Hello everyone, my name is Garv and I'm the lead developer of Shadows of the Lost. I wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who has tried the demo and has given us feedback. It's been a long road, but we're getting close to the finish line.
In this discussion, I wanted to talk a little about where we're at right now and where we're going.
I don't want to spend too much time on the journey, but I did want to talk about what's going on now. Currently, we're working on getting the demo to a good place and then focusing on the full game build. Since the demo and full game builds line up currently, I'm working on them at the same time. At some point in the near future, the demo build will be "retired" and everything will be for the full version of the game.
The demo is mainly so that people can get an idea of what the game is like. Here are some important points about the demo itself:
-The ability to gain or use skills.
-No access to mods for weapons and armor.
-Limited to level 8.
-No side stories or jobs available.
-Save games don't carry over to the main game.
-Story stops at the end of Chapter 2.
-No help/tutorial system
Sounds like a lot? I know. These things aren't necessary to really get a feel for what the game is going to be like to play.
Currently, we're working on getting a build out this weekend, that should wrap up Chapter 2 in the demo and balance out the combat a bit. Some of the numbers aren't balanced and that means going into the arena can be messy. My suggestion until we can get this leveled out is to buy some gear at the store and if you're getting overwhelmed, running is a good option as it only costs you 1/2 credits.
The demo will most likely get one or two more patches after we finish Chapter 2 in order to add in some graphics for zones that aren't quite ready right now.
Beyond that, we'll be looking to go into Early Access in the next couple of weeks. The Early Access build will include everything that will be in the final game. Such as:
-Taking jobs
-Level 50 cap
-Ability to mod weapons and armor
-Buying and selling gear
-Full story chapters
-Skill system
-Tutorial/help alerts
We'll be going into more detail as we get closer to that point and my goal is to cover each system of the game in more detail and offer better explanations of how you (the player) interact with the game. I admit that it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but I hope to ease you guys into it.
The final pass will be to make the game pretty. Right now, graphics are fine, but there are a lot of effects missing currently. We've been focusing on making sure all systems work and the game can be played to completion. Those are the most important parts of a game. Once we work out bugs and make sure the game runs and plays well, we'll focus on adding in the missing effects. You'll probably notice that jacking into a computer feels bare...and that's something we want to take care of.
Just keep in mind that our team is only two people, so we're working as fast as we can and as efficiently was we can. We are very proud of what we've been able to accomplish with just the two of us. So far, many people and players have been extremely supportive and that makes all the difference in the world.
We are looking to release the game this Winter so our Early Access period will not be all that long and at this point we're just a little bit behind schedule. However, this is game development and things don't always work out the way you want or expect them to. So I ask that you guys bear with us while we attempt to cross the finish line on our first ever released game!
In the future, I will be going into more detail about the world, the lore, what the Penny RPG Series is and why we decided to do this. Until then, please join us on this journey.
Take care and be safe!