What's New in NextOath

Welcome. You may be wondering what I've been up to these past 30-ish days — and if you'd rather read it in prose than scroll a changelog, this one's for you.

The big thing, and the one I resisted longest, is a tutorial. I've always been a little allergic to them. They're a huge amount of work, they're often not very good, and somewhere in my probably-flawed worldview I think a UI should explain itself — I personally think a tutorial is a crutch for flawed UI. But I was bent to the will of the masses. So NextOath now has one. It's called First Oath, it walks you through a full game one decision at a time, and it was exactly as much work as I knew it would be (a lot). I hope people try it, and that it gives them a clearer sense of what the game is and how to play it.

Part of the reason I gave in is that I've been watching players drop off once they reach the strategy round. My hope is that the tutorial shows the value of playing through to the end.

The next feature I'm actually excited about is advisor portraits. Spend a credit and you can generate images of your advisors — actually see the faces of your council. It adds a real personal touch and makes the world feel more like a place. Grab some credits and give it a try.

While I was in the image code, I switched to an improved image generation model, so hexboard maps and game art come out noticeably higher quality now. I left the price alone, even though the better images cost me more to generate.

Last one: you can now play music while you play. The game comes preconfigured with focus and mood music made for NextOath, but as the game's creator you can also set what your whole cohort listens to — or just pick something for yourself. YouTube and Spotify playlists both work.

You can also find us on YouTube, over at Alternate Thread Studios.

Keep the feedback and suggestions coming. Every one of these features came from a player asking for it.

Follow our changelog for updates, and don't hesitate to reach out via our support page with ideas, feedback or questions.