Hello everyone, welcome back! Readers might recall that two entries ago I had made significant progress on the rhyming riddles for pointing the player towards a specific location on the world map – either by describing that location, or describing a location which is directly to the north, south, east, or west of that location, … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #38: Religious Books, Maps in Books, Book Secrets
Hello everyone, and welcome to this fortnight’s entry. Here we consider several things. Firstly, we’ll take another look at the frontispieces of books. By this, I don’t mean the covers of books, but the first page you see when you open the book. As with the covers themselves, I really want these to be very … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #37: Riddle Generation 5: Specific Locations
Hello everyone, and welcome back to the new fortnightly blog (sorry this one’s just a day late – had a health scare over the weekend, the first / worst I’ve had in a long time. I think things are going to be okay, but it really shook me up mentally / emotionally). This week is … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #36: Padlocks
Welcome, friends, to this week’s development blog for Padlock Simulator 2025 Ultima Ratio Regum. For the past little while now I’ve been working on generating padlocks as a way to draw attention to objectives for the player (especially a new player), to add even more visual flair, and also to give the player clues to … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #35: Lots of Book Progress
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the continuing, and new-and-improved, fortnightly Ultima Ratio Regum development blog update. As regular readers will know, we’ve really been cracking along in the last few months, with the development of an in-game tutorial, the development of a tutorial system, the removal of the in-game guidebook since was no longer required, … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #34: Significant Mechanical Changes
Hello everyone, welcome back! This week we’re talking about some key gameplay mechanics, so let’s get into it: Mechanical Complexity So, firstly, I’ve had something of a revelation recently vis-à-vis the complexity of mechanics in games in general, and the required complexity of mechanics in URR. This revelation would go something like this – it’s … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #33: Riddle Generation 4: Poems
Hello everyone, welcome back! I do hope you all continue to enjoy the new fortnightly update schedule. After a few blog entries away from discussing the poetry riddle generation – this being the only type of riddle I’m promising to have released in 0.11, with the possibility of more if time allows – it’s time … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #32: The Player’s Journal #1
Hello friends! Welcome back. I really do hope you have all been enjoying the more regular fortnightly updates recently. I’m pleased to say that – as of yet(!) – they are not stressing me out in the least, and are only helping to focus and drive 0.11 development. It’s good to have this fortnightly check … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #31: Continuing Notes, Continuing Books
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the new and improved fortnightly URR blog update (for the time being, at least, though so far I can truthfully say that a slightly faster turnaround time has been only motivating, and not stressful – touch wood). Two entries ago I discussed in some detail the ongoing generation of the … Read More
Ultima Ratio Regum 0.11 Update #30: Tutorial Design
Hello friends! This week I’m going to be covering a major addition for 0.11 – the implementation of a tutorial (and the replacement of the guidebook, too). This has been an exciting thing to develop because it really does signal this ongoing transformation from “cool detailed world without too much to actually do” into “game … Read More