Siberian Dawn News

[h2]He Has Been Thinking Again[/h2]
I did start to write a long update on how I was currently feeling about what I am doing, and why I work on my projects, but it was long and probably not very interesting to anyone else, so I got rid of that and instead just have to say I have let the “Mostly Negative” of Siberian Dawn on the Steam market affect me too much since the game’s release, and as I am the only one working on my projects I didn’t have the strength of a group working on them to get over this.

My belief in what I am doing needs to be stronger than anyone else’s and that is what got Siberian Dawn through 5 years of development without showing it to anyone. I should be proud of what I have done with my projects and not let others kill them off.

A few weeks ago I got some great feedback from a player of the Android version on Facebook and they said about the unfinished parts of the game, so as mentioned I reflected on what I was doing, I wrote a long update about this reflection, I deleted long update about this reflection, and this is where we are now.

I may not make any money from my projects, I may not get much positive support for my projects, but the most important thing is I enjoy making my projects, and if I get some of the other two then that is a bonus.

But of course what I have said up to now doesn’t mean I ignore what people say about my projects and when I can understand what is said improving that in the project, as a look through the update log in Siberian Dawn should clearly show.





[h2]Codename Lore 2[/h2]
Work on the sequel to Siberian Dawn, which has the codename Lore 2, has gone well. all I will say about it so far is that it has a different setting than Siberian Dawn, and it has all the strategic elements of the first game removed, which is about 80% of the mechanics of Siberian Dawn.

The theme of the game is built around hunting in a strange world and has more of a focus on deck building. I have programmed the gameplay of the hunt and now I am at the stage of adding content and designing the unique hunts. While working on this game it of course gives you ideas for improving Siberian Dawn and finishing outstanding elements.





[h2]Finishing Business
[/h2]
So with Lore 2 being in this Content Building / Design stage I have been doing some more work on Siberian Dawn with the unfinished sections, thinking a bit more about them and thinking about what I can do being a single developer and not a team of 30.

I have now designed Skirmish Mode, which is a mode that will let you play a mission containing a series of dynamically generated objectives, with content take from Chapters that you own. I am now adding content to this dynamic system but otherwise it is coded and designed.

Crisis Mode is a mode that will let you play a series of smaller missions as you try to defeat a crisis, and is again built from the content you have brought. This was already designed and needs the content adding for running the Crisis, a lot more work than Skirmish.

The Ark is the other section that remained unfinished. With this I had big ideas that would be fine for a team of 30 but not for just me. The Ark will now be a place where you can unlock pages featuring the cards and their art and maybe also pages containing background from the game. Still a lot of content but more realistic than previous plans.





[h2] Improving Dawn
[/h2]
I have also been looking at the game more and seeing how I can improve it. I have now changed the Action pods so when they are for navigating the Market they show an arrow above and below the text on the pod to distinguish them from pods that perform an action. I am also adding text to the data screen for all the market screens that currently have no text to help the player.

There are also other areas I will ponder and look for ways to improve if needed and possible.





[h2]Closing Time
[/h2]
So I am still working on Siberian Dawn, finishing business, as well as working on Lore 2. When I am going to have these updates finished is unknown I am just going to enjoy what I am doing and make sure business is finished when it is ready.

I also have my Conscious Chronicles series of novels to finish but I have been working on them for over 15 years, with the first book The Last Mask Tradition published 10 years ago, so I don’t like to rush things (The art on this post are from those novels).

And that is that, I have to be more positive, enjoy my projects, and not let the negatives make me forget why I am doing these things in the first place.

Winterflood

Since the 4.0 update back in December I have been doing a bit of design on the next additions for Siberian Dawn, as well as working on two other projects, but after another negative review a few days ago, and the otherwise silence, I was thinking about what I was spending my creative time working on and what I should be doing with this time.

Four of the five tasks I planned for Siberian Dawn were content additions that would not change the base game. With the 4.0 update there are no more additions planned to make the game clearer, there is no simpler version of the game to come. This is a complex strategic wargame, with a deck building mechanic at its core, that was designed to give the player several tactical choices during a mission rather than just being a deckbuilder that ends up playing you and leaving you with no choices. So what you currently have is the finished game and what was planned was additional content that would add new tactical challenges, new missions, a new game mode.

Therefore if the game is still only getting negative reviews and there is nothing coming that is going to change this, if that is even possible, then it probably makes more sense to stop working on the new content for Siberian Dawn and just focus on the other projects or do something more rewarding. Also from the information I am getting I am not seeing any desire for the additional content so it just doesn’t make sense to work on it. The fifth task I had planned was to do some videos of me playing the game, but I am not sure if these would even help to get people playing, the game has been out for over two years so is it too late for how to play videos and would a lot of people want to watch a 20 – 30 minute video anyway?

So as it stands I am currently going to stop working on the additions for Siberian Dawn, and see if anything changes in the future. I expect it will still get negative reviews for the free base game as that is the trend it is now in and I know I will not be offering a free version of any future games I develop from what I have learnt from this experience. The knowledge I have gained from this project will be used in the future, and we will see where that goes.

Winterflood

[h2]Introduction[/h2]

Another big update for Siberian Dawn is released today and brings, as the title of this news declares, a change to the Bond system in the game, along with a number of other additions I will cover below.


[h2]Bond System Updated[/h2]

The Bond system has now been altered to make it clearer to understand and to also allow for new Bonds to be added in future DLC.

Previously the Bond system had the Guild you picked giving you the Accord shown on the Bond card when you used Act on one of their cards, and the other 3 Guilds gave you the Discord effect if you used their Act ability. With the new system there are only 2 Guilds that will give Discord when they Act, and the third Guild has now become neutral with no effect on the Bond.

The Bond no longer refers to Guilds for Accord and Discord but uses the term Groups instead to allow for future new Bonds for Blocs that are not Guilds. The Bond card now clearly shows you the icons for 2 groups it has a Discord with at the bottom right in red and the icon of the group the Bond has Accord with is now shown in the top right corner of the Bond.



This new system now clearly shows the 3 groups that affect the Bond and also makes it a bit easier with lessening the number of groups that give Discord.


[h2]Shadows Develop[/h2]

● The Shadow Puppets in the Core game have gained 4 new cards, 1 puppet for each of the Guild Bonds. These new cards have their powers based on the amount of Impact currently on a Bond and add a new idea to the game.



This has also resulted in an update of all the shadow puppet lists, to add the new cards in but also some of the previous cards have been moved around or removed from lists to increase the unique content of each Bond group.

To further alter the balance of resolving all Shadows towards the unique set of the Bonds there is now a greater chance of drawing from the unique list, where before it had been equal between getting a result from the universal group or the unique group of the Bond.


[h2]Bond And Objective Get More Data[/h2]

The Bond card is now clickable the same way other cards in the game were, and data pages have been added to help explain how Bonds work. It also now glows over the specific group icon on the Bond when a card is going to trigger Accord or Discord.

The Objective card has also gained data pages that can be viewed by clicking it, to help explain how Objectives work in a mission


[h2]All Glows Toggle[/h2]

Have now expanded the setting for the Display Pulse toggle in the Options menu to include the option for also turning off the Overlay pulses, so all the glows can now be set to pulsing, or switched individually off or on as desired. So if you had a problem or didn't like the flashing pulses before you can now turn them all off and just get the overlays not animated.


[h2]Update Log Added[/h2]

Added an Update Log section to the front menu screen to allow players to see all changes made to the game and how the game has developed. So if you are returning to the game after a while and come across something new and wonder what has changed you can find the answer in the update log. It is also an interesting timeline of where the game has gone since launch.


[h2]Information Updated[/h2]

Updated Help overlay screen and Orientation so they match the updates and changes made with this update. Have also updated the 4th Tutorial to cover the new Bond system, and altered the transparency and text colour of the Help overlay so the screen elements underneath are easier to see, while still keeping the overlay text clear.

So with this update I think the game now has a solid foundation from which future additions can build upon, and we will see where it goes now.

[h2]Introduction[/h2]

With the arrival of the second anniversary of Siberian Dawn launching on Steam I thought I would give an update on what I am working on and the things that could be coming in the future.

The game was originally designed to be three chapters with each chapter containing 6 missions. The first chapter was split it to two parts but the remaining two chapter will instead be presented as two DLC packs.

[h2]Chapter 2[/h2]

Your mission progresses beyond Industrial Habitation 54 into the harsh Siberian wilds as you investigate what is happening in a Guild Hall belonging to the Letalis guild with 6 new missions.

This chapter also introduces two new groups of cards to your market, the Blood and the Ghosts

The Blood are mercenaries who give you a different group of deployable units to use in the conflicts, bringing a new way of fighting to the battle but requirig payment to keep them working for you.

The Ghosts are hackers and rogue Overseers who give you interesting ways to manipulate the system, but do not have a market of their own, instead they are shuffled into the other active unit markets at the start of each mission

[h2]Chapter 3[/h2]

Chapter 3 brings the Siberian Dawn story to a close as you uncover the Core of the Dawn and try to finally defeat it over 6 new missions that will test all you have learned so far. And brings two new groups to the game for you to use.

The Circle are mystics and seers who will let you predict and manipulate the Fate Helix and alter other situations in the mission, but at the cost of your Glory.

The Forged are another group of deployable units who are religious fanatics mutated and enhanced by technology, but using them will drain the Vitae of the mission so have a high cost for using their powers.

[h2]Crisis Mode[/h2]

Crisis mode brings a new game mode to Siberian Dawn allowing you to play a series of special missions with Rogue-Like mechanics, offering increased re-playability. The mission options available in Crisis mode will be based on the DLC packs that you own.

[h2]Ark[/h2]

The Ark is the area of unlocks or the Siberian Dawn metagame. From the start you have been earning stars and have also been secretly earning another set of points that will allow you to unlock items in the Ark.

I am still designing this section, looking at the sort of things I can add for unlocking, but one section, which came from designing the sequel game mentioned below, is to have different Overseers you can play, and each of these will have a set of cards you can unlock that add special cards relevant to that character, expanding their story.

[h2]More Improvements[/h2]

Over the two years since it was released I have added a number of improvements but still plan more including more options and additional music. I have also returned to the Bond cards and altered these slightly from what is currently in the game. Currently when you pick a Bond you have one Guild that you have an Accord with and the other three Guilds all have a Discord if you Act with them, but the new system will have only two guild having a Discord with you, which will now be shown on the Bond. The other Guild will be a neutral Guild and not have any effect on the Bond when used. This makes Bonds a bit easier but opens up the possibilities for Bonds based on the groups added in the new Chapters.

[h2]New Lore Game[/h2]

I have also started work on a new game using the Lore card engine I built for Siberian Dawn. This game has a different setting from Siberian Dawn and has had all of the wargame mechanics removed putting the focus more on the cards and deckbuilding. The game will not have the heavy tactical aspects that Siberian Dawn has but will give a more streamlined experience. I have already coded the core game letting me now focus on the design of the cards and testing the game to see how it all plays.

[h2]Coming Soon?[/h2]

I don’t know when all of the above will be finished as I am the only one working on all this, and obviously real life events and motivation has a big effect on all of this. With is no horde of rabid fans there is no pressure to rush anything and I don’t have anyone standing over me wondering when their slice of money is coming, and the game seems to be now stuck in Mostly Negative so I might as well take my time.

So I wanted to share the plans and what is happening at the moment, and let people see I am still around, and I hope to have all of this done at some point in the near future beyond chapter 1.

This update has various additions that improve information displayed during a mission:

- Added “DATA” before the page number on the Data display when it is showing card details.

- Made the deck numbers for RP and TP darken when there are not the active deck in that phase.

- Added a card icon next to each deck value to show connection to mini icon added below.

- RP and TP deck values flash when a card is added to that deck.

- Added mini icons next to each resource pod (R,G,V,B) to show the action they have when clicked.

- Added Strength of an Action to bottom of data display when a Tactic is selected, so player can see the value of the action before it is Set to the unit selected.


I have also today made the first game I made, for Android free until the 6th April for everyone in lockdown so if you have an Android device maybe give Grindle Oni A a try for free.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Winterflood.GrindleOniA

Winterflood