[h3]Salutations Industrialists,[/h3] I'm excited to share the progress we've made over the last month and update you on our Alpha Roadmap. While internal testing and the Pre-Alpha phase still continues, we are making good progress to the Alpha and look forward to sharing it with you soon, when it is ready. [b]Pre-Alpha Testing Continues[/b] As many of you are already aware, we have launched the Pre-Alpha of Gilded Destiny to a small group of about 100 testers chosen from our Kickstarter and Modian backers at random. So far, we have received lots of constructive feedback, suggestions, and bug reports. As we continue to develop certain systems for Gilded Destiny, we are also now beginning to transition to a more feedback-based approach to development. The pre-Alpha testers have helped a great deal to isolate bugs and to improve playability. We look forward to sharing the game with more of you very soon! As we've mentioned previously, we decided to do a small closed Pre-Alpha test to gather initial feedback so that experience of the Alpha is enjoyable and meaningful, and to streamline the process of administrating keys, feedback collection, and bug reporting on our end. Of course, as many of you know, both the pre-Alpha and Alpha builds of the game will likely have limited content and systems may not be fully implemented into the game. [b]Physical Merch Shipping Update[/b] Finally, we have shipped all physical merch to our Kickstarter and Modian backers. There are still a few who have not yet completed the backer survey. If you are reading this and have not done so yet, be sure to fill out the backer survey! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Without further ado, let's take a look at what we accomplished in December and what is planned for January and February. [h3]End of December[/h3] [i]Since some of the team was absent over the holiday period, we had slightly slower progress for December. However, there are still several important updates we would like to share.[/i] [b]Continue inputting Prussian events, and testing new Event Editor systems[/b] - Progress is being made. Inputting events will continue. A new version of the Event Editor has been released to our Content Designers, which will make it easier and more efficient to input events in the future. [b]Input more Leader portraits and backgrounds[/b] - Delayed. This has been pushed to January. [b]Continue refining Global Economy systems[/b] - Ongoing. Further progress will be made in January. [b]Continue inputting and refining historical population data for European countries at game start[/b] - Ongoing. [b]Finish implementing Construction UI[/b] - Much of the Construction UI has been implemented, pending a few additional adjustments. The UI has been updated to display more info to the player such as province GDP percentage and map mode. This allows the player to better understand the state of their economy at a glance. [b]New supplementary UI designs for other features (country selection, loading screen, main menu, etc.)[/b] - This will be an ongoing task. In December, the new UI for Country Selection has been redesigned to display more country information. And the new design for the End Game screen is in progress. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43221501/59e04f167d71f90e16cdbf446a8a42014ceb9015.png[/img] [b]New design for the game HUD[/b] - In progress. The new UI design will be finished early January. [b]Finalize design for Rebellions[/b] - The new design has been created [b]Add new flags into the game[/b] - Several new flags have been designed. Our Content Designers are continuing their research to add more. As a side note, the process of finding historical flags can be difficult, especially for some of the smaller countries during the 19th century. Where historical flags cannot be found, our Content Designers search for other historical symbols or emblems of the country that could serve as a flag. Notably, it has been difficult to find flags for 19th-century separatist factions in Afghanistan and the smaller countries of Oceana. [b]Begin implementation of the new Bug Report UI into the game[/b] - Done. The new Bug Report UI has been input and tested. Bug Reports submitted via the in game Bug Reporting interface will automatically be added to our devs' internal task tracking program. [b]Continue refining terrain (such as mountains, lakes, and rivers)[/b] - The First Draft of North America is nearly complete. Next we will move onto East Asia. Map View Function has been designed, and programmers are developing now. - Still in development [b]Adjust Diplomacy and expand new functions[/b] - All major new mechanics and functions have developed and implemented. Low priority effects and mechanics are waiting for implementation. [b]Start adjustment of AI performance[/b] - Designs have been reviewed to increase AI depth, but implementation will be ongoing as continuous adjustments will be needed. [h3]End of January[/h3] - Begin implementing new UI designs for the HUD and Settings menus - Begin designing major Chinese Events - Complete inputting Prussian events and testing new Event Editor systems - Complete input of new Bug Report feature and update UI - Continue updating and refining Global Economy systems - Complete refining and updating design for POP promotion and migration - Continue refining terrain (such as mountains, lakes, and rivers) - Central Asia, Middle East, and South Asia - Finalize design for Bureaucracy - New supplementary UI designs for other features (loading screen, main menu, end game, etc.) - New design for the game HUD - Design more Cultural Heritages and Religious Convictions - Refine and update technology tree, and design UI for in-game technology tree visualization - Since our technology system includes some element of randomness (see our Dev Diary), we are planning to include a visualization of the technology tree so that players can have a clearer sense of technological progression. - We also intend for the visualization of the technology tree to be moddable in the editor. [h3]End of February[/h3] - Begin implementation of Rebellion mechanics - Begin inputting major Chinese events - Begin designing and inputting minor events for European countries - More plans to come for February at the end of the month. We are assessing the current needs of the game. 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! Join the Gilded Destiny Discord Server [b][url=https://discord.com/invite/m22Ek8jxJf]Join the Gilded Destiny Discord Server[/url][/b] Thanks for your support and for reading! May your day be a gilded one!