One Month of RealmConquest: What Next?

TL;DR: One month in: 67 players have planted colonies, with ~26 daily active players and over 1,000 hours played. Infrastructure got major upgrades after two early outages: staging deployments, 2-hour backups, and tested tick restoration. RealmConquest presents our first community goal as a $2,000 full map art overhaul. New optional support tiers are now live: Supporter ($4.99/mo), Premium Supporter ($9.99/mo), and a limited-time Founders Pack ($24.99, available through September 30). First community call is July 31.

Before anything else, I want to thank everyone who has played, tested the game, shared feedback, reported issues, supported the project, or simply told someone else about it.

I’m excited about what we’re building together and where RealmConquest is going next. I’m committed to expanding the game, improving its existing systems, strengthening its infrastructure, and continuing to respond to community feedback.

RealmConquest entered public access on June 15. At that time, three players had planted a colony and begun testing the game.

As of the morning of July 15, 2026, across open beta realms:

• 67 players from 7 countries have planted a colony.
• We have approximately 26 daily active players.
• Over 7,500 squad orders executed by players so far.
• The community has recorded over 1,015 combined hours of gameplay and testing since June 15.

These are still early days, but seeing the community grow and watching players spend meaningful time exploring, testing, and helping improve the game has been incredibly encouraging to me.

Infrastructure

Our dedicated server continues to handle the game well. Behind the scenes, I have also been building and improving systems that make it easier to identify problems, respond to reports, and keep everyone informed.

RealmConquest now has:

• Automated, source-code-aware error tracking and logging
• A user-facing bug-reporting system
• Daily public changelogs
• More comprehensive backup and recovery systems

We experienced two server outages during the past month. While those outages were frustrating, they exposed weaknesses in the system early and led directly to several important improvements.

Safer Deployments

Updates are now released through a safer, more controlled deployment process intended to reduce the risk of avoidable downtime.

Before an update reaches the dedicated production server, it is tested on a separate staging server. This gives me an opportunity to identify deployment problems before they can affect active players and realms.

More Frequent Backups

Previously, the server received one off-site backup each day.

Off-site backups are now created in multiple locations every two hours, with several additional instant recovery points available directly on the server. This gives us significantly more flexibility if data ever needs to be restored.

Tested Tick Restoration

The tick-restoration system has now been tested under live conditions and is ready for future recovery events.

When needed, the system can pause a realm, restore its gameplay state to a selected tick, and resume gameplay from that point within moments. This gives us a much faster and more controlled way to recover from serious gameplay or deployment issues.

First Community Goal

Our first major community funding goal is a complete map art overhaul. The goal is to establish a cohesive visual style and replace the current map sprites with custom artwork created specifically for RealmConquest.

I have received quotes from four artists whose work I would be interested in bringing to the project. Based on those quotes, the overhaul is currently expected to cost approximately $2,000.

Revenue from every purchase will count toward this goal.

New, Optional Ways to Support RealmConquest

I’m also introducing several new ways for players to financially support continued development.

Financial support is completely optional. These options are for community members who want to contribute to RealmConquest’s development while receiving additional community features, cosmetics, and other benefits.

The Founders Pack is a temporary launch offer. It will remain available until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 30, 2026, and will be permanently removed October 1, 2026.

How Cosmetics, Credits, and Community Calls Work

Membership-exclusive Supporter and Premium Supporter cosmetics are available only while the corresponding membership remains active.

Cosmetics purchased separately, such as banners, badges, profile effects, and future in-game assets will remain permanently available to the purchasing account.

Active memberships will begin accumulating their monthly Credits immediately. Accumulated Credits will be added to each eligible account when the Credit system launches.

Credits do not expire. Any unused Credits will remain on the player’s account for future use.

Community calls will initially be held once per month, with dates announced at least two weeks in advance. The first one-hour community call will be held on Friday, July 31, 2026. The exact time will be announced separately.

Credits and the Community Boost Realm

Credits included with memberships and the Founders Pack will have two categories of use.

First, Credits will be usable for cosmetics that do not alter gameplay.

Credits will also be usable within a separate, optional realm type called the Community Boost Realm.

Within this realm, players will be able to spend Credits on a controlled selection of limited in-game boosts. The Community Boost Realm will always be clearly labeled and advertised as boost-enabled before it opens, so players will understand its rules before deciding whether to participate.

To be completely clear: Credit-based boosts will not be available in standard realms. The Community Boost Realm will remain separate from the intended free-to-play RealmConquest experience.

All boosts will be subject to published restrictions, limits, and durations. Before the first Community Boost Realm launches, I will publish complete information explaining:

• Which boosts will be available
• How many Credits each boost will cost
• The limits and duration of each boost
• Any spending or activation caps
• How rankings and rewards will be handled

The goal is to create an optional environment where Credits have meaningful uses without changing the balance, expectations, or competitive experience of standard realms.

Thanks

Financially supporting RealmConquest is only one way to help the project. Continuing to play the game, reporting issues, sharing feedback, participating in the community, and telling others about RealmConquest are the most valuable contributions.

Thank you again for being part of RealmConquest’s journey,

Cody