The MOKKOGRAD Report: July 2025
Hi Friends!
It’s warm and awful. Summer is here.
Gamedev-News
At the time I’m writing this email, the Steam Summer Sale is still going, which means that all of my games there, including Virtue’s Heaven, are discounted!
Money-wise I’m quite okay with how Virtue’s Heaven’s been doing, same goes for its reception. From what I can see, a good amount of people are able to finish the game, which is a huge relief, considering that one of my biggest worries was that it would be too front-loaded with information to keep people engaged.
The one thing that is still somewhat frustrating is the comparatively low number of Steam reviews, which may or may not be bad for SEO. I’m pretty torn with this, because on one hand I really don’t want the amount of Steam reviews to colour my perception of the game, when just knowing that people are actually giving me money for it should be enough. On the other hand, I’m deeply frustrated to see something I’ve spend years of my life on be treated like it’s disposable.
Anyway, if you’ve bought the game and haven’t already, please consider leaving a positive review. No pressure though, if you don’t want to do it. Tying visibility to customer reviews is generally a fucked up system and I understand if folks don’t want to engage with it.
And if you haven’t already bought the game, maybe buy a copy? It’s still on sale for a few days I think:
Virtue's Heaven on Steam
The world ends tomorrow, your friends are imprisoned and those responsible for both have stolen the future. The time for deliberation is over. It is time to be reckless, irresponsible and beautiful.
Aside from grumbling about commercial stuff, I’m spending most of my days tinkering along with JRPG game. I’m pretty far along now towards something playable, which is pretty exciting.
Blogpost-Shares
Speaking of JRPG game, I’ve been doing weekly videos where I talk about my progress and how I approached each specific element of it. I’m mostly doing these, because there’s so much stuff in my head that genuinely excites me, that I need to put it somewhere.
Here’s a link to the most recent video, but you can find the others on my channel as well
Interesting things I played/watched/read
Chaos Galaxy 2
This game is very much like Chaos Galaxy 1, with the exception of everything being at least one menu deeper than before and instead of the Empire falling apart, the moment that shakes up the game is a big Alien Invasion.
The Invasion is interesting in that none of the factions seem to care about it happening, so everyone is happy doing war to each other, while their planets are being eaten by Space Worms.
The game also has an option for you to create a custom faction, which is a fun way of playing the game, because you start with one planet and one ship and then have to figure out a way to not get immediately eaten by your bigger neighbours.
One thing I found funny was how “revolutionary” faction type has this ability where you can incite riots on neighbouring planets and then take them over, without ever actually going to war with the faction who previously owned said planet.
I think however, that I enjoyed Chaos Galaxy 1 a bit more, because of it catching me off guard with how the campaign played out. The sequel feels a bit more predictable.
Tactics Ogre
I put this one on my wishlist, after I recently decided to get into tactics games. I’m still very early in, because I bought a bunch of these recently and they all take a while to play. One thing that kept giving me problems is that this game not only has friendly fire, but also line of sight. So when a friendly unit stands in the way of a projectile, you will end up hurt that unit, instead of the one you actually wanted to attack.
It’s always great when you’re in a critical situation and then accidentally kill one your of your characters with a spell that was aimed at the guy behind them.
Triangle Strategy
Playing this right alongside Tactics Ogre is very weird, because both look very similar and superficially play very similar, though without the friendly fire. What I like about Triangle Strategy so far is how, in between missions you have these moments where you can watch a short scene about what another character in a different location is currently up to. It not only gives you as the player a larger context about what’s going on than what the player characters know, it also frames everything in a way that’s more similar to a TV drama.
The Silmarillion
Since I’ve read the Lord of the Rings for the first time in two decades, I figured I might as well do the same again, but with the big lore book instead. Now having read this again, I’m pretty certain that most of the evil stuff that happened in Middle Earth could’ve been prevented if its gods wouldn’t have been possessive, vindictive little shits.
They built themselves a gated community to hang out, while their evil sibling laid waste to the rest of the world and then repeatedly got angry at mortals for not trusting them. It also made me wonder if Tolkien actually liked people, or had any interest in them.
Started working myself through the Earthsea books
I got this big collection of LeGuin’s Earthsea stories for my Birthday and let me tell you: Reading these right after a Month of Tolkien was a treat. I like how material the places in these books feel. It and Tolkien obviously play somewhat in the same space, but LeGuin’s approach, despite dealing with very fantastical problems, feels so much more grounded and interested in the places and lifes of its setting.
The Cartograph Section
As I said last Month, I felt like Potato game had run its course, but I do still like playing some journaling game for these. I ended up picking Brandon Lee’s Cartograph for now, because I do need to think about places, maps and people anyway and felt having something to practice might help.
From the travel Journal of Escrapan t’Arch, Medical officer of the Eastern Arm’s exploratory mission’s third expedition to the former lands of Evil.
Year 290 of the Sinking Age
Day 20
The Captain killed our Guide after it was revealed that he deliberately misled us into treacherous waters in an apparent effort to thwart our Expedition.
Day 32
Finally reached Sunset port at the northwestern edge of the Former lands of Evil, very tired.
Day 33
Were beset by a group of locals who claimed our expedition had entered places we were not supposed to enter. The Captain dismissed them. Wrote a letter home to my wife.
Day 34
Started our journey eastwards, to explore a place the locals refer to as “Dead King’s Forest”.
Day 37
Found the resting place of the Ancient King Astral. Every tree in the surrounding area has taken on the shape of the legendary ruler who fell during the War against Evil. Sadly nothing remains of his Castle.
See you in August!
