Ragnorium
MY NEXT GAME!
It's been a while; I hope you are all doing well and having a good summer.
I am coming today fourth with an announcement of a new game I am making, and I believe this information could be interesting.
To Recap, It took me about four years to develop Ragnorium, and sadly the game did not live up to expectations because the gameplay was lacking. After Ragnorium, i went to the drawing board, reanalyzed how i designed games, and started working on IAH: INTERNET WAR, something small in scope and more manageable.
IAH: INTERNET WAR is my next commercial game; it is a turn-based RTS hybrid experience where you hack into the depths of the internet, battling enemies and memes and evolving your combat bots.
If this sounds like your thing, consider wishlisting the game and sticking around for this year's demo release, which will happen this August. I want to remove risk from the player and provide a good demo, and then release the full version somewhere next year. Like you, I am also burned on Early Access games.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/304770/IAH_INTERNET_WAR/
Have a good one!
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Vitali Kirpu Productions (Steam Developer Profile) is a one-person indie game development shop. I am currently working on Pixel Piracy and IAH: INTERNET WAR.
2023 VITALI KIRPU PRODUCTIONS. All rights reserved.
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My next Game is IAH: INTERNET WAR
It's been a while; I hope you are all doing well and having a good summer.
I am coming today fourth with an announcement of a new game I am making, and I believe this information could be interesting for you.
To Recap, It took me about four years to develop Ragnorium, and sadly the game did not live up to expectations because the gameplay was lacking. After Ragnorium, i went to the drawing board, reanalyzed how i designed games and started working on IAH: INTERNET WAR, something small in scope and more manageable.
IAH: INTERNET WAR is my next commercial game; it is a netpunk rogue-lite RTS experience where you hack into the depths of the internet, battling enemies and memes and evolving your combat bots.
If this sounds like your thing, consider wishlisting the game and sticking around for this year's demo release. I want to remove risk from the player and provide a good demo, and then release the full version somewhere next year. Like you, I am also burned on all Early Access games.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/304770/IAH_INTERNET_WAR/
Have a good one!
Ragnorium Post-Mortem and Early Access.
This will be quite a post, a post-mortem on Early Access and my thoughts on it, i doubt it will bring comfort to some of the players, but i think it's essential nonetheless to provide this information so that you guys know what the developer of the game feels.
To begin, i want to state that Early Access as a platform is generally a good place; it has produced many good games, and many single devs did a phenomenal job on Early Access, but, in my view, it's terrible for me. Moving forward, i want to state that early access as a platform will no longer be utilized for future games of mine because i desire to improve as a developer. Like you players, i am as just burned by the idea of Early Access for games, but my reasons are different.
I dedicated about 4-5 years of my life to Ragnorium, and i had fun developing the game and learned quite a lot, i completed it as best as i could, given the scope and resources that i had. You can complete the game. In that period, however, it would have been more valuable if i had done 2-3 more minor games and attained more experience because, fundamentally, it's that experience that i lacked the most, which was my Achilles' heel.
Acceptance of faults is part of the process of becoming better, i do accept that Ragnorium is a 6.5/10 game; it would be a waste to stop my game development story now; for many failures, there is bound to be at least one success. The definition of success for me is a form of a game that is unique and executed well. Ragnorium, for example, in my view, despite being a colony simulator, is a unique game and not a direct copy of any particular game, but the execution for Ragnorium was lacking, so it did not succeed as a game.
As a person, i am not particularly good at anything. Still, i believe if you do something for a long time, you will become good at it; some people take longer than others, and I take the longest. And for the sake of continuity, i will keep you updated; you all deserve to know what will happen next.
I will keep you guys posted, and please let me know if you want me to write more of content like this.
Cheers!
Ragnorium Status Update
So, Summer is coming to an end, and i wanted to write an update on where i have been. I've been thinking about what i want to do next, and it's becoming more evident that i can't continue working on Ragnorium as i previously envisioned.
The primary reason for this shift is that, in the end, life is just too short; i did what i wanted with the game as best as i could, and after early access, i thought that i could cram even more stuff for the fans, but it became evident that my mind wanted to do something else now after all these years. I thought i could get away with an original idea that i gave to the community, but in the end, i met my human limit; doing a game alone of this size is quite challenging.
Initially, i wanted to do just one map, but then i got pretty excited with the world-building and created four more maps, heck i even created over 40 different characters to give context to these worlds. As the player progressed, it became more apparent that the game's scope was just too big for one developer, especially during the electricity phase. Still, despite that, i liked what i created, and i enjoyed the stone age elements of the game best.
The secondary reason is that the design language of the game is outdated, and if i would do Ragnorium 2.0, it would still feel like 1.0 because it is using the underlying game as a base; it would be tough to improve the overall quality.
And thus, to keep my sanity, i have pivoted to something else. Now, if people start reporting bugs on discord, i will most certainly patch those bugs as part of my long-term maintenance support, but there is no guarantee when that will happen exactly.
Stay Strong and stay tuned for that next thing!
#ISupportUkraine #PutinIsWarCriminal
Ragnorium 1.0.7 is now Available!
Ragnorium Version 1.0.7 is now Available!
- Fixed Bug where Colonists would walk over the No Walk zone when they are not supposed to.
- Fixed Bug where Crafting Flintlock Pellets would give an incorrect amount of items.
- Fixed Bug where Ark Pylon Objective and Wooden Elements names were displayed incorrectly.
- Fixed Bug where Gull Eggs Critter Home was not selectable.
- Fixed Bug where there is a great chance to accidentally alter your UI scale while the colonist profile tab opens and you press A/D keys.
- Fixed Bug with Passive Happiness Skill Capsule Bug.
- Fixed Bug where Traders would take damage from Trap Spikes. In addition, Non-Hostile Humanoids no longer take damage from Trap Spikes.
Currently trying to spend as much time as possible outside and with family; summer in Finland is very short, and i am presently trying to recharge my mental well-being as well.
Stay tuned for more, and thank you for playing!
Ragnorium 1.0.6 is now Available!
Ragnorium Version 1.0.6 is now Available! I have been sick for some days now, so I could not get much done; I had some sort of flu. ːsteamfacepalmː
Regardless, this week i have been doing good, I wanted to upkeep the pace, so here is the update!
- New: Stone Flail can now be created after researching Rope; Stone Flail has a very long range and is quite fun to use.
- New: Added Men of Nature NPCs.
- Community Feedback: Added Auto Research Functionality; you can now Auto Research Stuff after Research is Completed.
- Community Feedback: Added Mirrored Staircase.
- Performance: Enemy & Colonist Nameplate Performance improved; this UI component would be instantiated for every colonist and enemy, so now it is reused, and only one variant exists.
- Balance: General Supplies now has 1 X Emergency Stimpack.
- Fixed Bug where the game would occasionally become unresponsive for some time during 97% loading sequence.
- Fixed Bug where during combat, enemies or colonists would wiggle weirdly on the spot resulting in poor combat experience; in addition, when issuing order move command during combat, the responsiveness of colonists is greatly improved; this fix essentially allows you to kite slow enemies with Stone Flail or Flintlock rifle.
- Fixed a few Bugs with tutorials associated with Campfire.
Check Stone Flail and Improved Combat Movement here: https://i.gyazo.com/65ffafb1c207c4d6af818a5b8f4b21bc.mp4
You can see that as the enemy dies, the other enemy takes its place; no more weird movement.
Stay tuned for more, and thank you for playing!
Ragnorium 1.0.5 is now Available!
Ragnorium Version 1.0.5 is now Available!
New: Construction UI has been streamlined and updated.
New: Added Skybridge and Staircase constructions.
Building SYS: Building Roofs should be more accessible now.
Balance: General Supplies now has 1 X Emergency Stimpack.
Other: You can now Pause Game even if the cursor is hovering over UI.
Felt that Construction UI could use some love; I will be tinkering more with it, but for the time being, enjoy,
Stay tuned for more, and thank you for your continued support!
Ragnorium Progress Update #2
Time for a Progress Update, in this status update, i will tell you what i think about the game and where i am taking it.
Currently, as it stands out, i have poured a lot of effort into AI, Stability, and Infrastructure to serve Ragnorium better in the future; as you all may know from the previous Status Report, about 50% of the effort is put into the Core that powers the game. Remainders of effort went into current Ragnorium and Ragnorium 2.0.
AI Gif: https://i.gyazo.com/c17261d0d510d4ab0e8c4747e595ddd3.mp4
On Ragnorium 1.0 front, i have added new Skill Capsules for you to obtain; in particular, it was cool to add some new Skill Capsules that consume AP, such as Omni-Slash.
Omni-Slash Gif: https://i.gyazo.com/d3b44ae7bb26d2a0776674a702a253b8.mp4
Ragnorium 2.0, saw its gameplay mode separated from the base Ragnorium, and i am pretty happy to say that all infrastructure moved over to the Ragnorium 2.0 flawlessly; just check this out.
You see a Tile, and the maps would consist of different Tiles that you accumulate and place on maps; each tile would come with stuff and biome, and part of the gameplay appeal would be that you would sculpt your world. It's just a taste, but this gameplay mode will be monumental.
I planted some decorative Trees and just let the guy run; all work well; best of Ragnorium can carry over to Ragnorium 2.0
Ragnorium 2.0 Tech Concept Gif (Not Final!): https://i.gyazo.com/83aef6e889502715817aab5fecd90c11.mp4
It is going to be interesting when i refine the gameplay loop for Ragnorium 2.0; the premise is that it will be a more focused Ragnorium, and strong emphasis will be put on players' time, innovation, and taking only the best of Ragnorium 1.0
Now, for Ragnorium Core, i think i need to look into UI and see what i can do to improve it; something like a total remake of UI is not on my radar just yet, but i think i might do it for Ragnorium 2.0, and when i do it it will also benefit Ragnorium 1.0, but i will need to think about this down the road if i really want to revamp everything is just some key bits.
Also, to clarify, Ragnorium 1.0, and Ragnorium 2.0 run on the same engine; if you own Ragnorium now, you own both games, and you won't need to do anything.
Take care, guys, and stay tuned for 1.0.5, which should be out this week!
Ragnorium 1.0.4 is now Available!
Ragnorium Version 1.0.4 is now available on Steam!
- *New: You can now Modify the Number of Harvestable Objects and Critters that spawn initially on a map during the loadout phase. Modifiers are bound to a range of 0.5X - 2X
- New: Added SPEED Skill Capsule, which increases Movement Speed by 25%; there is no Speed Cap.
- New: Added ATTACK SPEED Skill Capsule, which Attack Speed by 20%; there is no Attack Speed Cap.
- New: Added Zombie Skill Capsule, which gives infinite colonist energy at the expense of 50% Max LIFE.
- New: Added Flash Skill Capsule, which allows to Quickly Dash-Teleport to the nearby enemy target.
- New: Added Omni-Slash Skill Capsule, which Quickly Slashes an enemy for +100% extra-base damage with the increased range. Uses 1 AP.
- New: Added Super Clone Skill Capsule, which increases Colonist Max Level by 5 points, can be stacked. Colonists with 1 and 3 Super Clones Capsules also obtain the Super Accent Powerup effect.
- Slight Performance Boost to the CPU.
- Performance Gains to the Objective Loading System and Other Systems that require Random Object Placement.
- Other/System: Save Files are now also copied over to the C:\Users\\AppData\LocalLow\Vitali Kirpu Productions\Ragnorium\Save\ path just in case.
- Fixed Bug where the game could get stuck for some time during Loading Screen.
- Fixed Bug where Main Menu Links would not appear after returning to the Main Menu from the game.
For 1.0.5, i want to introduce new weapons and some new immersive weak enemies that would roam the land.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for more, and thank you for your continued support!
Ragnorium 1.0.3 is now Available!
Ragnorium Version 1.0.3 is now Available!
I wanted to give some love to the landing sequence as there was some feedback regarding that and improved further pathfinding node system. Giving the ability to adjust terrain priorities was an excellent exercise to test the new implementation further.
Check the GIF Here (Gyazo): https://i.gyazo.com/30d26eabab6d40e7a3f257c6563e78ce.mp4
Check the patch notes below.
- Ship Outfitting Menu now displays what Items Cargo containers have.
- Colonization Ship is now about 75% faster, and Camera Controls have more freedom.
- Quantum Commander CPU COM and Cargo Indicators are now shown even during the landing sequence.
- Cargo Containers Revamped: Deprecated Old Containers and Added New Ones. These Are...
- General Supplies (Replaces Started Cargo)
- Food Supplies,
- Hygiene Supplies (Soap & Diapers)
- Water Supplies
- Special Containers: Skill Capsule Supplies and Time Capsule Supplies.
- When Hovering over Cargo Containers tooltip, it also shows the amount.
- Added Walk Penalty & Priority Zones that you can place on the map; these Zones add a penalty to the Colonist Path walking and effectively give you tools to control where they can walk or not. Be mindful that they will go there if you have something important within your zone.
I hope you will like these improvements, and we will see again next week with 1.0.4.
I have a potential plan to introduce Map Settings Options for the next Update, where you can adjust the Map Multiplier Modifier, such as the number of Objects and Critters Spawned. And in addition to that, there will be a small balance change to the Influence, i will be adding a mechanism that will refund your influence points that are not used up, which should help you a bit.
Have a good weekend!