So after a long time away I am finally back, I won't bore you with the details since we all know how life goes but the short of it is I'm back and I've been a little busy behind the scenes so let's jump into it!
First the name change
I am finally committing to the working title and renaming the game from Project: Maidenless to simply Maidenless.
With that out of the way let's move on to the interesting stuff.
Gameplay refocus
Project Maidenless initially set out to be a dark fantasy souls like/Escape from Tarkov style extract game, while that concept still intrigues me it will no longer be the direction of Maidenless.
The reason
After a lot of thought I came to the realisation that during live testing I actually had the most fun in the Arena mode and that the more simple "load up and fight" game play loop appealed to me more in this current climate of chore heavy games.
So based on that I decided to wipe the slate and start from scratch with the focus purely on the Arena.
And with that in mind let's shift to what that means for Maidenless moving forward.
The concept
Maidenless will be an arena pvp game with Souls-like combat.
There will be multiple weapon types and various armour options to help customise your preferred play-style whether that be unga bunga with a big club or a ranged caster with a focus on aiding your allies, I plan to make build diversity a focus point!
Player equipment, skills and attributes will be freely changeable between matches so you can always try something new or switch your build to fit what your team needs.
I will do a deep dive on all the features available in relation to character builds and playstyles at a later date!
As for gamemodes you can expect the tried and tested 1v1s, 2v2s 3v3s and free for all deathmatch.
Some objective based modes like King of the Hill and capture the flag my be added at a later date based on interest.
Now moving on to matters of business
Price increase
After development initially slowed for Maidenless I lowered the price to $1 because I did not feel the original asking price matched the level of content provided and I could not guarantee continued development.
However with this new direction and momentum I have decided to raise the price of Maidenless to $10.
I will be offering free and open testing of the alpha version when it is ready so anyone unsure will still be able to test the game and see if its something they are interested in!
Now as for when you can expect to play Maidenless that is still up for debate, however there will be a beta branch available for testing on steam soon that thus far has been open only to a few select people so keep an eye out for that!
This initial testing build will have limited features and is currently focused purely on melee combat to refine the experience as much as possible before I move onto ranged and magic.
The current game-mode available is just a simple free-for-all, someone creates a lobby and anyone can join and begin fighting and finding bugs!
Please keep in mind I am a solo developer who also works full-time so do not expect massive leaps in content very quickly.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and a big thank you for supporting Maidenless
I hope to see you in the arena soon!
-Gaandi