As we approach the end of this year, we want to share a status update as well as an overview of what's coming next in the new year.
As has been often stated in the discussion threads, we are actively and fully engaged in the development of the next update, which is not a patch, but a massive content update. We realize we have not been sharing too many details about it, as the team needs to stay focused on development, solely for the purpose of bringing you a top notch qualitative experience and continue working towards that end.
So here is a brief Q&A we put together based on all the questions and feedback we have been receiving through all available avenues of communication.
Q: What exactly is going on right now with the game?
A: We are preparing a major update that will introduce an entire new campaign, with a new character, featuring new gameplay mechanics.
Q: Can you tell us what new features this update will have?
A: On a very high level, the coming update will feature new combat mechanics, new spell casting mechanics, new character abilities, a new storyline, a new environment, and of course new enemies. There are also a lot of smaller features that are being introduced to improve overall user experience, such as subtitles for different languages, new in-game UI mechanics and much much more. In addition, this coming update will also feature a lot more under-the-hood improvements that will be noticeable during playing and are far too many to list in a Q&A session. Rest assured once the update is released, the release notes will feature all this information in great detail.
Q: When can we expect this new content to be released?
A: We cannot share a specific date at this moment, but we can share the fact that we are at an estimated 80-85% completion rate of this coming update. On another note we have been hitting all projected internal milestone deadlines, and as such we are confident we will hit the estimated release date that we have set internally.
Q: Shouldn't you be releasing updates, like every 2 weeks or every month?
A: After having addressed a massive number of critical issues in a rather short amount of time after the initial launch (see past Patch notes and updates) we turned all our attention to both developing new content and updating the core mechanics. Our priority is the development of a quality product. Qualitative game development takes time, resources and energy. Since we are not just preparing a patch, but rather a massive update which introduces a considerable amount of content and extended playtime, this coming update requires a significantly larger amount of time than previously released patches. There is also a lot more testing that needs to take place with such an update, so that, on its own requires a good amount of time as well.
Q: Are there any improvements being made on the current content?
A: We have taken the entire game, stripped it apart and we are rebuilding an approximate 95% of all its core mechanics. A lot of things are being entirely remade, including combat (both melee and spellcasting), interaction as well as many other things. We also plan to redesign the levels for the existing campaign, but this will occur after this coming update.
Q: You have not been posting screenshots or videos for a while. I am dying to see what you guys are working on!!
A: The stage of the development cycle we are currently in right now is one during which the development team needs to focus its energy and resources on the game. Bear with us a little while longer, soon we will be sharing screenshots, videos and content on a regular basis so you can see what the new content is all about before playing it.
Q: I have been burnt by Kickstarter and Early Access products too often. How do I know you are not one such project?
A: We are actively engaged in development, and in the four month period since the game's initial Early Access release we have a detailed patch history available, while we are constantly engaged in discussion with our community, and we keep responding every question, welcome and note every and any kind of feedback we receive, through any avenue of communication available. As you can see from available articles and media from the 2016 and 2017 periods, we have been working far too hard and we value our IP far too much to give it a bad reputation through "abandonware" .
As for the new year, we plan to hit the ground running. First priority is to release the coming update, then revisit the level design and gameplay specifically related to the existing campaign (Lavordian), after which we will focus on new content and introduction of more mechanics we have been wanting to bring for a while.
We want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who have been supporting us throughout development.
We wish you all a Happy Holiday Season, and a happy, healthy and fun new year!
Last but not least, here is a small teaser of the upcoming content: