If there’s one thing that I’ve been keeping quiet about over these past couple months, it is the enormous amount of progress that I’ve been doing solo on Master of Fortresses 2.

Now, this is basically the third iteration of the game, with the previous two having been shut down either by the team being pulled apart through various factors outside of my control or the ultimate realisation that the platform that I’ve spent the past couple years developing for (Flash) is not long for this world. Sometimes, I look back and remember that my original agreement with Armor Games involved delivery sometime around last September. We were on track to hit that goal until sometime around last June, when things started going haywire.

I’m pretty proud of how far I’ve gotten with the current version, as belated as it is. Last week, I finally passed our previous point of furthest advance: I am now closer to finishing the game myself (with help from my composer and vocal cast) than I’ve ever been before, which means I’m no longer futilely retreading old ground. I’m forging ahead into unknown territory now. It’s a bit daunting, but it feels good.

Here’s what’s been done so far:
-Map tiling and scrolling
-GUI display
-Building and unit construction placement
-Autotiling
-Collision detection
-Friendly unit AI
-Enemy pathfinding
-Enemy death
-Money and population caps
-Build zones

Here’s what I’m currently working on:
-Enemy combat AI
-Friendly unit/building death

When I finish those two items, I’ll put up the long-promised video update and show you what most of this stuff looks like in action. After that I’ll start working on some of the higher level features: unit experience, support units and advanced tactics like flanking and crossfires.

It’s gonna be fun.