iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

macOS only at the moment. Fixes the bug that caused the turn to halt on an NPC and soft-lock the match. Also reduced NPC militarism quite a bit (hopefully). They were very willing to go to war over the slightest of negative opinions lol #gamedev #gamedevelopment #csharp #unity #strategy #4x

mvanderpool.itch.io

Alpha 1.2 Update

(MacOS only at the moment) Alpha 1.2 Patch Notes: (Fixed) An NPC opponent would not end their turn. This was caused by the NPC brain crashing when trying to build naval assets. Reduced militarism of N...

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Might have a new update here shortly. Been trying to solve the soft-lock for the past while, think I found it. What a pain in the ass, lol. #gamedev #strategy #gamedevelopment #csharp #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Small break from writing and working on the strategy game as I avoid burning out haha. After working with C# for more than a decade, started learning Rust a bit ago, porting a smaller personal Unity game. Gonna take a long while to get used to 😂 Nothing “works” yet, but it compiles 👍 #gamedev #rust

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Working on fixing a bug that causes an unendable turn 💀. I’ll have it fixed… as soon as I find the source of the problem lol. Most likely the NPC brain, but can’t say for sure yet #gamedev #gamedevelopment #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I pushed out Nonfinito a couple years ago, and I’ve been wanting to rewrite it and fix everything beginner me did wrong. So, anyways, as usual, it’s a WIP, but you’re welcome to 💩 on it haha #writing #writers #scifi #story

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Went from mid-to-low teens to several hundred fps after I stopped checking weather and tile ownership every frame 💀. On the Earth map, it became a big problem due to the thousands of tiles. It affected others, but not nearly as much. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Might as well optimize some areas while I’m in some files. Hopefully the Earth map will get a big frame rate boost because it is a bit sluggish due to how I coded some things like the weather #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

In the process of adding game speed now lol. It’s a process 😅. See, I didn’t have a solid plan starting this project, so things are a bit scattered, some in 2k LOC files 💀 but some in 50 LOC files 🥰. Easy, just something of a scavenger hunt 😅 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hmm. I just thought about this. I need to implement a game speed setting for new games. *sigh* It should be relatively straightforward to stick in there, just multiply costs by x amount. But, still 😑 missed an easy, standard option 😅 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Still chugging away at playtesting the first alpha build and finding every issue I can before I push the next build. Disliking how the gov and culture UIs are functioning, but 🤷🏻‍♂️ #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Couple new bugs, most of em are pretty easy to solve, like an extra line of code in a function for the UnitController and such. The unit stacking bug was fixed before and it seems like I opened it up again lol. Oops. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Making some bug fixes and prepping for an alpha release. Theres still broken stuff, the Earth map will probably lag during turns, things like that. The Earth map is the biggest map in the game with tens of thousands of tiles to recalculate every turn. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

I’m debating releasing what I’ll just call alpha 0 maybe tomorrow on Itch? I’ll fix up a few more bugs and probably package it up and let folks break it and (hopefully) report back. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Most of the day was tuning insurgencies, stability, and legitimacy to increase the survivability in the early game lol 😅. Need to tweak resources, resource reqs, and the tech tree a little bit next. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Actual build testing :) Need to fix some UI issues, and tons of balance tuning, but it seems to do pretty good. My MacBook Air has zero issues (other than UI), and I suspect my Windows laptop will be the same. Phew 😮‍💨 😅 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

Every leader now has their own image done very simply 😅. Diplomacy is still getting adjustments, but it’s a far cry from what it was (a single list box for everything and everyone, essentially). #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Working on some leader art (just a couple filters over official pics of former world leaders), got a few more UI tweaks in, and made some adjustments to city defense and the behavior tree for NPCs to fix an issue with them not using logistics units #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Should probably be a little more clear. NPCs/computer players, not “AI” in the generative AI sense. No genAI art, to the best of my knowledge, is anywhere in the game and I plan to commission an artist to replace asset store art probably after initial release #gamedev

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Nearly at a point where I’m just doing iterative work on the UI and fixing bugs in things like accessibility options and the AI, plus tuning units. It’s weird to not be in VS Code staring at tens of thousands of lines of code most of the time haha. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Back to tinkering. The main HUD got a slight shakeup by moving most of the buttons from the hud bar to the top left with the diplomacy flags and such. The hud bar was way too cluttered with everything in there. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Taking a day off to give myself a moment to think about what’s going on currently and if I need to make any more changes to underlying systems. But, added a few units and updated some UIs. I’ll probably need to change the UIs further. 😅 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Found an image of how the game ui looked ~3 years ago, versus today. The old UI was UGUI(?) and the new UI is mostly UI Toolkit with some UGUI #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Also, I’m thinking of lightening the panels. Feels like there’s too much blending in. Font colors have been improving, but I’ll probably slap the gold/bronze out for a white-ish. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Here’s what the city ui looks like. Liked it enough that I copy-pasted that shit in several more areas lol. I’ll need to work on the icons or find a better asset pack or something; they’re mismatching and sometimes just ugly lol. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

In the process of tuning and fixing insurgencies that declare independence. Right now, because of war weariness, they fall to insurgents too lol #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Testing out some UI changes when all the sudden, I lost the fucking game lol. Well, defeat definitely works. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Hmm, here’s my idea for the city UI. Much faster to quickly sketch it up in Affinity than to move things around in UI Builder. Instead of one box with tabs, we have several so you don’t have to search to find something…? 🤔🤷🏻‍♂️😭 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Taking the day off fixing bugs or adding things I forgot (seceded nations should have, like, a name, for example 😅) to work on more UI overhauls. The city, rebellion, victory progress, and some others need big work. No idea how I want to do it yet 🤔 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Maybe Imperia Provenientia is a bit to say, but I’m pulling ideas out of my ass to find something that might work. Artwork is a work in progress; it’s a first pass at an idea. *sigh* 😅 #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Another thing I’ll need to modify is logistics a bit. I need to move the tech up the ladder to enable long distance wars sooner. One of the most important systems, too. Combat units without supply die outside national borders. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Computer nations’ decision trees need some tuning around diplomacy. Right now, they declare war as soon as they see ya lol. Oops. Insurgencies seem to be at a sweet spot, so that’s a bonus. #gamedev #gamedevelopment #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

When I started the project ~6ish years ago, I 1) didn’t expect to actually get anywhere, like most projects I start, and 2) didn’t understand how stupid complex and difficult a strategy game really is, and still don’t think I do haha. 💀💀😬 #gamedev #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

The state of things so far isn’t terrible haha. The city panel is still, idk, not there yet. Thinking about how to do it without looking like I am taking too much inspo from somewhere else. More of a polishing issue 🤷🏻‍♂️ Outside the UI, it’s starting to feel great. #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Civil wars definitely got a few big bugs. Cool. Mostly with how I ordered some of the operations when a city falls to insurgents. Haha oops. On the plus side, there’s music in-game now, so… 👍 #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

I’m gonna have to roll around and redesign the diplomacy screens. It’s the last major system that need a major UI overhaul (it’s an unhelpful list of buttons that were good enough). Also working on making the last few sprites I need that didn’t come in asset packs #gamedev #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Not much to show visually, but a bunch of bug fixes to different game mechanics have been made. Rebels should now attack cities, NPCs should properly use settlers, and a bunch more. Tweaks to game balance continue as I work to test civil wars next #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I think maybe in the next month or so, I might be looking for a few pre-alpha, everything-will-probably-break-on-you testers for Windows and Mac. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻 #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x #alpha

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I think the new game ui is a bit better. Took me longer than I’d have liked because I fought with the UI Builder a little lol. Also fixed several handfuls of gameplay bugs, so, woo! Still a few UI bugs to work out, I think. #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

More UI work 💀. Still not good, I’ll probably split the nation details from the map settings and place them in separate columns? Not sure, but this ain’t it. I’ll have to drag things around and see what works. #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

A couple hours and I have something a little prettier. Took inspiration from the folks who make some beautiful wire work when doing circuits. I’m tired of UI work 😓😂 but most of it is UI 😭 probably not the best or most efficient way, but it’s what worked #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I’m laughing at myself a bit. Should’ve opened up the research panel more often as I expanded the techs because… it needs a bit of work 💀👀. Went through all the units and such and gave them some basic costs and whatnot that are easy to move up and down. #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Play-testing the strategic resources. Seem to work fine, just need to finish a few things up there. Rebels also seem to be working mostly fine lol. Bunch of cost balance tweaks need to be made. Long way to go still haha #gamedev #unity

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Slowly getting units, research, and the combat effectiveness matrix fleshed out. Units are all in but still need stats, research is pretty bare, CE has a long way to go lol. It’s a process 😑. #gamedev #unity #strategy #4x

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Reworking some UIs and such. Before it was a dark background with a list of buttons with minor highlights. Now I’ve got a (buggy) world procgen’d every open with a slow camera pan. Moving from a dark palette to a warm, bronze-y one, also. Name is a WIP lol 😂 #gamedev #unity #strategygame

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

5 years of work, and I’ve finally edged out something that resembles a Civilization-like strategy game. UI is still a huge WIP, but the underlying mechanics are in place, I think… (I moved the project from GH a while ago). Artwork from Asset Store (tiles, units) #gamedev #strategy #games #unity

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Been a bit since we posted, and I’m going with some vibes with “contracted”. Strangely, it’s one area I haven’t marked up yet for editing. We’re in a fantasy world that’s post-industrial era, so we have things like magic-powered computers. 🤷🏻‍♂️ #fantasy #writing #wip #wipsnips

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Michael Vanderpool @anothermichael.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

It’s all vibes haha. I try not to use the word ‘begin’ a whole bunch. Some context, a demon was using her body to violently reorganize and redecorate the town’s road, and eventually she snapped 🤷🏻‍♂️ we’ll come back and flesh it out better later #writing #writers #fantasy #wip #wipsnips

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