WarLight has come a long way in 2011.
I’m amazed when I think back to what WarLight was like a year ago. The site was still in beta, and none of the ladders existed. You couldn’t save your own templates, so creating games required that you manually enter every setting every time. No auto-boot existed, so tournaments would frequently get stalled whenever one game would get abandoned.
The list of features added in 2011 goes on and on. Custom scenarios, the dashboard, the statistics panel, open tournaments, the wiki, new graphics, vacations, map categories, ability to save single-player games, the stand-alone client, and music. Wow!
WarLight has five times as many active players now as it did when 2011 started. Although WarLight has been up since 2008, 2011 hosted more than four times as many WarLight games as all the other years combined!
Mobile Update
Although I’m proud of the above list of features, those were all actually secondary goals. In fact, I spent more than half of my time in 2011 working on iPhone and Android versions of WarLight. All of the features listed above were actually completed in periods where I took breaks from working on the mobile client.
I’m committed to making WarLight a cross-platform game. WarLight is a perfect game for mobile devices due to its asynchronous nature. Unlike other multi-player games where you have to be online at the same time as your opponents, WarLight allows you to take your phone out of your pocket whenever you have a free moment, enter your orders, and put it right back.
A prototype of WarLight for the iPhone already exists, but unfortunately due to Apple’s restrictions I can’t release it until it’s ready for the app store. It may be some time until it’s polished enough for the app store, but there should be room for a few lucky testers once it gets further along. Opportunities for testers will be announced on the blog.
Over the last month I’ve been working on getting Android version ready for a preview release. Android is great in that Google allows people to install apps off the web, so WarLight will be able to release previews. Stay tuned to the blog for news on a preview of the Android client, coming soon!
Looking Forward
2011 was a great year for WarLight, but it’s definitely not the end. This was the first complete year that I worked on WarLight full-time, and I have no intentions of stopping or moving on to a new game. I still view WarLight as a very young game. I want WarLight to be the best play-by-email game in existence and to be playable on as many platforms as possible.
I’m constantly amazed that, even after living and breathing WarLight for almost four years now, I’m still not tired of the game! It’s rare for a game to stay fun for its developers after so long.
I expect 2012 to be an even bigger year for WarLight. So thanks for playing, and have a happy new year!
Fizzer, thanks for this great game and the good support provided.
Keep it simple and fun !
one the things i would like to see in 2012 is an 3 v 3 ladder
Yey, nice to hear that WarLight works as a full-time job for you. Is there anything better than working on an very own project? 🙂
I bought an Android smart phone just 2 months ago, looking forward to the WarLight app for Android now. 😎 I’m amazed, too, that I’m still addicted to WarLight after one year of playing with almost 1.000 games now.
Great work and a good start in 2012 for you!
Martin
Thanks for everything you’ve done Fizzer. I appreciate the hard work you do and the fact that you actually listen to players for feedback without completely bending to every flavor of the week. Congrats on your success and here’s to another great year in the making! Cheers!
I’ve been addicted since the first time I played, over a year ago. Thanks for providing me with something to consume all of my spare time, and keep the excellent work up!
Thank you for your dedication!
Helluva year Fizzer! It actually surprised to me to realize that a lot of the biggest changes in this game have come into being over the last calendar year. You’re dedication to this game is nothing short of admirable and I very much appreciate all the updates you continue to provide us on a fairly regular basis. Keep up the good work and all the best for another strong 2012!
thanks for doing this, impressive. Interesting that you call it a play-by-email game when email features minimally. Does that suggest that you were into play-by-mail games in the 80s and 90s?