Long time no see, I’m 1000Water the producer of Esports Godfather.
I’m excited to announce that the first expansion pack for "Esports Godfather" is now available! Honestly, it’s been five years since the game’s development began, and it’s been quite a journey watching the heroes grow from the initial 20-30 to now. I hope you all enjoy the new heroes—Quinn, Matata, and Foso.
Recently, I’ve noticed some concerns from the community regarding the DLC and future plans, so let’s address them here.
1.Why release the DLC before the World Championship update?
This is a tough question. I know some of you may be worried that we’re rushing to balance the books or just trying to make a quick profit, especially since I mentioned in an earlier announcement that we only reserved six months of development funds.
I realize that trust still needs to be built, and in a time when many game companies shut down unexpectedly, talking about trust can feel awkward. But I truly want to establish a strong relationship with all of you because we all want "Esports Godfather" to keep improving.
There is no risk of the studio shutting down, so don’t worry. I promise that the World Championship update, version 3.0, will definitely launch in 2025. However, it may take some time to finalize the plans. We misjudged how long the major updates would take, and as game developers, we always want to make the game richer and more detailed. But plans often don’t keep up with changes, so I can’t confirm an exact release date for version 3.0 yet. We’ve already started working on some of its components, and while it’s too early to say, I think you’ll really enjoy the new regional competition format.
2.Why are heroes included in the DLC instead of system mechanics?
This comes down to cost. Creating a hero, from the model to the portrait, from the MVP animation to the battle animations, as well as effects and cards—honestly, it’s something I really want to do, but the cost is just too high. We estimated that on average, developing a single hero costs about 40,000 RMB (around 6,000 USD).
I really want to add more heroes so we can have global ban & pick systems and more team-building options. The hero count can really influence a lot of aspects, from 50 to 60, or 60 to 70, it makes a huge difference.
I’d love to add more heroes, but I have to consider the studio’s future and make sure the team members can earn some financial benefit. I thought about solutions like launching another crowdfunding campaign (the previous one was on Modian), allowing people to customize heroes, but developing heroes is too expensive for that plan to be feasible.
So after much thought, we decided to go with the expansion pack format.
As for why big updates, like the World Championship or the recent major update, aren’t being turned into DLCs, I believe these are things we promised to do and, out of respect, they shouldn’t be charged for in any way.
3.Will there be more hero DLC packs in the future?
I’d love to have a second hero DLC. I’ve already designed the characters’ abilities, and I really want to see them made and finished. But realistically, we’ve never released DLC content before, and honestly, we’re not sure how well the DLC will sell… So we’ll need to evaluate the financial results of the first DLC. If the profits or losses are acceptable, we will proceed with the second one.
4.Will making hero DLCs take up development time for the World Championship update?
The bulk of hero creation is in the effects and animations. For the next World Championship update, aside from a small amount of UI work, the effect artists and animators don’t have other tasks lined up. I have two plans in place: if the first DLC performs well, we will continue creating more heroes. If it doesn’t do as well, we might prepare for the next project.
As for the programming and design aspects, because heroes have unique mechanics, some coding is required. I don’t know much about that, but based on our current development progress, the time required isn’t too much. A lot of the groundwork for mod support has already been laid.
As for the design side… Whenever I have free time, I like to try writing hero abilities. For me, it’s a relaxing time, and I can’t wait to make them.
5.Why launch the multilingual plan for the game?
I noticed many translations other than Chinese and English have appeared in the game’s Steam Workshop (I’ve been sneaking around on the Korean "Esports Godfather" forum via the Workshop link), and through communication, I found a lot of players unhappy with the English translation. Now that version 2.0 is more stable, I think it’s time to reconsider the feasibility of supporting multiple languages…
But honestly, we haven’t fully discussed internally how many languages to support or how to cooperate with translators. What’s been confirmed so far is that we will re-translate the English version and also support German and Korean translations. If you want more languages, feel free to reach out to us anytime via the Steam community or Discord.
Alright, the above is what 1000Water wanted to share with everyone this time.
This is Moto, and below are the store links for this DLC along with an introduction to the content included in the DLC.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3379820/_/
https://steamcommunity.com/games/1278540/announcements/detail/519700531080331430?snr=2___
Next, I will address some specific questions regarding the in-game combat mechanics.
6.Combat Rules
Each battle card has a unique activation range and duration. The participating heroes are determined based on the card’s activation range, and the battle ends when the specified number of rounds is reached.
The player who plays the battle card is the attacker, while the other side is the defender. If the defender has a defense tower at the position where the target hero is, the tower will also participate in the battle.
If a battle lasts more than 10 rounds, from round 11 onward, all heroes will gain a 10% damage boost that stacks each round.
(Note: Coaches can check the detailed rules in INFO.-> Rulebook.)
7.Presence
Many coaches have mentioned that their heroes often don’t target enemy backline heroes in battle. This is because of the "presence" attribute, which affects the likelihood of a hero being selected as the target of an attack.
The formula for determining whether a hero is chosen as the target is:
Probability = Hero’s presence / Total presence of all participating units on the player’s side.
(Note: Some heroes' abilities, like Xiangxi Ke and Nihil, also affect target selection.)
Don’t worry! There’s no cheating with the AI. Both sides use this formula to determine who gets attacked.
(Note: If coaches want their heroes to prioritize attacking low-health enemies, they can adjust the setting in the save load screen by clicking the gear icon in the top-right corner of the save slot and turning on the "Increase presence for low-health units" option under "Battle Details.")
8.AI’s Long Turns
Some coaches have reported that the AI takes unusually long to make decisions, often choosing to end the turn after a long time or playing a "hot hand" after thinking for a while.
This happens because sometimes the AI has too many options to choose from, and it needs to go through the data to make a decision. It’s not intentional delay; the AI genuinely needs time to think.
9.AI Intelligence
Other coaches have mentioned that the AI isn’t smart enough, sometimes making repetitive decisions.
This is a result of our balancing decision during AI design. If the AI were too smart or automated, it might create strange situations that don’t align with players' expectations. For example, in a MOBA game, there was a moment when an AI team bought a resurrection item after dying in the laning phase, which went against players' instincts.
Therefore, the AI’s actions are mostly based on the cards it holds. All AI decisions are influenced by the hand it has, ensuring its behavior stays strong yet understandable.
10.Recent Fixes and Adjustments
New Content：
-Added the "Golden Eagle UNlimited Loans" feature——"Caw! Caw? Caw!"
(Can be accessed via Info. > Loans)
-Added the ability to view sponsors on the league information page.
-Added potential attribute grades to the player hover info.
-Added Random hero unlock batch to CustomRule .
-Added a one-click fill option for daily training combinations.
-Added a toggle for potential level and combat attributes in player hover info.
-Added additional player IDs.
-Added hover information for player satisfaction.
-Simulation battles now display opponents' total abilities and traits (only applicable to future uploads).
-Added a Hero and Equipment Statistics page (accessible via Info — League Info — Hero and Equipment Statistics).
-Added ReplaceCard to CustomRule(AdvanceTraining-TraitCardTraining)
Adjustments:
-The number of rounds required to surrender has been adjusted to 20 rounds.
-Thundercloud Cost: 3 → 2 Stack of Thundercloud：3 → 2
-Deathmatch: When this card is in hand, add 1 token for each Nihil's card played.→Add 1 token for each Nihil's card played.
-Step A: On the next Deployment Phase, spawn Step B to the hand.→spawn Step B to the draw pile.
Fixes：
-Fixed an issue where selling players and using loans to alleviate debt still didn't allow progression.
-Fixed an issue where modifying venue pricing scales would affect the prices of other seating sections.
-Fixed certain functionality issues related to influence currency.
-Fixed an issue where the venue occupancy rate would not display as 100%.
-Fixed incorrect display of seating area and quality upgrades.
-Fixed errors triggered by certain events.
-Fixed an issue where the hero Bunu Shan caused extremely low damage under certain conditions.
-Fixed a UI error when switching players in the regular season player market.
-Fixed an error when confirming enhanced training without selecting a hero for proficiency.
-Fixed an issue where Hero Gillis displayed abnormal ability stacks when attacked by certain heroes.
-Fixed incorrect targeting for Hero Fatty White's hero ability.
-Fixed the display of current mood and sense of belonging in player contract requirements.
-Fixed the display of honors and win rates on the player retirement page.
-Fixed an issue where selecting a different tactical style caused an error when replacing player cards during intensive training.
Finally, thanks to all the coaches for your continued support of Esports Godfather. Feel free to reach out to us anytime through the following channels to share your feedback and engage with us.
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/Wpf6y7kFjp
Twitter (X) https://twitter.com/1000_Water_