Knock, knock, travelers!
Summer is gathering pace, and we hope you're enjoying these warm days. Development continues, and today we’re eager to share the results of this week with you. By the way, there are only 6 weeks left until release. Let's go!
In the Very End
In the story mode, after fully completing a hero's journey you find yourself back in the crypt. The last run being too tough, or the opposite, won’t be an issue anymore—soon, the hero selection screen will contain a new button that will allow you to choose a comfortable difficulty level for future adventures without any hassle.
Event Parade
More and more events are coming to life before our eyes. Isn't that wonderful? Our animators did a fantastic job. Let's take a look at the results!
Ready or Not…
When traveling through the Frontier, always be on your guard. There's a good chance you'll encounter some hostile dwarves (are they ever friendly?) and get into a skirmish. Fortunately, sometimes you can hide and avoid direct confrontation. But still, stay vigilant.
A Soup Out Of... a Firebrother?
If you decide to change the original recipe of the two old hags in the bog, not only will you save a person from a sad fate, but also receive a reward from said person. And a valuable reward at that!
Bring on the Idols!
Unlike the treacherous dwarves, we’re not in a hurry to destroy other people's places of worship. We don't recommend you do either. It's not worth it angering the Spirits and other higher powers, you know. On the contrary, everyone in Midian should have a sacred place. Who knows, maybe the Spirits do hear all the prayers and requests?
Oh, and here’s the updated idol of the Fire Brotherhood—bright, sinister, and fiery! Don't forget to make an offering if you have the necessary resources.
They Can Speak!
In the thick of fixing bugs and introducing new features, we often come across brand new bugs. When we discussed funny bugs in one of our video-diaries and mentioned talking wolves, we couldn't imagine that soon they would be joined also by boars and even a puddle.
How About Some Chit-Chat?
Hi everyone, this is Andrew aka Innrey, the founder of RedBoon. During development, I've read a lot of different feedback about our game, especially after bigger changes in the story mode, when we receive comments on how we've "killed" the roguelike genre and so on. Let me say right away, a plot is a plot, my friends, and to fully reveal it, some sacrifices have to be made. But let's talk about the "roguelike" genre and our game in this context.
When you get down to it, the roguelike genre means random level generation, turn-based gameplay, limited resources, functional complexity, and irreversible death of the character. Of course, as the industry has evolved, developers have started adding more and more features, but the mentioned aspects can be considered the main principles of the genre.
As developers, we have not forgotten about the roots of the genre, so besides the story mode, the game has a challenge mode, which includes free and daily runs. Initially, the free run mode fully embodied the roguelike genre with its complete randomization of battles, enemies, and events along the way, unlike the story mode, where almost everything is fixed in place permanently. In a nutshell, free runs have less of the plot, but more randomness, battles, and hero leveling up. They’ve always been an important part of the game, and our goal was to create a mode that would suit both new players and genre veterans.
However, with time we wanted to modify the free-run mode. On top of it being a vehicle for simple runs and testing builds or some game features, we decided to add more functions to it that can be useful in the story mode or future runs. Thus, one of the key elements of free runs has become the tree of leveling-up, which allows players to gradually pass levels and improve their heroes as the difficulty level increases. In addition, the modifier system on the tree adds new challenges for players. This makes each run unique and requires adaptation and strategic thinking. This way we’ve maintained the element of randomness and unpredictability that is so important for the roguelike genre.
We really wanted to integrate free runs with the story mode so that these two modes don’t exist separately, but complement each other. Completing free runs can bring you rewards and bonuses that can be used in the story mode, making it much easier to progress through the story-line. This creates additional motivation for players to explore both modes and play to their enjoyment.
I understand that any changes can evoke completely different reactions from players, especially from those who value the traditions of the genre. But still, I think that our innovations not only preserve the main principles but also bring new elements that make the game more exciting and deep.
What do you think about all of this? Do you agree that our game can be called a roguelike or not? Are you looking forward to the updated challenge mode?
I really hope that we will soon finish working on the free and daily runs so you’ll see a lot of new things.
I’m grateful to everyone who shares their opinion and helps us make our game better. We have a lot of interesting things ahead, and we’re doing our best to make both you and ourselves happy.
This isn’t a goodbye; we’ll see you next Friday!