Imagine Nations Demo Released! news

One big thing that has been asked from us through various channels has been some sort of demo. We have a very ambitious project with Imagine Nations, and many have wanted to see something tangible to show that we are serious about the game and can get it done. Well, at long last, we have been able to launch our Kickstarter Demo!

This demo will showcase some concepts of our game as well as some audio and visual elements. While we have not been able to build a demo that truly encompasses every feature within Imagine Nations (which is simply impossible with the scale of the game), we have focused on core elements that nearly every feature will derive from in an extremely simplified manner.

One thing we want to emphasize is that the content and functionality of the demo is extremely early. Nothing in this demo is final. We still have years of development on this game, so a lot of this has been done with the minimal free time we have while making ends meet currently. Its rough around the edges, but we hope you are able to understand many of our approaches both in terms of features as well as the audio/visual styles we are aiming for.

The demo begins with what you personally can interact with. You have a multitool that can dig out blocks and cut down trees. This is your standard voxel game flair. A portion of the demo mission will show how this functionality is incorporated into supporting a town if that is your goal.

You also have a sword (which apparently can chop down enemies), a dirt block (for when you dig up blocks, you can place them where you like), and a lumber block (same deal, but with trees).

The UI is more placeholder at this stage (including hitting the I key for the placeholder inventory screen), but health and stamina do work. You are able to get killed at a later stage of the mission, and the stamina allows you to sprint while in run mode (hit caps lock and then hold left shift while running forward).

Mission status is explained at the top left. You're free to follow through with the objectives, or just explore the area.

The town hall is the center of every town. It is the first building constructing when founding a new town along with a granary (to store food), a well (to have a central source of water), and a stockpile or warehouse (to store town resources).

As a mayor, you will be able to access the "mayoral" view which allows you to play the game in an RTS-style system. This includes zoning areas for homes/businesses/manufacturing, setting up infrastructure, controlling resources, and placing special buildings down to support the town's growth. In the demo, you are able to directly support the town by placing some buildings down (only one completely works due to some issues with pathing).

The mayor's office (found in the town hall) is where the mayor can work to better a town. Accessing the mayor's desk above brings up the "mayoral view" mentioned above. This room can also be customized by the mayor to their liking. In the demo, you can use the desk to access the town view.

The tactician's room (found in the town hall) is where the general is able to coordinate their troops (both for the town's uses as guards, patrols, and armies in remote areas) through an RTS view similar to the Mayor. The general can also use this area to request military-based buildings (such as towers, barracks, etc.) as well as request various equipment for their troops (both handled by the Mayor). There is no functionality at this stage of the demo for this room, but it is planned in one of the tech demos after Kickstarter.

Finally, we enter the researcher room. Here, the Mayor can assign citizens to research broad subjects. Depending upon the skill of the researchers, the complexity of the topic, and any resource requirements, they will focus on researching new technologies for the town. This process involves a great bit of trial and error, and it can become very expensive to push technology forward. However, the reward is a much more efficient town, with new technology benefiting the citizens, your military, and the surrounding areas. There is no functionality at this stage of the demo for this room, but it is planned in one of the tech demos after Kickstarter.

Upcoming EventsWe'd like to apologize for being quiet over these past 4-5 days, but we were hard at work on the demo. As such, we are looking to setup a Reddit AMA this Wednesday at 12pm EST (GMT-5) to answer any questions you want to pose to us. We are also looking to setup a Twitch stream on Friday at 12pm EST (GMT-5) to meet the team and throw any questions you may have missed on the AMA at us.

Also, now that the demo has been launched, we will be getting back to the daily updates, with tomorrow being Fatih's day of artsy ramblings.

We hope you enjoy the demo, and we are always open to any comments or questions that may have!

- The Imagine Nations Team

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