In 1v1 playtesting, we found that the first player has a small, but definite advantage. We wanted to give the second player a small benefit to offset this. However, we weren't sure what an appropriate compensation should be. So, we're leaving it up to the players!

We've defined a couple of second player "perks". For example, you could start with a substation already built. Now, when starting a multiplayer game, you roll the dice to see which player gets to pick the perk. Then, the other player gets to choose if they want to go first, or if they want to take the perk (and go second).

We're hoping this will let people balance out the perceived strength of the different options, according to their taste. The current perks are just a first attempt, so don't expect these to be final!

New achievements! Fancy graphics settings! Three campaign difficulty settings! A peek at all the campaign levels even though you won't be able to play them in the demo! Gratuitous exclamation marks!!

So yeah... try the new version now!

We've also released a new Linux version, although we're unable to test it ourselves at this time. If you want to give it a spin and let us know how it goes, that'd be great!

And so much is happening that we almost forgot to write it down in a blog post :). So a bit late, but without further ado:

Last Wednesday, we took a day off from our day jobs and went to Utrecht to showcase our game at the Dutch Game Garden network lunch. And it was great to be there again! Like the last time we were there, the atmosphere was great. Lots of people played Powargrid and they genuinely enjoyed it. What's more, we got lots of feedback from people who think about games and game development every day. Useful stuff. People also liked our new flyer and we handed out quite a bunch of them.

Aside from showcasing our game, we went to the Dutch Game Garden to ask people about marketing. By now, we know our way around the actual game building part of having a game studio, but not so much for marketing. We got a lot of good tips, like getting the word out there as often as possible (which we kind of already knew but find difficult to do, so it's good to get a push in that direction again). New for us was creating a marketing timeline with all the dates on which marketing stuff should happen that starts at least three months before release.
We also got confirmation that it's a good idea to not try doing everything ourselves when it comes to marketing and PR, even though we're not looking for a publisher (hence the Free in Wee Free Studio). And we got names of people and companies who can take some of the marketing stuff off our hands and have a good reputation. So we'll definitely be contacting some of them.

​After the network lunch, we went to the Kamer van Koophandel, which is the Dutch chamber of commerce, to formally start our business. So since last Wednesday we're officially a game studio :D.
It's both cool and a bit scary to have finally taken that step. The main thing is that we can now move on with getting Powargrid on to Steam. You (logically) have to be a registered company for that.

​So, to sum up, stuff is happening and things are getting real. We're looking forward to releasing Powargrid and we're edging ever closer to that moment.