- Return to the Origins - 12 September 2025
Hello everyone, first of all I want to apologize for the long silence.These past months have been quite unusual, split between a very demanding work period and another side project that has been doing well. This silence was due to my own indecision and a change of direction for Deity’s Domain, because the way the game was heading no longer satisfied me. The game was moving toward a structure that was too story driven and not “free” enough compared to what I originally had in mind. Deity’s Domain started with the idea of being a complete sandbox, but the feeling when playing was not that of being a deity, more like a babysitter managing their city. So I decided to start over. I know many of you may not like this, but since I am developing Deity’s in my free time and for personal enjoyment, I did not want to continue with something that would have been more of a burden than a passion. For…
- A Few Updates for a Quiet June - 30 June 2025
Hello, little deities!It’s been an incredibly busy month. At work I moved to a new department, and most of my mental energy went into learning the ins and outs of game-AI (not the kind everyone’s talking about lately, but the AI in videogames). On top of that, my personal life filled up fast with trips and summer activities I really needed.Here’s what’s new:Feedback implementation: I’ve rolled out several changes based on your last round of feedback.New features from testing: A handful of essential features surfaced during our most recent tests—but so far that’s only about 30% of what I hoped to accomplish. I’ll be dedicating this final week of June exclusively to squashing bugs.Most of these updates pave the way for a “Divine Vision Mode,” letting you flip into an all-seeing view that shows every citizen’s faith level, current tasks, and more.I’ve decided to skip a formal June devlog,…
- Next Steps - 29 May 2025
Hello, deities! (Heilà Phil) I’d like to thank everyone who took part in testing the demo your feedback, bug reports, and gameplay input have been incredibly helpful. It’s always magical to see someone else playing what I’m creating, and that magic is thanks in large part to you. You’ve uncovered a whole bunch of new bugs, so it’s back to work to fix them all. But thanks to some of you, we’ve also identified improvements that will make the game experience easier to use and understand. There isn’t much to report for this month it was mostly focused on preparing the build and gathering feedback. In June, I’ll be tackling the bugs you found, expanding the tutorials to cover the less obvious areas of the game, and completing the secondary features. After that, I’ll shift my attention to game balance, which was completely sidelined in this demo. The next round of tests will be specifically a…
- Closed playtests for the demo have started! - 19 May 2025
Hey everyone! I've reopened playtesting for the Deity's Domain demo. If you’d like to participate, just send an email to: [email protected] Please include the following three things in your email: The hardware specs of the PC you’ll be testing on Your Discord nickname Whether you’re available to record your first gameplay session (no audio or voiceover) and share the video with me via Discord. This isn’t mandatory but is greatly appreciated, as it would really help me improve the game. If you’re selected for the test, I’ll send you a Steam key that grants access to this and all future tests. What will you be testing? The early game tutorials up to what will be the end of the demo, which is planned for release here on Steam later this year. The demo lasts about 30 minutes to 1 hour. What’s the purpose of this playtest? The goal is to assess the overall stability of the game. I wan…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 10 - UI rework, Road system polishing and bugfixing! - 29 April 2025
Here we are again for our monthly update. April has flown by it was a month of many highs and lows, but nonetheless full of achievements for Deity’s. Last month, I mentioned a few small changes I wanted to make to player progression within the game. I went ahead and implemented them, and the new Faith-resource mechanic has proven very effective. This month, I applied another series of changes that I personally felt were essential in a game like this. From the very start of development, my goal was to create a game without a permanent on-screen UI. However, during development that principle wasn’t maintained mostly because quick solutions were needed to display essential information. So I took some time to revisit the UI and its usability in order to bring the game back in line with that original goal. I’m well on my way: most of the process is complete, though a few tweaks and decisions…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 9 - Citizens polishing, bug fixing and new tests! - 28 March 2025
Here we are with our monthly update, how are you doing? I hope well! March was almost entirely focused on polishing the citizens, especially in the first half of the month. Several small details were added for example, citizens now have a proper animation for transporting resources, and the type of resource they’re carrying is visible. A new “alert” state was also introduced: if a citizen takes damage or dies (not from old age), nearby citizens will flee in the opposite direction. This alert state can also be triggered by urgent actions, like fetching water from the well or reaching a fire site (yes, buildings can now catch fire!). I also worked on a rework of the audio manager, updated the game’s music, and gave the roads a visual overhaul. In the second half of the month, I started expanding testing and brought in new people and wow… I received a flood of bug reports. I’ve been doing…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 8 - 25 February 2025
Hello, little deities, and welcome to the 8th monthly update! February was primarily focused on adding tutorials and the necessary features to help you get started on the island. There has been a major upgrade to the system that allows enemy deities to intervene on the island they can now unleash fires and famines upon your city and its citizens, and finally, you can perform sacrifices, whether of resources or... humans. However, for too long I’ve only been writing about it, now I’d like to give you a small, concrete preview of some of the features already available in the game: Obviously, this is still far from the final version of the demo. Many small features are still missing, and I have yet to connect several systems that are already implemented, such as the alignment system, etc. There are also various visual bugs, and all visual effects are still missing from the cutscenes, but I…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 7 - 31 January 2025
Hello, little deities, and welcome to the 7th monthly update. After taking a short Christmas break, here we are again at our regular meeting. How's it going? I hope all is well. The past few months have been very important for Deity's Domain, I have finally reached one of the major milestones. The foundations for all the features planned for the demo have finally been completed! I have started running initial tests by sharing a first build of the game with friends and colleagues in the industry. The last major missing feature was the enemy deities and the Norne's Thread. The Norne's Thread is an item that the player will receive shortly after the game begins. This thread allows them to see the imminent future of the Island, with nodes appearing on it that we can examine. For example, a node might appear at the top of the thread, and by bringing our hand over it, we will notice that deit…
- New Logo - 26 December 2024
Hello, little deities! I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas, and I wish you all an amazing 2025! I'm here to share a little update and some news about the game's development. This month, there won't be the usual dev log. Development is going well and moving at a good pace, but I dedicated almost all of December to polishing the AI, adding tooltips, and implementing UX elements throughout the game. However, I want to spend this last week of the month entirely focused on myself and my family. That said, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of what the final game logo will look like. Let me know what you think in the comments! I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a fantastic 2025! We’ll catch up again in January—get ready for some exciting updates in the new year. See you soon, little deities, and thank you so much for being here!
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 6 - 28 November 2024
This image captures much of this month. It may seem like little, but I assure you it was not. But let’s take it step by step: This month began with the implementation of new cinematics and tutorials. Everything was going smoothly until I reached the cinematic where the first citizens arrive on the island. I was very satisfied. Along the way, I also cleaned up and refined many existing systems and created various useful ways for the game to communicate important information to the player. However, as I started working on the first tutorials for managing citizens and the city, an annoyance grew within me hour by hour. Damn it, I had programmed every behavior of these citizens. I knew exactly when and how they would do everything. But that was not what I wanted from the start. I wanted something unpredictable, even for me as the developer, something that would prevent citizens from simply…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 5 - 27 October 2024
Hello, little deities, and welcome to the 5th monthly update. This month has been intense in many ways, and though I've had less time than usual to continue development, I still managed to make some significant progress. Last time, I talked about the updates to the faith system and the new rune-drawing system on the ground. Both seem to be working well, and this month I've continued developing these systems by integrating a UI that makes it easier to visualize the Power of Faith and Glory that the player possesses. Power (the yellow sphere in the center) is the resource that allows you to cast miracles and runes. Faith is represented by the blue percentage bar, showing the contribution of faith from your citizens. The arrows, which can turn purple, indicate the trend of faith. Glory is another percentage value that tracks progress toward the next divine level. I’m happy with the result—…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 4 - 28 September 2024
Hello, little deities! Welcome back to our monthly update, and thank you for your continued interest in the project. September has been quite a unique month. I was on vacation for almost two weeks, yet I managed to maintain a good level of productivity and keep progressing toward my goals. The two weeks of rest were truly "miraculous," allowing me to return fully refreshed. So, without further ado, let's dive into the updates. This month has also been filled with reworks and improvements. Unfortunately, most of these changes aren't directly visible, but don’t worry—there’s still plenty to showcase. In recent days, I've implemented the "Social System," a procedural system that assigns a "personality" to each family. This system activates whenever members of different families interact, and their compatibility affects the relationship between them. These values will then be used to enhanc…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 3 - 26 August 2024
Hello little deities, welcome back to our monthly update! As always, I've been eagerly awaiting this moment to share the latest developments with you. This month has been incredibly productive. I took advantage of a week off from my main job to make significant progress on Deity's Domain, so let's go dive into the news: I am happy to announce that the next milestone for the project will be the Demo, which will cover the beginning of the game up to the end of the first phase (there will be three phases in total), with an estimated duration of about 2 hours. The first phase is much shorter than the subsequent ones. Please note that this first version of the demo will stop just before the acquisition of the creature, which will be included in a second version of the demo. It's a very delicate feature, and I want to take my time to get it right. As I mentioned at the end of the last devlog,…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog 2 - 26 July 2024
Hello little deities, here we are again for our monthly update. I'm really happy to see that more and more of you are joining us. The rework of the citizens' AI that I started last month has finally been completed, and I am really satisfied with the results. If you've read the previous major news before this dev log, you know that the setting of Deity's Domain is shifting from a Roman to a Norse theme. This change within the game is almost complete. However, it will take some time to recreate the materials to apply this change to the Steam page. I hope to complete everything by mid-August. The transition has been smooth and problem-free for all structures, resources, and the map. However, the rework of the citizens required a bit more effort. Working with character models, skeletons for animations, and so on, always turns into a huge mess, but in the end, we came out victorious. Here ar…
- A big change - 12 July 2024
Hello everyone, I’m here to make a very important announcement regarding the game. After thorough reflection, which actually began months ago, even before the game's announcement, I have decided to change the game's setting from Roman to Norse. When the idea for Deity's Domain was born, I thought long and hard about which setting to choose, and from the start, it came down to two options: Roman or Norse. After a series of research and studies, I decided to proceed with the Roman setting. However, as development progressed, I realized that the setting and artistic style were drifting too far from what I wanted for the project. I needed a setting that was less "clean" and more "rugged," a mythology rich in mysteries, fantastic creatures, and one that allows for much more imagination. So, over the months, I started experimenting with small changes in mood, lighting, and models to see if th…
- Deity's Domain - Devlog I - 23 June 2024
Here we are at the first dev log of Deity's Domain. First of all, I want to thank all of you for the support you've shown so far. There's nothing more rewarding than seeing people's reactions to the project we're working so hard on. Thanks to everyone who shared this page with their friends; it’s a great support. A large part of this month was spent reorganizing the roadmap and setting clearer goals for the future of the project. It’s still too early to set precise dates, but it’s good to have soft dates as targets. Additionally, preparing material to showcase the game has taken up a significant portion of the available time. I would have liked to spend more time balancing the existing mechanics, especially the population growth and faith mechanics, which, though implemented for some time, require an initial balance iteration. However, as a good programmer, I got lost in refactoring and…
- F.A.Q - 8 June 2024
Is Deity's Domain a remake of Black & White? No, Deity's Domain is not intended to be Black & White 3 nor a remake of the series. The game is heavily inspired by it but takes a completely different path and setting. What will be the main similarities with Lionhead Studio's masterpiece? Deity's Domain adopts almost entirely the movement and interaction system with the world, the deity alignment system, and has a creature management system. How many people are developing the game? What is Unlikely Studio? Currently, the game is developed by a single person, me ;) However, I am constantly supported by other collaborators who handle specific parts of the game for me, such as creating 3D models and animations. I have been making video games for several years, having released games of all sizes and for almost every device, so this is not my first game. If there's something to be done, I alway…
