Hello wise elders! Time passes so fast when you are old, but we are not out of energy yet!
I am here today with a little peek behind the curtains, showing what is changing in the current months as I get closer to the release. As some of you know, I am working on the mid and end-game balancing, making sure everything clicks together. I've been working on a lot of things in the shadows, and I want to show you some of it!
Revised Research Tree Due to the ongoing work in the beta, the Research Tree has been completely rebalanced, with many new buildings and jobs being added to make sure the flow keeps up during the game. Want some idea about what is coming? New resources such as Mushrooms, Coal, or Ice. New buildings such as Cellars and new Farms.
The Prophecy Looms After a lot of testing, I now have the full prophecy setup with all the correct pages and events, paving the way for the end game, and the fulfilling of the Prophecy... What will you find at the last page? Nobody knows!
New VIPs have reached the village VIPs (Very Important Pips) can affect life in your village. You may have encountered one in the demo, but there are others hidden, waiting for you to find them! Speaking about hiding... one of them really loves to hide. Some VIPs will be a boon to the village, but others... it is yet to be seen.
Now that the start of the game flows correctly, I have also started adding more variation to the start of the game: you may find different fields, or abandoned buildings laying around as you start, and the prophecy changes at each playthrough.
Remember: balance is still undergoing and you will see that the final game will have a lot of tweaks. ;)
The beta is still going strong, but there is still a lot to do to make sure everything is where I want it to be. I know we are getting to the end of the year and you are eager to try the game, but please be patient for a little bit more! I will announce a release date when the game is ready.
In the meantime, be sure to tell your friends to Wishlist the game!
Gameplay News - July 2022
Hello fellow elders!
Thank you for the huge response to the demo of dotAGE! It means a lot, after so many years, to see people finally playing it!
Work is continuining steadily after the release of the demo, I received a lot of feedback on the current state of the game and this is helping guiding the rest of the development as the beta proceeds forward.
Here are a few highlights on what I am working on:
A lot of UX upgrades are being developed on the most requested features, such as the option to set a limit on the amount of food consumed each day by the village:
I am also working on finding a better balance for event danger / protection, as losing events when your protection is high can be frustrating in the demo. I am testing several methods to make sure that everything feels more fair and more fun, while still mantaining the thrill of the risk! This is a mix of UX upgrades and mechanical changes that I am sure will be appreciated by the more strategic players. Here is a peek!
You may not know this, but the demo is just a glimpse of all I implemented in the years, and balance is now undergoing for the rest of the content. This means that I am moving around buildings, resources, and costs to make sure everything clicks together! Here is a (WIP) resource tree showing all the resources related to the Health Domain, and the diseases they can cure:
I may have exagerated with diseases...
Last but not least, dotAGE will be participating in the Tiny Teams Festival which highlights small teams making cool games! This is a good chance to get a lot of eyes on dotAGE! :)
There is still a lot to do, but I am happy on how the balance is shaping up lately.
See you soon! Michele
Let's play dotAGE!
The dotAGE demo is playable during the Steam Next Fest! I am going to stream playing it and talk about how the game works. Let's play it together and see what happens!
