Greetings Automagical Alchemists,
MoteMancer has been years in development, and while there is still plenty left to build, I can think of nothing more fitting than releasing into Early Access with Automation Fest along-side the giants that have inspired me to make this game.
I'd like to share a roadmap (also available in game) of where MoteMancer is heading, and give some context around the simplified concepts to share my headspace.
Research - While the research tree is vast, there is still plenty of room for improvement and additions. Some slots you see in the research tree are Shattered, typically consisting of plans already thought out for the future, but also an opportunity for the community to take existing ideas and either make them better or outright replace them.
Air and Fire Power are hot off the press - they are very different from Life and also the least tested, so I imagine there will be improvements to be made there, but there are already interesting synergy and logistics nuances to each.
Runeshrooms will be later in your journey as they are Tier 2 Shadow research, but they offer a unique take on beacon gameplay, heavily inspired from Astral Sorcery. Currently there are two rituals available but 9 are planned.
Spell Improvements - Some spells deeper in the tree are not yet implemented but also some of the original ideas made less sense. There are also ways to improve the current spells planned like AoE Nudge and Excavator.
Entropy itself is a tricky beast, it's very easy to make it too oppressive, so I imagine there will be a lot of feedback in both the tuning of it and the evolution of how the challenge and tension escalates.
Blueprints (and a map) are hot community asks right now. They are both planned and both a little more tricky on a hex grid than a conventional square one, but we'll make it happen :)
Full Controller Support - technically MoteMancer is already fully playable on Steam Deck - if you are looking for controller layouts there are some floating around out community already. That said, my standards for "Full Support" are very high and i want to make the game very natural to play with a controller, and that will take dedicated time. The framework is there, but I'm sure you'll agree that nuance and feel are everything for a feature like this.
More Music Tracks! Aleksandria continues to work hard at polishing and refining the existing score, and there are still more tracks in store to round out the planes.
Art Improvements - There is so much to do here. I think MoteMancer is already in a good state but it could be much better. I have a lot of plans for FX and Night-time visuals especially, but gameplay was more important to focus on before polishing all of that. My hope is that I can spend time working on quality of life and aesthetics while gathering information for the best way to proceed with the larger features.
UI/UX improvements - Ongoing for sure. People still get stuck at some tutorial moments because the rules are nuanced. For anyone reading this that does get stuck and has an "aha" moment after, sharing what would have made the message more clear for you is suuuuuper helpful. Send an in-game report with [F1] and I'll see it.
Affix Modes - MoteMancer is uniquely positioned for replay-ability because of the structure of the game. What if you started on the Fire Plane and Earth was completely shattered? What if Entropy spawned near every resource patch but Collectors were twice as efficient? There are so many ways to mix and match modifiers for gameplay, and I'm hoping institutionalizing a "Challenge Run" will give MoteMancer immense replayability.
Infinite Research - Once the Elemental Orbs are restored, securing a stronger elemental link to the Library will amplify your efficiency in a variety of ways.
Achievements and World Seeds - Much of this framework is in place, but making the game stable was a top priority. These will come very soon.
And of course Community Requests - the in game feedback/bug/suggestion form is the best way to get a message to me at the moment. Hearing thoughts during flow state are super useful. Many ideas have already been implemented, and many more are on the docket. This game will only get better with your feedback and ideas.
Also! Any feedback about Localization is super helpful. MoteMancer definitely has less grounding in reality and I spent a lot of time trying to be poetic and functional and evocative all at the same time, but it's a fine needle to thread and especially in other languages. Any feedback on either syntax or even reading size is very welcome.
There is so much more to do, but the elemental sandbox is already brimming with toys for you to experiment with. Thank you for being along for the journey. And now... back to the lab!
~Cyanavatar