Hello, Merchants!
To be clear, we mean Early Access is coming to an end, not the game. ːsteamhappyː
We are closing in on what we will consider the v1.0 launch of Merchant’s Guide, and we wanted to share a few details about what you can expect from this version of the game.
This is a very exciting time for us. While the Early Access period of Merchant’s Guide is coming to an end, we truly consider it the beginning of a very long life for the game, as we have so much more we want to add to this world that we love so much. So, let’s kick off with what v1.0 is expected to feature!
User Interface
There’s no doubt we’ve been talking about our UI update for a long time now. We have been working on many assets behind the scenes, but we ended up having to continuously push the UI work further and further back. Thankfully, though, the wait is almost over! Now that patch v0.9 has been released, we are officially working on the implementation of the new UI!
However, we do want to be clear about what that means and set some expectations regarding when you might see it.
We are not only updating the visuals to be much sharper and easier to comprehend, but we are also hyper-focusing on how everything functions as a full game as opposed to individually. In the past, as we kept adding more features to the game, we made many things function as standalone features when they could have easily been merged with other existing features. A simple example of this would be the Docks, where you can salvage gear, craft more materials, and squish fish into fish oil. When the UI/UX update is complete, you will be able to salvage directly from your Merchant inventory, and the Crystalline Converter will be merged with the crafting stations to make it easier to see exactly what you have ready to craft. Similarly, the fish squishing and fish oil crafting will now be incorporated into the fishing interface. This eliminates the Docks entirely and consolidates its features into places where they already exist and make more sense.
Another larger example of the consolidation of the UI would be the changes to inventory management. We have consolidated the Merchant Inventory, Merchant Caches, Officers Inventory and the Storefront to all work on the same, single sheet. This means that just about any inventory management you will want to do will no longer require jumping back and forth between inventories, and instead, everything will be doable from the same single location with built in filters for much easier navigation and item control.
Finally, we have also rearranged how the interface works with how things pop up on the screen. No longer will different UI fixtures overlap each other as they do now. Instead, everything has its own dedicated screen space section and will remain exclusively inside its own area. This includes things like Officer Commands, which will no longer pop out of the officer portraits but will instead function directly inside the appropriate officer panel.
There are many more great changes coming, and everything will not only look different but also function differently. Veteran players will certainly have a small adjustment period learning where everything is and how everything works, but we expect the clarity will lead to vastly improved gameplay, a much easier learning experience for newer players, and indeed, significantly improved game performance as well!
Along with the UI update, we will also be including an updated Logbook. Admittedly, as we continued to make changes to the game, the Logbook has not kept up. We plan to update the Logbook to be a much more pleasant and useful experience. We encourage even veteran players to play through the Logbook on their first time coming back after the UI update to acquaint themselves with the new and improved ways the game plays.
With all that said, we plan on releasing these changes onto beta as they are ready, and the UI update will be our next major patch, version 0.9.1. Considering that we are adjusting every single visual UI asset in the game and touching on the functionality of every single system to some degree, this will be a relatively long quiet time for us. Please know that we are hard at work behind the scenes making Merchant’s Guide the best it can be, and at any time you can drop us a line in our Discord!
Just for a little teaser, here are some early images of the inventory screen and a few item hovers for the new UI rework! We hope you like what you see!
Here you can see a sample of the Inventory in game:
Here is what it may look like when hovering over a Common tier item:
Hovering over a Superior tier item:
Hovering over a Unique tier item:
Guild Rework
Shortly after the UI/UX patch, we will be releasing another patch with a guild rework. We still have some finer details to work out behind the scenes, but what we can tell you so far is that guilds will no longer be a random in-world event that any world hero can do. Instead, each town (Eastmire, Zar, Khor, and Neri) will have its own guild representing the town, with you and your guild being the representatives of Terafell. This means that the four other guilds in the area will be working with their own objectives and agendas alongside yours.
As you unlock new zones, you will also meet new guilds. They will be generated with random names and emblems within each playthrough and will come to the realm with their own members already geared and ready to fight. This is both good and bad for you as the Terafell guild, as this means you will have quicker access to higher-level world heroes in the form of these other guilds, but also more powerful competition in terms of who will be the strongest guild in the realm!
For example, once you clear Redclaw’s Lair and unlock the next zone, you will meet the Eastmire guild for your realm, which will automatically introduce three new world heroes into the realm who will already match your officers in power and preparedness. This means you won’t have to wait long for the non-guilded world heroes to catch up before you can venture into Tawny Mine with a group. Furthermore, the Zar guild will be ready to venture with you into Hallow’s Fall and beyond with five powerful guild members to join your officers.
That’s a small idea of what is coming in the first iteration of the guilds rework, but we have a lot more we want to add to the Guilds system to make it far more exciting to engage in.
Star Power Update
Star Power has been around since day one of Merchant’s Guide, and now we are going to bring a little more excitement to the Star Power system before v1.0 hits.
The numbers are all subject to change once we get the final balance in, but we wanted to cover the idea behind it anyway. Once we get this update in, you will still want to acquire star coins to empower your officers or other guild members up to five stars, and with each rank, every hero will receive a 3% stat bonus, meaning a 5-star hero will have a baseline 15% increase to their stats. However, each class will also have a set of special boosts they will receive at ranks 1, 3, and 5. For example, Elemental Mages may receive an extra boost to Mana at rank 1, Cast Speed at rank 3, and Ability Power at rank 5.
Of course, along with the power upgrades, the UI and visuals of star power will be more clear and appealing.
We think these changes will help each class specialization have more of a unique identity around their particular strengths, making investing those star coins into the specializations you desire much more impactful.
End Game Feature
We also have plans for those who want to engage beyond the campaign storyline in the form of Elite Dungeons. We have mentioned this feature before, but we have landed in a place that we absolutely love.
Elite Dungeons will be an optional bit of content that you will be able to engage in throughout your regular campaign playthrough. However, they will be a step above the regular dungeons in terms of difficulty, meaning that even after you’ve beaten the regular campaign playthrough, there will be much more you will need to obtain and work on to beat the elite versions of these later dungeons.
However, there is another twist to Elite Dungeons, and it is the reason we are keeping them optional.
When fighting in these Elite Dungeons, you will have full manual control over the heroes in the fight! Yes, we are slightly stepping away from the auto battler aspect of Merchant’s Guide to experiment with a completely brand new way to play.
When sending heroes to Elite Dungeons, you will be able to choose up to five heroes from your guild, including Members or Officers, to face the dungeon. You will then be charged with having to know and understand each ability of all five heroes and properly execute them in a strategic way to complete these elite encounters. Note that their basic attacks will still go off without you controlling them as they do in the non-elite dungeons.
We are aware that Merchant’s Guide has a certain amount of appeal to a lot of you in being an auto battler, so rest assured, if you don’t want to partake in these Elite Dungeons, you are not required to, and you can still enjoy the full campaign in all the difficulties up through the final zone, which will be talked about in the next section, without feeling like you are missing out on anything. However, for those who want to push their heroes a step further in a much more challenging way, Elite Dungeons will be for you!
New End Game Zone & Campaign Updates
While on the topic of the end game, coming with v1.0 we will also be releasing the final zone in Chapter 1, the Shimmering Isles. This zone will bring in new dungeons, new friends, new enemies, new visuals to enjoy, and will wrap up the storyline for Chapter 1. This will add a whole new layer to the final challenges of our first chapter.
Speaking of Chapter 1, we will also be including an entirely new way to play the Campaign. It’s been relatively on the sidelines since we put it in the game, and that was very intentional. The campaign itself will not function as a simple adventure like it does now within the game. Instead, it will be an active part of your playthrough with more involved storytelling and in-game cutscenes to keep you informed of what’s actually going on in the world! No more hero dialog to read. It’s a little crazier than we’ve let on so far, and we think the new challenges coming in the Shimmering Isles will bring an exciting end for those who have been waiting to see exactly what is going on in the world.
Release Date When?!
To wrap up this State of the Game, we wanted to talk about the timeline expectations going forward and into version 1.0. We would love to give the release date now, but we simply are not sure!
The good news is, it’s close. As stated about the UI/UX patch, it will be some time before we can get that patch into your hands. I wouldn’t dare give a specific timeline quite yet on that, but it could be anywhere in the range of 1-3 months to complete. We will be sure to communicate in our Discord if we hit any major problems or delays. However, the UI/UX patch is the final major patch delay that we will have before our v1.0 launch. When we launch the UI patch, version 0.9.1, we will include a showcase video of the UI changes, and we very much hope to have an official release date ready for you then. At the very least, a much more accurate estimation!
We cannot express how much we appreciate all of you who have come along for the ride with Merchant’s Guide, and we truly believe that the final version of the game will be a unique and fun experience.
See you again soon!
-Devs