Hi everyone!
We've been light on written updates lately while getting everything ready for the big Early Access release but I really can't tell you how thrilled we are to finally open up the Castle and Mines to everyone!
I'm writing this post to share the current state of Early Access so you'll know what to expect when the big day comes, and how we're planning our development going forward.
For the content of the game itself we've provided pre-release copies to Streamers and YouTubers so that you can get a solid preview of exactly what is going to be available on the 25th, but it's also important for us to talk about what's going to come next!
The base game that we'll be launching is definitely still a little rough around the edges, but overall I'm extremely happy with it. We have a core arcade-y experience that takes between 1-1.5 hours for a single run, and it really builds on the replayability that you've come to expect from the Peglin demo. The EA release on the 25th will launch with the same Level 5 Cruciball trial that is available in the demo currently (which is much harder than it's supposed to be!), but we will be following it up with the proper unlockable Cruciball implementation (up to level 8 out of 20) very shortly after release (within 2 weeks). After that we will be turning our attention to the Haglin update (obtainable currency & a store (with more reliable orb removal!) and up to Cruciball level 12), and then our next goal is to introduce classes to allow for more run customization (we're also going to keep the jack-of-all-trades Peglin class that we've all been working with that will combine most of the content from all the other classes). In between major updates we're planning to roll out bugfixes and smaller content updates on a very regular basis - and once our current EA-patching frenzy subsides we will be putting together a more detailed roadmap to share our future plans!
One thing that I'm (weirdly?) excited about is getting back to sharing proper patch notes. When we were rapidly developing Castle & Mines content while maintaining and updating the public Forest demo we didn't have the extra time to put a framework in place to log the necessary info for real patch notes. Now that we're fully turning our attention to the Early Access release and updates of Peglin, we will be posting the full changelog for every update! (You're welcome vizthex!)
I can not stress enough that the current demo of Peglin has only become as entertaining and balanced as it is thanks to the sheer amount of feedback that we've received from so many different people trying it out and sharing their thoughts! The areas past the forest might be a little rough around the edges to start but I'm confident that together we can really hone this game into something amazing.
Thank you so much for joining us on this journey, and we can't wait to tackle the next stage together!
Sincerely,
Dylan & The RNG team