway. I am a solo developer with very limited resources after all![/p][p]The name change is mostly because I wanted to break with the past, but also because many complained that "Virtueror" was hard/weird to pronounce and I think that's fair.[/p][p][/p][p]Obviously things changed and evolved a lot since last dev log and I am happy to announce that Virtualord just hit version 0.3.0 which is also the first alpha build.[/p][p]In the meantime let me show you the main new features of this upcoming release:[/p][p][/p][h2]Turn based system[/h2][p]This obviously is the biggest change for this release as it transforms the game a lot.[/p][p]As you might expect, each unit/structure has a certain amount of energy that can spend every turn, but on top of that there's a team energy that stops all your actions when exhausted.[/p][p][/p][p]Both energies are recharged at the beginning of each new turn, but only the team one is fully recharged, whereas units and structures recharge their energy based on their attributes and level.[/p][p][/p][h2]Multiple mission goals[/h2][p]Now every map has multiple primary and secondary goals that are listed in a dialog accessible from your base.[/p][p][/p][p]When you complete a goal you can collect its rewards that depend on the current map and the difficulty level.[/p][p]Once you complete all primary goals, you can decide if you want to leave the current map with an immediate win or if you want to keep playing to complete all secondary ones too.[/p][p]In my opinion, this is a big improvement over the old design based on a single goal.[/p][p][/p][h2]Tutorial[/h2][p]A game tutorial is already fully implemented, even if it doesn't cover all aspects of gameplay and it doesn't have dedicated maps yet. This will change in the future, but what's in place now is already enough to teach you all the basic concepts you need to play Virtualord.[/p][p][/p][h2]New structures[/h2][p]There are 4 new structures that extend and support a richer gameplay.[/p][p]1) Trading post:[/p][p][/p][p]this is going to be your marketplace where you can buy and sell resources using a dedicated dialog.[/p][p][/p][p]Buy/sell prices are dynamic as they depend on actual resources of the map you're playing.[/p][p][/p][p]2) Barracks:[/p][p][/p][p]barracks allow you create all soldier units.[/p][p][/p][p]3) Hospital:[/p][p][/p][p]this structure can heal nearby units, but it can also create medics, a special unit that can heal others.[/p][p][/p][p]4) Research center:[/p][p][/p][p]in the future this structure will allow you to generate research points and to access the tech tree.[/p][p][/p][h2]Other changes[/h2][p]I put a lot of work in this release and listing all changes and new features would take too long here, but these are some notable ones:[/p]

• [p]A new panel becomes visible when you select one of your units or structures. It shows you its current status and some basic stats and it allows to open a dialog that shows all sort of stats and attributes.[/p]
• [p]Units and structures gain experience while doing something, this will allow to upgrade them in the future.[/p]
• [p]The AI is fully adapted to the new turn system and it can also perform new actions like building structures, collecting objects and shooting trees.[/p]

[p]There's also a lot of UI improvements and bug fixes as usual.[/p][p][/p][p]Last, but not least, I am happy to announce that the first alpha build of Virtualord will be available in a few days.[/p][p]To take part in the alpha testing simply join the Discord server of the game. There you will get access to a Windows and a Linux build from the 3rd of November until the end of the month.[/p][p]People who will take part in alpha testing and will provide useful feedback will be rewarded with a Discord role and a mention in the game credits.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

Welcome to the first dev-log of 2024, which casually comes on my birthday. I am happy to celebrate it with the biggest update in terms of new features since I started working on this project!
As I mentioned in my previous update I was expecting this month to be productive, but for once reality exceeded my expectations.

Without further ado, let's dive into all the new features and changes.

[h2]Mission accomplished![/h2]
I am proud to start this dev-log announcing that one of the main missing features is fully implemented... at last it's possible to complete a mission!

At the moment there are 3 different mission types and more will be added in the future.


The mission completed dialog will be expanded and improved in the future, for now I just wanted to implement a minimal version to get done with this important feature.

The results of your conquest are also reflecting on the planet map of course and when you complete a mission that territory will be assigned to your faction and new missions will be unlocked.

[h2]Abandoned temple[/h2]
The second main task planned for this month was a special structure that can be considered as an advanced loot box: an abandoned temple.

You will find abandoned temples while exploring maps with your units.


When you make your unit interact with one using the action button you will get a dialog that asks you to allocate some resources. Those resources influence exploration time and success rate and obviously the more you spend the better conditions you'll get.


Then you can start the exploration or you can leave. If you decide to proceed you will see a new dialog when the exploration is completed. This dialog will present you three possible outcomes:

• Exploration failed, but nothing happens
  
• Exploration failed and you have to choose between 2 penalties
  
• Exploration succeeded and you can choose between 2 rewards (see next screenshot)
  

When your exploration is successful the temple will also be conquered and it can be linked to your base to expand your influence area.


At the moment rewards and penalties are all affecting your resources and their production, but also the existing resources on the map. More and different ones will be added in future updates.

[h2]A medic joined us[/h2]
I introduced a new unit: a medic. Not surprisingly, it is specialized in healing other units.


Healing is a new unit action implemented this month and it's something all units can do, but medics do it better of course.

[h2]AI will shoot you[/h2]
This month I also spent some time working on the AI, which now is able to attack your units when in range.


Another very important new feature is the possibility to interrupt a task when a higher priority one comes up (like for example attacking an enemy).

[h2]Planet screen redesign[/h2]
I worked on a partial redesign of the planet screen. This is how the screen looked before:


And this is how it looks now:


It's important to keep in mind that this is not the final design, just a new iteration and that things will change again in the future as I work on new features and add more content.

[h2]Map dragging[/h2]
Even if it was already possible to navigate a map by edge scrolling and the WASD keys I decided to implement mouse dragging as it feels more natural for quick/short movements of the camera.

This feature also comes with 2 options in the settings dialog to control the speed of each drag and to disable entirely the dragging as you can see in the following screenshot:



[h2]Minor updates[/h2]
- Many fixes and improvements in the game code and in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror.
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1700 (Virtueror + SGL combined, as usual), which means a very respectable +108 commits from the previous month. That is more than double the commits I put together during the month of December... not bad!

The secret of so many commits is that I worked on Virtueror 28 out of 31 days this month and as you can see from my commits heat-map the difference with the previous months is pretty clear:



Now my goal is to do at least as well during the month of February.

[h2]What's next[/h2]
This time I won't anticipate anything because I am planning something special for next month.
I can only disclose that next update will be a true milestone for the project and, if all goes well, it will bring a new minor version as well.

In case you wanted some anticipation, you can follow the development as it happens and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

[h2]Support this game, wishlist and follow![/h2]
If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

Welcome to the last update of this 2023.
This month has been pretty slow for the development of Virtueror as the holidays and a few other things took a good chunk of my time, nevertheless I am glad I managed to continue a slow, but steady progress.

Let me show you the main new features and changes from this month of development.

[h2]Loot box[/h2]
From now on, you can find a new collectable object spread around the maps: a loot box.


Loot boxes can be collected by your units and reward you with a random amount of resources.
I was tempted to add a (low-probability) negative reward too, but for now that's not going to be implemented and it will remain just an idea.

[h2]Growing trees[/h2]
Trees are no longer a static scene object, but they can grow and expand in the surrounding cells, in a way that recreates a growing forest.


Growth is not as fast as the one represented in the previous image, but you can expect to see the scene changing over time during a mission. Also keep in mind that trees can be destroyed by your units (like anything else on the map), so you can always clear up areas if needed and no green protester will show up to face your lasers! ːsteammockingː

[h2]Minor updates[/h2]
- Mission mini-map is now only available when a radar station is connected to your base.
- Map editor received a few improvements to simplify the workflow when creating and deleting objects.
- A few fixes and improvements in the game code and in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror.
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1592, which means +47 commits from last month. It's not much, I know, but as I said the holidays took their toll this month and it's better than nothing anyway!

[h2]What's next[/h2]
For next month I will finally implement some basic game end, that will allow to complete a map when playing to conquer it and that will affect the planet map.
I am also already working on a special structure that can be considered as an advanced loot box and that will give more complex rewards, both positive and negative this time.

Other things will be decided in the next few weeks.

This time I will also try to release a new alpha build at the end of the month as traditionally January has always been my most busy month of development (probably cold and rain do not help doing anything else). Hopefully the tradition will stay the same this new year too!

Do you think I'll manage to put enough work for a new release in the next 31 days?
The only way to find out is to follow the development and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

[h2]Support this game, wishlist and follow![/h2]
If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/

If you have been following this project in the past year you might know that once again I had to put it on hold... but once again I came back to the active development and the good news is that for a while I'll keep working (almost) full time on it!

Anyway, enough said about that, let's focus on what I did during the month of November 2023.

[h2]Long life to the Map Editor![/h2]
This month I focused mostly on the development of the map editor and I managed to get a first working version that can be used to create, edit, load and save a map.
Everything is still a bit rough and it will require many little improvements before it can be used by others, but it's usable enough for my development needs, so I am happy with what I achieved so far.

Now let me show you all the current features in detail.

A core feature of every editor is placing objects on a map. This can be done here after selecting the wanted object from a dedicated panel:


Every time you add an object to a map the cells underneath and around it are automatically updated to reflect the proper type.

Objects that have multiple variants, like mountains or trees, are also procedurally randomized to add more variety to the scene.

It is also possible to edit every single object when selecting it:


This allows to fine-tune the elements on a map in case you're not happy with the current randomization.

Something less visual, but very important is the capacity to load and save map files:


Right now the editor is operating on a single, hardcoded file, but as I said I'll be the only one using it for a while, so it's not a big issue.

All this combined will allow me to create maps in the editor and to use them in game.
Also from now on it will be fairly easy to add new features as all the basics are already covered.

Someone might argue that it would have been better to spend more time on the game as it's not finished yet, but the map editor had to be done anyway and it's always been extremely frustrating to postpone other changes because I didn't want to waste hours updating the existing maps manually with a text editor... so here it is!

Another important reason for working on the editor is that to get everything done I was forced to sort out some tech debt the project has been carrying on for a long time, that's where 3 weeks of work went into. Even if it's not been fun, it was very needed and it will help any further development.

[h2]Minor updates[/h2]
- New map file format to support all the changes and new features
- New structure dialog shows structures grouped by category
- Units move along the conquest path while conquering cells (as they used to do) and along the planned design path while building walls
- A few fixes and improvements in SGL, the game library which is the tech core of Virtueror
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

The latest commit that made it into this update is number 1545.
From now on I will report the new number on every update to keep track of much (coding) work I manage to do in a single month.
Also keep in mind that this number is the sum of the commits of Virtueror and SGL (the game library I created for it), as they are pretty tightly coupled at the moment and there's no reason to consider them separately.

[h2]What's next[/h2]
For next month I will probably focus on gameplay, game UI and AI development, something that's been neglected for too long.
I think an achievable and very useful goal is to implement some basic game end, that will allow to complete a map when playing to conquer it.
Other things will be decided in the next few weeks.

Hopefully I'll be able to release a new alpha build at the end of December and if all goes well you can think about it like a late Christmas present.

Do you think I'll manage to put enough work for a new release in the next 31 days?
The only way to find out is to follow the development and the best way to do it is joining the official Discord server of Virtueror.

[h2]Support this game, wishlist and follow![/h2]
If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new update!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1607580/Virtueror_The_Virtual_Conqueror/