Hello Everyone!
It's been awhile since we had a development news here on steam. We apologize for the long wait! Let's discuss the state of the game, its future and how we shall go forward with completing the development of Gastova: The Witches of Arkana!
Current Development State of The Game
We need to be upfront with you guys: We had a lot of setbacks in the last few months that have not only delayed things further, but have also impacted the progress considerably. At one point, we truly believed the game was near ready until we came to the realization that it needed a lot more fixing before we could launch Endgame Patch.
That is not to say this is bad news for the game. We have managed to implement many things so far that we never thought we had the ability to, which gives us massive motivation to keep going. We will be showing gameplay footage today for the new menu overhauls and the finalized Grimoire system. Some things still need to have their descriptions and functions updated/tweaked but for the most part, we're comfortable with showing them in their current form!
We will break down the progress below!
New Menus and UI Implemented
Below is a video showcasing the new fixed UI in comparison to old UI. Some functionalities are still missing and we'd love some feedback from you guys regarding the added QoL!
Grimoire System
We have finished the new Grimoire System. There are a couple of adjustments we have yet to do that will no doubt happen during beta testing, and we will of course love to hear your feedbacks on these when we launch it with the Endgame patch.
Voice Over and Localization
We are super excited to say we have finalized all the recording and audio post processing required for voice over! And let us tell you guys, what a journey it was. We have over 1000+ lines of dialogues, and we can't thank the amazing talent that has worked with us enough! Of course, the voice over is optional, as we will make sure to include a voice option in settings for those who don't wish to play the game with this feature.
We are also looking into finalizing the localization for the remaining languages (Japanese and Spanish). There is a chance the localizations will not be present in endgame beta patch prior to the final release, but we will try our best to make it happen.
What are the plans for the future?
Our most immediate plans continues to be fixing any leftover UI problems and looking into other things that require our urgent attention. Let's go over them briefly:
Game Contents
We still have to work on some boss fights as well as enemies. Most of the bestiary is complete, counting roughly 192 enemies and several bosses. However we still need to playtest and find a way to balance certain things. We will rely on the endgame patch feedback as well when the time comes, so we'll be welcoming everyone's opinion!
Savefile Compatibility
Making sure the saves are compatible has been for sure one of the most limiting factors during this overhaul and fix.
One of the reasons we could not implement bestiary enemy defeat count, for example, is that the old savefiles would definitely break due to the lack of enough variables. We apologize that this feature will be missing because of that.
We will look into converting currencies and upgrade progress into levels and talents, the new systems that replace shop. It's very likely that this will work, thus making old saves mostly compatible without ruining player progress.
Even so, there is still a chance the saves won't be entirely compatible. We will do our best to make sure everyone can use their current existing progress for this game so they don't have to start the game again. That being said, we really encourage you guys start the game with a new data once we release endgame patch, as that would be more beneficial and likely bug free, than an old save.
Release of Endgame Patch and end of EA
We are uncertain of a release date yet. The many times we announced a date, we ended up postponing due to different situations and issues. This time we might end up shadowdroping the Endgame patch, if things continue to seem uncertain regarding an announcement, as we don't want everyone to build anticipation and then be disappointed by another delay. We truly apologize for these past situations.
Parting Notes
We still have much to do. This is our first game and we are looking forward to finishing it! When we started Gastova, we had very limited skills and knowledge regarding game development. As the years went by we have learned as we developed the game, by finding better things we could do in the entire proccess. This has led to many delays and setbacks, and we know the wait can be a little disappointing, but we want to make sure we did the best we could for Gastova.
That's it from us today. Thank you guys for the awesome support. Stay safe, and until next time!
