OrdeRRR! The United Kingdom is joining Lawgivers II ːsteamthumbsupː
Lawgivers II will feature customizable seats amount in parliament/congress.



Here's a possible outcome on elections. There is much room for improvement but it seems on a good track!



If you want to find out more don't hesitate to join us on Discord. There's a progress update every friday!
https://discord.com/invite/kE7juYR

When we are ready to go you will find here our kickstarter campaign:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/damidev/lawgivers-ii

Fixed joining friends who are on a dedicated server.
Fixed joining Friend sessions.
Fixed Desktop capsule size adjustment to current avatar size.

Added UI notices for current progress on joining a friends session.

Hi guys, this is Sunny Side Up.

Let's start July's patch note.





There was feedback that said that it is kind of boring since Ellie and creatures are the only moving objects in the background from the last demo version.
Therefore, in order to reflect that feedback, we have created and put moving background plants.

It is great to have some plants that keep moving even the character stays still, but we thought it would be more enjoyable to have some movements when the player touches.
So, we additionally put the plants that sway when Ellie passes by.
During the test, we tended to go to the way where the plants move.
Compared to when those weren't there, it was less boring but more fun, so we all were very satisfied with this update.


<Weeds are swaying when Ellie passes by>






We know that it is a fundamental function, but we could not add it easily because Little Witch in the Woods is a pixel game.
The reason why was that if we allow adjusting resolution simply by zooming in or out without properly considering the players' monitors, pixels may be broken or look different even they are the same size.

Thus, we referred to other pixel games and tried to figure out how to make it smooth to solve those problems.
Then finally created a system for the players to choose between the two options:

• The first option is to set as intended by the graphic artist.
  If you choose this option, the game will be set in the form of 'Pixel Perfect' with the initial pixel size with all the objects in the proper position. However, if the
  player's monitor is not the same as the initial pixel proportion, there will crops at the top and bottom (or both sides) like when you watch a movie.
  
• The second option is adjusting the resolution to fit the entire screen.
  Then the crops will not appear, but 'Pixel Perfect' will be broken, and the viewpoint may slightly change.

Besides the resolution, we added features to select the screen mode like full screen, window mode, and full window mode.


<We applied those functions to 2560X1440. The left side is the first option, and the right side is the second one.>






We informed that we had developed to make the villagers behave with their own schedules in the last path note.
This time, we developed specific actions and movements with their schedules and applied them to the game.

For example, Rubrum will play with making castles out of sand in the village, and Arden will cook and light up a pot.
We hope you can experience villagers' own characteristics by finding out their unique actions while getting around the village or forest.


<Arden is cooking in the restaurant>


This is the end of the patch note.
We will be back with the next one.

Looking for some videos to chill to this Sunday?

We've got you covered! And how!

First, here's the latest edition of our Dev Diaries, in which we cover the most notable changes for the past six weeks (spoiler: A LOT was added!)



Learning Factory EDU has officially past the middle of development! Here's another episode of our show, in which our learning materials designer shares insights on creating game-based lessons:


(audio version here)

But you know what's even better? Learning Factory EDU is available for downloading for free from our website:

This as become possible thanks to Games for Cange and Endless

Learning Factory EDU comes with teacher's guides for the first 5 lessons. Play it and let us know what you think!

That's it for today, friends! Most of our team is going on vacations for the next 3 weeks, so we could accumulate some power to push that game past Stage 1 of Early Access. See you in August!


Going to Early Access is but the first step to glory (and eternal cat happiness). Wanna be part of what happens next? Head to this blog post and learn how to help make the game even more awesome!

It's that special time again: With our first big post-release update comes our first post-release live stream! Join us on Wednesday to go over the features of the upcoming summer event, as well as take a first look at the Jade Palace raid following in the update after the summer event patch.

When? Simply hop into our live stream at 9 PM CEST on July 21st (3 PM EDT, 12 PM PDT): https://www.twitch.tv/swordsoflegendsonline

Game Designer "Atmorph" will be joined by Quality Assurance Specialist "Baldrov" to take a closer look at the activities coming to the game with our first big event. Should you still have open questions around the Battle Pass, which finds its way into the game in the same update, this is also the perfect stream to ask those.

After all that, if time allows it, the two will face off against the gruesome foes of the Jade Palace - SOLO's first raid, featuring 6 boss encounters.

Plus, we’re not only on Twitch! You can also follow the stream on YouTube and our Steampage.

Note: The stream will only be available in English – enjoy!

See you there!
The SOLO Team

Normally, it takes a lot of money to create a video game. But what if you are an indie team? In this case, two things are absolutely essential. One is passion, the other one is folly.

Passion is something you feel when you have a story to be told. One that would eventually become your game. One that

Folly is something that keeps you going against all odds. Even when your child comes up to you and asks if we are ever going to have something other than a plain oatmeal for dinner. Because you can’t earn money with your project… at least, not yet.

Well, we were brimming with both and we still are. But at some point we realized that there is something else needed to make it to the end.




Rummy Games is a rather unusual indie team. Unlike many indie dev teams, we are quite numerous. We started as four, but at present, there are more than 30 people working on S.O.S. And I have to admit, it’s hell of a job to make everything run smoothly, when there are so many people around and you cannot resort to some ways of managing the team which a non-indie studio would rely on.

We used to work like this: first, we created an overall plan of what our prototype would look like and came up with the game’s architecture. Then, we held a team call every Monday to see what we had and what we had not done throughout the week.

This was working out quite well, at least for two years. Yet we came to realize that we were lacking efficiency. When you have nothing but a design document and few chunks of code, there is no that feeling of being rewarded for having done something that matters, something that really puts the whole project ahead. In fact, there was only a goal ahead, a big one, but unattainable in any reasonable period of time. So, really, there was nothing but Folly and Passion that were guiding us on this harsh path. And it was time for Reason to lend us a helping hand.




Of course, our main goal is still around. But now we slice it into pieces. Or, objectives, if you prefer. And we set a period of three weeks for each objective. Every three weeks, we come up with a new updated game build. We found out that three weeks was just the perfect timing. It is long enough that our team members, who have jobs, real life, and all that sort of thing, can do something cool: come up with a new function, a plot twist, a new graphic asset and so on.

When everything is complete, we release a new build. In general, 80% of what had been planned actually gets done. You can take a look on how well (or, perhaps, not really) we are doing HERE: Any feedback is greatly appreciated.



When introducing this three-week system, or sprint system, we wanted three things:

1. Feedback.
   
   Personally, I see no point in implementing sprint system until you can have a working build. But once you can, it has a great potential of motivating every single member of the team. Each of them can taste the fruits of their work and get constant feedback from other members.
   
   
2. Morale.
   
   People need to see the results of their work. A clear and transparent goal is always needed. Reaching it increases the motivation to move on. When the goal feels attainable, and is regularly actually attained, and then the new goal shows up, the team’s morale raises significantly.
   
   
3. Just… why not?
   
   Many teams stick to Agile as their project management system. We’ve been working together for 2 years and have never tried. Well, why not then? In terms of PM, we are much more flexible than we used to be. For a less experienced team, like ours, it’s just great to be able to reshuffle our priorities when needed, to be able to focus on something that really needs to be done, while putting a pin on something that can be done later.

As I’ve mentioned, Rummy Games started as a four-man team. These four are sort of… founding fathers, if you don’t mind a metaphor. So, one day in January, they came up with a sprint plan for May's DevGamm and for June's Steam Fest. It consisted of seven three-week sprints.

This plan was drawn up as a table (an example of such table is attached with a link). Each of the points was divided into smaller ones. We’ve also made a corresponding board in Trello, dividing things into columns with current tasks. Despite having a long-term plan, we only put a short-term one to Trello, because our next short-term plan can be revised significantly after completing the current one.

So we had a big sprint plan with big tasks and a board in Trello with sets of cards for each current sprint. That’s how it is, for now.

• Sprinting, or setting short term objectives, is a great thing for a team. But you need a viable build to really benefit from it. And be ready to update it every now and then.
  
• Reverting makes wonders. Always have a previous version to switch back to, just in case.
  
• Planning is essential. If there’s no one to manage and control the project as a whole, the game will most likely never make it.

Hello,

My friends,

Due to the need for later support of the game, the main body of the game will be converted into a free game;

This transition will not have any impact on the game content of users who have already purchased it.

More level updates will be launched in the future, thank you.

- Fixed ducks failing to record properly (Note: Will not fix previous innings, but will fix all innings going forward)

Added new voices: Michelle and Loyd for Aviva part 01

紧急修复强化失效，顺便削弱提灯