1 Dev’s Note

Hello, this is Team Suneat.

It’s already been 2 weeks since we launched the game in Early Access.
During Early Access, we will constantly communicate with this community and shape the game together to create the best version of it that we possibly can.
We have been receiving great feedback and your voice will be considered seriously in our development process.

To all those who play our game, we sincerely thank you and now, this is our upcoming development plan.

1. Improvements in progressing the stage
   • We’ve decided to change the current stage system after monitoring the gameplay and going through a lot of feedback since the launch. We strongly agree, especially in this kind of genre, that there must be a different and exciting new experience for players that makes the game replayable. Keeping this in mind, we are planning to add some new systems.
   • Improvement in Risk Level Currently the Risk Level increases over time, but we are planning to change this. Only when the port is operating and by the player’s choice of action will it increase the Risk Level. For instance, when opening a gear box you can choose to not spend the gems but instead increase the Risk Level by chance of 50%.
   • Randomness We are working on stages with different level designs and new objects. Our plan is to allow players to have various experiences in every map while playing the game multiple times.
   • Playtime There were many comments regarding the excessive wave repetition and long play time that resulted in player’s frustration. Thus, we are considering many ways such as to cut the number of wave repetitions and reduce the size of the map, to improve the player’s playing experience.
2. Core Combine
   • We recognize that the current core system is depending heavily on luck making the system rather passive. Through the ‘Core Combine’ system, we will allow players to participate more actively in the game.
   • Enhance Main Weapon By combining the same core attribute as the main weapon core, the player will be able to unlock much stronger power. The unlocked power has 3 types that the player may choose.

     Combination Type	Description
     Frozen 1	Lv3. Reduces the MOV SPD of the enemies inflected with Chill by 30%. Lv5. Reduces the MP cost of the enemies inflected with Chill by 5%
     Frozen 2	Lv3. Reduces DMG from each enemy inflected with Chill by 0.5%. Lv5. 1% chance to recover HP by 1 when attacking the enemies inflected with Chill.
     Frozen 3	Lv3. Increases DMG to the enemies with Freeze immunity by 50% Lv5. Inflicts Ice Explosion with 200% of skill DMG when attacking the enemies inflected with Chill by 10 times.

   • Changing Attributes Secondly, by combining the cores with two different attributes, the player can craft a stronger core. For example, you can combine Electric Storm(Type) and Ignition(Attribute) to bring out a replace Thunders with Meteors! This kind of attack will share synergies from several Ignition cores and have a combined level of the two cores used in combination. Ex)

     Upgraded Ice Spear	Fires 5 Spears which push and penetrate the enemies in a minute. The enemies attacked are inflected with Chill Ice Spear ATK: ( ) -> ( ) Lv5 Increases CRIT by 30% for Ice Spear
     Electric Marble	Recharges 1 Electric Marble every second. When 3 Electric Marble are charged, the Marble will revolve around the player for 3 seconds and have a chance to deal with Shock. Electric Marble ATK: ( ) -> ( ) Lv5 Increases revolving duration to 6 seconds
     Ignition Spear	Transforms Ice Spear into an Ignition Spear. Inflicts Ignition Explosion with 200% of skill DMG when attacking the enemies inflected by Ignition Spear. Explosion DMG: ( )% of skill DMG -> ( )% Lv5 Ignition Spear will not penetrate anymore but hook on the enemies for 1 second and exploit by 5 times.

3. Playable Character
   We agreed that the charming playable characters always bring more players. We’re currently working on a new character ‘Darcy’ and will update it as soon as we can. That being said, the character update usually takes a long time to develop because all the core and weapons need to be modified at the same time. ‘Darcy’ will initially be available with a single weapon and the other weapons will be added in the next patches.
   • Darcy(Katana) With a Katana in her hand, Darcy can fight lighter and swifter than any other else. (Attacking animation for Darcy-Katana in development) Plans for Darcy’s Weapon Upgrade

     Risk Level	Sweeping Blade	Shadow Tornado	Single Splash
     Lv1	Recharges stacks when normal attacks hit the enemies. The stacks can be duplicated by 10. Dash attacks the enemies with 200% of normal DMG when the stacks are fully duplicated	Fires shadows to the opposite side of dash with 300% of normal DMG (2s of CD)	Transforms charging into Single Splash. 3 seconds in maximum and DMG increases according to charging time. The enemies receive DMG 1 second after the attack. (Max DMG: 700% of normal DMG)
     Lv2	Reduces max stacks to 6 and increases dash DMG by 200%	Reduces CD of shadows by 1 second and increases DMG by 100%	The hit enemies received 300% increased DMG 1 second after the first attack
     Lv3	Increases normal attack SPD by 25% when when hit the enemies with max stacks	FIres 2 rapid shadows and chases the enemies	Increases bleeding DMG by 300% when the hit enemies are bleeding
     Lv4	Recharges 6 stacks when dash attack defeats the enemies with max stacks	Inflicts 2 extra shadows from the shadow-hit enemies and chases the enemies nearby	Inflicts extra DMG by 1% of the hit enemies’ HP when the hit enemies are bleeding
     Lv5	Recharges 2 stacks when normal attacks cause CRIT DMG	Increases evasion by 30% in 5 seconds when shadow-hit the enemies with 50% or more HP. This cannot be duplicated. (2s of CD)	Recharges Single Splash per 5 seconds and inflicts during normal attack

   • Jenny Will be developed sequentially after Darcy
   • Jett Will be developed sequentially after Darcy
4. Elite Monsters
   • The Elite Monsters will be classified according to the difficulties and some challenging characteristics will emerge as the Risk Level increases.

     Risk Level	Characteristics	Description
     1~3	Immobility Immunity	Immune to immobility skills. Immobility skills: Stiffened, Freeze, Shock, Stun, Airborne, Knock-back
     1~3	Teleport	Teleports to a random place every 3 seconds
     4~6	Explosion	Enemies that are killed explode a second later, damaging the player.
     4~6	Shock	Shocks the player as it attacks.
     4~6	Steal	Takes 50 gems as it attacks the player.
     7~9	Undying	Becomes invulnerable when its HP reaches 0. The invulnerability disappears automatically after remaining for 3 seconds.
     7~9	Grenade	Releases 3 grenades when killed. The grenades will explode after a set amount of time.
     7~9	Poison	Creates a poisonous zone where it moves.
     10~12	Elder	If its allies die nearby, the elder fully recovers the shield and its attack increases by 20% for each ally killed.

5. Next Chapter
   • Extra Chapter After leaving the lab, Kil will take the train to the lift. The lifts were made for cargo transportation between ground and Esperanza years ago. Not far from the lift, some armed men are taking over the ground. Will Kil succeed in defeating those uncooperative armed men and reach Esperanza by the lift?
6. Gears
   Current Status & Plans Currently 80 or more gears are set in the plan. We’ll put the Risk Gears and Active Gears first. After that, the extras will be updated accordingly.
7. UI
   We’re aware that the current UI had problems in both description and intuition, so we decided to make some improvements like below.
   • Menu Improvement
   • UI Intuition and Description Improvement
   • In-game UI Improvement
   • Game Result Screen
   • Encyclopedia
8. Q&A
   • Q: Your game lacks SFX. A: We’re aware of it and working on the extra SFX at the moment. More SFX will be added in the future.
   • Q: How many members do you have in TeamSuneat? A: We’re a team of 4 members.
   • Q: When will be the official release for Blade Assault? A: Not later than 1Q 2022.
   • Q: What does the Drone do? A: Definitely a cutie-pie and the only buddy of the player. In the next patches, the NPC Hailey will be giving the other Drones. Please look forward to those different skilled drones!
   • Q: Frame Drops during gameplay. A: We’re currently proceeding with the optimization. Some players have reported frame drops when killing several mobs simultaneously or Chain Lightning. We’ll look into the different situations and deal with it as soon as we can.
   • Q: It’s absurd that the Elite Monsters can be self-destructive and undying. A: Some special abilities like [Self-Destructive] or [Undying] will be adjusted in the next updates. We’re dealing with the adjustment at the moment. It will be like [Self-Destructive] displays its range and [Undying] mobs show themselves. Also, bugs like [Undying] mobs not receiving any damage and disturbing the quest will be resolved within the next few updates.
   • Q: I want to skip the cutscenes! A: Skip for cutscenes and dialogues will be added in Settings soon.

※ This is not our final plan and can be changed during development.

We’re now focused intently on developing the content updates that we promised.
With the help of all the players who’ve reported bugs and sent feedback since the launch, we are constantly able to improve our game.
We’ll be back with exciting contents and mind-blowing action that meets the player’s expectations.
Keep an eye on how we, Blade Assault, get better.
See you in August with Darcy.

Last but not least, we're nominated in Weekly Fan Favorite for GDWC 2021. Please enter the link below and show your support through voting for Blade Assault!
https://thegdwc.com/

Thank you