Dev Update 2022.04.05 - Alpha Open to All!
After the culmination of a month’s worth of work, we give you our new lobby and we are opening up the Alpha test to anyone who wants to play it! Just go to the Alpha Version link at the top of our webpage. Along with this release are some very interesting features we think you’ll enjoy and that will make multiplayer much easier to test from here on out.
The issue testers have had with multiplayer so far has been scheduling matches. This version fixes that. By the time this dev update is out, you will be able to get the next version of the game (0.12.1) and play asynchronous multiplayer games. That means a game can be created and gradually joined by others and as soon as the last player joins, the game will start. Then you can take your turn and return later after others have committed their turns to see the results and take your next turn. You will also be able to have multiple games running at the same time!
If you have an Alpha version prior to 0.12.1 please update now, this release has breaking changes and previous versions will no longer work correctly, especially for the lobby and multiplayer aspects. You may need to uninstall and reinstall completely.
The game details in the lobby are sparse at the moment but we will be adding more details about your active games (what turn you’re on, who has and has not submitted their turn, any fealty offers, etc) in future versions. We will also be working through a notification system for letting you know when a new turn is available.
As part of this work, we have made it so we can roll back and test any game that is played where there ends up being a bug. This will make fixing the remaining bugs much easier. It actually makes us feel like we have superpowers now, so to speak ;) So if you run into bugs please tell us the name of the game and what turn you saw the bug on and which player saw it. Armed with this information we should be able to hunt down the evil insects and send them to their doom!
With these changes, we think the beta will be on the mainnet much sooner than we previously expected! Exciting times are upon us. Thank you for your continued support and your next installment of the lore is below.
Because we have not had async multiplayer working until now we are going to merge this week’s tester points into next week’s points. The current standing for the top three players are Pelz, Grobovshik, and BigFootIsReal. Thank you for your continued testing and we will get your rewards out at the end of next week. For you three, please DM us with your mainnet wax accounts before the end of next week and we will send you your rewards.
Until next week,
~gg
Chapter IV: The Prince and Heir
Learning at the feet of the Order of the Magi had been our dear Lucius. I was but a child in training for the Order when he too was a child, learning our ways and diligently studying our customs at the command of his father, King Khalesh. The king wanted him to be the finest of magicians, Lucius having often told me what the king had commanded him since birth: If you are to wear the crown one day, you need to understand how to keep it. And Lucius, to the delight of his father, was a worthy pupil. His kindness, innocence, and diligence were all treasured by our masters, and they trained him thoroughly, along with myself, as I was almost always at his side.
By day we were students, following the direction of our teachers. But by evening, we were playmates. Running, exploring, growing up, and growing closer than brothers. And as we grew, the knowledge that our teachers shared grew as well. No longer did they only reveal information suitable for innocent youths, but they began to share their secrets. Deep secrets spoken in whispers that most would never hear, and once spoken, vanished like curls of smoke. The teachers we had so revered told us what we were not yet ready to hear, nor ever would be. Tales of our Gods. Things that to us sounded blasphemous. But who were we to judge our masters? We were but young men, and they, learned teachers. So we kept our silence. But I fear we kept it far too long. If I had spoken sooner, if I had taken action, maybe my beloved friend would now not be dead.
But I must not get caught up in sorrow now. Too much is at stake to let my thoughts turn from sharing all that you need to know.
In training Lucius, one thing had escaped the notice of his father: his son had a conscience. The horrors that had befallen the Celestials ate at his soul. And the evils committed by his own father against them and his very people were more than he could bear. Sleep fled from him, and his heart became sick with sorrow.
His father’s heart was becoming ever sicker as well, but not from sadness. His own ill heart was from the darkness it took to sustain such a life. An unnatural life that twisted his mind more with each passing year. The few lives he took yearly became many as his needs for sustenance grew. But no matter how many sacrifices he consumed, he felt his life slipping from him. His soul growing thinner and his strength, which had once been like iron, now growing brittle and weak.
He had trained Lucius to take his stead, knowing this time would come and seeking to secure his legacy through his son. And with every passing day, Lucius grew ever more eager to do just that. Though not in the way his father thought. In defiance of the wicked life the king had led, Lucius was determined to bring honor to the realm of man.
With King Khalesh alive, my friend dared not confront him. Even weak, his father was deadly. More powerful than all who walked the physical realm. And Lucius knew that simply sharing flesh and blood would not spare him from his wrath. Treason was dealt with swiftly, and the destruction he had watched the king bring on any who opposed him would be fixed on him. So he waited. And planned. And slowly gathered those by his side who were sickened by what they knew. I was one of them. I was his greatest ally. At the death of his father, we were going to fight for our world and those who had been gracious enough to help us so very long ago.
But the king, in his last days and desperately clinging to the glory he had attained, reached one last time for what his twisted soul so longed for—power eternal—and to our horror, found its path. No matter what dangers we faced, we knew our plan could no longer wait. We had to do all in our power to stop him.