This game is now 10 years old! It’s been a long journey from where WarLight started:

I started this game thinking I’d just play a few games with my friends and move on. I never thought it would turn into what it has today — thanks mostly to the great community! Thanks so much for coming on this journey with me. I look forward to the next 10!

Warzone has just been updated to version 4.06.0! This update brings leaderboards to the Quickmatch system, as well as other fixes and improvements.

The website and standalone versions are updated now. The Android app will be updated within an hour or so. iOS devices will not receive this update.

Here’s the full change log:
– Quickmatch: Added leaderboards. If your global rating is 200 or higher, you’ll now see a “Leaderboards” button appear in the Quickmatch page.
– Quickmatch: Fixed duplicate “country” ratings. Thanks to Timiniator for reporting this.
– Unity: If you issue an attack, then remove all of the armies from the source territory of that attack, then open the attack/transfer dialog again, the text box now defaults to “0” so that selecting Okay will now remove the attack without having to manually type a “0” into the box.
– Unity: Fixed a bug that made changing perspectives in history give an error.
– All: The “Retrieve older messages” button no longer appears on games without any chat.
– All: Updated loading images.
– Website: Improved the tooltips on the Points page. Thanks to EFHIII for reporting this.
– Website: Updated Press page.
– Android/iOS: Fixed a bug that could cause parts of a chat message you’re typing to be lost when using the “enter” key on the software keyboard. Thanks to MGO for reporting this.

Warzone has just been updated to version 4.05.1! This update fixes some bugs, and makes some improvements throughout the app. Basically, this update contains all the fixes and improvements that were reported to me while I was working on UJS over the last month.

The website and standalone versions are updated now. The Android app will be updated within a day or two, and the iOS app will be updated within a week or two.

Here’s what’s changed:

– All: Clicking “modify orders” while a game is past or very near the boot timer will now present a confirmation message, ensuring you actually want to do this and risk getting booted.
– Quickmatch: When creating a 1v1 between two players with multiple templates checked, some random variance is now applied when deciding the template, instead of just picking the one with the most similar rating. This creates more template variety between players who play often.
– Quickmatch: Fixed a bug with memberships expiring that could make templates un-changable.
– Unity: Reduced memory usage. This should fix the “Your device has run out of memory” error that some people were getting.
– Unity: Updated Unity version from 2017.2 to 2017.3.
– Unity: Updated layout of Quickmatch page.
– Unity: The map browser now has a checkbox “Hide locked maps” that can be used to hide or show maps you haven’t unlocked yet.
– Unity: The store now always shows coin prices, instead of only showing coin prices if you could afford it.
– Unity: Fixed a bug that could make the map unnecessarily zoom in if an animation played near the edge of the screen.
– Unity: Fixed “1 army per turn per turn” text. Thanks to saftschachtel for reporting this.
– Unity: Fixed several bugs that could cause errors when entering numbers greater than 2 billion into number fields.
– Unity: Fixed a bug that allowed the settings panel to allow opening multiple mini profile dialogs. Thanks to EFHIII for reporting this.
– Website: The WebGL app should load faster on repeated loads now. In Firefox, my computer can refresh the WebGL app in less than 5 seconds. Chrome is still much slower, so I still recommend using Firefox.
– Website: Updated a few pages to be more mobile-friendly, most notably the Map page.
– Website: Added receive card dialog setting to account settings page.
– Website: Fixed a bug that caused some players to get an error message when accessing quickmatch through the website.
– Website: Fixed a bug that made the radio buttons unclickable on the Create Custom Coin Game page. Thanks to MaikMcJuggle for reporting this.
– Website: Fixed the tournament links on a mobile device. Thanks to Derfellios for reporting this.
– Website: Fixed a bug that made the blacklist not work in Unity WebGL in some circumstances. Thanks to neal for reporting this.
– Website: Fixed a bug that could cause an error in Microsoft Edge when using the arrow keys to navigate between All/RealTime/MultiDay buttons. Thanks to Otto von Bismarck for reporting this.
– Flash: Fixed a bug with the redirect-to-unity prompt that appears when trying to open a Unity-only game.

Warzone has just been updated to version 4.05.0! This update brings the features of Quickmatch, which was previously only usable through the Unity client, to the website! This means that if you play Warzone through the website in Flash mode, you’ll now have access to Quickmatch.

If you aren’t familiar with Quickmatch, it makes joining multi-player games significantly easier. Instead of having to scroll through a list of open games, joining a game is as easy as clicking one button. It can be used to join both real-time or multi-day games, while still giving you control over what templates you’re willing to play. See the original announcement for more details.

You can access it under the multi-payer menu:

UJS

Quickmatch was brought to the website through a new tool I’ve been developing called UJS. UJS’s goal is to bring the entire Warzone Unity app to the website, in a way that isn’t as slow a memory intensive as the currently available method.

The main goal of developing UJS is in response to how slowly the Unity app loads on the website. In my opinion, it’s loading speed and memory usage are unacceptable, and I’m working on fixing that.

Therefore, the magic of today’s update really has nothing to do with Quickmatch. This is a demonstration that the Unity app can run on the website and be quick, even on low-end computers. If this project is successful, the other pages from the Unity app will be run through UJS too. More details about this will be released in the future.

Warzone has just been updated to v4.04.2! This is a small update which make some improvements and fixes some bugs. This update will go to all platforms except iOS. Here’s what’s changed:

– Unity: Re-arranged the players list on the lobby to fit better on small screens.
– Unity: The no-luck cyclic timer now updates 20 times per second instead of every frame. This helps it avoid creating lag on low-powered devices. Thanks to Bas for reporting this.
– Unity: Fixed “SVGObject is null” error.
– Unity: Fixed a bug that made the AI sometimes cause an error in local deployment commerce games when it tried to build a city.
– Unity: Fixed “all players must have a slot” error when creating custom scenario games. Thanks to Mista Sista for reporting this.
– Unity: When attack-by-percentage is disabled, the attack/transfer dialog’s text box now is set in Number mode so that the numpad software keyboard opens instead of the software keyboard with letters. Thanks to Eddy for suggesting this.
– Unity: Multiplied the drag threshold by scale. This fixes a problem where buttons in scrollable regions could appear unresponsive on high DPI devices. Also added this setting to the debug menu so it can be played around with in case this fix wasn’t enough.
– Unity: Purchasing a color from the store now sets it as your default color automatically.
– Unity iPhone X: Dialogs no longer appear outside of the safe space.
– Unity+Website: Icon for mods changed to be red.
– Website: Added a subtle highlight to the background.
– Website: Adjusted table background color to not be quite as black.
– Website: Trying to use a template with mods in a tournament now gives a more appropriate error message.
– Mods: When a mod in a commerce game sets a player’s gold mid-turn, the gold now updates in player’s client immediately so they can spend it right away.
– Mods: Client_GameRefresh is now also fired when a game first loads. Thanks to Krzysztof for suggesting this.
– Mods: Fixed awarding cards to players via GameOrderReceiveCard orders. Thanks to Krzysztof for reporting this.
– Mods: Fixed changing a failed attack to a successful one. If a mod sets DefendersArmiesKilled to be equal to the number of armies on the defending territory, then the attack will now automatically change to a successful one. Thanks to Krzysztof for reporting this.

Hello all!

Warzone has just been updated to v4.04.0! This update brings a new look to the Unity app:

As discussed in the previous blog posts, I’ve been working on new graphics for the game based on feedback that people didn’t like the old graphics. Let me know what you think of the new style.

Here’s the complete changelog for this update:

– Unity: Overhauled the look of the app based on feedback.
– Unity: Removed the 3d animation effect between pages.
– Unity: Increased zoom cutoff so that the game won’t be as eager to zoom in.
– Unity: Increased map buffer so more space is available around the edges.
– Unity: Made a change to the way single-player games are saved to take less memory.
– Unity: Fixed “allMaps is null” error.
– Unity: Fixed a bug that could cause an error if a game was closed as it was being loaded.
– Unity iOS/Android: The coin wheel only pops up if an ad is available.
– Website: Fixed the Report Bug page to fit better on small screens. Thanks to Derfellios for reporting this.
– Website: Fixed descriptions of the forums that still said WarLight. Thanks to Derfellios for reporting this.

EDIT:

4.04.1 is now live, too, which updates the website graphics! Let me know what you think of these, too!

This update also fixes up a few things in the Unity app, such as the pull-out buttons becoming gray instead of green.

Hello all!

It’s almost been a month since Warzone launched! I’ve been working hard on updates based on everyone’s feedback. There have been 13 updates since launch, so many I haven’t been able to keep up with blog posts!

I appreciate all the feedback everyone has sent. If you still haven’t contacted me about the sequel for some reason, please feel free to!

As I’m sure you saw in the previous blog post, I’m working on updating the game’s graphics. Here’s the latest revision of the highest voted entry for the website:

And here’s a version of the phase selection I’ve been working on:

Let me know what you think of these!

Hello all!

In response to feedback about people not liking Warzone’s graphics, I have been working with designers to come up with a new design. I’ve started a thread on the Warzone forums with new design proposals I would love to hear your feedback on. Head on over and let’s talk about it on the forums!

EDIT: Thread 2 with finalists

Here’s a few samples of what’s posted there:

I’m pleased to announce that WarLight’s first official sequel, Warzone, has now arrived!

Warzone builds upon WarLight, adding tons of new features and capabilities, while retaining all of the amazing maps and gameplay that WarLight built.

New Features

• The entire game has been re-written from scratch in Unity for all platforms (iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Linux). The game is sleeker, easier to use, and is all around a much better experience.
• Quickmatch makes it easy to jump into multi-player games! No longer do you have to search through a list of open games. Just click Play, and you’re playing a fun multi-player game!
• Commerce games adds an economy to your empire. Build cities to tax to afford more armies, but be sure to defend them!
• Mods allow customizing the game in ways never before imagined! Mods are easy to use — there’s nothing to download or install, and they even work on iOS and Android!
• In team games, your teammates’ orders are displayed right on the screen so you can see where your teammates are attacking or what territories they’re picking with ease!
• If you change another player’s color, it now saves that change so you don’t need to do it again in that game
• Games don’t have a refresh button anymore. Warzone keeps a socket connected to the server, so any time a turn advances or chat message comes in, it appears immediately.
• When starting a game, your starting territories are highlighted and zoomed so you can always know where you start
• Watching attack and deployment animations groups them together so it plays out faster
• Best of all, it’s still free! If you’ve purchased or unlocked anything for your WarLight account, such as a membership or colors, it will still be fully usable in Warzone with no additional fees.
• And more! There are many more improvements not mentioned here.

iOS or Android user?

Do you play WarLight on your iOS or Android device? Warzone will blow your mind!

In addition to getting all of the above features, there’s a slew of new stuff specifically for mobile users:

• Make your own single-player levels, or play those created by the community!
• Link territories in chat!
• Easily see territory names and connections with the new magnifying glass button!
• When building custom scenarios, you can assign bonuses all at once
• Use autopilot to allow the AI to enter orders for you
• A new, mobile-friendly, website
• Spin the Coin Wheel to win free coins!
  
  The coin wheel can be spun via the Android or iOS app after each multi-player win, max once every 20 hours, after watching a short video. Use these coins to play coin games or tournaments, or spend them in the Warzone store!

The new website and WebGL version of the Unity version is live now! If you want to try it out, select your name in the upper right corner and select “Switch to Unity”. You can always switch back to Flash using the same process. For the best experience, I recommend installing the Nightly version of FireFox as it’s much faster than other browsers at loading Unity apps.

The Android app will go live within a couple hours. The iOS app will go live within 3-7 days due to Apple’s review process.

I’m pleased to announce the release date for the previously announced Warzone launch!

It will go live this Monday, November 13th 2017.

The new website will go live on that day. The Android app should become available within a few hours after that, and the iOS app will probably be available within 3-7 days due to Apple’s slow review process.

In the evening I’ll host a launch party stream on twitch. Hope to see you there!