Salutations Industrialists, I'm excited to share the progress we've made over the last month and update you on our Alpha Roadmap. As many of you may have seen, we shared our first gameplay video of Gilded Destiny in our latest Dev Diary! The Dev Diary takes you through several systems in Gilded Destiny showing how they are interconnected, including logistics, trade, and military—with a focus on producing and trading materials required to build railroads, moving military units, and waging war. We are getting ready to attend Gamescom in Cologne, Germany from August 21 to 25! So, in addition to being in the middle of working on the Alpha, we are prioritizing several features and systems for the demo version we will be showing in Cologne! Of course, these are not mutually exclusive, so overall, we are making good progress towards the Alpha as well—even if, in this update, we shuffled around some priorities to add content for the demo version (which will of course be seen in the Alpha too). Finally, a quick update to the Dev Diary schedule this month. As we will be in Cologne preparing for Gamescom, the Dev Diary for August likely will be released towards the end of the month. Of course, we will aim to provide a few updates from Gamescom itself! And of course, we appreciate your feedback—we are collecting suggestions we have received from our community and will consider them for future development. [h2]Accomplished in July[/h2] [list] [*] [b]We plan to make further progress on removing placeholders along with refining the stats for each unit type[/b] We have continued making progress, but have needed to prioritize other tasks. We will continue working to remove placeholders in August. [*][b] Continue adding provincial data for other countries and regions[/b] We have added data relating to population size, culture, and religion to provinces in the UK, France, Prussia, Austria, and the German Confederation, including Baden, Bavaria, Bremen, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hesse, Hesse-Kassel, Saxony, Mecklenburg, Nassau, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Weimar, and Wurttemberg. [*] [b]Complete design for the new Politics UI[/b] (containing functions relating to policies, culture, religion, and more!) Done! The following images are of course Concept Mockups: [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/8466153be9406150bc244f5eb958ac297ec19aad.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/d6de5157b068867f058f2e73497e61f458ba4cf4.jpg[/img][/url] [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/31375f32702282e41f5c5eb0c84fed6c8d288106.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/110c49ddf13567546fb4afea0d705decdcaa331f.jpg[/img][/url] [url={STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/446069d64e8f295105d77dba3274f59d1c767c57.jpg][img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/bdff6f6a673ac4d0ec228075ac4b82b3df68c41b.jpg[/img][/url] [*] [b]First draft of early Minor Prussian Events and early Generic Events[/b] The content design team has made progress on minor events, but a full first draft has not been completed yet. However, with Gamescom coming up very soon, we have prioritized major events and decisions, so that they are completed for the demo version. [*] [b]Finalize the reworked Technology UI[/b] design to go with our new Technology system The Technology UI is in its final stages. We have prioritized the Diplomacy UI, and once that is completed we will determine which UI afterwards is the highest priority. [*] [b]Input the revised and updated Construction and Building System[/b], including new UI and mechanics Design work on the Construction and Building system has been finished, and the programmers have begun to develop the system. However, this process is still ongoing and will continue into August; work on the UI still needs to be finished also. [*][b] Add Qualities for some Cultures and Religions[/b] to test and refine the Qualities system Some progress is being made. Inputting effects into the editor will be the next step to begin the testing phase for Qualities. [*][b] Refine and update English/Chinese Localization[/b] We will continue refining and updating in-game text, and are moving this to August to coincide with preparing the demo for Gamescom. [*] [b]Updated mechanics designs relating to Bureaucracy, Crime, and Pollution[/b] These mechanics are part of the Construction and Buildings system, which is being developed now. We expect this to be completed in August. [*] [b]Refine and Update Policies and their effects[/b] Done! Originally expected at the end of August, but the initial design work on Policies and their effects has been completed. We do plan to continue to refine this going forward, of course. Input of effects into the game will begin in August. [/list] [h2]End of August[/h2] [list] [*] [b]Attending Gamescom[/b] Aquila Interactive will be attending Gamescom in Cologne Germany from August 21 to 25. We will be showcasing Gilded Destiny and offering a chance for attendees to play a demo of the game. [*] [b]Continue refining and updating English/Chinese Localization[/b] Localization for the Demo version of the game, to be shown at Gamescom, and the alpha build. [*] [b]Input and test Policy effects[/b] This involves using the Editor to test the Policy effects in game. [*] [b]Input and test major Prussian Events[/b] We plan for this to be completed for the demo build. [*] [b]Refine and update Technology trees[/b] We plan to finish the design for the Tech trees in August. The programmers will start inputting the Tech trees in September. [*] [b]Readjust Military and Diplomacy AI [/b] [*][b] Update and add new icons to Trade and Military[/b] [*] [b]Complete and input the new Diplomacy UI [/b] [*] [b]New UI design for Construction, Finance, and Colonization[/b] [*] [b]Continue adding provincial data for other countries and regions[/b] We intend to add data relating to population size, culture, and religion to provinces in the Apennine Peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Poland, Cracow, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Walachia, and Moldavia [/list] [h2]End of September[/h2] [list] [*][b] Input and test remaining major and early-game minor Prussian Events[/b], and refine the Event System [*] [b]First draft of Qualities for Cultures and Religions[/b] [*] [b]First draft of late-game minor Prussian Events[/b] [*] [b]Begin implementing technologies in-game and testing the research system[/b] [*] [b]Continue adding provincial data for other countries and regions[/b] We intend to add data relating to population size, culture, and religion to provinces in the Great Qing, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the United States [*] [b]Finalize First Draft of Terrain[/b] Currently the Map Rework is planned to finish in September, which, as mentioned before, means that the Content Design team will not be able to refine terrain until the Map Rework is completed. We aim to finish editing altitude, placing terrain features, lakes, and rivers. [/list] As our goals and expectations evolve, and as these milestones are reached, we will keep you updated! Also, as a reminder—we have assigned Discord roles to our backers who are already part of our server. If you are not a member of our server, please join via the link below to ensure that you claim your role! We'll be checking back weekly to assign roles to new followers. Of course, if you join and would like to get your role sooner, just say hello in the main channel and mention that you'd like your role. If you're not yet a member of our Discord server, please use this link to join! [url=https://discord.com/invite/m22Ek8jxJf]Join the Gilded Destiny Discord Server[/url] Thanks for your support and for reading! May your day be a gilded one!