Devlog 1

Hello all! I hope everyone is safe and well and looking forward to the end of what has been a rough couple years! 

This devlog isn't going to be anything too amazing, but we wish to update you guys on our progress and how COVID Royal's roadmap is currently looking. 

So, I once again. Got super close to having an alpha ready to release, I had HUD and Menu left to make and like a complete idiot I pressed a wrong button, Unreal engine wouldn't let me undo so I've had to scrap and start again. But, I do however have some positive news regarding the games development.

WE NOW HAVE A MAP!!! It's not great, no. But it's a starting point. And it does go with our storyline that we planned to have in the game for our first few months/pre-release.

We plan to share a video of our map on our YouTube channel and on Itch.io in the next few weeks if all goes to plan! 

We also plan to use our alpha/beta phase to figure out what's best in terms of servers and matchmaking as right now we are caught between three systems.

1: Old school Call of Duty style.

Where everyone connects to a single player who is the "host" and everyone's game is a server as well as a client. Games would be based on location more than anything and is easiest for us as developers to focus more on the game than the servers

2: Steam servers. 

Once we are listed on steam (Which should be really soon hopefully!) We will have access to Steam servers to host our game on. It seems a little finicky but ensures that friend lists and things like that will work off the bat with virtually no input from ourselves, but also makes it harder for us to manage cheaters or work on stability and things like that should we need too

3: Amazon Gamelift.

Gamelift to us looks like the best of both worlds, we can ensure good stability and even integrate our own friends system as well as some other cool features a form of "Ranked mode" With some form of SBMM (Not too extreme tho, as we feel it would make the game boring) 

We also plan to try to implement some form of replay mode, either before release or not long after, so you can go back and see what went wrong/right in your matches and improve at the game as a whole

We really want to do some form of cosmetic sales to help us maintain the game and pay the bills but we're currently unsure how best to implement this without sacrificing the integrity of our game or it's core purpose. We may end up implementing a form of "Battle pass" or something but we don't want to be too corny, nor beg for too much money. 

And we can also confirm that we should have a release coming to Xbox! This may be a while after PC launch but we also intend to have full crossplay functionality and hopefully get a PlayStation release down the line, the only reason we currently can't is due to Sony's security not liking the fact we do not have a static IP Address, which is fair enough and we hold no issue with that, we just want to find something that works for us. 

This almost year long journey has been insane, with many highs and lows all around. We've hit roadbump after roadbump. But I can confidently say that we should at the very least have a alpha build of some sort coming out within the next month. (We may even aim at MacOS support of some kind, but we are doubtful of it being successful. Linux fans please rejoice tho as we WILL be supporting you guys) 

I also plan to open up a patreon or kickstarter of some kind to help raise the small amount of funds we need to really push this game out there, please remember I'm one guy on my own developing this by myself and it's a very big job for one man too do, I will be honest I have a comedian helping me write the comedy, jokes, and story for the game but all the actual development is done by myself alone. 

I want to thank my friend Benji for his undying love and dedication for helping me with this project, as well as my friend Hero who has been a very great tester of not only COVID Royal but also Triple Tap. 

I would like to thank Benny for his help as being mod on Itch.io, reddit as well as other places.

And I would also like to thank my girlfriend Sarah for her support, patience and hype. As well as moderating in forums, reddit, twitch, youtube, discord etc. 

I could not have got as far as I have in this project without you guys, and I certainly think I wouldn't get much further if I didn't have you guys around. 

 This project has had nothing but love, sweat and tears poured into it by myself and those around me. Everyone's undying support and encouragement has been nothing short of amazing and I really look forward to making my family and friends proud of the accomplishments I have made. 

I really hope to keep you guys updated more and I plan to revive the game's social media very soon (@COVIDRoyal on most socials) 

The map showcase will be going up on my YouTube channel, as I am yet to set one up for COVID Royal itself, but it will have one soon! Keep your eyes peeled.

Thank you again for your support. And I hope to see you on the battlefield when the game releases hopefully soon! 

Love,

Dekki.