Hi Everyone,
We think it’s a good time to talk about our future plans for ROK (Reign of Kings).
When we first launched ROK, we listed it as a late-alpha game, as it had many of the core systems we originally set out to develop and produce. It was well received on Steam, and since its release, we’ve worked hard to launch 18 updates to the game, and helped inform the community about its development with weekly progress reports. During this time we incorporated many community- suggested features, and many of our own features, so long as they kept the core vision of the game intact.
As mentioned at launch on our Early Access store page, we plan on fully releasing the game this year. We are now nearing an internal milestone when we will consider the game to be “feature complete” in October of this year. This will signal the start of the “Beta” phase of development. At this point, there will be no new gameplay systems or content introduced, as development will transition to bug fixing, exploit fixing, additional anti-hack prevention, balancing, optimization, stability, and general polishing of the current systems.
We believe the beta period will run until December. At which point we believe the game will then be ready for full release (and exit Early Access). Afterwards, any future updates will be on further bug fixes, exploit fixes, and balancing.
Let me explain a bit more about what “feature complete” means. It means that we have put all the systems into the game that we originally planned to include. Some of these features may still have bugs and balancing needed upon entering beta, and that is what the beta period is for. The vision of the game was always about base building, raiding, and gaining power by becoming king. It was a squarely tight-PVP focused game, hence our decisions to leave out mounts, and keep the maps small and strategic. We feel the game plays very competitively, and succeeds at providing engaging scenarios depending on each server.
We also figured this would be a good time to tell everyone about the major features & content we hope to add before we hit beta:
Farming – We are currently working on a basic farming system in the game. This will allow players to plant seeds, water it, and grow plants of different types.
Fishing – This peaceful past-time will allow you another source of food and bragging rights in the game. The fish will spawn in fresh water lakes, and will come in various sizes.
Spears - The final addition to our diverse weapons system. Spears are a melee weapon that have a longer range.
Kicking – Players will be able to boot other players to break their blocking. This will be one of the final additions to the combat system aside from bug fixing and further balancing.
Decal System – An integrated decal system will add polish to the game. The gore system will be much more satisfying and realistic. Axes will also make marks on trees when they are hit. Other surfaces may also be affected.
As well, here is a list of FAQ’s we believe you may be wondering about:
Q: Are you stopping development on ROK?
A: Definitely not! We still have much development to finish. We just wanted to let everyone know our future plans for ROK.
Q: Until Feature X is implemented, I will not consider ROK Complete!
A: We understand that there are many requests for all kinds of different features, however, we have always done our best to listen to community suggestions, and have already implemented many features that aligned with the vision for the game. The problem with many suggestions is that they either divide the community, change the game to a point that it no longer reflects the pillar it was developed on (PVP focus), or are well beyond the original scope and budget set out for the game. Hence why every feature requested can not be implemented.
Q: There is not enough content in the game!
A: We feel everyone deserves a good deal of entertainment for their dollar, and we do our best to try and gauge this. At this time, the average play time of the game equals about 20 hours per player who purchased the game. Many players have even played hundreds of hours, some over a thousand hours. We feel this is fair given the price of the game. Additionally, we plan on adding a few more features between now and beta, but we are very careful not to add anything that will erode at the core design.
Q: Is it the end after full release comes out?
A: Nope. While the game will be exiting Early Access, we will still be monitoring the game and fixing bugs, exploits, and balancing.
Q: Are updates going to continue to be released on a regular interval?
A: We’ve always released updates every 2-3 weeks. This will not change until beta, and then full release. After full release, updates will be on a non-regular basis and will be dependent on any bugs, balancing, and exploits that need to be fixed after launch.
Q: I still feel concerned about ROK? What about the major bugs & exploits?
A: We understand there is still work to be done, and we hope you understand that we are not in beta yet, and there are many updates to come between now and beta, and even more updates between then and full release. Even after that, the game will be supported with further bug fixes, exploit fixes, and balancing. We don’t want to have anybody run into surprises, so that’s why we’re currently announcing our completion plans. We look forward to the work ahead of us, and hope you’ll enjoy what is coming.
Q: What about mod support?
A: We hope to open up more server configurability to further enable different playstyles of the game. However, we cannot promise exactly what type of additional mod support may be added.
We really want to thank everyone for all of your support and suggestions throughout the Early Access period. We look forward to finishing the game, and we hope you look forward to playing the full release.
Thanks for playing,
The Code}{atch Team