The release date has come sooner than I would have liked. As a solo developer with real financial limitations, I had to launch earlier than I had planned. This is not the version I dreamed of shipping. There is more content I want to add, and I want the game to feel more complete before calling it a real release. But, Early Access exists exactly for this kind of journey, and I want to be honest with you about where things stand.
With your support, I can keep building and make this into something I am truly proud of. Here is what I am working on right now:
Horses: Including horse armor and caparisons.
Helms: Adding helms is trickier than it sounds. To fit a chainmail coif with/without a kettle helm on a character, I first need to make each character bald separately, so I can hide the hair when a helm is worn and bring the hair back when the helm is removed. There is a further difficulty I didn't mention too. So implementing helms takes time, but they will look right when done.
Diplomacy: Talking with neutral, allied, and enemy warbands, and being able to start a fight right in the middle of a conversation, similar to Mount and Blade.
Zones and Conquest: Showing which settlements and dungeons belong to which faction, and letting players attack and take control of them. Maybe using siege weapons too! I am excited for this.
Localization: Due to my messy coding habits, much of the game text is currently spread across many different scripts, which makes translation difficult. My first step is to centralize all text into a manageable spreadsheet. After that, I will bring in different languages one by one, starting with Japanese, as they have shown the second-largest interest in the game.
New Races and Cultures: Gnolls, Catmen, Ratmen, Dwarves, Elementals, Golems, Beasts, and different human cultures including Steppe, Desert, and Asian.
New Character Builds: Necromancer with an undead army you can raise and create destruction, and Wizard with magic to unleash your fury and elementals to summon, Druid to call nature to your aid, and more.
Female Characters & Culture: Adding female avatars for players to choose from, maybe along with a dedicated female warrior culture to hire competent female warriors.
Town Screens: Would you like to see nicely painted Settlements (and Dungeons) when you visit, like in Heroes of Might and Magic series or Battle Brothers instead of the current buttons?
One honest thing I want to share: art takes up about 90% of my time, even though I feel much more productive and creative when I am coding and building new systems. Every purchase you make helps me get closer to bringing in professional artists, which means I can spend more time doing what I do best and bring new content to you faster. Thank you for being part of this!