Sanctum: Whispers of Qingcheng – the first technical verification test is finally out. But to be honest, we're still at a rather "green" stage. Here’s a rundown of the major issues in the current version:
I. Frame Rate and Stuttering Issues – In pursuit of something more extreme, the current version hasn’t undergone performance adaptation yet!
1. We’re still pushing for more extreme visual quality: what you’re seeing now is far from what we’ll deliver at launch. Lots of new and old models haven’t been swapped in yet; engine material node debugging isn’t done; atmosphere lighting, skeletal plant animations, DaVinci workflow, layered materials, and many other elements are still being filled in.
2. This time we’ve added physics across the entire scene: actions like “Modeling Heaven and Earth” will cause corresponding destruction to the environment; geomancers summoning wind and rain will trigger large-scale environmental and gameplay changes; falling from heights can crush monsters; all trees, houses, and objects in the wild can be affected by physics—for example, a certain formation can make waterfalls flow backward. All of these mechanics come with significant performance costs. Our current plan is the same as with visuals: push the gameplay to the extreme first, then optimize performance.
3. Also, one key goal of this technical test is to collect raw performance data from a wide range of device models, so we can target our optimization efforts effectively. A super, super big thank you to everyone taking part in this test—every stutter you report fuels our drive to improve.
II. Only the Beginner Village Area is Open; Main Story Details Are Still Being Adjusted – We look forward to your feedback. The version you’re experiencing does not represent the final quality. This test has no voice acting, but includes Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Korean, and Japanese text. Current in-game sound effects, visual effects, and models are still awaiting outsourced polish, so everything is still quite rough and far from the final result. We’re working flat-out to fill the gaps and refine everything—please give us a little more time.
III. Numerous Animations Are Still in Progress
We’re pretty “noob” when it comes to cutscene animation—our team has long lacked a professional animation director. Previous games’ animations were cranked out using the engine’s built-in tools, resulting in stiff results and no shortage of criticism… it hurts.
In early April this year, we got access to the SeeDance 2.0 enterprise API and scrapped all the completed animations to redo them. We’ve temporarily placed a few in the current build. They’re still rough, but using the same character and scene models, SeeDance 2.0 has dramatically improved the cinematic feel.
Haha, grateful for the times we live in—they’re giving us a chance to slowly make up for past regrets in animation, especially for longtime fans who enjoy following the story. By launch, we aim for these cutscenes to approach the quality of streaming platform animated shorts.
IV. Many Bugs Present
As a first technical verification test, the current version has quite a few bugs. You may run into all sorts of weird situations while exploring, fighting, or interacting. These are exactly the kinds of issues we urgently need your help spotting. Feel free to drop by our live stream or WeChat group anytime to vent or report issues! Once again, a huge bow of thanks!