After over six years in development and just over one year in early access, Lord of Dwarves is releasing its 1.0 version! It has been a long development process. A game I started on a whim, Lord of Dwarves turned into a massive hobbie project and finally into a full game with loads of content.
Lord of Dwarves 1.0 will release on Saturday May 23 at 12:01am PDT.
Honestly, I was happy with the game state when it first released in early access. It had two major game modes - sandbox and a full campaign. It also had all the major gameplay elements I originally envisioned. Early access allowed me to receive some surprisingly great feedback from players who were very enthusiastic about the game. Their suggestions led to some much needed gameplay, balance, and quality of life fixes. I personally consider this early access a great success.
There was always one bonus feature I wanted in Lord of Dwarves that I never talked about - a Challenge mode. I'm happy to say I was able to add this mode over the course of early access. Even after all these years programming and testing Lord of Dwarves I still had a really good time playing all the challenges. Maybe I really just made this mode for me - but I hope all of you enjoy it too!
New Game Mode: Challenges
In addition to Sandbox and Campaign, there is now a third game mode, Challenges!
Challenges are independent scenarios with a specific objective to accomplish. Challenges often highlight a small set of game mechanics allowing the player to focus on those mechanics. Often challenges have a specific starting state or special game rules which allows the player to focus on the challenge and not be bogged down with unrelated tasks.
There are 21 challenges in all ranging from combat, construction, trap making, and even raising a bunny farm. In one challenge you will need to prepare for the imminent arrival of a vicious ettin. In another the surface is overrun with monsters and you will need to grow mushrooms underground to survive until you are strong enough to fight them off. One of my favorite challenges has you lead a single dwarf to prepare and defend against an attack by 15 goblins.
I really hope you enjoy the challenge mode. I had a lot of fun creating and testing each challenge. See if you can complete all 21!