Hey Everyone! A Druid's Duel has been out for 2 weeks and the common theme is that the game itself rocks, but there are a few places the overall experience falls pretty short. I am encouraged that you really like thrashing Druids and will do what I can to improve the areas you don't like as much. I've planned out a series of updates to help address the major issues. Read on to find out what's in store. I plan to get through all of these in the next 5-7 weeks.

Update 1

This will focus on short-term fixes to keep online games moving:

• Players can concede in 2 Player games (or games down to 2 players left) at any point.
• 3 or 4 Player games will remain the same, meaning you can Retire on your turn only. This is not meant to make things hard for you, but the server will do its best to clean up inactive players.
• Balance tweaks to some 2 Player maps.

A server component will accompany this update that will clean up games when they are not moving. If you don't take your turn within 36 hours, you will automatically concede or retire from the game. This is a fair balance between urgency and flexibility. If it turns out this is too long or too short, it will be easy to adjust. This update is expected in the next week and will require the servers be down for a little while for updates. It will likely mean any in-progress games will be canceled. I'll give you more details before it happens.

Update 2

This update will provide better overall game options, such as widescreen support, audio/sound options, and some improved interface items. Campaigns will get some updates that allow you to clear one at a time, or to change the difficulty setting in a current campaign. I am also looking at removing the back-track/replay requirements as everyone seems to hate them :)

Update 3

This will focus almost entirely on improved online play. The idea is to integrate heavily with Steam and provide a much easier way to find and play games immediately and to their conclusion. Lobbies, in-game Chat, Friend List integration are all planned.

And Beyond...

Provided the other updates go smoothly enough, the focus will turn to improving the Campaign overall as well as new game modes such as Skirmish or randomly generated maps. Thank you for reading and don't be afraid to hit me up with any questions or ideas. Kris (designer/developer)

[ 2015-03-12 21:58:10 CET ] [ Original post ]