News

Got interviewed by the British entertainment webzine zConnection - read the interview here:
http://zcint.co.uk/article/ivan-suslin-interview-afterwind-silverlight

OK, as you might have noticed, the last few days the server wasn't very nice. In fact, it's been naughty, very naughty. Crashing and staying down like a total killjoy. However, instead of punishing it with repeated kicking, we decided to fix a few things.

Turned out that was a huge memory leak that was clogging the server's drain. After plugging the leak, things look a lot brighter - the AW server now magically eats 5 times less resources - which should help that fat ass to get into shape.

Anyway, carry on with having fun, everybody. Sorry about the interruptions.

Good news for those who wanted more medals (everyone?) - we've added more medals! They are:

Militia Must Die (for destroying Militia)
War Drags On (for the number of weeks played)
Experienced General (for the number of games played)
Victorious General (for the number of games won)

Plus, there are 6 new 'anti-medals', given for losing games, battles and units. They are there purely for fun, and only bring 1SP when earned.

Hopeless General (for the number of games lost)
Hopeless Admiral (for the lost naval battles)
The Field Is Lost (for the lost PvP battles)
Left To Rust (for the lost land units)
Swallowed By The Sea (for the lost land units)
Crashed Into Dust (for the lost air units)

Read more ››

Map-related requests have been piling up for some time now. Now I finally found time to deal with them in one epic blow. Here are the changes:

New countries (with capitals):
Greenland ("100 additional cities" only)
South Sudan
Trinidad and Tobago
Mauritius
East Timor
Bahrain ("100 additional cities" only)
Cape Verde
Solomon Islands
Malta ("100 additional cities" only)
France: New Caledonia
Vanuatu
French Guiana
The Bahamas

Most of these are small island nations - hopefully this will spice up some regions and make sea battles more interesting. French Guiana and Greenland are technically overseas territories, but I decided not to bother naming them "France: French Guiana" and "Denmark: Greenland", unlike New Caledonia. Just seemed better that way. Greenland is a sort of bonus country - it's only available in "whole world" with the "100 additional cities" settings.

Read more ››

Not much to report about this new update, but anyway:

Bug with defence lines fixed.

Tutorial slightly reworked and redesigned.

Full screen button added to the top toolbar (and removed from the old place under the mini-map).

Keyboard now works in the out-of-browser Afterwind application in full screen mode. For those who don't know, you can run Afterwind without a browser - simply right-click on the application and select 'Install Afterwind onto this computer'. Very handy. And did we mention you can now use keyboard in full screen?

Rank 0-3 players are now redirected to the Beginners room by default.

For those hoping for a huge update, sorry. Our latest efforts were rather directed at promoting the game, changing the site design and preparing Kongregate.com integration (coming very soon).

Good news, everybody! In the spirit of the upcoming holidays, this week all Premium features have a sweet -50% discount.

Also, returning players who were absent for over a month get one week subscription for free, automatically!

Cheers!

Today we unveil website's new design. Why was it needed at all? Well, the old website was quietly frustrating to me as a designer, since I always felt it wasn't impressive enough. This is especially important for new visitors, who have to be gripped immediately, before they decide to go elsewhere. While nothing was changed in the game itself, the new artwork will hopefully help in creating a proper atmosphere for Afterwind.

Now, from personal experience, about 30% of you will be very unhappy with the redesign and claim that the old site was 1000 times better. Please allow a week or so for the adjustment period - once you get used to it a bit and learn where things are, the frustration will (hopefully) pass

Read more ››

Afterwind is nominated for IndieDB.com Indie of the Year 2011 - you can vote for us here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/afterwind

Alright, summer vacations are over and we're gearing up to continue game development. Meanwhile, we would be happy to reply to any questions you might have. Whether it's about the game, future updates or something unrelated - go ahead, ask here in this topic.

The thread will be active for one week - during that time we promise to answer every question posted.

OK, let's try something fun here. Post a piece of AW-related 'art' (masterpiece painting, crude drawing, rage comic, motivational poster, lame photoshop, whatever) and win premium membership! The prizes are the following:

1st place - Full package
2nd place - 6 months subscription
3rd place - 3 months subscription
4th and 5th places - 1 month subscription

No idea how many people would be willing to participate, but the less there are, the higher is your chance of winning!

Those of you who already have full package are welcome to join in as well, just for fun.

The contest will be closed on the 9th of August. Good luck!

Good news for those of you who can't keep up with the break-neck pace of the 2-min turn games or don't have time to play for several hours non-stop. Today we unveil "casual" games - with 12-24 hour turns! Everything works the same as in regular games - except the turn length and the ability to safely leave the game and come back the next day to continue it.

New lobby filter
There's a new switch in the lobby for quick/casual games. Each type also has 3 rooms - Main, Beginners and Coalition Wars (which means 6 rooms in total). If you change the type during the game, it will be automatically moved to the appropriate room - for example, if you change turn length from 4 minutes to 12 hours, this game will be moved to the Casual Main room. Old filters are still available if you click the 'show filters' link in the middle.

Read more ››

Players without PayPal accounts can now unlock Premium features by phone or SMS. The service is available in 50 countries, the price of the pack varies depending on your local currency and provider (around 2 USD).

Regular packs and subscriptions are still only available with PayPay - however, special new 7-day subscription has been added for phone/SMS payments. This allows lower pricing, since the service only support mini-transactions. Every time you extend your subscription before it ends, you get 3 additional days for free.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.