Demo Update

Demo Update, and the Road to Launch

The demo has been out a little while now, and watching people take up the seal and run their own company has been the best part of this whole project. Thank you to everyone who has played it, broken it, and sent me notes. Here is a demo update built straight from that feedback, plus a look at where the company goes next, because the demo was never the finish line. It was the first camp on a longer road.

What just landed in the demo

A round of fixes, a lot of it from the Steam Deck:

• No more long-session freeze. A memory leak could lock up a battle load after you'd played several in a row, mostly on handhelds. Found it and put it down. Play as long as you like.
• Night battles you can actually see. Some night fights, especially in the forests, were coming out near pitch black. Night now has a floor, so it stays readable while keeping its cold mood.
• Controller polish. The pause menu takes a button press during deployment now, the d-pad reaches the whole action bar, and placing a band works right after you close a menu. Small things, but they are the difference between tolerating a game on the Deck and reaching for it.
• Cleaner screens. The roster and contract panels no longer run past their edges, and the contract board reads properly on a small screen.

What I'm building for the full game

Beyond the demo's bounds, I'm heads-down on the full company. The full game opens the rest of the map: the Iberian frontier, the road to Rome, and the salt road south, each with its own contracts, captains, and a home base of your own to run from so you're not always marching back to Ravenskeep.

And yes, the thing people keep asking about. Mounted units. Horses and camels are in development now, learning to charge, to break a line, and to carry their riders properly. They aren't in the demo, but they are coming.

Most of this stretch has been about making the game feel right in the hands and solid under a long session. A game you lose an evening to should never lose the evening for you.

The road is shorter than it has ever been. If the company has its hooks in you, wishlist the full game so you're there when it opens up, and keep the feedback coming. It shapes every one of these updates.

Wishlist Free Company: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5053640/

— posting from the workbench