Today we’re back with another batch of good news: in response to many requests, both our Android app (in Android Market or Amazon AppStore) and iOS apps have been updated to include a new “Nightly” theme, that should be especially useful in dim light conditions. Make sure to check it out by updating the app to the latest version and turning on the new theme on the Menu->Profile screen.

Another newsworthy change: starting today, heroes are less likely to understand a mid-duel god voice that requires them to do multiple different things at once (e.g. heal and attack at the same time). Hopefully, this will make god voices more interesting, so please account for this change in your dueling strategy.

Finally, the game world has just received yet another content update. We hope that you and your champion will like it!

Thank you all for your feedback on the preview version of Godville app for the Android. We’ve smashed a couple of bugs, and finally uploaded our renewed app to the Android Market! (the update will also get into Amazon Appstore as soon as it gets through Amazon review process) As always, your ideas, suggestions and comments are welcome here.

Meanwhile, as a part of our continuing efforts to process ideabox submissions, we went through ALL the ideas in the monsters and artifacts sections (special thanks to Wishie for helping us out), adding hundreds of new items into the game. Hopefuly, one day we’ll be able to get back to you with more exciting news from this front.

Today is a special day. One year ago Godville opened its doors. Back in those days it was quite a small and barely populated place. Polytheism was only yet to shine, monsters were scarce and heroes could hardly say more than a couple of canned phrases. Fortunately, thanks to the growing divine population and rising diversity, Godville gradually got bigger, better and much more awesome in many ways.

What is a birthday with no presents? Frankly, we don’t want to know, so here is our special anniversary game update:

1. Recently Godville got its official Facebook app. Those of you who want to access their heroes right in their favorite social network should be especially pleased.
2. To reduce the number of typos and occasional guild duplicates, from now on there will be two different god voices to create a new guild and to join an existing one (kudos to Syrocko and Gordianus for this idea). We’ve also added new extra honorable guild ranks, so check up on your hero, maybe he just got promoted.
3. Our Android app got a highly anticipated overhaul, featuring lots of internal changes, a much better look and a couple of cool new features. We’re eager to hear your feedback, so grab a special preview-version here and let us know what you think!
4. And last, but certainly not least – starting today, everybody will be getting a free accumulator charge on each level up. And to make it even better – all active gods were just granted with some free accumulator charges (according to the level of your hero) and friend invites. Go give your hero some sparks and have some fun today!

Thanks to everyone for being with us! Happy birthday, Godville!

A long time ago, in a place far far away we made up a first version of Godville that worked only in the web browser. Due to the various technical reasons we couldn’t make it available to everyone. It took almost one year to add missing features, rewrite our code several times, hopefully making it better and more or less stable. Finally the day has come – today we’re pleased to say that registration in Godville is available to everyone! Unless you don’t have a Facebook account (which is rather unlikely). You can go to the main page and signup right away. You can also link your existing Godville godname to your Facebook account, making an unbreakable divine connection that allows you to access your character without silly passwords.

Please note that your Facebook account is used for authentication only and your identity will not be exposed to others (you still have to pick a godname if you register with a Facebook id). Rest assured, we won’t spam your friends, unless you really want us to, of course.

Once we added a way to login with Facebook, it was really easy to add some other cool stuff, like sharing and tweeting your hero’s diary straight from the superhero page, a way to “Like” your personal page, this blog post or even Godville itself. As free a bonus, we’ve also got our own Facebook page, where you can share any ideas on how to make Facebook integration more useful. After all, there’s got to be at least one “-ville” game in Facebook for those of us who have a life.

There is no bad time for renovation, especially when it’s about something as old as our hero page in the browser. Its first version was put together several years ago, as a part of the initial game prototype. Over the last year we constantly felt that this page should be better and recently we’ve been able to materialize these thoughts in the form of something workable. So here it is – the new (super!) hero page! It not only looks better, feels snappier and is more customizable, but it will also reduce the load on our servers and make it easier for us to add new features later.

This page went through lots of tests and tweaks over the past several weeks and it finally feels solid enough to make it available to everyone. Because there still might be some nasty bugs here and there, the new page will be available as an option. Once we nail the last insect down, this page will probably replace the old one permanently. Meanwhile, we ask you to check it out and let us know if there are any problems in this forum topic.

After many months of work, we’re happy to announce that the Godville app for Android is finally available in the Android Market!

The functionality of this app is on par with its iOS counterpart. In other words, it supports 99% of features of the browser version, including the remote control, friends and the ideabox. It even has a special notification system to help you monitor your hero better. And of course, the app is free!

The forum topic to discuss the app is here, waiting for your comments, ideas or suggestions.

Also, several days ago we updated all of our mobile pages, making them look better on both iOS and Android devices. Hope that you like it!

On Sunday, Feb 20th, from 4am to 5am (EST) we will be performing maintenance on our game servers. During this time, you may experience problems accessing your hero. The arena will be disabled during the whole maintenance period. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your patience.

Since the earliest days of Godville, the incredibly insolent traders have been immune to divine intervention. Often they have abused this freedom and taken advantage of naive and trusting heroes. Luckily, all injustices come to an end eventually, and from now on gods will have a chance to bestow heavenly grace or divine wrath upon especially arrogant traders. It seems there will be quite a few thrilled to at the prospect of throwing a lightning bolt into a huckster’s eye.

Another area we’re improving today is the ideabox. Newcomers will start with a very straightforward version of the ideabox, with additional options being gradually unlocked over time, once a player gets more immersed in the game and its spirit. New changes are already available in the browser, and the iPhone app will offer these features in the next update. Hopefully, these changes will reduce confusion and increase the overall quality of submissions.

The long dark nights of January are drawing to close. But we haven’t been in hibernation; we’ve been making changes behind the scenes, the following tweaks which you’ll notice right away:

1. Heroes have developed a sense of camaraderie, and a touch of compassion. The main consequence is that they will spare the life of those they defeat in skirmish duels.
2. Gods no longer lose their godpower when their hero dies and quest progress is also preserved.
3. Influence of the opposite type is less harmful to the hero’s personality.
4. Evil heroes are now less likely to die in battles with monsters.
5. Healing potions in the inventory are now written in italics.
6. In order to make turns clearer in duels, your opponent’s actions will be highlighted.

All these changes are already available in the browser and our iPhone app will support all of them with the next update.

With another awesome game update Godville closes this year by opening its very own newspaper – Godville Today. This brand new, online-only limited edition features various news from all around Godville, as random and unpredictable in their nature as Godville itself. There is no doubt that with time the newspaper will get better, smarter and will be read by virtually everyone in the world, but until then please enjoy it just the way it is. And just as usual, corrections to the “not so breaking” are greatly appreciated.

Moving to the next point in our agenda… The Godville iPhone app has just been updated to version 2.3 that includes, yes, the “Godville Today” newspaper (congratulations to all twitter followers who’ve got a special prize for finding it), a better view of the clouds from your divine window and a small pack of special holiday bug fixes.

And the last, but certainly not least point in our list. Today the holiday spirit has finally come to our towns and villages! Hordes of Santa Clawses are spreading throughout the snow-covered paths with the mind-blowing speed of their ultrasonic sledges. Don’t let your hero miss out the special presents that those creatures have with them. Let the treasure hunting begin! Happy holidays everyone!