We’ve been quite silent for the last few weeks since we closed servers at the beginning of September and I want to personally apologize to all of you. We have faced several important challenges on the development side and a lot of decisions had to be made.
Since we launched Build 0.8.1 we have been working on major changes and improvements on the combat system side. That includes animations, timings, combo windows and a couple of nice features we have already talked about - feints, for example. These will add a new complexity layer to the way every warrior in Skara approaches a fight.
Unfortunately, the animations are not 100% ready yet.
Adding weight to the attacks has proven to be quite a challenge for our small animation team, and we didn’t want to rush things! Lots of quick iterations are being made to be 100% sure the combat feel is right. Animation sets for Celea and Tamvaasa are pretty much done but completing the sets for Kharn and Shinse is taken longer than we expected. Once you try them you will understand the amount of work required to make combat work.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team completed their tasks for 0.9 and are already working on features and content for Beta 1.0. So, the main decision was what to do with Build 0.9, since once the programmers start working on new features for Beta launch there is no turning back.
The decision, while painful, is the only logical one: we have decided to aim for a spectacular Beta launch and not release - for the moment - the Open Alpha 0.9 version. We want this launch to be perfect. Based in our experience, it is better to slow down a launch instead of releasing incomplete content and I know most of you think the same way.
What I can promise is that we will immediately get back to community actions, releasing constant updates about the state of Skara’s development. You can find me on Discord or ask here in Steam and I will immediately get back to you. All the changes we are making in the game have followed you feedback and this will never change.
See you on the battlefield,
Pablo and the Skara team