Greetings, Void Hunters! :sssthumb:

Welcome to the first Soulstone Survivors devlog of 2025! We have been working on some HUGE features in the background, and while we have another official Content Sneak Peek coming very soon, we couldn’t help ourselves and make some sneak peeks here in the devlog as well! As part of a… grander scheme, we have upgraded the visuals of many parts of the game and today we wanted to share a first look with you!

Visual Upgrades

Maps

As you all might have seen from our recent Content Sneak Peeks, we are working on adding new maps to the game, and it felt like the perfect time to revisit some of the old maps as well. Today we wanted to share with you the new visuals for the Scorching Valley and the Whispering Grove!

Here is a quick comparison of what these maps used to look like and now:

Main Menu

While at it, another area that needed major improvements was our main menu scenario! There are still a few changes coming to this one later on, but check out the video below for a gist of what’s coming next:

These visual changes are all part of a greater set of changes coming with the new game mode, with the new maps… and well… with the new surprises coming to the game in the coming updates. In terms of updates I think it is safe to say we saved the best for last, so keep an eye out for the future content sneak peeks as we will start sharing more details very soon!

Faster Save File Loading

Another huge refactor we have been working on is regarding the loading times of the game. They can be quite painful in slower devices, and specifically your save files, if they are large enough from a high number of matches, your loading time could be huge! We changed a few screws around, got some better building materials, new tools, gave it a little slap and now it loads a lot faster! (honestly, the slap alone might have done it). What you will watch below is not an artificial test, we are actually loading a pretty gigantic save, that belongs to Faydaen (thanks for all the help Faydaen!!):

Check this comparison out:

The timer in the video above shows just how long it took to properly read and load the player’s save file and populate the necessary data in-game to continue ahead. Our new system which includes a custom made serializer and a ton of other changes is almost instant even in a huge save like this one, while before it could take over 20 seconds just loading the SAME save file! There are also improvements in all other loading screens in the game, like loading levels and what not, so hopefully that should make the experience a lot smoother!

Closing Thoughts

We are getting closer and closer to releasing a few massive features we have been working on for a while, along with some exciting announcements we are preparing in the background, and we are SUPER excited about everything that is coming next! Let us know what you think about these visual upgrades in the comments below, and keep an eye out, we got a lot more to show!

We hope you have a lovely day or night,

~ The Soulstone Team