Hello everyone, I am beyond excited + a little nervous to finally release Arcadian days in Early Access! We have build quite a number of wishlists without much, if any, marketing budget, and almost the entire game has been solo made by me, with some amazing support from freelancers for some models and gameplay elements. We have a new trailer available I hope you enjoy, it doesn't reveal much as Arcadian Days is a game full of secrets and discoveries that I want players to find. I will however try to answer now some questions for you :
What is the actual loop of Arcadian Days? Is it a farming sim?
Arcadian Days is an adventure and exploration game that is highly quest and character driven. You will spend your time exploring, completing quests and making discoveries, each aimed to be designed to be interesting, unique and most importantly related to each other. Every quest and element in Arcadian Days will influence other elements in some way or another.
It is not a farming sim or a crafting game, and those are elements that will probably not be introduced as I want the narrative and discovery to be the main focus as well as allow the game to stand on its own amongst a sea of cozy crafting and farming sims!
I hope the story we are crafting for you will be enjoyable and you will greatly enjoy discovering this world, completing the quests and watching how your actions influence the narrative and the world.
As we release more updates, there will be more to come to expand the story in some very interesting ways. however for the initial run of Early Access we will focus on getting to know the characters and the world of Arcadian Days.
How long will the game be in its current state?
The aim is for Arcadian Days to be an open world adventure game that respects your time, with diverse and well thought out quests, with a lot of replayability as the branching storyline expands. The current state of Early Access can be anywhere between 3 to 6 hours depending on how quick one moves and wanting to discover everything, with much more quests and content to come regularly.
What is the roadmap for Arcadian Days?
I will reveal a proper roadmap very shortly after release as I analyze the data, however rest assured there is currently a VERY clear roadmap ahead and all major updates have already been planned. Depending on the success of Early Access and community engagement, I want to hire more people full time to assist in developing this world.
I am excited to reveal a big update will already come next week that will add even more quests and adventures as well as a quest chain related to the fuzzy sheep of Bucuria. As i have been quite ill the past month it was hard to prepare all the quests but they are coming very shortly and I hope regularly.
Things to look forward to in future updates include :
An expanded storyline that aims to be wholesome, hearth-warming and have a touch of mystery and supernatural. Lots of diverse and fun side quests and activities as well!
Expanded customisation of the household and characters, with players having a more direct role in the way the homestead can be customised as well as what the characters wear, all of course quest related in fun ways!
Tola the dog companion, who will be with you and help you with quests and also have interactions. The aim is to have one of the best dog companions in a game every, where Tola is not just an extension of the main character but its own being for players to connect with and grow.
More environments to explore which aim to be unique and never seen before including a river Delta, a majestic valley unlike any other and an ancient fortress on top of a forested hill.
Some new NPCs, new ways to interact with your family and a late game storyline where the player will choose the vocation the Dragobete family will follow, whether they wish to focus on animal husbandry, textiles or even fishing!
The Mocanitza - Can't say much about this one yet but I will leave a clue : 🚂
Community requests and features, I can't wait to hear your ideas and see what we can implement!
Localization and Steam Achievements !
Can we expect a lot of bugs and performance issues?
Hopefully you shouldn't even for an Early Access game! A lot of time has been spent to ensure there are no game breaking bugs, there might be a few glitches and placeholders here and there which please do let us know so we can fix asap!
I know Unreal Engine 5 has quite a reputation but I tried really hard to ensure it is as well optimised as possible, however I haven't had a chance to test on lower end computers, so please do let us know how the game runs for you and your specs, the optimisation of the game will be a constant work and I want to ensure the game runs very very well.
If you have any more questions, please do let me know, and feel free to join our discord using the links below as well as following our socials. Please do use the community features for any bugs, performance issues or just general questions, I will follow those closely and look forward to connecting with you all.
I can't wait to meet you all in Bucuria and continue on this journey, I appreciate all your support so far!
- Cal, Game Developer of Arcadian Days