Launch day is less than three weeks away! Our small team at Breich Games is hard at work getting the final mile of features ready for launch. Here's a quick roadmap of what we're working on and where we're at:
My brother, Ryan Reichert, has created a few more in-game tracks that just got merged - they're playing now in the demo branch!
My partner, Jake Weise, has been hard at work creating and testing an initial set of Steam Achievements. They're shaping up well, and we're excited to have them for launch.
Jake is also a passionate Steam Deck user and has been optimizing the game for it. A fun find - Godot 4.6's Linux build doesn't work very well with the Steam Deck, and right now we plan on forcing the Windows build as default for Steam Deck launching (it just works slightly better). He's got some more insight into that part, and will be writing a small update post at some point talking about it.
Over the last 6-8 weeks, our artist, Mike Lindner, and I have been rapidly iterating on an updated UI. We're still putting the finishing touches on it, but you can expect a much improved combat experience as well as overall UI. You can expect to see this merged into the demo branch within the next week or two. Here's a couple peeks (still polishing and updating). Any and all feedback appreciated:
Mike has also added a set of combat effects that sync up with our current combat sounds. This was something we wanted to get to for the demo much earlier, but such is the way of engineering work: sometimes things get pushed back. These effects will also be hitting the demo branch in the coming week or two.
Over the last couple months, I've spent a lot of time experimenting with and progressively improving the quality of the game AI. This is always a moving target - the AI can always be better - and it is really hard to do solo. But, I think you'll find that the AI has generally improved in quality. These changes will also trickle in over the next week or two leading up to launch.
One fun thing we're excited to share: vs. AI games will have a new Threat progression. As you beat an AI on a particular map setup, you'll unlock progressively-stacking rules that the game AI will have in future games (if you choose to play with them). This will add a layer of progression and difficulty to vs AI games that should challenge new and veteran players alike.
Some players have asked for co-op vs AI functionality, and we'll have that on launch day. I expect to also include Threat as an option for these games.
During our multiplayer beta, we tested out the network infrastructure with success. One feature that was painfully missing is synchronous 'quick starts' for multiplayer games. This allows players to take their turns at the same time, significantly decreasing the time of the early game. Under certain conditions (likely, per map), synchronous mode will disable and the game will revert to one-turn-at-a-time mode, as games are today.
We'll be adding an initial ELO system for players who wish to play in a ranked format. I will likely make this in a modern 'season' approach, as going forward (yes, thinking Close Encounters and beyond :eyes:), there will be quite a bit more optionality with how games can be played. More to follow here - and once it is out (for launch) any and all feedback is super helpful.
Additionally, we'll have a set of turn timers available for multiplayer games, as well as a basic Karma system. The idea here will be to have a score that indicates how likely a player is to finish a game without timing out. Lobbies will be able to filter based on minimum Karma. Again, open to any and all feedback - nothing here is set in stone, and it will iterate and improve over time after v0 is out.
Finally, all of the original Space Empires 4X scenarios in the play book, as well as minor game options, will be in there for launch. I plan on adding a few additional ones that players have requested (namely, unlimited combat counters) and I should be able to get to those before launch. Notably, however, I do not currently plan to implement the true solo rules of the board game for launch. This isn't a no forever, it's just not something I will get to for launch day. If these true solo rules are something others really want to play with, let me know and I'll be sure to cycle it in post-launch.
Looking forward to launch day - see you there!
Brett