GDM Itch Update

Hello my wonderful itch.io community members;

I have come with a semi sad update regarding GDM's technical demo that ran on itch.io

I have had to block the file from being downloaded temporarily.  

As you may or may not know GDM is about to launch into Early Access on Steam June / 03 / 2021 (Demo already available there).  GDM makes use of several leader boards, and currently they are an Epic plugin that allows me to post data from any source to a website to parse for leader boards.  They have been a great asset not only to let players have a way to compete against themselves, and others, but to help me gather data regarding balance.

I have recently added "Game Seeds" to GDM which allows users to select procedural based matches or reality based matches.  This was a highly requested feature, and I think it has been implemented really nicely.  To keep the game fair and balanced I had to redo the leader boards, and have separate boards for each Seed type.  Obviously reality based is a bit easier as you can skip researching, which both saves money and RP, which you could use to advance your engine ahead of a procedural player who was forced to research before making a game.  For this reason I felt separate leader boards was the only way to keep the game balanced.  

I have also recently changed money to round to the nearest thousands.  Due to the cap on a 32 bit integer of 2.1+ billion, I needed to make this change to allow players to reach 2.1+ trillion.  Currently AAA games are capable of making a few billion, if there amazing.  So this money change had to be implemented to let players grow there companies to crazy heights.

The issue for the itch.io technical demo is the fact that I don't have that old version code anymore.  I should of kept it, or thought to remove the ability for the itch.io version to post to leader boards.  Currently the itch version not only posts to incorrect boards, but it posts everything x1000 compared to the new money values in the real version.  Because of this I had to deny the itch version from being downloaded by any new players who come along.  I can not stop anyone with the old client from logging in and posting terrible data to the leader boards, but I would ask that you please dont do that.  Instead please just try the Steam Demo.  it is significantly better than this technical demo version with a ton more features, better graphics.  Basically it is better in every way.

The thing is I love this itch.io technical demo version.  The technical demo on itch was super successful for me, and the game.  Some of the best features in the game currently were the direct result of suggestions, and feedback from the technical demo players.  We had over 400 unique players submit data, which honestly is amazing.

During EA I will be converting the steam version over to Steam leader boards.  As good as the current boards are, there are some aspects of the data I can not really interact with.  With the steam boards I will have more direct control over your submitted data, as well as I will have your steam user name which will be unique, and I will know if one player is submitting 10 different game score data, or if it is 10 different users.  With the improved control I will have over the data, I intend to create better, stronger, and faster leader boards.

When I convert the game over to use Steam leader boards, I will be re-opening this technical demo for download, if anyone wants to experience the game in its earlier state for fun.  They will be able to do so at that time.

Once again, if you are new here please just go try the steam demo it's pretty freaking great.   https://bit.ly/Gdm_steam

EA Launch is just around the corner, and there is much work to be done.

Please consider supporting the game with a wish-list or even better a purchase on June 3rd, there will be a 20% first week launch discount running at launch.

Follow me on twitter for updates:  @hulgarth

Or

Check out the GDM Reddit to read about the game:  https://www.reddit.com/r/GameDevMasters/