Demo Version 0.8.2 is live, Steam Next Fest Recap & Future plans

Hello everyone,Happy to share with you that the new Demo version 0.8.2 is live for you all to hopefully enjoy!
This demo update will likely be the last for a while as I prepare for the release this summer. The reasoning behind this is that I don't want the Demo to potentially end up being more or less the full game, so the line has to be drawn somewhere. Furthermore, to fully benefit from these new features, it is recommend to start a new game. With that being said I am happy to provide you with the full patch notes here:

• New Game Options

• Introduced a difficulty setting

• Added "Random" match composition gamemode, meaning league matches will be anywhere from 2vs2 to 5vs5. A 5vs5 gamemode option has been added for the players that prefers this. A new game is sadly required for this to work.

• Added optional setting for Legendary Gladiators

• Added Loyalty system for Gladiators (Placerholder and has no game effect for now)

• Added 24 new block sounds

• Added the option to delete saves

• Fixed and improved the Save and Load format and list

• Fixed female nipples from clipping through some armours

• Fixed navigation for the columns in the Division 4 Arena scene

• Fixed Legendary/Demigods Gladiators not maintaining their ID after being recruited by another Ludus

• Fixed AI matches including number of alive Gladiators in their score so it now matches player results

Steam Next Fest recap

First and foremost I want to thank everyone that tried out the game and decided to engage in the forums, either by providing feedback, suggestions, reporting bugs or just simply sharing that they enjoyed the game! As a solo developer it can sometimes be a bit "lonely" sitting alone with your project, having no idea what people will actually think about it, so as you can imagine it was extremely encouraing and motivating. Also want to say thank you for the suggestions that was given be they big or small, some of them I was even able to add in smaller updates through the next fest, and a bunch of them was added to my "to do" list for the release. Personally, the biggest highlight was seeing the game reaching a concurrent player count of 49 players. I know in these days with all these large games, it might not sound like all that much - But for me this even exceeded my previously launched game "King of the World", so a milestone was reached!

Future plans

I will admit when I started this project I had no idea where I was really going with it, and the initial scope was much smaller than what the current demo already includes. This is however not an issue, as I don't have any deadlines, budget or anyone pushing me besides myself. This also means that I will take whatever time is needed to make this the very best I can.

So without further ado, the following list includes the overall features planned for the full release:

• Posibility to speed up matches

• More Arena scenes

• Lanista interactions

• Decisions in regards to daily Ludus Management

• New traits

• Arena deployables

• Exhibitions Matches / Exotic trader

• More Gladiator variety

• Voice acting for all announcements

• Multiplayer

• Localizations/Translations

• Option to spare opponent Gladiators/Yielding (Likely tied to Lanista relations)

• More impactful tactics

• Add camera focus to Gladiator in matches

• Full rework of training mechanic

• More history, stat views etc.

Some of the bullet points above obviously has a lot more and deeper systems behind them, but I think it gives you a good idea of where this game will be headed.
As always more than open to any kind of Suggestions / Feedback / Comments.All the best
Mathias