- Development Update: August 2026 - 2 September 2026
August 2026 has been another very busy month for Virtualord! I managed to release a new alpha build despite I wasn't expecting to make it by the end of this month, as you can see in the "what's next" section of my previous update on Steam, and I also already started to work on next version.It's usually the other way around with development time predictions, but I am glad I was wrong this time!0.6.9 releasedOn the 28th of August I released version 0.6.9, which completes the tutorial and that can be considered a first Release Candidate for the demo. In this version you will find all main updates described later in this post, but if you want a quick preview of what's new in this release, you can watch this new video:If you want to try this latest version, you can join us on Discord, where you will find a Windows and a Linux build.Main updatesThese are the main features I worked on during t…
- Development Update: July 2026 - 4 August 2026
3 big newsJuly 2026 has been a hectic month for Virtualord! These are the 3 main news from this past month:0.6.7 releasedOn the 6th of July I released version 0.6.7, which features the second tutorial mission and a lot of new features and fixes. You can read more about it in my previous dev-log post or you can watch the following dev log video:If you want to try this latest version, you can join us on Discord, where you will find a Windows and a Linux build.Game officially announcedOn the 13th of July I officially announced Virtualord to the world. That basically means that I started to contact the press and to post on more online communities about it.For this special occasion I also published a first trailer which you can find on the Steam page of Virtualord or on YouTube:1,000 wishlistsOn the 30th of July, the Steam page of Virtualord passed 1.000 wishlists, hopefully the first of man…
- Virtualord passed the 1,000 wishlists - 31 July 2026
1,000 thanksI am excited to announce a first important milestone for "Virtualord, The Virtual Conqueror":yesterday its Steam page passed the 1,000 wishlists mark and numbers keep going up as I am writing this.It's not by chance that this is happening after the official game announcement and after publishing a first game trailer. After all, that allowed me to start to promote the game and to contact the press for the first time. A few articles on gaming websites and many posts on social networks and forums started to catch some eyes and to win the attention of several gamers who are into strategy games. Despite numbers are still low, even for a solo developer. it's a first proof that this project is growing and it has potential to do well, as many already believe. After all this is a marathon, not a sprint and I will do my best to not disappoint any of you and to create something new and…
- Development Update: June 2026 - 6 July 2026
I am going to start this dev log with some bad news and some good news.The bad news is that I didn't manage to release a new alpha build at the end of June as planned. That's because the amount of work needed to finish it was just too much to handle in a single month.The good news is that I am going to release it this afternoon or only 1 week later it was originally planned.If you want to try it, make sure to join my Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build for the next 2 months or a new build is released.In the next few days I am also going to publish a video dev log that will showcase all new features and changes of this new release, Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch it. Main updatesAs I mentioned in the intro above, this month I worked extremely hard and the result of that is a big number of new features, fixes and changes. These are some of…
- Development Update: May 2026 - 5 June 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of May 2026Main updatesThese are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of May 2026. They will all be part of next alpha build (0.6.7) that will be released at the end of this month.This month has been heavily influenced by the PLAY festival I attended at the end of May, you can read more about it and how it went here.First tutorial missionThe first tutorial mission is fully playable and it will guide you to learn all the basics concepts in Virtualord.I also managed to change and improve things after I watched people playing it at the PLAY festival.Some improvements are:Now it takes less than 10 minutes to complete it (it used to be 13-15)Cells are highlighted with an isometric outline to reduce confusion when clickingunit and structure actions are way faster, making the gameplay more enj…
- Virtualord at PLAY 2026, how it went - 29 May 2026
Last week I showcased my indie strategy game at "PLAY, the games festival", which is the biggest event dedicated to board and RPG games in Italy.This was the first time I let people play it live. Before that, only a few members of my Discord server tried it and even if their feedback has been very useful so far, watching people playing it has been extremely helpful.People played Virtualord, a lotFirst of all I wanted to thank every single person that tried Virtualord.Even if the indie games area was in a remote wing of the exhibition I still managed to get tens of people playing my game.Guys played it, gals played it and surprisingly many kids played it too, some with their parents, but mostly on their own! One kid played it in the morning for a very long time and then he came back at the end of the day asking if he could play again!Once again, thanks to each and every one of you.The st…
- Virtualord at Play 2026, the games festival - 19 May 2026
I am happy to announce that I will present Virtualord for the first time at an exhibition later this week.From the 22nd to the 24th of May I will be in Bologna (Italy), at "PLAY, the games festival", which is the biggest event dedicated to board games and RPGs in Italy.There I will showcase a first version of the demo of Virtualord at a stand that will resemble this (minus the stuff on the right and the door):In this first public playtest players will be able to play the tutorial that will guide them through the first map of the game and to interact with the planet map to start the second mission, then the demo will end.Playtime will be around 15-20 minutes per session, which hopefully will be enough to show the game's basics.In case you wanted to try this first version of the demo you can join us on Discord, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build which are already available to…
- Development Update: April 2026 - 6 May 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of April 2026, an important month for Virtualord as it marks a radical change in the project's planning.New alpha ROADMAPAfter releasing version 0.6.0 at the end of March, I started to work on next version as usual, but something happened.At the beginning of April I received an invitation to present Virtualord at an important live event at the end of May in Italy (announcement coming soon). There I will present a first demo of Virtualord, which basically means now I am working on that. This is the updated roadmap:As you might notice, the upcoming 0.6.5 version is basically done, I just need to polish a few things and to check everything is fine before releasing it for testing.In case you wanted to try it, you can join our Discord server where you will find a Linux and a Windows build soon.After this next release…
- Development Update: March 2026 - 10 April 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of March 2026.Version 0.6.0 releasedFourth alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 24th of March and it's currently available for testing.If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.In case you wanted a quick preview you can watch this dev log video that shows and explains all new features and changes:Main updatesThese are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of March 2026. They are all already included in the latest release.New UIMost of this month's work went into the remaking of the game UI.To give you an example of what the UI used to look like in all previous builds, this is the old trading dialog:And this is the new version:As you can see they look different, b…
- Development Update: February 2026 - 6 March 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of February 2026.This month I didn't release a new alpha build mostly because I am working on things that are taking longer than expected, but also because I wasted several days when my laptop decided to abandon me. The fact that February is a 28 days month didn't help either, even if having 2-3 extra days would have not made a huge difference anyway. The truth is that good things take time and I am taking the time they need to do them right. Check out the "What's next" section below to see what's going on with the release and when to expect it.Main updatesThese are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of February 2026.New resource: research pointsNow the research center can generate research points, which are a new resource to manage in game.Your production can be controlled allocating…
- Development Update: January 2026 - 6 February 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of January 2026.Version 0.5.0 releasedThird alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 31st of January and it's currently available for testing during all month of February.If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.In case you wanted a quick preview you can watch this dev log video that shows all the new features and changes in this new alpha release:Main updatesThese are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of January 2026. They are all already included in the latest release.Upgrading units and structuresUnits and structures gain experience points when they do things and now they can level up when reaching enough points.Each new level allows to assign points to modif…
- Dev Update: December 2025 - 5 January 2026
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the previous monthVersion 0.4.0 releasedSecond alpha version of Virtualord was released on the 23rd of December and it's available for testing during all month of January.If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.In case you wanted a quick preview, you can watch this video that shows all new features and changes:Main updatesThese are the main new features and changes I worked on during the month of December 2025. Some are already part of the current alpha build, but others are completely new and will only be available in the next version (0.5.0).Tower defense mechanicsBasic tower defense mechanics are fully implemented.Now for the "defense" side there are towers that automatically shoot enemies in range at t…
- Dev Update: November 2025 - 4 December 2025
Welcome to a new dev-log about all the main news and updates from the month of November 2025.I am also going to publish a video version of this update on my Youtube channel soon. Make sure to subscribe if you don't want to miss it.Where is this project going?Last month I published this roadmap to better define the development of the next versions of Virtualord. I will keep an updated version in the store page and I will keep track of all future updates in this discussion in the community forums.Next alpha version 0.4.0 will be released in a week or 2.If you want to try it, you can join the game's Discord server, where you will find a Linux and a Windows build and a dedicated channel where to chat about it.Main updatesTower defense mechanics (WIP)This is going to be the main new feature of the next alpha release, but at the moment it's not completely finished yet.So far I implemented 2 u…
- A new beginning: VIRTUALORD - 31 October 2025
it's been 1 year and 10 months since my last update and it's likely that many considered this game yet another vaporware. At some point that was almost true because the development has been on hold since June 2024, but things are different now!I restarted the development at the beginning of October and things are moving forward fast and steady, also a lot has changed since my last update, so let me show you what's going on. A new beginningIf you used to follow my dev logs you might remember that this game was a RTS called Virtueror, but that's no more.After a lot of thinking and planning I decided to turn this game into a Turn-Based Strategy game which also comes with a new name: VIRTUALORD.Why?The main reason behind the change of genre is that my vision for this game (ex.: RPG elements, slow pace action, limited amount of units you can control, etc...) suits better a TBS than a RTS.Ano…
- Dev update January 2024 - Virtueror 0.2.0 - 31 January 2024
Welcome to the first dev-log of 2024, which casually comes on my birthday. I am happy to celebrate it with the biggest update in terms of new features since I started working on this project! As I mentioned in my previous update I was expecting this month to be productive, but for once reality exceeded my expectations. Without further ado, let's dive into all the new features and changes. Mission accomplished! I am proud to start this dev-log announcing that one of the main missing features is fully implemented... at last it's possible to complete a mission! At the moment there are 3 different mission types and more will be added in the future. The mission completed dialog will be expanded and improved in the future, for now I just wanted to implement a minimal version to get done with this important feature. The results of your conquest are also reflecting on the planet map of course a…
- Dev update December 2023 - 31 December 2023
Welcome to the last update of this 2023. This month has been pretty slow for the development of Virtueror as the holidays and a few other things took a good chunk of my time, nevertheless I am glad I managed to continue a slow, but steady progress. Let me show you the main new features and changes from this month of development. Loot box From now on, you can find a new collectable object spread around the maps: a loot box. Loot boxes can be collected by your units and reward you with a random amount of resources. I was tempted to add a (low-probability) negative reward too, but for now that's not going to be implemented and it will remain just an idea. Growing trees Trees are no longer a static scene object, but they can grow and expand in the surrounding cells, in a way that recreates a growing forest. Growth is not as fast as the one represented in the previous image, but you can expe…
- Dev update November 2023 - 30 November 2023
If you have been following this project in the past year you might know that once again I had to put it on hold... but once again I came back to the active development and the good news is that for a while I'll keep working (almost) full time on it! Anyway, enough said about that, let's focus on what I did during the month of November 2023. Long life to the Map Editor! This month I focused mostly on the development of the map editor and I managed to get a first working version that can be used to create, edit, load and save a map. Everything is still a bit rough and it will require many little improvements before it can be used by others, but it's usable enough for my development needs, so I am happy with what I achieved so far. Now let me show you all the current features in detail. A core feature of every editor is placing objects on a map. This can be done here after selecting the wa…
- Dev update Februrary 2023 & new alpha 0.1.2 - 28 February 2023
Special post as this is about the usual monthly dev log, but also to announce the second alpha build of Virtueror. New alpha build available To be honest it's another pre-alpha build, but hopefully people who are going to try it will still appreciate the new features and improvements, which are all listed here and in the previous dev log. Unfortunately there's no major update for the gameplay (hopefully that will come in the next build), but a lot of new minor features and improvements, hence the codename: "does it run better?". As for the first build, if you want to try it join the Discord server of the game as that's where you can already find the links to download both the new Windows and Linux build. Control areas Now colored lines on the map highlight the area you control, which is based on your connected structures. Obviously the more you expand your base the bigger this area will…
- Development update January 2023 - 2 February 2023
Welcome to the first update of 2023. This is also a special update because it's the first one after I started closed alpha testing about 3 weeks ago, so let me tell you what happened with that and how things are going. Closed alpha started On the 13th of January I released the first alpha build, for Linux and Windows, allowing all the people in the Discord server of the game to try Virtueror out. So far almost 20 people downloaded the game, which is okay considering the very little gameplay which is fully implemented at the moment. Nonetheless I received some very useful feedback and I found out about some issues that I wasn't aware of. That allowed me to focus my work for the rest of the month on annoying bugs and most wanted features. Also, because of that, I keep considering the community behind this game the most important asset I could have. Closed Alpha testing will continue for a…
- Alpha 0.1.0 now available! - 13 January 2023
I am happy to announce that the first alpha build of Virtueror is now available for testing! To be part of the alpha testing you can join the Discord server of the game, where you will get access to a Windows and a Linux build. People who will take part in alpha testing and will provide useful feedback will be rewarded with a Discord role and mentioned in credits. The game is not fully playable yet, but you can already: play a mission create units and buildings conquer cells conquer buildings build walls shoot at anything you want Please keep in mind that the game is far from finished and it can be pretty unstable at the moment, so bear with me until I manage to improve things over the next few months. Support this game, wishlist and follow! If you enjoyed this update and if you want to support Virtueror make sure to wishlist and to follow it. Thanks and see you in a month with a new up…
