Since our Early Access Launch of Version 0.01, we have received an amount of support that we did not expect. We are eternally grateful for all of the fans and players that have supported us and given us words of encouragement through the discussion boards, the reviews, social media and our discord. Not only that, but the feedback from our players have been extremely helpful in guiding and polishing our designs. So we at Chashu Entertainment thank you for all of the support you have given us.
To recap what we have done so far since our Early Access Launch began:
We heard the feedback regarding our initial combat ‘feel’, we understood that there was some disconnect with the mechanics that turned players away. Fortunately, the community was very vocal and helpful in identifying the issue. And we immediately released a Patch with an update to how combat felt on a control and movement level. Reception for the changes were positive but that didn’t mean our work was done.
Following that we’ve realized that our game caused performance issues on different machines and hardware, and so our next focus was to improve the quality of the performance. In doing so, we needed to overhaul our world to future proof new content being added. Islands and Cities in the initial version were moved around to accommodate the new tech; and in doing so, there was a general improvement of performance for many of our players. Again, still work to be done to better the overall experience. However it allows us to move on the correct path going forward.
The next major patch that we worked on still dealt with more of the basics. We’ve touched combat a little as well as performance, but as we have mentioned before, more work was to be done. This time our attention went to the Spell Blade Mechanic. The spell blade mechanic is an integral part of our combat as the different effects can change the way you tackle an encounter. After hearing the feedback from our players and having long internal discussions about this mechanic, there was a strong desire to update it to better flow with combat and gear progression.
Spell Blade Gems were initially items that dropped. You would imbue it to your weapon and to make it stronger you would need to find higher level gems. However the issue was that it did not work quite as perfectly as we had hoped with the weapon creation system. It felt punishing to players that wanted to try a variety of weapon combinations but only having a limited amount of gems to use. Instead, players are now able to learn the effects of the gems and level up the gems as they would their weapons and armors.
Along the way to where we are now we have also made significant updates/adjustments to various quests, items, encounters, and the Grainwake.
So where are we now?
Well… after spending the last 6 months improving the base gameplay of Sands of Aura based upon feedback, we believe we are at a comfortable state to release new content! They will include a continuation of the story, new encounters, armor sets, weapon pommels and codexes, islands, and more!
We have teased or have mentioned the next update, Twin Thorns, on a couple of occasions and we are quite close to releasing it for our players to try! And while you wait to tackle our next set of challenges, we would like to present to you our roadmap from here on out! Each new island offers a new and unique challenge compared to the last, and with each island you’ll learn more and more about Talamhel.
Without further ado, here is what you can expect from the main storyline going forward in Early Access! As we approach each destination on our roadmap, we will provide more information on each of them as well as more details on what is included. We hope you’re as excited as us for what’s to come!
