Yes, we got a little political. This account is officially THUMBS DOWN on the apocalypse.

Sick to my stomach re: world news. It feels increasingly strange to be making something fun in such an environment, but I know it’s also super important to do so. Hoping against hope that the world doesn’t fucking end.

One big use I imagine Orders having is telling your fast units to mob the enemy player. Between that and units leading their targets it’s gonna be a tough world out there. Games will NOT last 45 minutes in this one. You have to be more careful!

Can’t wait to demonstrate Orders in a proper video. Next video will showcase those, as well as the capture weight mechanic. Orders make fortifications work even better because you can order units to stay in a gatehouse or overlook, or you can route them around to a striking position, etc. Very cool!

Next weekend I am back in force! Not too much content left, but I need testers to mess around with the demo and determine stability and balance for Doom Tier 1. You WILL have an excess of Favor, that much I know. Future Tiers suck that stuff up. Join the Discord to get it! discord.gg/bZNSHbgJ

As of today, ZDoom Wars 2 has been in development for an entire year. A lot has occurred over this year, so indulge me in a bit of a retrospective.🧵 #gamedev #modding #doom #doommod #uzdoom

Garden of Order: Legends is OUT! Meet Mekhmet, given a divine quest for redemption, and his granddaughter N’Dira, a courier who navigates the ever-shifting Boundless City. Kindle/Paperback: a.co/d/08iCwjtk EPub/PDF: captain-ventris.itch.io/garden-of-or... Cover art by @coreybrickley.bsky.social

Second matchup is live: Lord Snotfolus vs an Inquisitor! youtu.be/1QfBbisO3Jk?...

First tournament match is up! youtu.be/GintXRGcqYU?...

Second matchup is live: Lord Snotfolus vs an Inquisitor! youtu.be/1QfBbisO3Jk?...

First tournament match is up! youtu.be/GintXRGcqYU?...

So begins the official ZDoom Wars 2: One Year Development Anniversary Hero Duel Tournament! I have arranged a bracket of all 16 heroes, to face off in fights to the death. Here’s the Round 1 bracket:🧵

As of today, ZDoom Wars 2 has been in development for an entire year. A lot has occurred over this year, so indulge me in a bit of a retrospective.🧵 #gamedev #modding #doom #doommod #uzdoom

I realize the intro for the tournament is better in text form because it’s a bit wordy AND I don’t actually have the time to edit together a bunch of footage or whatever for a video. So anyway I’ll intro the tournament here and on the Discord and upload to the official YouTube channel. It’ll work.

That’s right

Still starting the Hero Tournament this weekend! I had planned on a brief introductory video to present the bracket, but we’ll have to see if I can get around to that. I’ll do my best tomorrow.

Real talk I’m helping with my brother’s estate sale and I am washed after one day. I might not work on ZDW2 much if at all this weekend, so you’re just getting incessant posts about my new novel, WHICH YOU SHOULD BUY

I wrote another book AND I’M MAKING IT YOUR PROBLEM

I wrote another book AND I’M MAKING IT YOUR PROBLEM

Still can’t believe I have a disease spreading model in this game. There is so. Much. Shit. Going. On.

Fixed Plague so it won’t reinfect as much. The effect has to wear off completely before you can be reinfected, and each level of infection is weaker than the last, so it naturally tapers off and doesn’t just drag everything in the army down to 1 health.

I’m not doing anything for April Fool’s, which I realize means I can’t post anything today or it will be taken as an April Fool’s joke, so here I am

A while back a ZDW2 Discord member said Greater Crucible was his favorite ZDW1 map, not knowing my brother had made that map. Derek would be proud.

Gonna be busy IRL this extended weekend. Will try and get some dev in during that time, though. Just CQ and Virus menus left. Then I’ll be working on coding the victory condition of the game. You respawn as an observer as is, but nothing actually forces the game to end still. Gotta figure that out!

The Hero Tournament begins April 5th! A demo is available now! Join the Discord! discord.gg/R94tJJBw

The early draft of the orders really is cool. There’ll be 3 keybinds: Flank, Defend, and Clear. Flank makes Units proceed to the target point and resume normal behavior. Defend makes them go to the target point and stay near it. Clear cancels any orders. It’s a lot of keys but damn it’ll be fun.

Biomechcels mogged by Nadachads

Starting to sink in that I’m getting close to content complete. Then it’s refinement. I’ll probably have this damn thing tested once Orders are in and have been initially debugged. Derek, we’re doing something pretty damn cool.

Biomechcels mogged by Nadachads

Strife’s Hero menus are done. All that’s left is Chex Quest and Virus, then it’s on to Tier 5 Faction Abilities. Will be glad to do some content after all the menu tedium!

Got back into Dawn of War this week. So damn satisfying and chaotic. I really worked hard in the original to make it as cacophonous as DOW, and all that work carried over to ZDW2. Truly a feast for the senses.

I’ve got half the round one matches of the tournament recorded. I expected all blowouts due to seed order, but boy one of e’m is comically close. I’ve got some good work done gauging how powerful talents should be. Really good data, and it’s fun to watch!

If I can get enough content testing done soon, I’ll probably make the next demo update have new content as well as, hopefully, orders. It’ll be a big one! Also includes the fact that a respawn leaves you an observer, since you’re intended to have one life. Full LMS functionality to follow.

Doing matches for the Hero Tournament always reveals problems, so I’m having to redo the 3 matchups I’ve done to work correctly. It’s valuable info! Luckily I saved each video as a project file so I can swap in the new videos.

He’s sorry for all the taunting.

Also got a draft of Defend orders, which work well, too! Monsters stick pretty faithfully to the point. Will be amazing in Gatehouses or other chokepoints, OR for assigning monsters to cap and defend a point! The orders are really going to be transformative, gameplay wise.

@kevansevans.bsky.social is a madman. As a first draft it’s damn good. Monsters also still shoot while moving toward the objective, so they aren’t helpless.

Realized two Ults were very similar: The Entity and Korax both had a big lightning storm. I’m going to rewrite Korax’s to function differently, instead being a pulsating radius attack that lasts for a bit. More reliable but doesn’t affect as wide an area.

I have a few tasks to get to this weekend, if I can I’ll put out a new video, but I got shit to do, so we’ll see.

Another reminder! Join the Discord to check out and test the demo!

There are three effects that cause Heroes to stop using their abilities (but not attacks or passives): A Talent for the Heresiarch, and an Ult for the Mother Demon and Lord Snotfolus. The Iron Lich and Flembomination are the only Heroes without at least one Ability, so it’s pretty consistently good.

The Hero Tournament has been great for balancing what’s probably the toughest thing to balance. There’s 147 Talents and 48 Ults and they all have to be useful without being broken. Ults have to be assured of a big impact, because any misfires would be catastrophic and unfair. It’s very nuanced!

Well today is definitely “By the weekend”. Demo 1.021 is OUT! Changelog and download available on the Discord: discord.gg/FpT2fWQM

Well today is definitely “By the weekend”. Demo 1.021 is OUT! Changelog and download available on the Discord: discord.gg/FpT2fWQM

1.021 (the same but with player capture weight) will be available this weekend! I’m going to make someone run it up! Get the demo on the Discord and help me refine the content of the game bit by bit: discord.gg/FpT2fWQM

Something I’m happy with in ZDW2 is taking some concepts that didn’t work originally and revamping them. Shield Drones are an obvious one: There’s now a defensive structure that grants drones to allies, each of which absorb 1 full hit before vanishing.🧵

Testing shows that base Heroes will absolutely get their asses kicked by a decent army, whereas an upgraded one can win against a decent army!

Looking forward to Dev this weekend. Got a decent to-do list to refine some things, release an interim demo version that includes player capture weight, AND I’m thinking of doing a new video. We’ll see if I can get all that done.