Happy New Year everyone!
For this Chronicle, we wanted to do a recap of the year 2022 for The Slormancer and take a moment to appreciate what's been done and how things have changed.
Fun fact: You may not know this but we publish the Slormite Chronicles devlog every 6th of the month, which is the day The Slormancer was released (on April 6, 2021). Everytime we publish a Slormite Chronicles, the game gets one month older, and it is currently 21 months old. \o/
A Year of Chronicles
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3142949576403601336
Slormite Chronicles #9 (January 2022)
For our first Slormite Chronicles of the year, we had quite a bit of an announcement to make. The Slormancer sold 100 000 units which was definitely unexpected for the two of us.
So again, thanks a lot to everyone that made it possible.
We also briefly mentioned the work we were doing on the 19 upcoming Slorm Reapers by revealing the now notorious "Pure Reaper of the Temple Keeper".
This Chronicle led to the first Update of 2022: The Mage Academy Update Part 1 on January 31, adding:
- 19 New Slorm Reapers
- 5 New Enemies
- A New Environment: The Mage Academy
- The Material Tabs for your Inventory
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3127189423521555236
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3133947359552796548
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3222896627768113666
Slormite Chronicles #10, #11 and #12 (February, March & April 2022)
During this timeframe, we were mostly working on Part II of The Mage Academy Update which included Act III of the Story, an increased Level Cap, 30 new Ancestral Skills but also 5 new Cataclysms and 2 new Exaltations.
At this point, we were also reworking Act I by reducing the number of mandatory missions, adding Exalted Breaches, and adding diversity to the enemy pool. We also increased the number of Slorm Reaper drops during the Story while increasing the pathing of the early game in various ways.
These 3 Slormite Chronicles led to The Mage Academy Update Part 2 being released on April 18, adding:
- Act 3 and a new Boss
- A rework of Act 1
- 30 New Ancestral Skills
- 7 New Cataclyms & 2 New Exalted Breaches
- Chaos Breaches
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3218395575733114513
Slormite Chronicles #13 (May 2022)
This is where we started brainstorming an upcoming endgame mode called The Great Forge, while doing so, I felt like adding a couple of highly requested Quality of Life features to the Ancestral Legacy Tree: a search bar and a zoom function.
This led to a small Quality of Life Update released on May 16, adding:
- A Search Bar to the Ancestral Legacy
- A Zoom Function to the Ancestral Legacy
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3330988087699527445
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3325361215008126727
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3362518992740887891
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3342255406639516854
Slormite Chronicles #14, #15, #16, #17 (June to September 2022)
From June to September, we've worked on The Great Forge and all the elements had to fit in such a mode. This was the HEAVY work of this year and we didn't anticipate for it to take us that long. We also really wanted to create something interesting and unique out of a basic "waves" mode, which led to what's currently in the game. And although The Great Forge has its flaws (we're working on those), it seems like players are having fun.
To build this mode, we've had about 1 month of Brainstorm only which led to dozens of (extremely complex) ideas that we eventually rejected. Then a month working on the Reaper Runes, which were the "Progression system" tied to The Great Forge itself followed by a couple of months to build The Great Forge itself.
All of this came down to The Great Forge Update that was released on September 27, adding:
- A New Endgame Mode: The Great Forge
- A Challenges System
- The War Chest Mechanic & 32 Unique War Chest Effects
- A New Boss
- A New Environment
- The Addition of Obelisks
- 28 Reaper Runes:
- 7 Runes of Activation
- 14 Runes of Effect
- 7 Runes of Enhancement
- New Currency: The Reapersmith Spirits
- New Mechanic: Slorm Reaper Affinity
- The Slorm Reaper Forge
- A New Slorm Reaper: Fate-Crusher
- 4 New Cataclysms
- a New Balance to Slorm Reapers Base Damage
- Reworks on The Mighty Knight:
- Ascension
- Crest Shield
- Whirlwind
So this was definitely a HUGE update. With a little hindsight, 4 months to build all of this seems pretty good. It just didn't feel this way while working on it. :)
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3314110913448715507
Slormite Chronicles #18 (October 2022)
Because of how big The Great Forge Update was and how very little progress it represented, the release was bittersweet and not so satisfying. We were proud of the content that we released but the cost felt too high. Basically, these 4 month represented roughly about 5% of the Road Map.
This left us a bit burnt out, so we decided to focus on basic and easy stuff for a while, and release smaller yet impactful updates at a faster pace.
This is why we posted a new Road Map during Slormite Chronicles #18.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3427829445185536662
Slormite Chronicles #19 (November 2022)
In this Slormite Chronicles, we talked about the Luxuriant Update Part I that was coming up.
This led to The Luxuriant Update Part I being released on November 14, adding:
- 5 New Enemies
- A New Environment: The Luxurious Gardens
- 5 New Cataclysms
- "Super" Elites & Elite Affixes
- Reworking Life & Mana Leech
- Reworking the pool of Epic Stats
- Adding Alternate Slormeline Recipes
This took us 6 weeks to get done, which is much more satisfying for us.
And this is a pace we'd like to keep up.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1104280/announcements/detail/3601220554059111339
Slormite Chronicles #20 (December 2022)
This is our latest Slormite Chronicles, in which we talked about our progress on The Luxuriant Update Part II and the various reworks we'd like to get done.
Which is where we are right now.
What's next for 2023
Right now our goal is to get The Luxuriant Update Part II done before the end of January.
And as we mentioned it in the last Chronicle, it will introduce Act IV, 32 new Ancestral Skills and a new Level Cap (to 70) but "that's about it". Shortly after, we'd like to make an Update focused on various reworks: Controller, Armor & Resistances, Reaper Runes, etc...
As for the rest of year, the goal will be to finish a few sections of the game such as the Story, Environments and Enemies so if we look at the Road Map, this would mean completing:
- The Luxuriant Update II
- The Royal Update Part I
- The Royal Update Part II
- Enemies & Environments
- (The Warlords Update on top of that would be extra nice)
I'd say this is the core plan, and depending on our mood and the needs of The Slormancer, we will work on other aspects of the game in-between core Updates.
We're feeling good about the future of The Slormancer. We just need to keep working, add content, fix stuff and we'll eventually see the end of it. But it may take more time than anticipated.
That's about it for now!
And again, Happy New Year!
Cheers!