Hello everyone,
This is Toru Nakamura, Director of Vivid World.
First of all, I'd like to thank you for all your support, feedback, and encouragement!
My team and I regularly read all your comments and posts, often finding ourselves
thinking, “Ah, that makes sense,” as if something clicks inside us.
Well, some of you may have already heard, but we’ve decided to push the release of
Vivid World to later this year.
I’d like to take a moment to explain why, and what kind of progress we’re making.
From here on out, I plan to regularly share behind-the-scenes updates like this,
so I hope you’ll drop by now and then to see how things are going.
🍎 About the Delay
During our internal testing, we achieved a certain level of evaluation,
and the feedback we received was generally positive.
However, there was a common sentiment among us, that this isn’t where we stop.
We believed we could improve the game significantly. We knew we could go further,
exceed expectations, and deliver something even stronger.
This realization led us to pause, step back, and decide to overhaul and refine what we had.
Now, this redesign is taking shape, and we’re carefully incorporating everything needed to
bring the game to completion... to deliver the best version of the game to you.
When our most critical internal testers take back their earlier words and genuinely enjoy the game,
we will know we can confidently release it for the world to see.
We are committed to providing a true sense of satisfaction in the final product.
🍎 Key Updates & Improvements
1️⃣ The “Out-Game” Elements... Rebuilt from SCRATCH
This was a tough one, but we made the call to completely redesign the game systems and
User Interface (UI) outside of dungeon and battle gameplay.
You might be wondering what the heck I mean by the "out-game," as this part has
not been implemented in the Demo yet.
But behind the scenes, we’ve been working hard on this area too.
For example, there was a system called Shards that got some attention in our Discord chats.
It was a cool concept that allowed players to strengthen individual units over time.
But in the end, we realized that the whole concept of this feature conflicted with the
pace and philosophy of a rogue-like game.
So, we made the difficult decision to scrap it.
It’s always painful to throw away a system we’ve put so much time and heart into.
But if doing so leads to a more enjoyable experience overall, then it’s the right call.
And no worries, we’re introducing a couple of new mechanics inside the dungeons to compensate.
There’s plenty to look forward to!
2️⃣ “In-Game” Content... More Strategic Depth
Since the release of the demo, we've received a lot of feedback expressing a desire for
the ability to upgrade units individually. We hear you!
So, we’re introducing some new systems that will add deeper layers of strategy
in ways that may surprise you.
While I can't share all the details just yet, we're exploring ideas such as:
- Certain units interact in unique ways
- Mechanisms that tweak unit appearance rates
...and other features that add new dimensions to party building.
Our goal is to provide you with new options and decisions to make, all while ensuring
the game remains intuitive and fun.
3️⃣ Character Controls... Smoother Than Ever
We’re also improving how it feels to play.
It might sound minor, but a small improvement in how a character moves or
reacts can have a big impact on the overall experience.
We’re adjusting and polishing until the moment-to-moment gameplay feels right.
🍎 Our Goal: Surpass Vivid Knight
One of our objectives in developing Vivid World is to create a game that reaches
more players than Vivid Knight while providing an even deeper experience.
That said… as we added new systems, we ran into a challenge:
How do we balance richness with clarity?
We don’t want to overwhelm you with the flooding amount of gimmicks from the start.
To address this, we’ve designed the game so that systems unlock gradually over time,
helping players ease into the complexity without feeling lost.
It’s all about achieving a balance between depth and accessibility,
and we’re tuning every detail with care.
🍎 Where We Stand Now
Right now, I’d say the game is around 90% complete.
However, this is just our internal assessment for the time being.
We plan to conduct another round of internal testing to determine if we can confidently
say that this is it.
We’re ready to rework that last 10%… or even take a step back if we have to.
Our goal is to ensure that we deliver a game we truly believe in.
So please, hang in there with us just a little longer.
Thank you so much for reading all the way through.
I’ll continue to share our thoughts, our direction, and what’s happening behind the scenes
as often as I can.
If you’re willing to walk with us a little longer, I promise it’ll be worth it.
See you in the next dev blog.
Toru Nakamura