Dev update Februrary 2023 & new alpha 0.1.2

Special post as this is about the usual monthly dev log, but also to announce the second alpha build of Virtueror.

New alpha build available

To be honest it's another pre-alpha

 build, but hopefully people who are going to try it will still appreciate the new features and improvements, which are all listed here and in the previous dev log.

Unfortunately there's no major update for the gameplay (hopefully that will come in the next build), but a lot of new minor features and improvements, hence the codename: "does it run better?".

As for the first build, if you want to try it join the Discord server of the game as that's where you can already find the links to download both the new Windows and Linux build.

Control areas

Now colored lines on the map highlight the area you control, which is based on your connected structures. Obviously the more you expand your base the bigger this area will get.

I will probably change the graphics of the lines in the future, but for now the important thing is this new feature is implemented and working fine.

In-game settings

Until last update it was only possible to access settings from the main menu, entering a dedicated screen. Now they are also accessible in game while playing a map.

News & updates dialog

I created a dialog in the main menu that will list all changes in new builds and eventually any kind of relevant news.
This might seem a secondary feature, but it's very useful to make early testers aware of changes from previous builds, especially when a build spreads over more than 1 month of development, hence more than 1 dev log, like in this case.

Minor updates

- Now all UI has some kind of sound effect associated to major actions like mouse over and clicks.
- Implemented new UI widgets: scrollbar and scrollarea.
- Video settings now allow to choose from 3 different video modes: borderless, fullscreen and window.
- Added map scrolling speed control in game settings.
- Fixed camera ending with an empty screen when scrolling diagonally.
- Several fixes and improvements in game library code
- Updated code of the open source repository on GitHub to the latest changes.

What's next

For next month I want to go back to focus on gameplay and AI development, something which I couldn't manage to do in the last few weeks.

I also want to try to solve all the weird tech issue the game has on Windows because until I do that I won't be able to release a public alpha and to access a broader audience.

I wish I could be more specific when talking about my future plans, but as now I work on Virtueror on the side of a day job it's hard for me to offer a detailed roadmap.

Check out next month's dev log to find out what I will manage to achieve during the next 5 weeks of development.

Support this game, add and follow!

If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror I would really appreciate if you could spread the word, but also add it to your collections and follow me on itchio to stay up to date with all the upcoming news and updates.

You can also wishlist and follow on Steam, if you use that gaming platform too.