It is done. Dragon Gate: Tournament is officially released. My first solo development project. In this relatively short developer update I want to chat about what the full version includes, what it doesn't include, and what I can imagine adding in the future. For that reason I'll be answering a few questions below that keep coming up.

• 6 race tracks in three difficulty categories so both beginners and experts have a challenge

• 16 different power-ups ranging from teleports, to rocket swarms and gatling guns

• 38 Steam achievements, some of which require a deeper understanding of the game to complete

I'll start by focusing entirely on fixing bugs. Reports about minor issues keep reaching me, which I'm working through one by one. Once I feel like the worst of it is dealt with, I'll turn my attention to new content.

I'm very sorry that I wasn't able to finish the endless mode in time for release. At a certain point it became more important to me to ship a consistent, as bug-free as possible product, rather than include a feature that might not achieve the desired effect. But I firmly plan to deliver the endless mode in a future free update. The timing is a different question.

Short answer: No. Long answer: Not in this game. Dragon Gate grew out of a small hobby project and was built from the ground up with the intention of delivering a great time for a few gaming nights with my friends. It fulfills that purpose. The way I've technically built Dragon Gate, implementing an online mode would mean an immense overhaul and therefore an effort I'm not willing to take on. I can imagine, if I ever develop a second part, building it with an online mode in mind from the start.

There is actually a very comprehensive system in the current version for changing the driving behavior of the cars. I'm just not really using it right now. Alongside the endless mode, implementing new car variants with different driving physics is right at the top of the list of content I want to deliver in a free update.

I can imagine adding new tracks to the game. It just needs a bit more time first, because that was by far the hardest part of development for me. And I need a bit of a break. When I do release tracks, they'll probably be made available in a small DLC package. I feel like the current track selection is already enough to have fun with the game. If there's demand beyond that, there'll be DLCs.

Yes, but I don't know when. Currently the priority is as follows: bug fixes and optimizations, then new content, and lastly I'll take care of porting to other platforms. I'm a single developer — supporting multiple platforms is no easy task and I don't want to put myself through that while I'm still working on new features.

The release was great! My premise for my game development journey is that I don't torture myself with something that's supposed to be fun alongside my day job. So I was already done with the bulk of it well before release and could have shipped. On release day I basically just had to press a button, which is why the big sense of relief didn't really come. I had initially interpreted that as a negative, but looking back it speaks to the success of my strategy of not making things harder than they already are. I'm super motivated for what's ahead.

I've been working on a new project for a while now, which will be announced this summer. This time, thank god, I'm not working on it alone either. I'd love to already talk a lot about it right now, but all in good time.

All in all this has been a great journey that isn't over. This is a great first project and I'm grateful for all the experiences I got to have.

If you have feedback, questions or suggestions, feel free to join the Luftikus Games Discord server! You'll also be the first to hear when something new is on the horizon.

Kind regards,

Luftikus Games