Salutations Industrialists,
We're excited to share the progress we've made over the last month and update you on our Alpha Roadmap.
February was busy as we continued with design work and implementation. We are continue to update and refine the groundwork for systems and features (events system, modifiers and effects, leader portraits and animations, UI systems, initial stats, etc.), all of which we anticipate will expedite development down the line. As you may have noticed in the last Dev Diary, the look of the game's UI is continuing to evolve. Now, in the latest build, we also have 19 new portrait heads, one new torso, and two new uniforms, along with portrait animations. The game is coming along at a good pace, and we look forward to sharing the Alpha with you soon, once it's ready.
We'd also like to take a moment to thank our community for your support and continued patience as we develop the game. We are excited that our last Dev Diary surpassed all previous records, and our YouTube channel surpassed 5,000 subscribers! Thanks to you, word is spreading about Gilded Destiny!
Without further ado, let's take a look at what we accomplished in January and what is planned for February and March.
Join the Gilded Destiny Discord Server
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Accomplished in February
Begin designing major Events for the Qing Empire
- Initial design of the events has begun, which will continue into February with further design and implementation
Finalize design for Rebellion system
- Design work has been largely finalized
Begin inputting major Chinese events
- Design of Chinese events has begun, and input has started on a few events. However, several event chains will need to wait until other systems (such as Rebellion) have been implemented.
Begin designing major Italian events
- In progress / in corso
Finalize design for Bureaucracy
- Design work has largely been finalized
Update initial country stats for Europe
- This covers the various resources such as state funds, loans, authority, diplomatic influence, etc.
- Underway, stats are being collected and then will be implemented once complete.
New supplementary UI designs for other features (loading screen, main menu, end game, etc.)
- The Save / Load game UI and Settings UI are in progress.
Continue work on adding Leader portraits to the game, along with portrait animations
- 19 new Leader portraits with animations have been added into the game, along with one torso and two uniforms. Here's a preview of some of the new Leader heads in game:
Refine and update design for the effects of Leader Positions
- Moved to March
Design for auxiliary units (engineers, sappers, etc.) that can be added to divisions for various bonuses
- Moved to March
Complete refining and updating design for POP promotion and migration
- New design has been completed, and implementation is underway
Continue updating and refining Global Economy systems
- Our design team and programmers are making progress on this. However, getting the economy to work in the way we would like is taking longer than anticipated.
Refine and update placement of Buildings at game start
- Certain countries will receive particular Buildings to reflect their historical market dominance in those industries
- Completed!
Refine and update the placement of resources and the availability of plantation goods in various provinces
- Moved to March
Continue refining terrain (such as mountains, lakes, and rivers)
- Southeastern Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia
- Updates to the terrain are ongoing in these regions, and will continue into March
Complete the HUD, Start Menu, Loading Screen, Event Window Art Design
- Designs for the Start Menu, Loading Screen UI, and Events UI rework have been completed. An initial design of the new HUD has been input into the game, yet is still undergoing continued refinement.
Finish the Policy icons, and add them to the game
- Completed
Start the outsourcing of 3D Units, Buildings, Character Backgrounds
- Our outsourcers have produced a model of an infantry unit and of one of our rural buildings. We are happy with the accuracy and aesthetic look of what they've sent us, so we are anticipating good progress on further units and buildings in the coming months.
End of March
- Complete implementing early Events for the Qing Empire, Netherlands, and Belgium
- This will not include rebellions, which will wait until implementation of the Rebellion system - Continue designing early Italian Events
- Continue refining terrain (such as mountains, lakes, and rivers)
- Southeastern Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia - Begin designing early US Events
- Continue adjusting and refining the global economy
- Update initial country stats for Europe and the Americas
- Refine and update the placement of resources and the availability of plantation goods in various provinces
- Refine and update design for the effects of Leader Positions
- Design for auxiliary units (engineers, sappers, etc.) that can be added to divisions for various bonuses
- Update and refine Culture, Religion, and Profession distribution in Europe
- Design new Cultural Heritages and Religious Convictions, and implement where possible
- Add new Leader Traits
- Complete the Settings and Save/Load Menu Art Design.
- Add more portraits and clothes to the game.
- Continued performance optimization, through internal QA testing and bug reports and feedback from Pre-Alpha testers
Please note that we are recalibrating our progress at the end of March, so we will look forward to sharing April goals in the next Alpha Roadmap. As our goals and expectations evolve, and as these milestones are reached, we will keep you updated!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Also, as a reminder—we have assigned Discord roles to our backers who are already part of our server. If you are not a member of our server, please join via the link below and say hello in the chat to ensure that you claim your role!
Join the Gilded Destiny Discord Server
Pre-Alpha Testing Continues
As many of you are already aware, we have launched the Pre-Alpha of Gilded Destiny to a small group of about 100 testers chosen from our Kickstarter and Modian backers at random. So far, we have received lots of constructive feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. As we continue to develop certain systems for Gilded Destiny, we are also now beginning to transition to a more feedback-based approach to development. The pre-Alpha testers have helped a great deal to isolate bugs and to improve playability. We look forward to sharing the game with more of you very soon!
As we've mentioned previously, we decided to do a small closed Pre-Alpha test to gather initial feedback so that experience of the Alpha is enjoyable and meaningful, and to streamline the process of administrating keys, feedback collection, and bug reporting on our end. Of course, as many of you know, both the pre-Alpha and Alpha builds of the game will likely have limited content and systems may not be fully implemented into the game.
Thanks for your support and for reading!
May your day be a gilded one!