So we've decided to skip version 1.0.1 (which went into beta 1 last week) and jump straight to 1.1.0 (which is going into beta 1 as of right now). I know, I know, there's so many ones and zeroes going around lately that you'd think we're talking in binary.

If you've already purchased Hegemony, the 1.1 beta is now available from the Download Centre. The big new feature is configurable difficulty, in case you've been finding Hegemony too stressful or not challenging enough. We've also fixed a number of problems with the objectives, so if there's any quests you've had trouble completing, this version should fix it.

Try it out and let us know what you think, especially if you encounter any problems.

You asked for it, and we're here to please. We're now accepting PayPal on our online store, so if you've been holding out, now is the time to buy Hegemony!

If you've already purchased a copy of Hegemony, please try out the 1.0.1 beta. All you need to do is log in and go to the Download Centre to get your copy.

Keep reading to see what's changed. Continued →

They called us crazy for attempting to develop a game this big with only five developers, but after six years in development, we're very pleased to announce the release of our most ambitious project to date: Hegemony: Philip of Macedon, available now for only $29.99!

This is a real-time strategy game about Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, and his rise to power as he conquered and united all of Ancient Greece. Go to the Hegemony page now to see our new trailer and to download a demo of the game, and please let us know what you think on the forums!

It's been ten years to the day that we lost our beloved Seumas (pronounced Shem-Ess) to cancer. He died a little more than a month after his 21st birthday.

In the short time that he had, Seumas touched many in the game development community and we thank the Independent Games Festival for continuing to honor his memory.

To commemorate Seumas on this 10th anniversary we have decided to post the CBC radio interview, recorded a few short days before his death. We have also decided to post the eulogy that his mother Wendy wrote a few days after Seumas' death.

The humility, candor, originality and courage that my son Seumas projected, continues to inspire and influence me to this day.

Jim McNally Continued →

We received quite the surprise here in the office yesterday when three long-time Rival Ball fans dropped by for a visit! And they made quite the trip to get here, too! Sunny came from Florida, Disko came from South Australia, and Teulk came all the way from the far-away city of Scarborough.

Thanks for dropping by guys! You're always welcome!

As you may know, we began our first round of beta testing a couple months ago, and we've made a lot of progress on Hegemony during that time. A very special thanks to Random Chaos, who has proved invaluable during this period.

We're preparing to launch round two of our beta test, and we've decided to accept more applications. If you're interested, be sure to email Jim with the following information:

* Name
* Forum display name
* System specs
* Approximately how many hours you spend gaming each week
* Your favourite genre
* Your favourite game (recent favourite and all-time favourite)
* Any games you've beta-tested before

We're expecting this round to be larger than the first round, so don't hesitate to join up!

Oh, and if you've already applied for round one and you haven't heard back from us, don't worry, we still have your information on file and you'll be considered for round two.

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot of talk about a new game called Borderlands. I can’t actually say much about this game because I haven’t played it yet. Now, I can already hear you asking, “why did you bring it up if you haven’t played it?” Well, dearest voice in my head, it’s very simple: I brought it up because I haven’t played it. You see, the reason I haven’t played it is because there’s no demo.

If you take a look around our site, you’ll notice that we offer demos for all of our games. Obviously, we think demos are pretty important, so this week I thought I’d talk about why we think demos are so important, and why some publishers and developers decide to eschew the demo. Continued →

Welcome to the final part in A Premortem: Lessons Learned So Far. If you haven’t read part 1 or part 2, you might want to do that now.

I’m reaching the bottom of my list of lessons, so there’s not going to be much of a theme in today’s collection; instead, it’s going to be the odds-and-ends that I wanted to talk about, but couldn’t fit into the two earlier articles. Without further ado, let’s get started. Continued →

Welcome to A Premortem: Lessons Learned So Far. For those of you who are just joining us, this is part 2 of a series I began writing last week where I discuss some of the lessons we think we’ve learned during the development of Hegemony, and how we’ll probably do certain things differently on the next project. Since we haven’t actually released Hegemony yet, I can’t say with utmost authority that these are all good ideas, but they seem like good ideas with the current – albeit partial – hindsight that we have today.

This week I’ll be talking mostly about the art side of things; not just how our artists will change things up, but also how our next game could benefit from better programming and planning. That brings me to the first lesson. Continued →