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[Alain]

Thanks for the update. It sucks when other things keep getting in the way and you feel like you are not getting enough done. I am sure almost all of us here can relate.
I voted B, too

[vivaladav]

Thanks for the update. It sucks when other things keep getting in the way and you feel like you are not getting enough done. I am sure almost all of us here can relate.
I voted B, too

Yeah, I am sure many people here know that well...
Anyway, I am trying to not be too hard on myself as there's not much I can do in the current situation.

Thanks for voting, it looks like B won by a landslide!

[vivaladav]

Despite the slow period, I have been working on some new features recently.

Now defensive towers are fully working and they start to shoot at enemies as soon as one is in range.

Another new feature is that when objects are hit they emit small particles.
Keep in mind that GIF compression is not really making justice to the animation, but I promise things look better in game.

Currently I am working on some improvements for the in-game UI, in particular I am focusing on the actions panel that allows to control units and structures.
I will post more as soon as I finish with that.

[Alain]

Nice, I like the particle system. I just realized I never asked whether "Z" is an inspiration to you. I did not play it too much and Z is visually very different, but somehow I feel like there could be a connection.

[vivaladav]

Nice, I like the particle system. I just realized I never asked whether "Z" is an inspiration to you. I did not play it too much and Z is visually very different, but somehow I feel like there could be a connection.

Kudos for knowing "Z" and yes, it's definitely a source of inspiration!
In particular the idea of conquering existing structures comes from it (and Command & Conquer).

[Alain]

Kudos for knowing "Z" and yes, it's definitely a source of inspiration!
In particular the idea of conquering existing structures comes from it (and Command & Conquer).

That's cool! I always felt like I need to take a deeper dive into Z. I only played a bit when I was younger, but still have the big box

[vivaladav]

I published a new monthly development update on Steam.
This one covers the latest development news for the month of July and comes with a new bug of the month!

Unfortunately I have been quite busy with work and life recently, which means I have achieved less than what I planned for the month of July, but at least the development hasn't stopped!

Some work I haven't showed you here in my previous posts was about the in-game UI.

For example action buttons used to control units are now toggle buttons, which means they stay selected until the action is completed or cancelled.
This might seem like a minor detail, but it improves the usability by a lot while in game.

For all the other updates you can read the full blog post.

[Alain]

Nice! I also like the damage particle effect and the bug of the month

[logophil]

Great to see more progress on this! The action toggle buttons seem really useful. To be honest, I'm not sure about the particle effects though, they seem kind of unnatural - though I suppose since the whole visual theme is like a virtual world, maybe natural is not what you should aim for, but still perhaps something that better indicates the concept of damage?

[vivaladav]

Nice! I also like the damage particle effect and the bug of the month

Thanks Alain, glad you like them!

Great to see more progress on this! The action toggle buttons seem really useful.

Unfortunately development has slowed down a lot in the last 2 months because of several things in real life, but I hope I'll be able to dedicate more time to Virtueror soon.

To be honest, I'm not sure about the particle effects though, they seem kind of unnatural - though I suppose since the whole visual theme is like a virtual world, maybe natural is not what you should aim for, but still perhaps something that better indicates the concept of damage?

Yes, the vibe should be "virtual universe" hence the pixels flying around.
I am not 100% sure I get what you mean though... don't you like the current particles or do you think it would be better not having them at all (for hits)?

[logophil]

Yes, the vibe should be "virtual universe" hence the pixels flying around.
I am not 100% sure I get what you mean though... don't you like the current particles or do you think it would be better not having them at all (for hits)?

Sorry, yea I meant improving the visual effect rather than getting rid of it. I guess what comes to mind is either A)something where the 'pixels' have a more elaborate or random motion, or maybe B)something that indicates damage more clearly like a crack or hole in the target object, or maybe (following the virtual reality theme) some kind of hologram/glitch effect. I guess B could also be in addition to A.

[vivaladav]

It's been 4 months since my last update... even the forum is warning me that: "this topic has not been posted in for at least 120 days".

Not great of course, but I am happy to announce that Virtueror is not dead, I just had to suspend the development for a while because I have been extremely busy with other things IRL.
Finally I am ready to go back to this project and starting from today I will be doing it full time from Monday to Friday!

Obviously it will take me a a few days to be fully productive again, also because I have to plan a lot of things from scratch and I will need to get familiar again with everything I had done so far.
Hopefully that won't take too long though, so expect a new monthly update on the 3rd of January 2022 and more regular updates after that.

In the meantime you can join the Discord Server to follow and to influence the development from close. Also don't forget to wishlist and to follow the game on Steam.

[JobLeonard]

Welcome back! 

Hopefully you won't succumb to "complete rewrite of the code-base"-syndrome as you look at your old stuff

[vivaladav]

Welcome back! 

Thanks, it feels good to be back.

Hopefully you won't succumb to "complete rewrite of the code-base"-syndrome as you look at your old stuff

LOL, no way!
Maybe I will plan just a few improvements here and there, but nothing major.

[Alain]

Welcome back vivaladav, great to hear you are fine and can now work on Virtueror so intensely!

[vivaladav]

Welcome back vivaladav, great to hear you are fine and can now work on Virtueror so intensely!

Thanks Alain!
I have to admit I missed working on my game and I am really enjoying it now that I can do it full time. That's not just because I can do more faster, but also because the moral pressure of doing something even when tired or busy with other stuff is gone.

I have to catch up with your (and others) game's progress. I hope everything is fine with you.

[vivaladav]

A month ago I announced as I was restarting the development after a long break and now it's time to show you what I did during the 2 weeks of work in December.

As first major change I introduced something that can be considered a new resource: money.
It is represented by the first icon from the left in the following image that shows the resource bar at the top of a mission screen.



Another big change is the redesign of the dialog to choose the unit (or structure) to create. The dialog will look like this:



And I said "it will" as I didn't have time to implement it in December, but it's something I am working on right now.

For a full changelog and to know more about these updates you can check out the extended post I wrote on Steam where you can also wishlist & follow the game if you like it.

I'll see you in a few weeks with a new update!

[Alain]

Nice to hear you what you got done in December. The unit/structure creation UI looks clean and polished as always!

[vdapps]

I second Alain's remark! I'm not very into strategy games, but I have to stress that UI is absolutely top notch, clean and well readable. Whole game looks very neat in overal, very nice minimalistic art.

And congrats to being back at development, I had 4-5 months break last year as well.

[vivaladav]

Sorry guys, I apologize if I am replying to your comments only now, but for some reason I didn't receive the usual notification email when you posted them.

Nice to hear you what you got done in December. The unit/structure creation UI looks clean and polished as always!

Thanks Alain!
It was a first iteration and soon I am going to show you the new version, but I am glad you liked it.

I second Alain's remark! I'm not very into strategy games, but I have to stress that UI is absolutely top notch, clean and well readable. Whole game looks very neat in overal, very nice minimalistic art.

And congrats to being back at development, I had 4-5 months break last year as well.

Thanks man, I really appreciate you saying that especially considering nothing is final yet.

For the graphic style I am trying to create something "different" as I think I can't compete with "realistic" assets made by big teams/productions. Hopefully enough people will like it.