Hi Everyone!
Welcome to this devlog update! We took a short break over the holidays to recharge and gather even more exciting updates. Now, we are ready to share our progress and give you some insights into our development process. We know many of you are eagerly awaiting the game and news about the beta release date, so we will share everything that is on our mind and be transparent about the development process.
Before we dive in, we invite you to join our Discord to get news firsthand!
In this devlog video, we featured Yuki! She is a tank, but rather than relying on bulk and blocking attacks, the little kitsune excels through agility and mobility. Many of her damage abilities also serve as evasion tools, letting her avoid harm while staying on the offensive. Her ice powers provide strong crowd control, keeping enemies at bay.
The game has been delayed since its first announcement because its scope has expanded significantly. Our original plan was much simpler, but our passion for the project inspired us to add many new features along the way. Our goal is not only to create an exceptional game but also to set a new standard for a 2D MMORPG.
We have made several improvements to our original plan to enhance the game. Here are some of the major features that have evolved over time:
- Customization Initially, the game was designed to offer only skins for each hero, similar to League of Legends. Today, players can not only choose different skins but also customize every hero’s colors using in-game dyes (hair, clothes, armor, etc.). Additionally, we have added options such as various hairstyles, helmets and armor pieces, allowing each skin to have a unique look.
- Mounts and Pets We introduced both mounts and pets because they add an extra layer of excitement to the gameplay. Players now enjoy the thrill of hunting for rare cosmetics in the open world. Boss drops are even more rewarding with the inclusion of exclusive mounts and pets. For players who are not typically interested in such things, these still become valuable in player trading due to their rarity.
- Open World The original plan for the game was more of a "dungeon crawler," with cities serving as lobbies and missions or dungeons forming the core gameplay. We expanded this idea by adding a vast open world that encourages exploration, offers hidden chests, engaging quests and secret locations where players can discover things and even mounts and pets locations. Although the "dungeon crawler" aspect of the game still plays a significant role, the open world creates a richer and more immersive experience.
- Artifacts and Trophies Heroes were originally able to customize their build with orbs alone, but we felt this approach was somewhat limited. That is why we introduced artifacts that grant two additional active skills and trophies that provide two passive abilities. With these new options, we created around 200 active skills along with many passive skills. This gives players more freedom to shape their builds and opens up new possibilities for unique rewards and future updates!
- Mini Bosses Although the game originally featured many complex boss encounters in the endgame, we believe that exciting challenges should be part of early levels and regular missions as well. That is why we have introduced and continue to add a large number of mini bosses throughout the game. We feel that these encounters are essential to making the leveling experience more dynamic and engaging.
These examples represent just a few of the major enhancements we have added during development. Many smaller improvements were implemented as well, and together they have greatly improved the game. While these additions have increased development time, we are confident that the results will be well worth the wait.
Now, let's review what we've accomplished over the past few months and what’s left to do before the beta!
- We completed the entire system and configs for all upgrades of Equipment, Artifacts, and Trophies (those were hundreds of recipes).
- All loot tables have been finalized for enemies, missions, and bosses, covering every type of reward, including equipment, artifacts, orbs, and and tons of different cosmetics.
- We finalized all the experience gains for enemies, missions, and bosses.
- As we mentioned in the previous devlog, we completed customization for 10 heroes. This time we added 7 more, making a total of 17 heroes ready to customize.
- We completed and configured the Open World enemies loots.
- The last set of pets we planned to add is finished, totaling 195 pets to collect. There will be no more additions for the release.
- We finished and balanced additional enemies, including many new mini bosses and standard monsters like demons, succubus, and reavers. Which one did you like the most? Share in the comments!
- We completed and polished many Adventurer Guild missions and created new maps.
- Some Open World quests were completed.
- The mission victory screen is complete, including rewards and experience. The Death and Retry screens have also been done.
- We finished 4 new Orbs for each hero, for their defensive abilities.
- Our cinematic system is now in place, helping us design improved quests and cinematic sequences.
- We completed many new mounts, though some exclusive ones are still in progress. Each endgame boss will drop a rare, exclusive mount and pet. In the coming weeks, all planned mounts will be ready!
- 10 new artifacts, which were needed to balance some rewards, especially for bosses, have been added.
- The Quest Log system is fully implemented, along with its tracking feature.
- The Databook is finished, featuring the lore of locations and NPCs you interact with.
- We completed the Bestiary! It provides the lore of various monsters and tracks the number of monsters defeated.
- Some of the Story quests were completed along with their cinematics.
- The Achievements system is now complete! It tracks your progress and milestones, rewarding you for various challenges and accomplishments throughout the game.
- All the new arts for Emotes are complete. They’re now in pixel art instead of regular 2D and will follow the hero’s customized colors.
- We finished the NPC shop system.
- The Story Replay system is now fully set up, letting you replay cinematics and unlock them as you progress through the story.
- We completed the Adventurers Guild credits system. This in-game shop refreshes monthly and offers a variety of rewards in exchange for credits. Players can earn these credits only by completing Guild missions, making it an engaging way to reward regular participation.
- The new Ticket system is also ready. Tickets can be exchanged for guild credits and used during missions to activate temporary effects. These effects vary widely. For example, the Growth Ticket boosts your experience gains, while the Soulbound Ticket significantly increases drop rates but locks the dropped items to your account.
- We finalized several internal systems, including multi-instanced parties and a multi-instanced open world with different difficulties.
Our focus is now entirely on developing the Story, Open World and its Quests. In short, these are the final elements needed to complete. Although this part of the game remains in its early stages, it is the only major missing element at this point. As we mentioned in previous devlogs, nearly every gameplay aspect such as heroes and enemies has been completed and polished. However, the addition of the Open World introduced several extra tasks that we must address to ensure everything works seamlessly.
Beta
We plan on doing an alpha internally with our team in march and then a Closed Beta in July. We will share more details when the time comes, because things can go off the rails, but hopefully this will not be the case!😅
Thanks for reading all the way through! We’ll keep working hard to make the game more complete each time. If you can support us by sharing this devlog and giving it a thumbs up, it would help us a lot. ❤️
See you next time! 👋
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2454980/Drakantos/