This game is still several years of development away from a commercial release. Here, I detail my plans for working on Fauna Wilds and what tasks I will prioritize when.

Major Milestones

1. Pre-Alpha Development: The phase of exploring concepts, deciding what genre of game this would be, thinking through all the ramifications of genre and mechanic choices, and making initial implementations. Started when I initially wrote down a preliminary design document and ended when I finalized my plan for the first-playable build.
2. First-Playable Sprint: The phase of developing a build of the game with all major mechanical interactions available and some ability to “win” the game. This is not an alpha build because major features are missing. Started when I finalized the intended design and features for the game, prioritized which I could feasibly finish for the milestone, and ended when I finished development on these features and uploaded the first build to a restricted page. While I was still in this phase and before, I was not willing to share any public information at all about the game because nothing was set in stone and nothing was playable. Getting the project to playable state demonstrates my commitment into making it into a complete game.
3. Early Alpha Development (I am here): The phase in which I refactor the most major game systems in a placeholder state from the first-playable into their real implementation, ending up with a pre-alpha build much more similar to the intended design. Only at the end of this phase, with a new build, will I begin seeking play testing, as the gameplay will finally resemble the actual intended game loop. Estimated end: Februrary 2024
4. Late Alpha Development: The phase in which I refactor all remaining game systems from placeholder state to intended state, implementing all abilities and mechanics (if only in numeric form). The alpha build at the end of this phase will be largely feature-complete, albeit unpolished and missing most of the assets. I will still create more assets in this phase than any phase before, because this is when I will start my social media promotion of the project in earnest. Estimated end: October 2024
5. Beta Development: This phase is when I switch my main focus from programming to asset creation to fill in all the placeholder assets inserted earlier and breathe life into the game, though I will still of course make bug fixes, UI polish, and other tweaks as needed in response to play test feedback. Ends with a feature-complete, content-complete Beta build. Estimated End: August 2025
6. Initial Release Development: During this phase, I will seek far more play testers and spend most development time on bug fixes, polish, and game balance. This is also the phase in which I finish up odds and ends for platforms (localization, achievements, etc.) to end up with the first build of the game I will offer for sale. Estimated Launch: sometime in 2026
7. Early Access phase (Development for Full Release): I may not do Early Access. If I do, it will be because I decide creating a small campaign with a small amount of content and adding to it when the game is up for sale suits me better than doing all of the planned content at once. If so, I will create a new roadmap and announce it. Either way, I anticipate continuing to work on the game after release, adding new features and addressing the biggest issues the playerbase finds. The amount of time and effort put into this will depend on how well the game sells.

Where I am: Still Working on the Alpha

I’ll go into more detail in a future devlog about the work I have done already on the project. For the time being, however, I’ll summarize what I’ve done in the past three months since I put up the First-Playable Build:

• A notifications panel in the UI has been added, alerting the player to events such as their group being attacked or new fauna offspring/recruits
• Fauna are now NavigationAgents who follow paths according to map geometry while avoiding other units
• Combat has been overhauled. There are now different damage and armor types depending on the species of fauna and what upgrades they have. Units also now have proper roles, between melee unit, ranged unit, artillery unit, and support units.

However, many of these features have not been fully integrated or bugfixed yet, so it may be several weeks until a new build is available. Additionally, here is more work to do before this intended Mid-Alpha Milestone:

• Overhaul the layout and appearance of the UI, finishing expected RTS features such as minimap, and using space more effectively, especially with scale factor
• Add basic sound effects (just SFX, music will wait until a later phase of development)
• Add major flags for game progression and balance while rebalancing some curves (such as unit acquisition) to accommodate
• Add metagame UX around carrying fauna over from a finished campaign to a new one

Overall, I think my progress has been fairly good this past year. I have never felt more focused or directed on something in my life, and I can’t wait to see what impression my game will have on my players.