I figured I’d jump in here and put together a little post about where things are at, and what’s coming next! I get a little ancy when I’m quiet for too long, and whilst I’m trying to push out weekly patches, I’m learning that sometimes holding things back for an extra few days/a week means I can jam more into the Patches. Whilst I don’t have an “update schedule” right now, I’m assuming I’ll fall into something that's more consistent over the new few weeks leading into this year.
So whats been going on? A lot actually!
Spell Rework
There's been a lot of talk over the last few months re: Spells. There has even been some extra detailed discussions over on Discord in regards to how people use/interact with the Spell system, what changes they’d like to see. It’s true that, in a lot of cases, the players starting Spell is the most synergistic and hard to replace. I’m taking steps to help try to relieve this - trying a few things. So far, the full spell list has had a rework, with a number of new spells coming in and a bunch of other “global” spells getting buffed, or removed.
I’ve even been playing around with a second spell slot idea... which might make it into the game in some form very soon...
New Soultithe Expansion
Soultithes time to get some love! There has been a number of feedback points which I’ve taken on board, and then discussion between the Card Council on what aspects of Soultithe need to be addressed. There are a handful of new cards added, and a number of tweaks to existing ones as well. Plus, a collection of new Artifacts to help complement these - I think you’ll all enjoy the changes!
Card Artwork
This is a continued process - the task of slowly working through all the card artwork, replacing the holding art with new, lovingly created pieces! This next update should feature a good deal of updates, close to 20-30 of the cards have been updated. I know there's been some complaints about artwork not quite “fitting” correctly - trying to deal with those ones first!
QoL
Lots of little QoL changes on the way - including things like a green glow around cards with Opener, when Opener is still active. Also continued work on things like cutting down tooltips, and making Enemy intent easier to decipher at a glance.
Void Stone Setup
So this patch required a bit of backend work to tweak how Void Stones were being stored/interacted with in the codebase. I had to overhaul parts of the code to set up for something super cool coming to the Void Stone system... very soon!
New Void Fight
I’ve been doing some more thinking on the Void fight - and whilst my original feelings on the fight still stand, I do agree there are a few new ways to make it even more epic and exciting. I’ve got the plan in place, and now it's just a matter of working on the prototype and confirming numbers!
NPCs/Events
The open information about NPC/Events is something which is at the heart of Vault of the Voids design philosophy. I'm continuing to ensure that all options are enticing (Class Trainer, I see you!) whilst also working on adding a few more!
I know a lot of this falls into “Hey! Stuff is coming! But here is no real details...”, but I just wanted to keep everyone updated on where my priorities are right now. As you may be able to tell, the 4th class (which is all templated out, with cards all designed and awaiting implementation) has been bumped back a little bit whilst I smooth out the overall gameplay of Vault just a touch. I feel between the 3 Characters, each with 2 starting specs, theres enough "content" in that area, its just the gameplay that needs some addressing. Once locked down, and once a few new encounters are added, then I'll switch focus back over to the new class!
If you’re interested in keeping in the loop and getting a poke when the build makes its way to the Beta server, feel free to join the Discord! Otherwise I’ll try to keep things moving as quickly as possible for you all! Thank you again to everyone for your interest and enjoyment in Vault - it's been a blast the last few months, and excited for what's on the plan for this year!
All for now,
- Josh