Hello again! It sure has been a while, hasnt it? Life has been keeping me busy for the past few months, preventing me from writing to this blog. But here I am now! I havent forgotten about this game! This development blog will be on the shorter end, and although I wont be talking about any shiny new features today, I will be going over a lot of technicalities regarding the release of the game. (TLDR at bottom)

The Demo is to shut down on full release

Unfortunately, I have decided that it is in our best interests to shut down the demo version of the game at full release. This is because so many things have changed, that it almost feels like another game at this point. Plus, I really dont want to be maintaining two versions of Solar War. And, because newer versions are more polished, I dont want everyone to think that the demo, which is an older version of the game, is an accurate description of the game. Therefore, around the time the full version of the game comes out, I will be shutting down the demo. I hope you understand.

About the release date of my game

In Development Blog #3, I officially pushed back the release date of this game to Q1 2025. Well, it is now Q1 2025, so when should the game be expected? Those with a keen eye may have noticed that I had quietly updated the planned release date to say March 2025. This wasnt done arbitrarily; I can now say with near 100% confidence that the game will be released sometime in March! Im not announcing any specific date, because either 1.) I will put it too far ahead, causing me to sit on the game and deprive you of playing it even though it is ready; or 2.) I will put it too soon, technical difficulties arise, and I end up having to put an announcement the day before the release stating, sorry, Ill have to push it back a week. With that out of the way, I will say: I will release Solar War as soon as it is ready, and I expect Solar War to be ready sometime in March. Ill provide further updates as we get closer to the release.

What is coming with Solar War?

Let me get one thing straight: I would never release a product that I do not feel is ready to release. Ive heard countless stories of games being forced to publish on the release day even though they werent ready yet, and if a game has a disaster launch, then the game is kind of ruined forever even if it turns out to be a good game 6 months down the line. At least, thats how I see it, and Im sure a lot of other people see it the same way. That being said, I wont actually be done with Solar War when I release it. There will be some more (free) updates in the future that will add some more features, but the reason why Im putting these updates after the main release is because I find that these features arent strictly necessary for the game, even though they will bring good content into the game. I havent actually decided what I want to add yet, but it will probably be something along the lines of more solar systems, more fun options, more bosses, and more chaos. That being said, I do want to focus on what is actually coming into the original release of Solar War: In Development Blog #3, I mentioned that I was adding a second solar system, Alphy Centauri, along with the One and only Sol that is already in the demo. I will say now that there will be a third solar system, with further details in a future development blog. In Development Blog #1, I mentioned an Upgrade Store. This Store is already beginning to be implemented, with a fully functional currency and upgrade system already in place. This is coming to the full version immediately, though I may do some more tweaks after launch. There will also be more Fun Options. In the demo, there are currently 4 Fun Options; however, there will be more by the full release. I wont say how many, though. There will also be some more features that I wont be mentioning yet

TLDR

Solar War will launch sometime in March, and this release will include:

• 3 Solar Systems
• More Fun Options
• An Upgrade Store
• Some other new features

However, more features will be added after launch, which could include new features but also tweaks to existing features. The Demo version will also shut down around this time, for reasons mentioned above.

Thats everything for today

If you want to hear more updates as they come out, then Ive heard that following this game and adding this game to your wishlist will enable you to receive notifications on critical events, like the game actually releasing! Until next time! -Andrew

[ 2025-01-25 17:22:02 CET ] [ Original post ]