The development of the full game proceeds steadily. The fourth and last battle in Hispania is finished and so is the transition between the campaigns of Hispania and Africa; I’m currently working on Part Five (out of eleven). Among many other things, a decision had to be taken on how to handle the various Opionions at that point: the commander is the same, but you are in a different army with different senior officers and companions when the second campaign triggers. For the sake of realism, I should’ve reset the Troop and Centurion’s Opinions, but that felt unfair on players. In the end, I’ve decided to let them carry over their values as a sort of reputation.

Actually, there’s also a bonus to be gained based on how highly the commander thinks of you. And one extra chance for a promotion, if you qualify.

As far as the new demo release is concerned, here’s what’s new in version 0.5.3.

First of all, the Game Over screen is a bit more lively now, and more explicit about where your points come from.

The Lull screen (i.e. the game phase happening in between battles) has a title that is briefly displayed when it’s opened. This should help you remember where you were, especially if you load an old game after a few days.

I’ve added a new activity in the Misc section reserved to high rank characters (who can no longer volunteer for extra guard duty). It may not be much use in the demo, since players will rarely reach the rank of Optio so early in the game, but it will be useful later on.

There’s also a new random event involving a foot race with a nice piece of equipment as a prize and several tweaks and adjustments. The release notes on the official site of A Legionary’s Life contain a full list.