Hello everycabbage,
It has been about 2 weeks since EarlyAccess officially started with version 0.1.0 and the feedback, at about 1.5k reviews, has been (almost) Overwhelmingly Positive.
We’re incredible grateful for so many people joining Early Access at this early stage! And with how things have started, we’re confident that we can develop the game to its full potential!
Thank you so much!
And of course, we also received a lot of bug reports and feature requests. By now, most critical issues should hopefully be fixed and we’ll keep track of requested features as well to determine which can make it into the game.
We’re now at a point where we will focus on expanding the game and adding new content, so let’s talk more about that!
Development Roadmap
It’s time to share our roadmap for the remaining development of Alabaster Dawn
We currently plan with 8 major updates until the game will reach its full release with version 1.0.
Most of the updates will focus on gameplay content, adding new areas and dungeons, featuring new enemies, puzzles, boss battles and lots of content of explore. The story, on the other hand, will only be partially extended. Once the end of the plot is reached the game will switch into a gameplay preview, allowing you to play through more content without the story. We will try to keep any progress made within the preview (such as collected chests and solved puzzles) valid once the story is added in later updates, but in general we recommend replaying the content of the preview mode again once the story is added for the best experience. If you enjoy the gameplay of Alabaster Dawn and have no problem replaying content, we’d very much appreciate your feedback on all content available through the preview.
In turn, certain other updates (like version 0.5.0 and 0.8.0) will focus on the story, adding cutscenes and main-story quests for all available areas and dungeons. If you see yourself playing the game for the story, we recommend waiting for these updates as they allow you to experience all new content with proper context and close to the complete state.
Structuring updates like this helps us a great deal when developing the story, since it gives us more time to work out the finer details, avoid changing dialogs and re-doing scenes later during development. At the same time, we believe that delivering the plot in bigger chunks will give you a better experience, as it allows you to emerge yourself into the story for a longer time.
It should be noted that the roadmap might change. We might decide to change certain milestones, or add smaller updates in-between. Whenever the plan changes, we’ll let you know in advance!
Version 0.2.0 Milestone
Next up on the list after 0.1.0 would, by common logic, be 0.2.0!
The central focus of this update we will be an entirely new area, the swamp called Scala Moor, to the west of Sundalan.
Of course, as a new area, it will also contain various new enemies that have adapted to this wet environment, with their own unique attacks and behaviors.
Furthermore, your progress will be rewarded with another weapon, the Spear. Or is it a Lance...? Either way, it’s a long pointy stick, so it will serve as Juno’s first melee weapon with the Pierce attack type!
Now, with a new weapon incoming, you surely wonder if there will also be another elemental aspect. And yes, you will find one in the new dungeon within the new Swamp region. A new dungeon, containing new puzzle elements, enemies and maybe even a boss!
Aside from everything in the new area, we are planning to complete the missing quests and extra content in the already existing ones. This mostly means more quests in Sundalan and the Aurum Plains, but we should also finally get rid of the “Unfinished Content“ sign posts elsewhere…
Outside of the extended content, we are planning to extend the weapon skill trees, which, as you might have noticed, can be completed very quickly right now. In upcoming releases, you will also be able to unlock bonus effects related to the combo actions you unlock, giving you more varying paths to spend your skill points on.
Another highly requested feature is the ability to mark places on the world map with markers. “Map Markers”, if you will. Those have been around in CrossCode and will make their return in a the upcoming version of Alabaster Dawn!
Additionally, there will also be a new Dojo feature which’ll allow players to try out combos in a safe environment while receiving informative data about their damage and such.
Lastly, with extended content, the Roguelite Mode "Somu's Dream" will also continue to be extended in parallel, which means more floors and enemies for your runs!
As for the version’s release date, we are currently aiming for August of this year, so in about 3 months!
AMA ON Reddit
With the dust around our Early Access launch cleared, we decided to do an “Ask Me Anything” on the r/JRPG subreddit! It will start on Friday the 22th of May (so TOMORROW!) at 1pm CEST and will try to answer all the questions that show up for the hours (maybe days) to come!
Feel free to stop by and ask us questions about Alabaster Dawn or game development in general!
New Collaboration Approaches
Now to something else entirely: A new collaboration!
CrossCode x Alabaster Dawn x [redacted]
We are not revealing the third game just yet, but we are leaving you clues all over!
Here’s your clue for this message:
both our studios love worlds and stories that cut deep!
The reveal is coming soon. Until then, feel free to speculate!
Or remind us to focus on development (we do).
And that’s all for today!
We hope to post things more frequently from now on to keep you updated.
Until next time!