harem.king
Forum Fanatic
- Aug 16, 2023
- 4,331
- 7,603
- 646
where can I buy salt? I am told I can buy oil and salt in goldtown. But I can only find meat, lard, and oil there. no salt
HTML Shards of Mirrors [v0.0.5] [WiseGothGames]
- Thread starter WiseGothGames
- Start date
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
harem.king
Forum Fanatic
- Aug 16, 2023
- 4,331
- 7,603
- 646
thanks
it would be nice if interactable locations were marked on the map. currently its quite frustrating to comb through each location to see what places are clickable.
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
A lot of players requested visible map icons, but since more and more buildings will gain functions, I don’t want the whole map covered with them. Instead, in the next update I’ll add a shadow effect to all interactable buildings. Hopefully this will be a good middle ground between invisible interactions and a map cluttered with icons.
harem.king
Forum Fanatic
- Aug 16, 2023
- 4,331
- 7,603
- 646
sounds reasonable.
maybe with a settings in options that changes those into a more visible color while on. or a button that can be pressed to temporarily highlight every clickable in the current map which only lasts until you move
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #1
Planned release: 09/26/2025 or 10/03/2025
As I want to publish the first version of the fight engine in this update, I decided to leave a buffer week in case I need extra time. That’s why the release is currently set for either the last week of September or the first week of October. I’ll clarify the exact date once I see how progress goes.
Talking about progress, here is how the fight engine looks right now. On the right side you can see that I added terrain defense info for the selected unit. Also, you may notice fewer command buttons compared to earlier screenshots: the move, fight, and shoot buttons disappeared. That’s because they are now fully integrated into the map itself. You simply click on your unit, then click where you want to move or on an enemy, and the scripts will automatically execute the actions, saving many clicks.
When you move by clicking on a hex in your range (red hexes), your movement range is automatically recalculated based on your remaining movement points. The same is true for your shooting range (shadow hexes). This means you don’t have to spend all movement points at once. You can return to the unit later in the same turn and use what’s left until you press the End Turn button, giving you more strategic flexibility in planning your moves.
Since the fighting scripts are not ready yet, for now I just move back to the middle of my castle and hit the Deselect button on the right. This lets me click one of the castle hexes around my hero without moving him there. Doing so reveals the Recruit button on the right panel. Time to call in a unit!
You can also summon your heroes to aid you. Unlike units, which have fixed stats, your heroes are fully customizable. They can equip any weapon you give them, and their damage, strikes, resistances, and even defensive templates depend on their skills and traits. Be careful to arm them before the battle, though. The clothing and inventory system plays a huge role here as well, since different clothes grant different skill points. Combined with training, this lets you create unique fighters for all kinds of roles.
Last but not least, I added a shadow effect to all interactable buildings on the city map. Many of you requested a way to easily spot interactable places without having to run circles around the ever-growing districts, and this solution should make navigation much smoother.
That’s all for this week. Next week I’ll be focusing on completing the fighting scripts. Have a nice weekend!
Planned release: 09/26/2025 or 10/03/2025
As I want to publish the first version of the fight engine in this update, I decided to leave a buffer week in case I need extra time. That’s why the release is currently set for either the last week of September or the first week of October. I’ll clarify the exact date once I see how progress goes.
Talking about progress, here is how the fight engine looks right now. On the right side you can see that I added terrain defense info for the selected unit. Also, you may notice fewer command buttons compared to earlier screenshots: the move, fight, and shoot buttons disappeared. That’s because they are now fully integrated into the map itself. You simply click on your unit, then click where you want to move or on an enemy, and the scripts will automatically execute the actions, saving many clicks.
When you move by clicking on a hex in your range (red hexes), your movement range is automatically recalculated based on your remaining movement points. The same is true for your shooting range (shadow hexes). This means you don’t have to spend all movement points at once. You can return to the unit later in the same turn and use what’s left until you press the End Turn button, giving you more strategic flexibility in planning your moves.
Since the fighting scripts are not ready yet, for now I just move back to the middle of my castle and hit the Deselect button on the right. This lets me click one of the castle hexes around my hero without moving him there. Doing so reveals the Recruit button on the right panel. Time to call in a unit!
You can also summon your heroes to aid you. Unlike units, which have fixed stats, your heroes are fully customizable. They can equip any weapon you give them, and their damage, strikes, resistances, and even defensive templates depend on their skills and traits. Be careful to arm them before the battle, though. The clothing and inventory system plays a huge role here as well, since different clothes grant different skill points. Combined with training, this lets you create unique fighters for all kinds of roles.
Last but not least, I added a shadow effect to all interactable buildings on the city map. Many of you requested a way to easily spot interactable places without having to run circles around the ever-growing districts, and this solution should make navigation much smoother.
That’s all for this week. Next week I’ll be focusing on completing the fighting scripts. Have a nice weekend!
- Oct 10, 2017
- 7,952
- 24,379
- 913
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #2
Planned release: 10/03/2025
This week I worked on the fight options. When you shoot an enemy from a distance, a small info table appears showing the details of the encounter. At this point, you can still change your mind and back off if you don’t like your chances. For ranged attacks, the enemy will only retaliate if they have a gun and you are within its range. If not, you’ll be the only one attacking—so make sure to plan your positioning carefully before pulling the trigger.
Standing next to an enemy opens up close-combat options. You can strike with melee, use a ranged weapon, or even fire your gun. Enemies always retaliate with the same type of weapon you used. Guns and ranged weapons are interchangeable in this context: if they lack a gun, they’ll answer with their ranged weapon, and if they don’t have a ranged weapon, they’ll shoot back with their gun. On the screenshot you can also notice another important detail—your displayed weapon damage is lower than in the right-side info panel. That’s because the pre-fight calculation already factors in enemy resistances.
Winning a battle has a small chance of rewarding you with a mystery loot box. These boxes vary depending on the enemies you fight, so you won’t find a bazooka in a fight where the strongest weapon was a flintlock pistol. I haven’t yet decided whether enemies should be able to pick up loot boxes themselves, or if fallen player units should drop them. I’d like to avoid excessive loot farming, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Collecting a box is simple: just move a unit on it and click the Collect Loot button on the right. Boxes remain on the map until the end of the battle. However, if a unit dies on a hex that already holds a box and drops another, only the latest box will be available to collect.
All collected boxes are added to your inventory, where you’ll later be able to open them. The script for opening them isn’t ready yet, since my focus is still on fight-related systems.
Next week I’ll continue working on what happens after a fight begins. Have a great weekend!
Planned release: 10/03/2025
This week I worked on the fight options. When you shoot an enemy from a distance, a small info table appears showing the details of the encounter. At this point, you can still change your mind and back off if you don’t like your chances. For ranged attacks, the enemy will only retaliate if they have a gun and you are within its range. If not, you’ll be the only one attacking—so make sure to plan your positioning carefully before pulling the trigger.
Standing next to an enemy opens up close-combat options. You can strike with melee, use a ranged weapon, or even fire your gun. Enemies always retaliate with the same type of weapon you used. Guns and ranged weapons are interchangeable in this context: if they lack a gun, they’ll answer with their ranged weapon, and if they don’t have a ranged weapon, they’ll shoot back with their gun. On the screenshot you can also notice another important detail—your displayed weapon damage is lower than in the right-side info panel. That’s because the pre-fight calculation already factors in enemy resistances.
Winning a battle has a small chance of rewarding you with a mystery loot box. These boxes vary depending on the enemies you fight, so you won’t find a bazooka in a fight where the strongest weapon was a flintlock pistol. I haven’t yet decided whether enemies should be able to pick up loot boxes themselves, or if fallen player units should drop them. I’d like to avoid excessive loot farming, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
Collecting a box is simple: just move a unit on it and click the Collect Loot button on the right. Boxes remain on the map until the end of the battle. However, if a unit dies on a hex that already holds a box and drops another, only the latest box will be available to collect.
All collected boxes are added to your inventory, where you’ll later be able to open them. The script for opening them isn’t ready yet, since my focus is still on fight-related systems.
Next week I’ll continue working on what happens after a fight begins. Have a great weekend!
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #3
Planned release: 10/31/2025
Let’s start with the not-so-good news: I’ve decided to delay the release of v0.0.5 to the end of October, which means skipping September’s update. The fight engine, with all its complexity, is slowly turning into a game within the game, and I don’t want to compromise or rush it just to hit the original two-week deadline. Since I’ve only worked on the fight engine during this time, there’s no extra content I could release on the side — and honestly, I don’t see much point in throwing in a few new jobs, vendors, items, or districts just to pad out a rushed update. Of course, the weekly Dew News posts will continue, so you’ll still be able to follow my progress and share your feedback.
This week I finalized the script that runs each time you decide to fight an enemy on the battlemap. After clicking on your target, you first select your weapon. Once you’ve chosen, the selection box disappears and you are locked out of other interactions until the fight is resolved.
Here’s how the fight plays out: units strike each other in turns until one side is dead or both run out of strikes. The attacker always goes first. For example, if you have 5 strikes and the enemy has 2, the sequence will look like this: [You – Enemy – You – Enemy – You – You – You]. The number of strikes depends on your weapon, your hero’s skills, and any bonuses for soldiers. Later, when I introduce sounds to the game, this system will feel even better, since hits and misses won’t just be shown by numbers and health bars, but also by distinct sound effects.
If a unit runs out of health points, it dies. For now, a simple skull icon briefly appears for all fallen units, but in the future each unit will have its own unique “fallen” illustration crafted in DAZ.
Once the fight ends, your unit loses all remaining movement points and can’t fight again in the same turn. You then move on to your next unit. All movement and fight actions are restored after the opposing side has taken its turn.
I also added a small quality-of-life feature to save clicks. You no longer need to manually check your active unit’s terrain defense by clicking around hexes. Instead, simply hover your mouse over a hex to see its defense value in a tooltip. Enemy hit chance is calculated based on this defense — for example, if you have 75% defense in a castle, every enemy strike will only have a 25% chance to hit. This information also appears on the weapon choice menu.
Next week I’ll begin work on another big, though not very visible, project: the end-of-turn script including computer AI. I’ll prepare a first version in time for release, but later I’ll refine the strategies to (hopefully) make the AI much smarter.
Have a great weekend, and see you next week with another Dew News!
Planned release: 10/31/2025
Let’s start with the not-so-good news: I’ve decided to delay the release of v0.0.5 to the end of October, which means skipping September’s update. The fight engine, with all its complexity, is slowly turning into a game within the game, and I don’t want to compromise or rush it just to hit the original two-week deadline. Since I’ve only worked on the fight engine during this time, there’s no extra content I could release on the side — and honestly, I don’t see much point in throwing in a few new jobs, vendors, items, or districts just to pad out a rushed update. Of course, the weekly Dew News posts will continue, so you’ll still be able to follow my progress and share your feedback.
This week I finalized the script that runs each time you decide to fight an enemy on the battlemap. After clicking on your target, you first select your weapon. Once you’ve chosen, the selection box disappears and you are locked out of other interactions until the fight is resolved.
Here’s how the fight plays out: units strike each other in turns until one side is dead or both run out of strikes. The attacker always goes first. For example, if you have 5 strikes and the enemy has 2, the sequence will look like this: [You – Enemy – You – Enemy – You – You – You]. The number of strikes depends on your weapon, your hero’s skills, and any bonuses for soldiers. Later, when I introduce sounds to the game, this system will feel even better, since hits and misses won’t just be shown by numbers and health bars, but also by distinct sound effects.
If a unit runs out of health points, it dies. For now, a simple skull icon briefly appears for all fallen units, but in the future each unit will have its own unique “fallen” illustration crafted in DAZ.
Once the fight ends, your unit loses all remaining movement points and can’t fight again in the same turn. You then move on to your next unit. All movement and fight actions are restored after the opposing side has taken its turn.
I also added a small quality-of-life feature to save clicks. You no longer need to manually check your active unit’s terrain defense by clicking around hexes. Instead, simply hover your mouse over a hex to see its defense value in a tooltip. Enemy hit chance is calculated based on this defense — for example, if you have 75% defense in a castle, every enemy strike will only have a 25% chance to hit. This information also appears on the weapon choice menu.
Next week I’ll begin work on another big, though not very visible, project: the end-of-turn script including computer AI. I’ll prepare a first version in time for release, but later I’ll refine the strategies to (hopefully) make the AI much smarter.
Have a great weekend, and see you next week with another Dew News!
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #4
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week I mainly worked on the end-of-turn scripts, including enemy movement and strategy. They’re still far from finished, but the foundation is there. Alongside coding, I did a lot of background work whenever I felt I just couldn’t stare at code anymore — planning questlines in Excel, writing story text, and mapping out future game mechanics.
While there isn’t much visible new content, I can proudly announce that the battlemap — from the player’s perspective — is now functional. In earlier Dev News posts, I showed myself stepping back and forth between three hexes to test the system. That code has now been optimized and expanded to all hexes, making free movement across the map possible.
As you can see in the screenshot below, I used my first turn to recruit two available heroes and three donkey riders. I could have taken one more soldier, but instead I left the path open and marched my boss out of the castle, trying to shoot the alpha wolf in the center. Both of my shots missed, so the only reason the wolf won’t tear me apart when I end the turn is because the AI scripts are still under construction. Still, this little test already shows how many calculations and “what-ifs” the computer will need to evaluate before making each move.
For example: if the wolf also recruits, then moves out to attack me in melee, I might survive — and in my next turn I could simply retreat my boss back into the castle, send all my units against the wolf, and recruit six more soldiers to surround my boss, making him unreachable for the wolf.
To make enemy turns more engaging, I also developed a script that automatically moves the viewport to the active enemy unit. This opens up possibilities for larger battlemaps in the future, since the camera will always follow the action. It also creates opportunities for new mechanics: enemy reinforcements appearing mid-battle, hidden units jumping out of buildings, or even a survival-style mode where the bottom row of hexes disappears and a new row appears at the top each turn, forcing you to keep advancing into the unknown.
Finally, I’ve started assembling the game’s main questline: The Seven Sisters.
This multi-chapter adventure follows the story of the seven daughters of Nikolay Taranov Paz, a wealthy industrialist who died shortly before your character awoke in the city park with no memory of recent events. Expect difficult choices, betrayals, and complex characters. Your decisions will shape the outcome: the questline has multiple possible endings and can unlock other questlines depending on your path. This means high replayability and unique playthroughs — the love of your life in one run could be your nemesis in another… or lying seven feet under in yet another.
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week I mainly worked on the end-of-turn scripts, including enemy movement and strategy. They’re still far from finished, but the foundation is there. Alongside coding, I did a lot of background work whenever I felt I just couldn’t stare at code anymore — planning questlines in Excel, writing story text, and mapping out future game mechanics.
While there isn’t much visible new content, I can proudly announce that the battlemap — from the player’s perspective — is now functional. In earlier Dev News posts, I showed myself stepping back and forth between three hexes to test the system. That code has now been optimized and expanded to all hexes, making free movement across the map possible.
As you can see in the screenshot below, I used my first turn to recruit two available heroes and three donkey riders. I could have taken one more soldier, but instead I left the path open and marched my boss out of the castle, trying to shoot the alpha wolf in the center. Both of my shots missed, so the only reason the wolf won’t tear me apart when I end the turn is because the AI scripts are still under construction. Still, this little test already shows how many calculations and “what-ifs” the computer will need to evaluate before making each move.
For example: if the wolf also recruits, then moves out to attack me in melee, I might survive — and in my next turn I could simply retreat my boss back into the castle, send all my units against the wolf, and recruit six more soldiers to surround my boss, making him unreachable for the wolf.
To make enemy turns more engaging, I also developed a script that automatically moves the viewport to the active enemy unit. This opens up possibilities for larger battlemaps in the future, since the camera will always follow the action. It also creates opportunities for new mechanics: enemy reinforcements appearing mid-battle, hidden units jumping out of buildings, or even a survival-style mode where the bottom row of hexes disappears and a new row appears at the top each turn, forcing you to keep advancing into the unknown.
Finally, I’ve started assembling the game’s main questline: The Seven Sisters.
This multi-chapter adventure follows the story of the seven daughters of Nikolay Taranov Paz, a wealthy industrialist who died shortly before your character awoke in the city park with no memory of recent events. Expect difficult choices, betrayals, and complex characters. Your decisions will shape the outcome: the questline has multiple possible endings and can unlock other questlines depending on your path. This means high replayability and unique playthroughs — the love of your life in one run could be your nemesis in another… or lying seven feet under in yet another.
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #5
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week I focused on planning enemy strategies and began implementing the first one. Here’s the current list:
Zombie: Recruits units at random and sends them straight toward your boss, attacking everything in range along the way.
Gunner: Builds a mix of heavy infantry and long-ranged units. They advance together, with heavies shielding the ranged attackers.
Mass: Starts with long-ranged units on the first turn, then adds random recruits. It stays passive until you get close, then unleashes its full army at once.
Assassin: Trains fast (light and heavy) units along with some ranged ones. The ranged units harass you while the fast ones rush directly for your boss, ignoring your other troops.
Castle: Avoids direct fights, instead fortifying terrain for maximum defense. If you approach, it saves up and recruits six heavy units to block your path to the boss.
Crazy: Switches strategies at random every 2–5 turns.
Adaptable: At the start of its turn, evaluates the battlefield and decides whether to continue its current plan or switch strategies.
While coding these, I also started sketching out new characters for upcoming questlines. So instead of another screenshot of the battlemap filled with soldiers, I’m sharing something more exciting: the Seven Sisters, the central heroes of a major questline of the same name. If you’d like the high-resolution version (1920×1080), it’s available on my
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week I focused on planning enemy strategies and began implementing the first one. Here’s the current list:
Zombie: Recruits units at random and sends them straight toward your boss, attacking everything in range along the way.
Gunner: Builds a mix of heavy infantry and long-ranged units. They advance together, with heavies shielding the ranged attackers.
Mass: Starts with long-ranged units on the first turn, then adds random recruits. It stays passive until you get close, then unleashes its full army at once.
Assassin: Trains fast (light and heavy) units along with some ranged ones. The ranged units harass you while the fast ones rush directly for your boss, ignoring your other troops.
Castle: Avoids direct fights, instead fortifying terrain for maximum defense. If you approach, it saves up and recruits six heavy units to block your path to the boss.
Crazy: Switches strategies at random every 2–5 turns.
Adaptable: At the start of its turn, evaluates the battlefield and decides whether to continue its current plan or switch strategies.
While coding these, I also started sketching out new characters for upcoming questlines. So instead of another screenshot of the battlemap filled with soldiers, I’m sharing something more exciting: the Seven Sisters, the central heroes of a major questline of the same name. If you’d like the high-resolution version (1920×1080), it’s available on my
You must be registered to see the links
server.
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #6
Planned release: 10/31/2025
I continued working on the enemy scripts for the combat engine, and this will likely remain my main focus until the initial release. The good news is that this is the most complex part of the game from a coding perspective—once it’s complete, no other system will require such intricate or entirely new code. That means I can finally focus on adding more content and visuals.
In the background, I’ve also been developing questline flows and setting up new heroes and characters in DAZ, which will speed up the creation of future visual content.
Since sharing code snippets isn’t particularly exciting to look at, I’ll continue showcasing examples of (hopefully spoiler-free) future illustrations and promotional images featuring the new heroes. After your first battle, you’ll have the chance to attend an (entirely optional) "celebration" with Buck —and reconcile with la Zorra at the same time...
Planned release: 10/31/2025
I continued working on the enemy scripts for the combat engine, and this will likely remain my main focus until the initial release. The good news is that this is the most complex part of the game from a coding perspective—once it’s complete, no other system will require such intricate or entirely new code. That means I can finally focus on adding more content and visuals.
In the background, I’ve also been developing questline flows and setting up new heroes and characters in DAZ, which will speed up the creation of future visual content.
Since sharing code snippets isn’t particularly exciting to look at, I’ll continue showcasing examples of (hopefully spoiler-free) future illustrations and promotional images featuring the new heroes. After your first battle, you’ll have the chance to attend an (entirely optional) "celebration" with Buck —and reconcile with la Zorra at the same time...
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
soM v0.0.5 – Dev News #7
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week was a real struggle with coding. I still spent most of my time writing code, but to avoid burning out completely, I also dedicated some time to developing the story.
So, introducing the second major faction: the Russian mafia. The initial three main gangs were formed shortly after the apocalypse. The Interkosmos started as a bottom-up organization uniting emigrants, intellectuals, and ordinary people stranded in South America. They also recruited smaller Slavic and Orthodox communities that were too few in number to form their own groups. The Federatsiya, on the other hand, was founded by diplomats and spies, preserving the authoritarian traditions and mentality of their pre-apocalypse agencies. They remain very nationalist, and the leadership still consists exclusively of Russians.
The third gang was an ultra-nationalist faction, but it was destroyed decades ago when it attempted to assassinate Alexander Taranov to prevent his marriage to Ana Paz, the daughter of a wealthy local industrialist. The plan failed, and the legacy of that union lives on. The Seven Sisters, introduced in Dev News #5, bear the joint family name Taranov-Paz. This family serves as the link between the two surviving gangs: they illegally produce weapons in their factory for the Interkosmos, allowing them to dominate local gangs despite their smaller numbers, while also financing the Federatsiya’s maneuvers through bribery, manipulation, and—of course—marriage.
Just like before, a high-resolution version of this week’s promotional image is available on my
Planned release: 10/31/2025
This week was a real struggle with coding. I still spent most of my time writing code, but to avoid burning out completely, I also dedicated some time to developing the story.
So, introducing the second major faction: the Russian mafia. The initial three main gangs were formed shortly after the apocalypse. The Interkosmos started as a bottom-up organization uniting emigrants, intellectuals, and ordinary people stranded in South America. They also recruited smaller Slavic and Orthodox communities that were too few in number to form their own groups. The Federatsiya, on the other hand, was founded by diplomats and spies, preserving the authoritarian traditions and mentality of their pre-apocalypse agencies. They remain very nationalist, and the leadership still consists exclusively of Russians.
The third gang was an ultra-nationalist faction, but it was destroyed decades ago when it attempted to assassinate Alexander Taranov to prevent his marriage to Ana Paz, the daughter of a wealthy local industrialist. The plan failed, and the legacy of that union lives on. The Seven Sisters, introduced in Dev News #5, bear the joint family name Taranov-Paz. This family serves as the link between the two surviving gangs: they illegally produce weapons in their factory for the Interkosmos, allowing them to dominate local gangs despite their smaller numbers, while also financing the Federatsiya’s maneuvers through bribery, manipulation, and—of course—marriage.
Just like before, a high-resolution version of this week’s promotional image is available on my
You must be registered to see the links
server. That’s all for now — the last Dev News before the month-end release. See you in two weeks with version 0.0.5!
Sidious787
Formerly 'Nihilus787'
- Aug 22, 2024
- 1
- 1
- 13
I absolutely love the concept, it has a huge potential and so the mechanics. I eagerly await the political gameplay.
A little idea for the future (probably long term): maybe a job in the church? Something like being a bishop? It could open up to add the church as a faction allied with the royalists. I'm intrigued with the idea of clergymen owning land. As if they were feudal lords (a possible policy for the royalists or the church).
I wish you success with the game. Good luck and thank you for your time and effort making this, I think you deserve the praise.
A little idea for the future (probably long term): maybe a job in the church? Something like being a bishop? It could open up to add the church as a faction allied with the royalists. I'm intrigued with the idea of clergymen owning land. As if they were feudal lords (a possible policy for the royalists or the church).
I wish you success with the game. Good luck and thank you for your time and effort making this, I think you deserve the praise.
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
Thank you for your kind words! I’m still wrestling with the fight engine, but the good news is that enemies finally move correctly, so the system is at least playable now. The main issue is that all enemy actions currently happen at once — in about two seconds — which makes it impossible to visually follow their movements. That’s actually why I couldn’t keep the planned release date; I haven’t found a satisfying fix yet (though I’m now testing my fourth approach). Once I get this working properly, the next version will be released.
As for future content, the Church will eventually appear as an allied faction, giving you the chance to recruit warrior monks and even embark on a secret mission to Europe to uncover what happened to the Vatican and the Pope after the apocalypse. As always, your choices will shape the world — you’ll be able to support and install any government you believe in, possibly even as its leader. So far, royalist, communist, and fascist paths are planned for those who wish to overthrow the decaying republic, and later you might even bring the city-state under the control of a foreign power, ruling as its ever-loyal viceroy.
Here’s a screenshot of the current gameplay — it’s already turn 5, and as you can see, several units have taken some damage. I’m using a line of melee peasants to shield my ranged-only archers from wolves and bandits, while the archers pick them off from a distance. I don’t even attack with the peasants during my turn so they can survive longer. It’s a tough battle — I actually lost my first one right after finally getting it to work!
Last edited:
- Apr 23, 2025
- 53
- 117
- 43
The fight engine is finally ready! Thank you for your patience, and apologies for the two-week delay. You can continue where you left off: if you completed all steps of the tutorial quest in the previous version, you’ll find the battle sign in Winemaker's Haven:
Just a quick refresher before you head into battle: check if you have hired troops, and equip your character with clothes and weapons—unless you want him to fight with his fists. Also make sure you have at least 1000 arrows in your inventory, otherwise you will most likely run out:
The same goes for your heroes as well: you need to equip them with weapons and clothes from your own inventory. Go home, click on the hero’s picture to access the interaction menu, and give them proper equipment if you plan to use them in battle:
Hopefully, while the battle system takes a little time to get used to, it should become easy to understand after a few turns. Buck gives you useful advice on the left side of your screen once you enter the battlemap:
Let me know what you think, and as always, I’m more than happy to hear your improvement ideas. This fight system is huge, with lots of strategic options and customization opportunities. It has essentially become a game within the game—around 40% of the entire code currently belongs to the fight engine.
Future improvement plans:
-Decrease passage refresh (flickering effect) when using your own units through code improvements
-Special weapon effects: area damage, charge (double damage when used offensively), slow (enemy cannot move if hit next turn)
-Battle traits for units: healer, general (friendly units around them gain a damage bonus), berserker (they keep fighting until either they or the enemy dies)
-Improved enemy tactics: hunting low-HP units, long-range shooters focusing fire, withdrawing damaged units to shelters to heal, choosing optimal terrain, bypassing single units to target bosses, moving away from unfavorable terrain
-Better balance: weapon stats are currently intuitive; I plan to set up a simulation model in Excel to better balance damage, strike chance, and unit HP
-New battle modes: survival (defend a castle in the center of the map for X turns), diplomacy (bosses can switch sides mid-battle)
-Battlemap events: in larger maps you will be able to find new heroes and items by exploring specific marked hexes
-Sound effects: hits and misses will produce audio feedback
-Option to skip enemy movement animations for faster battles
-Autobattle (animated or not, based on your choice), possibly with advanced options like disabling hero recruitment (so you don’t risk losing them)
As for the game’s future, development continues, but in a different format than before:
-New versions will have longer gaps between them and will focus on content updates (new quests, characters, battles using existing modules). This gives me time to develop new systems in the background and release them only once they are ready, instead of delaying updates by focusing solely on unfinished modules.
-Serious bugs will receive dedicated bugfix updates, so you can keep playing without waiting for the next major release.
-Focus will shift toward new content rather than constant refinements: I will not rework existing parts unless they malfunction. Instead, I will dedicate one update roughly every six months entirely to improving existing modules and functionalities.
-Art and illustrations will mostly be created with DAZ3D and Campaign Cartographer for the final release. Any other images (stock backgrounds, AI images, free PNGs) are placeholders and will be replaced later during rework updates.
-Weekly dev news will be discontinued. Since I develop this game after work and daily responsibilities, I cannot promise a steady stream of exciting weekly content, and I want to avoid dull devlogs. Instead, devlogs will become part of the release cycle, with fixed dates so you can follow development reliably.
Regarding the release schedule, here is what the near future looks like:
Devlog: 12/14/2025
2026 Development Plan: 12/31/2025
v0.0.6 Release: 01/02/2026
Thank you for sticking around and playing my game. Good luck with your first battle, and don't forget to save frequently!