The research and development process for Dawn World has been set out here on a month by month basis during the 2.5 years development cycle so far. Each stage is detailed together with any further thoughts.
Core Concept Development. New Development Blog here
Improved terrain texturing and shadows implemented.
New Site devevelopment. The old site suited the purpose well during development, however now nearing the open alpha release a newer more modern site would be required for a wider audience. Final alpha testing, NPC hiring, NPC and player damage syncronisation implementation.
Player ability to hire NPCs introduced, initially Players will be able to choose an NPC's skill level and hire them to guard a village. There will be a daily gold hire rate for this, if you don't keep the payments up to date,eventually your NPC will stop working for you. Eventually this will be extended to put them to work where ever you choose.
Player buildings code implemented and tested. PLayer can now buy buildings and place them, they exist in the persistent world and are served from the server. All players are updated with new buildings as they are bought. The buildings can be also sold and the option to also construct and dismantl buildings will be introduced.
Combat system introduced. A basic combat system implelmented due to popular demand. The initial game-play to get the ball rolling will be to defend parcels of land from maraunding bandits and to keep villages safe.
Game install set tested on various machines.
Distribution and update of game files tested.
Initial pre-requisites tested for, download, install, game startup and player sign in.