Stefan Vaskevich

Day 25. Building the game I've dreamed of for 15 years with AI. The second level is almost ready. The water changed the most. The rivers look like real forest rivers now: dark and calm, and like a mirror they reflect the banks, the trees and the units walking by. Light ripples run over the surface, and a little foam gathers at the shore. The banks came alive too. Plants of all kinds grow along them, and lily pads rest on the quiet water by the shore, some of them in flower. The whole map is changing bit by bit. Where the ground used to be bare, bushes grow now, and paths wind through the meadows and woods. On your way you can come across quiet little villages with a well in the middle, and old churches: one hides in a forest glade, the other stands right in the middle of the grey Skeleton Lands.

Day 24. Building the game I've dreamed of for 15 years with AI. The game has weather now, and it changes on its own: clear skies give way to rain, and sometimes to a thunderstorm. Light rain is calm. Drops fall over the whole map and ring the rivers, puddles gather on the paths, the ground darkens and shines in places, and the trees lean a little in the wind. A thunderstorm is wilder. The forest bends, the wind tugs harder at the castle flags, thunder rolls and lightning strikes. Lightning can hit a tree and set it alight, and once it burns out it stands black and bare for the rest of the level. Once in a while it hits a unit, yours or the enemy's, and most don't survive it. When the rain passes and the sun comes back, god rays fall from the sky for a little while. The nights are a bit lighter too. The moon lights the map with a soft blue light, and on clear nights its rays come down from the sky as well.

Day 23. Building the game I've dreamed of for 15 years with AI. The first two level is now really playable, from your castle all the way to the victory screen. The land around the roads came alive. There's an abandoned village now: houses round a well, a fenced ploughed field and a scarecrow. And an abandoned church. The tavern sells something new: a hanging lantern for 10 gold. Your General carries it, and at night it throws a soft, flickering yellow light around him. If he falls, the lantern is lost, and you can buy another one. Treasures now lie in new places every game. Behind the church only tombs turn up, since that's the graveyard. And not every treasure pays off: some open empty. Lots of small things changed too. Small groups from enemy castles roam the map, so you can run into them anywhere. Archers walk around buildings to get a clear shot, and in a big fight the back ranks spread out round the enemy's sides and back.

Day 22. Building the game I've dreamed of for 15 years with AI. Treasures are in the game now: wooden chests and old tombs. They're hidden away from the roads, in the forests and by ruined villages. A tomb takes the colour of the ground it lies on: mossy green in the grass, grey stone among the rocks. A closed chest glitters with little stars every few seconds, so you notice it between the trees. Send your units to one, and the first to reach it opens it. The chest creaks, the tomb's slab scrapes aside in a puff of dust, and inside there's 10 to 100 gold. The gold took the most tries. At first the heap of coins sank into the ground, then it just faded out. Now it melts away in place with a thin golden edge, and streams of gold rise around the treasure for a second.