As spring unfolds and flowers blossom, we welcome you to the May broadcast. Like bees spreading pollen, we aim to share the vibrancy and growth of this beautiful season with you all!
This month, we've made significant strides in optimizing our new 3.0 version for mobile. Our goal is to ensure that the game runs smoothly on older devices, handling complex scenes and visually demanding 3D/2D elements in a more optimized way. Alongside these improvements, we've also achieved enhancements in battery life and introduced a new approach by splitting map modes and their rendering to optimize performance across all devices.
Moreover, the enhancements we've implemented for mobile have also benefited the PC version in our latest 3.0.8 update. These improvements include more efficient rendering and better-optimized lighting, making for a smoother and more visually appealing experience across all platforms.
We are very excited to continue refining and polishing the gaming experience. Using data from analytics and player surveys, we are actively balancing the game based on player feedback and metrics. In May, we launched a major update and are already deep into the development of the next smaller patch, which will be coming soon.
Additionally, we are enhancing the airforce feature within the war mechanic and initiated new mechanic changes for the larger content update in the future. This month, we also started concepting new scenes to deepen the narrative around Rizian politics, aiming to immerse players in the political arena with more agency. These efforts aim to deepen the game’s later stages and improve the narrative flow. We'll keep you updated on our progress.
Currently, our team is focused on implementing the new features of the mobile port and making the most of the indie games accelerator program to enhance the mobile gaming experience. This effort includes exploring innovative ways to engage different players with the Suzerain Universe.
Despite a busy schedule filled with conventions, travels, and holidays, we remain committed to improving our content as always. We are continuously gathering community feedback through our tracking system in Discord, which informs our content updates and iterations.
And...Great Timing!
This month, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the content we’ve been sharing. Your opinion is important to us and helps us improve. Please take a moment to fill out our survey and share your insights!
We are excited to invite you to participate in our Collectible Creation Contest, a unique opportunity to leave your creative mark on "The Kingdom of Rizia," you love. This is your chance to design a unique collectible item that could become a permanent fixture in our game’s universe, enjoyed by players worldwide. Are you ready to channel your creativity and design an original collectible that embodies the spirit of the Kingdom?
Whether it’s a powerful artifact, a whimsical gadget, or a legendary piece of lore, we want your best ideas! Your design should be innovative, functional, and visually captivating, aligning with the game’s aesthetic and narrative.
How?
Join the Discord channel and follow our guidelines to submit your creation. Once submissions are in, the community will review and vote for their favorite collectibles. This is your chance to engage with fellow players, rally support, and showcase your creation. The collectible that resonates most with the community will be crowned the winner.
The game will integrate the winning collectible for the next 3.1 patch update. In addition to the honor of having your creation featured, you will receive the artist of the Suzerainverse role on Discord and will be invited to the next early testing round.
Let your creativity shine and become a part of our game’s legacy. We look forward to seeing you and wish you the best of luck in the contest!
The festival season officially kicked off this May, and we’re thrilled to share our adventures with you!
Earlier this month, the Torpor Games team returned to the Amaze Festival 🌟😍. It was an inspiring experience connecting with other indie studios, discussing our latest projects, and engaging with fellow creators and indie gaming fans. The passion and enthusiasm we encountered reaffirmed our love for what we do.
Fueled by this inspiration, we’re excited to bring you even more innovative and engaging content!
Two weeks ago, we had the privilege of hosting a booth at the Nordic Games Conference (NG Spring 24) in Malmö, Sweden, thanks to the generous sponsorship of medianet berlinbrandenburg e.V. The event brought together passionate gamers, talented developers, and industry peers, fostering meaningful discussions and valuable networking opportunities.
We showcased our new DLC, "The Kingdom of Rizia," with its innovative turn-based war mechanic, and pitched "The Conformist" to an enthusiastic audience. It was an unforgettable chance to connect with fans, forge new business relationships, and learn from the people we admire in the industry.
Last but not least, we are happy to announce that the Rizia soundtrack is now available on Spotify, YouTube, and Bandcamp. It's only £5 and James enjoyed exploring new styles in this soundtrack and we hope you’ve all enjoyed listening to it so far!
Furthermore, stay tuned for next month for a nice surprise!
Last week, some of our team members went on a journey to Malmö for the Nordic Game Conference. It was a great experience to meet with fellow indie dev studios, and showcasing our beloved, Kingdom of Rizia.
We were thrilled to see so many of you enjoying the new war features we’ve been working on. Your feedback was invaluable, and we’re eager to implement your suggestions to make the game even better!
Özgün represented our company at the event, presenting our upcoming plans and pitching The Conformist to business leaders and gaming enthusiasts alike.
As we dive into the game festival season, we're excited to share that we’re working on some exciting new surprises and updates from the studio, coming your way in June. Stay tuned!
Last week, the Torpor Games team went back to the Amaze Festival 🌟😍
Connecting with other indie studios, discussing our latest projects, and engaging with fellow creators and fans of indie gaming was inspiring. The passion and love for gaming we encountered reminded us why we do what we do.
Feeling inspired and energized, we can’t wait to bring you more innovative and engaging content.
We are updating the game with a seventh patch. If you want to support the endeavor of improving the experiences, please report your issues in our Discord forum here. We read all your feedback.
Patch 3.0.8
(09/05/2024)
The patch is deployed to the default branch. The database changes only apply to new games, and code fixes apply to on-going games.
Kingdom of Rizia DLC
Feature Updates
Implemented 48 Rizia achievements
Added hold timer to prevent missclicks in war when selecting something on operation
Content Updates
Added Rizian national anthem sung by Torpor Games team
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 5 internal security briefing
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 5 murder investigation briefing
Added option to cancel calling back the navy after not reaching an agreement in pales meeting
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 6 Alignment of the Six Stars scene
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 6 cemetery scene
Content polish and streamlining on Sordland bond purchase scene
Polish and consistency edits in Turn 2 Golden Guard scene, Turn 5 security scene, Turn 8 AN referendum vote and general council scene
Added no-cost option to investigate Pales if operatives in place
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 8 Zille security briefing
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 8 Zille negotiations scene
Axel will now be concerned about unification if national destabilization is true
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 9 Zille return speech scene
Edited Rizian-Palesian Unification Initiative decision to better reflect the context
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 9 meeting with Sal
Removed GRACE congratulating Palesian reunion after kicking Rizia out
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 10 security briefing and murder investigation scene
Numerous other scene improvements and polish
Controls, UI & UX
Added confirmation pop up to avoid resetting deployment by mistake on gamepad
Design and Balancing
Added GRACE energy contributions
Reduced starting default energy
Added house allegiance based authority modifiers
National destabilization has impacts on Zille in certain situations
Reduced military expenditures per turn and revised war expenditures
Minor edits to how titles are gained at the summary screen
Disabled decision to leave the AN if Intermerkopum is formed due to story reasons
Adjusted violent and peaceful resistance balance and thresholds for Zille
Reduced tourism threshold and balance so good tourism is achievable easier
Axel's dialogue at Monqiz Beach will no longer trigger if Unification Initiative is not started
Reduced per turn integer subtractions of administrative costs
Reduced energy storage cost and curtailment for now until future changes
Performance & Optimizations
Scene light optimization
Disabled rendering when unnecessary
Reduced build size
Updated world map and base map boundaries
Optimized map switching for reduced memory
Images memory optimization to load on demand
Main and escape menu inspected collection item memory optimization
Table collection item memory optimization
Memory management implementation for story pack scenes
Optimized hover input on maps
Optimized hyperlinks
Increased texture compression quality
Optimised Rizia map texture to reduce ram usage
Removed table normal texture for performance reasons
Bug Fixes and Polish
Fixed world map overlay not including zille when hovering over
Fixed fort ales name dissapearing on map when pales changes
Spring has arrived with a renewed sense of excitement and possibility! As many of you know, the end of March was a landmark moment for us as we released our very first story DLC, the Kingdom of Rizia! It's been an intense journey, but we are overjoyed to have finally launched it. We poured our hearts into creating this expansion and sincerely hope you enjoy exploring Rizia as much as we loved bringing it to life.
In conjunction with the DLC, we also introduced two special bundles designed to complete your experience and show your support for our universe:
Supporter Edition: This bundle allows you to fully embrace both Suzerain and the Kingdom of Rizia. It includes bonuses like the immersive soundtracks of both Suzerain and Rizia, alongside a special item, the Vulpitzer. You can find more details and purchase this bundle here.
Expanded Edition: Dive deeper into our universe with the Expanded Edition, which pairs the core Suzerain game with the Kingdom of Rizia DLC. This is perfect for those who want to experience everything our world has to offer from the very beginning. Check out this bundle here. Supporting us through these bundles is the best way to ensure we continue to develop and expand this universe we all love.
We are immensely grateful to everyone who pre-purchased the game and bought the Rizia DLC, and the Supporter Edition. Your support has enabled many future opportunities for Torpor Games. This April, our focus has been on supporting the DLC post-launch. We have deployed five updates to address the most critical issues, enhancing the game experience and laying the groundwork for future additions. Additionally, we are expanding the Rizia achievements, which currently number over 40 in development. More fixes, minor content, and polish will be included in the upcoming 3.0.8 update.
Our team is gradually shifting from reactive fixes to proactive planning for the next steps for Rizia and Suzerain. We have prepared two important surveys that we encourage all our players to complete. Your feedback about the game and your priorities now and in the future will help us enhance both Rizia and the Suzerain Universe in the coming years.
On the mobile front, we are excited to announce our participation in the Google Indie Accelerator program, which is aiding us in tackling the specific challenges of porting Suzerain to mobile platforms. We were selected from over 1,000 applicants to be among the 60 participants. As the Suzerain Universe continues to expand, particularly with the recent 2.0 and 3.0 updates, we are addressing new technical complexities such as larger database sizes, additional maps, and more collectibles. The porting of version 3.0 and Rizia to mobile is currently in the R&D phase. Our technical and product teams are leveraging Google's support to enhance the mobile experience. Furthermore, the optimizations and improvements we are exploring could potentially boost PC performance as well, although we are cautious about committing to specific dates or timelines to avoid undue pressure on our team following a significant launch.
Lastly, we are thrilled to be participating in AMAZE 2024 in Berlin and Nordic Game 2024 in Malmö next month. We look forward to showcasing the Rizia DLC and sharing more about our developments within the Suzerain Universe. Thank you for your continued support, and we are committed to delivering game experiences you love. Please make sure to complete those surveys!
Last week we also recorded the Rizia Anthem. We're happy to share a sneak peek into our recording session! It was a beautiful moment bringing this anthem to life, and we can't wait for you all to hear the final masterpiece hear the final masterpiece when it is uploaded in the game with a future update.
We're happy to share a sneak peek into our recording session for our dear Rizia Anthem! It was a beautiful moment bringing this anthem to life, and we can't wait for you all to hear the final masterpiece hear the final masterpiece in the game with a future update.
We've recently launched the Supporter Edition of Suzerain, complete with the immersive political drama experience of the base game, the brand new Kingdom of Rizia DLC, and a bundle of bonuses including the Original Soundtrack of Suzerain, Rizia Soundtrack and the Vulpitzer Award cosmetic DLC.
For those eager to immerse themselves in the Suzerainverse while showing some love to our studio, this bundle is the perfect fit. Your support means the world to us and helps us keep crafting new ideas and content for you to enjoy.
We are updating the game with a sixth patch. If you want to support the endeavor of improving the experiences, please report your issues in our Discord forum here. We read all your feedback.
Patch 3.0.7
(11/04/2024)
The patch is deployed to the default branch. The database changes only apply to new games, and code fixes apply to on-going games.
Kingdom of Rizia DLC
Design and Balancing
Factored power projection more into Zille return outcome
Made it easier to get screwed over by Lespia in final MITZ vote
Made mediation decisions visible even when you don’t have budget/authority for them
Minor edits to how Welfare State situations are set
Bug Fixes and Polish
Fixed some Vendonesam result condition triggers
Added power projection impact on Vendonesam outcome
Minor adjustment to some modifiers
Fixed electoral reform journal entry triggering despite no reform
Fixed rumburg war event token only having a shadow
Fixed intermerkopum codex entry not triggering
Prevented Zille return speech from cutting off prematurely
Fixed numbers in Morella and Derdia trade deals
Fixed bug where you disapproved of Zille referendum by default
Numerous spelling and grammar corrections and dialogue touch-ups
Added missing war loss condition to correctly trigger the War Loss scene
Fixed energy modifier of Aureus not being added in certain conditions
Fixed conversations responses not triggering with number keys
Prevented some unnecessary error logs from appearing
Missing Content List
Achievements beyond prologue and chapters (We are working on them, a lot of them actually!)
Suzerain Base
Changes
Removed the option to pick Gloria as VP despite her being obstructionist and not coming to the VP meeting
We are updating the game with a fifth patch. If you want to support the endeavor of improving the experiences, please report your issues in our Discord forum here. We read all your feedback.
Patch 3.0.6
(10/04/2024)
The patch is deployed to the default branch. The database changes only apply to new games, and code fixes apply to on-going games.
Kingdom of Rizia DLC
Content Updates
Added turn images
Added journal entries prologue
Added option for Vina to get engaged to Manus after late-game Pales return
Added a new prologue section with Crown Prince focus choices and timeline update
Added some prologue focus feedback to early-game meetings
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 1 religious briefing with Sal
Streamlined the dialogue in the turn 2 Golden Guard briefing with Titus
Added high and low popularity authority modifiers
Added follow-up post-decision RRG raise and lower stake options to royal decrees
Added resource change indicators to military focus panel
Added a new title for arms dealers
Design and Balancing
Added defence bonus to naval ports
Increased and decreased authority buffs and debuffs based on power projection
Balanced production capacity slightly
Disabled Wruhecs Guardians authority bonus if they are not allied
Added authority boost for inter-Toras marriage
Balancing edits to Workers Rights situation changes
Minor edits to economy dialogues with Elena to be more consistent with the Situations
Added popularity damages for some Sal related imprisonment
Slighty adjusted end game economic state balance
Added a few more resource additions to Prologue choices
Made it more difficult to become the Frailer
Made it slightly easier to become the Great
Made it easier to become the Peaceful
Increased resource buff of army focus
Slightly rebalanced some focus choices
Added reduction of trade budget impact from the east if relations sour
Bug Fixes and Polish
Fixed the stronger border fortifications not showing
Added missing supply line connection in operation 2
Fixed incorrect military equipment production rates
Fixed wrong text in tank sale decrees
Fixed base Esqiris field being lost when expansion made
Fixed Pales name staying on world map despite being annexed
Fixed expansion of steel industry having wrong headline
Fixed commisioning massive media campaign not triggering
Fixed nanta being governed by both Sazon and Toras
Fixed vigil for the fallen report triggering in wrong city
Prevented Axel Reinhart from voting at the AN or joining Intermerkopum if Pales defeated early
Stopped Lucita investigation scene from ending prematurely
Fixed duplicate dialogue options in internal security and Derdia negotiation scenes
Streamlined and fixed text errors in turn 6 religious meeting
Fixed wrong feedback about having an energy crisis while not having one
Fixed duplicate option in House of Delegates scene
Added missing triggers to Separation of Powers Situation
Stopped Manus from occasionally being dead and alive at the same time
Fixed wrong number seperator in vigil for the fallen report
Many spelling and grammar corrections
Missing Content List
Achievements beyond prologue and chapters (We are working on them, a lot of them actually!)
Suzerain Base
Changes
USP Brooch is now only unlocked when running for re-election as the USP candidate
"Make Sordland Great Again" achievement can now correctly be unlocked at Turn 8
Fetih Ejall's title is now correctly displayed when arrested
Minor edits to TV Debate scene. Walter Tusk is no longer mentioned when arrested or killed
Fixed the Holsord Post article to correctly reflect the Minority Rights Act as a decree
Minor edits to Gus' dialogue about EPA profits to correctly reflect the situation
Fixed player option to remove the decrease to the threshold, when Albin wants the player to remove the increase
Fixed Wiktor Smolak being absent on the Peace Treaty on certain conditions
Fixed Governor of Bergia being mentioned as mayor
Fixed hyperinflation not improving when achieving Sordish Recovery Period
Fixed Nia from sometimes appearing on the resignations scene despite not resigning
It's been an exhilarating two weeks since we embarked on a new journey with the release of our very first DLC! 💫 Have you dived into the Kingdom of Rizia yet?
We're inviting you all to deepen your connection with us and the Suzerainverse community!
Dive into a universe where your voice enhances our collective journey. By joining, you'll gain access to exclusive content, contests, and the unique opportunity to role-play within the Suzerainverse. Connect and communicate with fellow citizens and the development team, sharing your experiences, and strategies, and bond over shared moments.
Your engagement is the key to enriching the Suzerainverse. Share feedback, report bugs, and help us refine the experience. Whether it's through role play, participating in giveaways, or immersing yourself in community discussions, your involvement helps improve the Suzerainverse of tomorrow.