Welcome to all of our dear readers, we wish you health and strength during these times. Today, Torpor Games wants to share the March monthly report with you, we have been working very hard on Suzerain so let’s get it going!

Many aspects of our game are moving forward at once and seeing all of the progress is very rewarding. Some of the highlights that we will share with you today are the character art updates, lighting pass v2 and the demo preparations.



Since our art review process began, we have been looking over what we can improve. It felt like our character portraits needed some love to make sure the player gets a little more personal with the interesting people that decorate the world of Suzerain. We decided to change the background colour of the portraits, lessen the border and make them bigger.

Overall, we have moved on to polishing some character portraits that needed a second pass, this entailed adding facial hair, different clothes and small colour touches. The image below displays the updated portrait visuals in the dialogue panel as well as the UI changes from last month.



Lighting had previously been satisfactory until our Unity engine update, after which it broke leaving the scene a little bland. We decided to take another look and go for a warmer approach with different sets of light at different angles. Another important detail was to also have different darker/brighter areas dependent on the lamp to add a touch of realism in an otherwise tailored light scene. This resulted in a cozier feeling, as you can see the comparison below.



Moving on to our exciting demo! Our game had a lot of public appearances to make sure we are on the right path. However, LudoNarraCon will be our first digital convention, the demo will be available to thousands of people around the world! We’re putting in some finishing touches and polishing our codex content, adding the latest characters and editing a few scenes that need a little more love.

We’re expecting our demo to have at least an hour of gameplay for you, if not more!



As you can see March has been a handful and there is much more exciting stuff to come once the 24th of April hits and LudoNarraCon starts. You will be able to play Suzerain and experience this universe for yourself during the digital convention. This is a dream come true for us at Torpor Games. Glad to have you along in our journey.



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Still around and as excited as we are that Suzerain is happening? Share this game with your friends and wishlist Suzerain.

Thank you and see you next time citizen, Glory to Sordland!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1207650/Suzerain/?curator_clanid=33025617

Are you a dutiful and knowledgeable citizen? Then you must read today’s history piece talking about THE pivotal event in history, the Century of Revolutions!

This piece is possible thanks to the extensive support and research provided by the Faculty of History of the University of Deyr.

The pivotal Century of Revolutions began in the year of 1823 with the overthrow of King Jonathan XII of the Kingdom of Arcasia. It ended in 1923 with the fall of the Kingdom of Sordland triggered by the revolutionary Artor S. Wisci. The Century of Revolutions was a period when the ideals of democracy, communism and nationalism spread to all corners of the World. In some places it toppled brutal Monarchies; in others it brought down enlightened Meritocracies. Most empires splintered to smaller nations that re-discovered their identities after leaving their imperial past behind.

The century shaped nearly all nations on Earth except for the Kingdom of Rumburg which suppressed any revolutionary sentiment and maintained stability in their realm. One of the fundamental shifts occurred in the splintered continent Contana which suffered from dozens of regional wars before it transformed into an expansive collection of united communist states. This continent-spanning communist state is now known as United Contana, a superpower like the world has never seen led by Leon Malenyev.


United Contana's motto.

United Contana’s influence reached far beyond the sea. The revolutionary efforts backed by Malenyev caused one of the most powerful and global empires of Valgos to fall to a revolution and transform into the Democratic Republic of Valgsland. The ripple effect from the fall of Valgos, resulted in the massive decolonisation of the continents of Xina and Rika.


A map of the Democratic Republic of Valgsland.

Meanwhile on Merkopa nations like Arcasia, Wehlen, Lespia, Agnolia went through changes. Some were peaceful while others dreadfully bloody. Lespia and Agnolia embraced democracy and capitalism fully. A big contributor was the rising giant at the western coast of the continent, Arcasia, which promoted democratic and capitalist values all over the world.

The Arcasians quickly rose to prominence as a world financial centre, military power and cultural influencer. They took advantage of their safe geographic location and the time period’s instability and made investments other countries couldn’t refuse. The network of military and trade alliances Arcasia built up around the world earned it the designation of superpower.


Arcasia's motto.

The Century of Revolutions ended in 1923 after a democratic revolution in Sordland overthrew King Edmund and established democratic elections which birthed the Republic of Sordland. When the dust settled, one could clearly see that the forces of liberty, democracy and capitalism were on one side while equality, socialism and communism were on the other. This near to bi-polar World had the danger of creating a global conventional conflict. It didn’t, but anxiety caused many smaller proxy wars years later including the Wehlen Civil War.

Historians often note that after the Enlightening, this period is the most important turning point in modern history.

Enjoyed the history lesson?

“Instreten sis er Anginicar av Gereigna, int olla Almergwolltene, int olla Mexis.”
“Education is the premise of progress, in all societies, in all families.”



Sign-up to our newsletter to learn more and see you next time dear reader, hope you stay safe and healthy!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1207650/Suzerain/?curator_clanid=33025617

Heartfelt greetings to all of our citizens residing in Sordland! Today we welcome you to our February monthly report, sponsored generously by the Ministry of Information. In this segment, the Torpor Games team will be sharing recent developments of Suzerain. Let’s kick it off!

In February we had the awesome opportunity to sit down and talk face to face with Des Gayle, the production manager of Fellow Traveller who visited us in Berlin. Internet communication is practical, but these occasional personal meetings make everything much more fun and easier. Here is a neat picture from the visit!




We started our narrative review for the entire game which consists of the Prologue, 12 Turns, the Epilogue and Summary. While this process will take a few months, we have broken it down to several smaller manageable quarters. For example, this month we have specifically focused on the Prologue and the first three turns of the game. The team is making additions where necessary: reviewing and polishing our existing content alongside all the other elements that are tied to it like news, reports, codex entries etc.

Furthermore, there were also a couple significant changes that we addressed in our design reviews. One of which was the month concept which we thought restricted the game a little too much narratively. Most of our conversations are essentially moments; we internally call them ‘scenes’.

We thought that making months more arbitrary feels better while also contributing to the reality of the slow pace in political change especially in policies, constructions and layered unfolding events. Previously, each turn represented one month; now one turn encompasses four months. 12 turns perfectly represents your four year presidential term between 1954-1957.



Our reform redesign has finished, and work is going forward with full speed! A much more detailed and unique content tree is being developed in comparison to the old one. Even though the work is very complex, we really think it will be worth it in the end due to more customisation and player input. The designed political paths of the Reformist, Dictator and Autocrat all aim to be unique and interesting in their own right which compliments the rest of the game.



Last but not least, we have also added a personal wealth value that will keep track of Anton Rayne’s own money. This separates the budget of the government from your personal wealth, giving us as designers and you as agents more greed-based avenues to explore.

This change came along with a significant UI update, moving the political connections, country overview, budget value and the newly added wealth value to the bottom-left corner of the screen. To make sure they don’t feel sad and lonely in the corner, we added the portrait of the President who will gaze into your soul as you make your (im)moral decisions. Smiles in boatloads of money...

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Duty calls and the country needs you. Display your approval for the rising star of the United Sordland party Anton Rayne, by heading over to our Steam page and wishlisting Suzerain. Let’s win the upcoming 1953 elections! #Rayne1953

See you next time citizen, Glory to Sordland!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1207650/Suzerain/

LudoNarraCon, the free digital convention on Steam celebrating narrative games, will take place April 24-27. There will be more than 30 narrative games exhibiting and a main theater airing 12 hours of live panels, all available free to you on Steam. During the event, exhibitors will be livestreaming onto their store pages! Learn more at www.ludonarracon.com!

Sordland is bracing for the passionately contested 1953 election season! All potential candidates from the three main parties have announced their bids to become the 4th President of the Republic of Sordland. It is time for you to join the political process when the doors open during LudoNarraCon between the 24th and 27th of April.

Heartfelt greetings from the Torpor Games team to all of you! We are super excited to share that we are attending LudoNarraCon, the digital convention for all kinds of cool narrative games right here on Steam. Narrative games come from the heart and soul and it is such a great opportunity to be among these talented studios and games. Not only that but we are also going to be releasing our Suzerain game demo to the public for the first time!

Don’t miss it, Sordland is waiting for you.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjnumLK9LyU&feature=youtu.be


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Fellow Traveller, an indie publisher, is thrilled to partner with Torpor Games to publish Suzerain! 🎉


Suzerain: How will you lead?



As President Rayne, lead Sordland into ruin or repair in the first year of your term in this text-based role-playing game. Navigate a political drama driven by conversations with your cabinet members and other significant figures. Beware or embrace corruption; shirk or uphold ideals. How will you lead?



The people are hungry for democratic reforms after decades under a traditionalist power. The economy is in shambles and the political landscape is shifting. Neighboring superpowers are watching us closely, and there are military threats on the horizon.

Can you pull the country out of its recession? Will you meet the demands of your people for reform? The future of Sordland depends on your choices.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1207650/Suzerain/