Hello everyone,

Felix here with a slightly overdue blog post.

With the alpha milestone behind us, we’re now shifting focus to building content and scaling things up. That said, we’re always working to improve the core mechanics of the game—and with that in mind, we ran a smaller, focused playtest just one week ago.

Over the weekend, our closest community members—those on our mailing list and Discord—were invited to take part in a more compact test centered entirely around combat. We set up a new test level where players could freely equip themselves with Tier 1 and 2 gear, and quickly jump into conquest and raid scenarios. The idea was to let people fight a lot and give us targeted feedback in that area. For the first time, players could also try out multiplayer and interact using our new Helldivers 2-inspired emote system.

With a more limited scope and a smaller group, we naturally got less feedback overall—but what we did get was much more focused. That’s exactly what we were hoping for. It's always refreshing to get fresh eyes on systems we've been staring at for weeks, and a lot of the comments pointed out things we knew, deep down, weren’t quite right—but couldn’t fully articulate ourselves.

I spent last week tackling one of the most pressing issues:
Players weren’t always sure which enemy they were going to attack unless they actively locked on. We’ve got a system that auto-selects the enemy closest to your aiming center, but in a crowd, it could feel unpredictable.

So—with some high-quality programmer art (meaning: it will look much better once Jens and Tim take a pass)—I added a highlight for the current target and made sure your character always faces the enemy they’re about to strike. It’s a small change, but it made a big difference in how the combat feels. I’m really happy with it, and I hope it’ll feel much better the next time you'll get your hands on the game. (And yes, there will be a next time!)

These playtests have also been a bit of an experiment for us—to see if the feedback justifies the effort—and honestly? It absolutely does. So expect more chances to test the game in the near future. Most will be small and focused like this one, but we’ll also be doing larger-scale testing as we approach release and our Steam Next Fest slot. That big public demo? We’ll definitely community-test it first.

Until then, happy Easter to those who celebrate—and as always, back to the pixel mines. ^^

Cheers,
Felix

Salvete amici mei,

welcome to the 35th entry of our devblog! Today we have exciting updates from the development of Lost Legions, a big announcement for all those waiting for a playable version, as well as a brief insight into the current industry situation. And finally - a Roman fun fact!


Current state of development

We are planning three fully playable biomes for Early Access: Meadows, Dark Forest and Swamps. The Meadows are well advanced, and work on the other two biomes is in full swing. Each biome should not only be visually unique, but also feature special gameplay mechanics. In addition, we are currently testing a first version of fishing, which further expands the survival elements.

Multiplayer mode is back! After a phase of deactivation to test core mechanics more efficiently, you will soon be able to play together with friends for the first time!

Further progress:

• Revised UI for workstations, inventory and stockpile
  
  
• New combat system: smoother sword fight animations, new finisher cinematics, blood & camera effects
  
• New animal species, especially wolves with improved behavior
  
  
• Revised sound: New meta sounds for combat, tools & environment, atmospheric music
  
• Emotes! Use them for tactical signaling, roleplaying or just for fun - we lost ourselves in them while testing!
  
  
• Numerous bug fixes for a more stable gaming experience
  
  Alpha milestone reached!
  
  Last Friday we had a very entertaining internal playtest. Today in the review meeting we realized: We have achieved our alpha goals! Of course, there are still some open issues - over 30 new bugs have been added to the system. The savegame system and the staging of the story in particular still need some fine-tuning, but our team is focusing on these issues in every sprint.
  
  The big goal? A new demo for you!
  
  New community playtest
  
  We want to provide you with regular demos that specifically highlight new content. This will allow you to experience the progress of development without having to start from scratch again and again.
  
  The first new demo will serve as a test environment for the Conquest & Raid mechanics. We pay attention to the following principles:
  
  
• No additional development effort - the demo can be derived directly from our internal testing process
  
• Unreal debug visualizations are allowed
  
• Develops into a general test chamber for features
  
• Will be regularly available for community testing
  
  We believe that this method will give you the most exciting insights without anticipating the final game experience. And the multiplayer alone is sure to be a lot of fun!
  
  Market situation & future plans
  
  The games industry continues to be challenging: many studios are closing, projects are being discontinued and funding is more difficult than ever before. But we're not letting it get us down! Lost Legions is a project close to our hearts and we are convinced that it will find its place in the market. We remain indie developers through and through and are looking for both traditional and creative ways of funding.
  
  A big topic: Our upcoming Kickstarter campaign! If you want to support our project, add Lost Legions to your Steam Wishlist and follow our Kickstarter page! We track the numbers daily and are happy about every single new follower - really, that motivates us enormously!
  
  Fun Fact: The Varus Battle
  
  Did you know that Roman legionaries were unable to fight in formation at the Varus Battle due to heavy rain and muddy ground? The Germanic tribes exploited the terrain perfectly - hidden attacks from the forest, quick retreats and unpredictable attacks made it impossible for the Romans to use their usual battle tactics. An example of how crucial environmental factors can be in warfare - this is also the reason why so much useless equipment can be found as a resource in our game world.
  
  Thank you for reading and for your continued support! We look forward to giving you access to the new demo soon.
  
  Until then - fortes fortuna adiuvat!
  
  Jens & the Lost Legions Team
  
  [discord.gg]

Hey everyone

Felix here - Back with a quick update regarding the upcoming Kickstarter for Lost Legions.

If you are unaware, all of us at Tarock Interactive have been hard at work to prepare for the Kickstarter we have planned this year for Lost Legions. This journey together on Kickstarter will be the answer to turning Lost Legions into a full-blown and fun experience for the world to enjoy.
Being a small indie team, this campaign will help us obtain the necessary resources to turn this into a full game.

We’ve made some huge changes to the Kickstarter pre-launch page as well to the Kickstarter itself, including brand new GIFS, extra/additional description - Check it our latest Exploration GIF.

The team has also come up with some exciting and interesting rewards, so we plan to share some information regarding the upcoming rewards so you can get a sneak peek before the campaign goes live.

*(Actual representation of us working on the Kickstarter 😂)*

Clicking the image below will redirect you to the Kickstarter page, if you are not following the Kickstarter, please hit the “Notify Me on Launch” button. Every follow counts when it comes to indies getting a spotlight.

Thank you all for your support!

Cheers,
Felix




[discord.gg]

Hey everyone,

Felix here—back with another update as we push full speed ahead toward our alpha milestone!

We’re still going through all the feedback from the playtest, and it's been incredibly valuable in helping us refine key aspects of the game. One major area of improvement has been combat, and I’m happy to say that things are feeling much better—especially when wielding the gladius.

Since the playtest, we've focused on tightening up the gladius combat experience, and it’s really starting to come together. Heavy attacks now break blocks, combo animations flow much more naturally, and we’ve added brutal finishing moves that bring the whole thing together. Combat feels snappier, weightier, and—most importantly—more fun. Of course, there’s still plenty to tweak, but we’re in a much better place than before!

We also finally have a stable save game system, which means no more lost progress or forced restarts. It’s a huge relief and a critical step as we continue toward alpha. And speaking of that—yes, we’re still racing toward our alpha milestone, but we’re also preparing something else behind the scenes: our Kickstarter campaign. No big announcements just yet (soon!), but it’s exciting to put everything together.

One of the nice things about working on the Kickstarter page is that it gives us an excuse to refresh our marketing materials. Most of it will stay under wraps until the campaign goes live, but we’ve decided to swap out our old pre-alpha trailer with a new (almost)-alpha one. It’s a much better representation of where Lost Legions is today, and we’re excited for you to see it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iPZfcszVbc&ab_channel=Tim

Enjoy the new trailer, and as always—back to the pixel mines!

Cheers,
Felix

[discord.gg]

Hey everyone,

Felix here—back from the trenches of our first Lost Legions playtest, sleep-deprived but absolutely thrilled!

First and foremost: THANK YOU! Whether you were part of our friends and family wave, joined in through our mailing list, or were one of the 500 lucky (and brave) souls who got in via Steam—your time, feedback, and patience have meant the world to us. With over 3,000 applicants, getting in was almost as brutal as surviving the Teutoburg Forest itself.

This whole experience has been nothing short of amazing. Your feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and incredibly motivating, and watching you play, struggle, and succeed in the world of Lost Legions has given us the biggest boost imaginable.

We also learned a few things about ourselves:

• We thought we had about 60-90 minutes of gameplay—turns out, the average playtime was 3 hours!
  
• One absolute legend managed to clock in over 30 hours (we salute you).
  
• Our ambition to fix bugs and implement quality-of-life requests as fast as they came in was… optimistic. We ended up shipping 13 versions in just over three weeks (from 0.0.1 to 0.0.13), proving that our commitment to updates is almost as strong as our ability to introduce new bugs:
  
  
  My favorite bug: The horrible Deerderdeerdeer.
  
  For me personally, this was a huge relief. After over a year of working on Lost Legions, balancing between knowing and hoping that this would turn into something truly fun, this playtest confirmed it—we’re onto something special.
  
  Of course, there’s a ton of content still to add, and we have two major areas that need work (combat and save games, we see you!). But the foundation is solid, and that’s what matters most.
  
  And before you ask: yes, there will be more playtests! They’ll be more focused on specific features, and it will likely take a Next Fest before new players can start from the beginning again… unless, of course, you happen to be a Kickstarter backer (hint hint—we’ll have some news on that very soon 😉).
  
  Again, thank you all for being part of this journey. We’re back to the pixel mines, but with renewed energy, a clear roadmap, and an even bigger drive to make Lost Legions the best it can be.
  
  See you next time,
  Felix
  
  [discord.gg]

Hey everyone,

Felix here—finally, the day has come! After countless hours of tweaking, fixing, and wondering why that one bug refuses to die, the first steam playtest of Lost Legions starts TODAY 6pm CET!

For the next seven days, some of you will be able to jump into the game, test your survival skills as a stranded Roman soldier, and—if our AI behaves—hopefully get stabbed in the back just the right amount.

How to Join:

Hit the big green button on our Steam page before 6 PM CET today (right next to the wishlist button that—let’s be honest—you should totally press too). Access will roll out progressively, so if you don’t get in right away, don’t panic—there will be plenty of future playtests.


What We Need From You:

• Break the game. Gently. (Or not—we’ll fix it anyway.)
  
• Tell us what’s working and what’s making you scream at your screen.
  
• Found a bug? Report it on Discord or through the in-game feedback form.
  
  
  We’re still deep in pre-alpha, which means things are rough around the edges. But the core experience—combat, conquest, and the fight for survival—is there, and we’re eager to hear what you think.
  
  The playtest runs for one week, after which we’ll gather all your feedback, return to the pixel mines, and hammer away at making Lost Legions even better.
  
  See you on the battlefield!
  
  Cheers,
  Felix
  
  [discord.gg]

Hey everyone,

Felix here, it’s been a while. I have a lot of great news to share today!

First: We’re happy to be participating in the Myths and Legends Steamfest. If you’re joining us through this festival: welcome! Lost Legions is a survival game about being a Roman soldier lost behind enemy lines after a catastrophic defeat. It’s infused with a lot of Germanic and Hellenic mythology and we’re happy to have you here!


The second big news is that we’re starting our first community playtest today! Starting now you can apply for a spot here on steam using the big green button that should be near the wishlist button (that you’re welcome to press too if you haven’t already ;) We’re starting with friends and family this week and will be progressively adding external players to the demo, starting with our closest community and following up with a random selection from people that applied via the store page. The whole thing should happen over the course of the next 3 weeks.
Expect a lot of updates and hotfixes during that time! When the duration is over we’ll remove the community demo and return to the pixel mines to evaluate the feedback and improve on the game.

We couldn’t be more excited! We’re still deep in pre-alpha development and a lot of the features of the game are subject to change and definitely not polished but the spirit is there! We’re all very anxious to hear what fresh eyes and ears have to say about the game. We’re all too close to it and it’s impossible to judge ourselves.

So sign up today and hopefully you’ll be able to play soon!

Cheers,
Felix

[discord.gg]

Hey everyone,

This week, we’re keeping things straightforward—our entire focus is on the Lost Legions demo. The team has been hard at work, fine-tuning gameplay, fixing bugs, and polishing the experience to make it truly special. The excitement in the studio is real, and we’re getting closer and closer to sharing it with you.

We’re also thrilled to share that we’ll soon be calling for testers! If you’ve been eager to get an early look at the game, this is your chance to be part of something exciting. As a tester, you’ll play the demo, dive into the world of Lost Legions, and then share your thoughts with us. We’ll ask you to answer a few questions and fill out a short feedback form, so your insights can help us improve the game.

If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, make sure you’re signed up for our mailing list. The call for testers will go out there first, and you don’t want to miss it! Sign up here: Mailing List [subscribepage.io]


In the meantime, we’d love your support on our Kickstarter pre-launch page. Following the page not only helps us reach our goal but also ensures you’ll be the first to know when the campaign goes live. Every follower makes a big difference! You can check it out and hit the “Notify me on launch” button here: pre-launch page

We’re so excited about what’s coming together and can’t wait to hear what you think when you get your hands on the demo. Thank you for all your support—it really keeps us motivated through the long hours of development.

Stay tuned for more updates, and don’t forget to follow us on socials for behind-the-scenes glimpses of what we’re working on.

Cheers,
Bat El

[discord.gg]

Salvete amici mei,
I had the opportunity to close last year with a blog post in which I talked about my current work with motion capturing and gave a brief year-in-review. Now, I have the honor of opening the new year with a blog post. I’ll keep it short, as there’s a lot to do.

Happy New Year 2025! The Tarock team and I wish you all a happy and healthy year. We’ve set ambitious goals and are excited to have your support along the way.

For Lost Legions, we’re planning an Early Access release in the last quarter of this year. Until then, we’ll provide you with different versions of the game to test. We discussed this plan during our first live community showcase just before Christmas.

This includes inviting you to the first playable version by the end of January. This will most likely be a single-player demo. The multiplayer aspects still need to be brought up to the current standard.
The first group of testers will be selected from our newsletter subscribers. With each new version, this exclusive group will expand to include others beyond newsletter subscribers. The main communication will take place on our Discord server. We want you to be part of the development process, and we’re counting on your help in finding bugs. We look forward to your feedback, both general and specific, to improve the game.
On the way to the Early Access release on Steam, we’re following our production plan while incorporating your input and working through bug reports. All of this is aimed at delivering a great game and ensuring a successful Early Access launch, which will then lead into another development phase toward version 1.0.

The current version of the game will be shown regularly in live streams, where we can address your questions and feedback. Each new test version will also come with a changelist detailing the latest additions, changes, and known issues. This will allow you to follow the game’s progress.
We’ll soon be testing the pipeline for creating tickets, which will then be transferred to our internal system for processing.
As part of this, we also plan to improve the structure of our community and finally introduce some ranks and privileges. We’ve been thinking about this for a long time and are excited to work and play more closely with you.
All testers who contribute meaningfully will also be invited to be mentioned in the credits.

If there are any YouTubers or Twitch streamers among you who’d like to use the development process for your channel, please contact us directly. We’ll be happy to support you.

This remains true for 2025: We rely on your support! Steam wishlists are our most important currency, and every contribution helps in developing the game. We’re also happy to welcome anyone who joins our Discord server and participates in discussions. The first testers will be our newsletter subscribers, as we promised last year, and we’re sticking to that.
2025 is going to be our year. We’re excited! Join us and spread the word!
Best,
Jens

[discord.gg]

Salvete amici mei,

It’s been a while since I last shared an insight into my work. I believe this will also be the last blog for this year. So, it seems fitting not only to talk about current topics but also to reflect on the past year from a personal perspective.

Currently, we are working on a new demo version of the game. This version will also serve as the foundation for the final release. Our last working day this year is December 20th. Then we’ll head into a well-deserved Christmas break. We’re giving ourselves a gift by putting our last bit of effort into building the new version. We’ll then play it during the holidays with patience and calm, collecting initial feedback from friends and family. Armed with these insights and well-rested, we’ll finalize the demo as our first task in the new year. Then comes the exciting moment we’ve been eagerly and reverently awaiting. We will start sharing the game with you, our community. I imagine our workflow will change significantly at that point, as we’ll have to consistently integrate your feedback into our processes. In my vision, it’s akin to a ticketing system at a QA studio. We’ll categorize reports by urgency and impact level and weave them into our production schedule accordingly. With every update (at least every two weeks), there will be patch notes where you can track the adjustments. I’m very excited about this and look forward to this new phase.

After spending much of the summer working on characters and their equipment, my main focus has shifted back to animations. Attentive followers of our blogs and posts on other channels already know: my new favorite tool is the “SmartSuit Pro II” from Rokoko. I’ve long dreamed of an affordable indie solution for performance capturing. Years ago, I experimented with iPi Soft, where I connected 8(?) PS3 Eye Toy cameras to a PC for optical-based motion capture. The results weren’t terrible, but at that time and for our purposes, they were far from production-ready. Tim will remember this.

In any case, the Rokoko setup (Smart Suit II + Smart Gloves) promises a suitable result for our current work. The limb motion data is transmitted in real time by many small sensors via its own WiFi to Rokoko Studio on the laptop, where a 3D avatar calibrated to my measurements replicates the movements and records them. Unreal Engine can then read these data 1:1 and play them on our Metahuman-based characters. Writing this, I must pause and marvel. The tools and technologies available to us today were reserved for large budgets and specialists a few years ago. We truly live in an era of democratized game development, with all its advantages and challenges.

The motion capture works surprisingly well. Setting it up at home is straightforward but still somewhat time-consuming. Space must be cleared, the suit carefully donned and powered with a power bank, a dedicated WiFi router must be connected, and the laptop with Rokoko Studio (for calibration of the initial pose and managing recordings) set up. It takes about 30 minutes from setup to the first recording. The same amount of time is needed to dismantle it all. Therefore, it needs to be worthwhile. I usually plan for two to three hours of capturing, which is quite intense and has left me with days-long muscle soreness from these sessions.

It pays to have a clear idea of the movements to be captured. As a base, we use animations from libraries. Only when something specific is needed or we’re dissatisfied with the quality of the pre-made sequences do we create our own animations. The longer we work on the project and the deeper we delve into the subject, the higher our standards become. I assume that animation work will accompany us for a long time. We collect these requirements in a list, which I work through piece by piece.

So far, my experience has been that stationary movements come across very well, and even the articulation of finger movements is surprisingly accurate. A realization we quickly reached is that a form of acting is needed to convey the desired movements effectively. Simple, civilized motions often look too bland and unconvincing in the game. I think our camera position plays a significant role. Similar to theater, where movements need to be visible even to the back rows, our solution lies in making gestures broad and sometimes exaggerated.

Unfortunately, I often encounter problems with locomotion, such as walking and running. Foot positions are often not transmitted correctly, resulting in unnatural movements and unusable recordings.

Once I’ve captured the raw material, I can load it into the engine to connect it with our Metahuman. From there, I export the asset and load this file into Blender for further editing and cleaning up the animations. This may sound cumbersome but is quite simple and ensures maximum compatibility for me. I no longer need to retarget in Unreal.

For further editing, I’ve developed a reliable system using NLA (Non-Linear Animation Editor) actions. This allows me to select the appropriate raw material from many recorded variants and prepare it with layers for corrections and blending transitions for in-game use. Thanks to motion capture, we always have a solid foundation for our movements, and by applying traditional animation methods professionally, we can further refine and even modify the data for various use cases. It’s very exciting and educational work.

In this work, I love combining modern digital technology with physical acting. Transferring an element of reality into a computer game, comparable to photogrammetry, fascinates me. I’m thrilled that we can use such methods with our means. Sometimes, I wish I could spend my entire day doing this, but as I’ve often mentioned, in a small team, we wear many hats, and the next urgent, important, unplanned task is always waiting around the corner to surprise me.

Finally, I want to share some reflections on the past year:
Firstly, I haven’t gained any surprising new insights. If you want to follow my thoughts in detail, feel free to check out my previous blogs. It’s been an educational year, filled with many first-time experiences. We boldly embarked on the project with much uncertainty and were then overwhelmed by your positive response to the announcement of Lost Legions. Along with the industry’s strong support for our endeavor, we’ve gained the confidence over the year to make our game bigger and more beautiful than we initially envisioned. This inevitably led us to invest a lot of effort in finding suitable partners. Working with the highly talented S4G students and the resulting Gamescom demo gave us a taste of the upcoming production phase and put the functions into a playable context for the first time. This also led to an improved understanding of the DNA of our game. I enter the new year with the belief that we are ready for the next phase, and I look forward to seeing the game grow and sharing a playable version with you very soon!

To everyone I won’t personally reach by then: Happy Holidays, IO SATURNALIA, and a Happy New Year! Stay healthy, and see you on the other side!

[discord.gg]