My Turn Based Strategy game "Virtualord, The Virtual Conqueror" has now a well defined roadmap that will give a clear direction to the development until the 1.0 release planned for next year (2026).

ALPHA ROADMAP

Here you can find the "main features roadmap" of the alpha stage of development, where the game can't be considered finished or fully playable and many design and graphic elements are not final yet.

My internal roadmap is more detailed than this one and it has many more entries, but this should give you an idea of what I am doing at the moment and what I will be doing in the upcoming months.

Based on this roadmap, my plan is to release a new alpha build every month and at the moment it looks achievable if I keep working at the pace I had over the past 6 weeks as you can see in this simple chart that tracks the days I have been working on the game code:

basically I have been working on Virtualord every single day for the past 30 days and I will keep doing that as this is my full time job at the moment.

JOIN THE ALPHA TESTING

If you want to contribute to shaping the game design and main features of Virtualord you are welcome to join the alpha testing. To do that you simply need to join our Discord server where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel to discuss them.

today I published a video dev log on Youtube that shows all the new features and changes in the latest release of Virtualord in under 2:30 minutes.

P.S.

this is the first video I record in 4 years, so don't expect a professional youtuber as I know it's very far from perfect. :P
 

Alpha testing of version 0.3.0 has now started.

To try Virtualord out join the Discord server of the game where you will find a Linux and a Windows build (both hosted on itchio).

Virtualord is a new Turn Based Strategy game that resumes and continues my former project called Virtueror, an RTS game some of you might recall because of my devlog here.

I restarted the development after almost 2 years of stop and as you might imagine, things have changed a bit since my last update.
The main reason behind the change of genre is that my vision for this game suits better a turn based system, but I also realized that a polished RTS would have taken me forever to make.
The name change is mostly because I wanted to break with the past, but also because many complained that "Virtueror" was hard/weird to pronounce.

Current status
The game is currently in alpha and it just hit version 0.3.0.

You can join the alpha testing on Discord, where you will find a new Linux and Windows build every month.

Wishlist & Follow

• Steam
• itch.io

Screenshots
These are some screenshots of the latest versions.
0.3.0

I published a new dev log where I talk about how the community and the start of the closed alpha are shaping the development.
I am also presenting all the new features implemented during the month of January. The main ones are:

• Audio support for music and sound effects
• GUI Tooltips
• New structures: radar tower and trees

There's also a lot of minor updates, but check out the post for more details.

This dev log is also available on Steam in case you prefer to follow game updates there.

Perfect thanks.

What kind of license is offered for this package? I can't find any info here on itchio.

Hi, is this the same package (same files) sold on the Unity Store?

I am happy to announce that the first alpha build of Virtueror is now available for testing!

To be part of the alpha testing you can join the Discord server of the game, where you will get access to a Windows and a Linux build.

People who will take part in alpha testing and will provide useful feedback will be rewarded with a Discord role and mentioned in credits.

Welcome to the devlog of Virtueror: The Virtual Conqueror, a Real Time Strategy game with RPG and 4X elements I am developing on my own.

The project is still in early stage, but I am going to release a first alpha build soon. If you want to try it out and take part in a very open / community-driven development make sure to join the Discord server of the game as that's where all the alpha testing will take place. 

I am going to use this dev log for all kind of news related to the project during the development, so keep an eye on it if you like it.

WISHLIST & FOLLOW

The game will also be available on Steam, so if you use that gaming platform you can wishlist and follow it too.

Obviously the game has also a page on itchio, that you can add to your collections to track my progress.

SCREENSHOTS

UPDATES

MAIN UPDATES

• 13 Jan 2023 - Alpha 0.1.0 available
• 02 Feb 2023 - January 2023 dev log

It's March and I published a new dev log here on itchio that describes the progress I made during the month of February.

The main news is the creation of a map editor, even if for now it's at a very early stage and its features are extremely limited...

The editor will be fully integrated with the game, so everyone will be able to use it to create new maps.

Other changes involve the addition of a new unit, new in-game UI elements, more work on some RPG features of the units and a few of other minor changes. You can read the full details in the dev log.

Feel free to post your comments or any question here or in the dev log page.

Thanks, it's always been a (planned) key concept of this game. I hope to develop it further and to show you more soon.

As pre-announced in my latest dev log, I am pondering if using procedural generation for the maps of Virtueror or not. I also asked to the people in the Discord server of the game what they think about it.

Click on the image to see the options, then feel free to join us on Discord or to comment here if you want to express your opinion.

Now that I can post again I can reassure you that the development of this game was put on hold last summer because of several personal reasons, but it has restarted last December and it's now proceeding at full speed!

I wrote a blog post about what happened and after that I also posted a dev log for December 2021 and one for January 2022.

This should be enough for catching up with the development.

From now on I will use this forum for minor updates, but make sure to follow me on itch.io and to add Virtueror to a collection to get notified of the next dev logs.

Thad did it, thank you!

Thanks, it worked!

Hi, would it be possible to re-enable this topic in devlogs?

I had to put the development of my game on hold for a few months, but now I restarted to work on it and I would like to post minor updates in this forum.

No big deal if it isn't possible, I'll just create a new one, but I thought to ask before doing that.

Despite the slow period, I have been working on some new features recently.

Now defensive towers are fully working and they start to shoot at enemies as soon as one is in range.

Another new feature is that when objects are hit they emit small particles.
Keep in mind that GIF compression is not really making justice to the animation, but I promise things look better in game.

Currently I am working on some improvements for the in-game UI, in particular I am focusing on the actions panel that allows to control units and structures.
I will post more as soon as I finish with that.

You probably know this already, but... indie development is hard, especially if you have a day job.

Recently I have been struggling to do much in terms of development and marketing and as result in the last 3 weeks I did less than what I used to do in a week the previous month.
The main difference is that this month I didn't have any day off from work and I also had to put some extra hours into my day job because of a deadline.
That, combined with temperatures up to 35C/95F for many days, kept me too tired to do anything relevant.

At least things are looking better now.
I spent the whole weekend working on 2 new features (that I am going to show you soon) and I took 1 day off per week (starting from this one) for the rest of the month.

I also put up a poll in my game Discord server to ask if people wanted to try the game as it is now or in 4-6 weeks to have a better experience in terms of gameplay.

Not everybody voted yet, but it's clear what people prefer and that's what I am going to do.

If you want to follow my progress from close and if you would like to influence the development of Virtueror, you can join my Discord server too.

Hey Winfield, great, I'll check it out later today.

Thank you

I have posted a new roundup update that covers all the news and all the progress from the month of June.

You can check it out in the game dev log and feel free to post any comment there or even here if you prefer!

Hey Paul thanks!

I am not looking for one yet, but I will in the future.

I am going to check out your website later. Before I do that, can you point me to any track that maybe could suit my game? (in terms of genre or vibe/mood)

I have recently introduced a new building in Virtueror: a radar startion.

After you conquer it, you have to connect it to your base to activate it. That's a core mechanic of Virtueror as I have already shown you when I explained how resource mining works.

In the future it will also be possible to build it with your units and to expand its range with upgrades.

If you want to find out more about this game check out its itchio page.

The itch.io page of Virtueror is now live and I hope you'll like it... ;-)

From now on I will use the blog of the page for all major updates, but I will keep posting minor updates here now and then.

I am happy to announce that Virtueror is now on Steam!

I would appreciate any feedback you might have on my page and I hope you will wishlish and follow it if you like what you see.  

I have also managed to bump the completion tag to 20% thanks to the latest effort in development. I will probably show you something new in my next post.
Obviously there's still a lot to do and I know well it will not be easy, but I am excited for the progress so far.  

The itchio page will be live very soon as well. I just need a bit of time to check everything is fine and to make it public.

I had to change it to "Draft" as that was the only easy way to share the link with a few people on Discord.

Before doing that I tested things more with a friend and I found out that it works as expected if you enable the option "download key can be claimed", but you get the 404 error page if you don't.

I just created a new page for my project and I set its visibility to "restricted" as I want to show it to a few people before going public.

I followed the documentation and I created a download key URL, but when people try to use it and click on the "Game page" link:

All they get is a "404 not found" error page with a frog.

Everything works fine if I set a password to view the page.

Is there any way to give access to my game's page without setting a password?

Reading the documentation it seems that should be possible, but I can't get it working.

The fact that I am posting this update on a Saturday night at almost 1am should give you an idea about how busy my week has been...

On the bright side I have also some important news to share, but let's start with the update.

Early this week I have published a new monthly dev log recap on the blog of Virtueror. This one covers the progress I made with my game during the month of May.

One of the latest new features is defensive towers:

You will find more details and also a new bug of the month in the blog post, so I'll leave you to it.

I mentioned some important news and here it is...

The Steam page of Virtueror has been approved and it will go live soon, on the 9th of June:

I know this is just one more step of a very long journey, but it feels like things are getting real now and it's scary and exciting at the same time!

That also means that the itch.io page is almost ready and it will go live on the same day (if not sooner). Ill make sure to post an update when it's live.

Interesting project and it looks like you already have the core gameplay implemented.

Are you going to create a game page on itch.io any soon?

Yesterday I spent most of my day playing my game and taking screenshots for the upcoming Steam and itchio pages.

I wanted to share with you one that I am probably going to use:

It's been pretty time consuming, also because I only have 1 test level at the moment and showing different things has been pretty challenging, but I managed to get 6 decent screenshots in the end (after taking about 40...).

I also coded a few little debugging features that will help me in the future and I started to think about game balancing and spotted a couple of new bugs.
Overall it took more than I anticipated, but putting all together it's been a good step forward toward my long journey!

Hey  Winfield, I am not ready to add music to my game yet, but maybe you can start to create a 20-30 seconds demo track in your spare time (no rush, really) and send it to info(AT)virtueror(DOT)com when you're done .

My main reference is the soundtrack of Dune 2000, but feel free to come up with something completely different/original if you feel so.

I published a new dev log video to show the main new features I added to Virtueror in the last month of development:

For this month they are:

Map navigation - that's something I previewed with a GIF in a post from a couple of weeks ago. Now you can see it in action on video.

New units - now it's possible to create different unit types and each has its own attributes, RPG style. There's also a new dedicated dialog to do that:

Combat and shooting - I implemented some very basic combat and shooting mechanics. There's still a lot to do, but it's nice to start to see some more interaction in game!

The danger rectangle reminds me of those scenes in games and movies with air fights where you are trying to lock your enemy to shoot a missile. :-D

To celebrate the 100 subs of my YouTube channel I recorded a short video where I play Virtueror on a very big touch screen: 

Nothing too serious, it's just for fun, but I hope you will enjoy it!

I am happy to say that thanks to the recent progress I will have basic combat soon (maybe even next week)!

I should have probably have done it earlier, but I finally set up a traditional web blog for Virtueror.

I am planning to use it for posting monthly updates about all the changes and new features I worked on during each month, but also to post major news and events related to my game.

The other week I published a first post that highlights all the main development news for the month of April.

People who have been following me here and on YouTube are probably already aware of a good half of what is in that post, but there are also new features like the brand new map scrolling:

I am also revealing the "bug of the month", which I won't spoil you here, but you can find at the end of my post, so happy reading. ;-)

I also want to point out that I will keep this dev log alive and I will continue to post weekly here. The game blog is more for bigger posts and announcements and it's not going to replace what I write here.

Cool, I would like to try it when it's finished!

Cool graphics and style, I want to see this becoming a full game!

I always planned to involve gamers in the development of Virtueror and that's why I created a Discord server and invited a few people I know when I started to work on this game.

Now I am getting to the stage where I can finally open the doors to even more people!

If you like Real Time Strategy games and if you would like to influence the development of Virtueror, you can join me in this journey by signing up here.

After doing that you will receive an email with an invite to join the Discord server (check your spam folder if you don't receive anything within 5 minutes).

There you will be able to:

• vote development choices
• suggest new features and changes
• propose ideas and discuss them with other members
• get exclusive updates before they are shared on social media and forums
• get access to the design document and task tracker to always know the current status of development
• enjoy all the memes shared in the #off-topic channel 

All that in preparation for the first alpha build that will be available only to Discord members in early June.

Make sure to sign up soon as tomorrow (Friday 30) we are going to vote for the initial Steam capsule and that will be your first chance to influence the destiny of Virtueror!

Feel free to reply to this post if you have any question.

As a solo indie developer I have to do more than coding and designing game mechanics and new graphics, I also have to take care of production and marketing.

Recently I focused especially on these other sides of game development and I wanted to share with you a couple of important results from my efforts.

About the production department, I am proud to announce that I am now registered as Steamworks partner.
That means that I can finally start to work on the Steam page of Virtueror!

My goal is to have a page up by the end of May, but I'll try my best to get it done even before that. I doubt I will have a trailer since day 1, but nothing is sure yet.

You might be asking what about an itch.io page? Well, I am working on that too of course... ;-) and I am planning to publish it on the same day the Steam  page goes live, if not before that. I will try to plan a date in a week or two, so follow this dev log to find out more.

I also achieved a tiny victory in the marketing department.
Since yesterday my YouTube channel, where I post all my dev log videos, passed the first meaningful mark: 100 subs.

I know that's far from impressive, but considering that is all organic traffic and that my game is still in very early stage I am pretty happy with it.
If you want to support and follow my development you can subscribe to my channel and help me pushing that number even higher. 

I just realized that the (+X) next to the first line of each forum post is basically a counter of likes.

Would it be possible to make it clickable and to show who liked a post when you click it?