Hey there, Rangers!
We’ve got our fingers in a lot of pies here at Spiritwalk this week, so buckle in for a whirlwind storm of short topics from around the Studio!
Mac Version Work
Work has been progressing nicely on the Mac Version of Shardbound, which has been pulled forward in development thanks to our stalwart Kickstarter backers. We’re hopeful that we should have it up and running soon, and need your help:
If you’re able and willing to help us with initial testing of the Mac version, please reach out to us at [email protected]!
Player 2 Balance Experiments
Running our “Player 2 Starts with 2 Mana” experiment a few weeks ago proved very helpful in giving us the data required to narrow in on a design for systemically improving Player 2’s Win Rate. We’re in the final internal testing stages for this change and are currently planning to release it for wider testing next week. We hope to give you guys a glimpse on our Weekly Dev Stream at 4PDT on Thursday.
Priming the Art Pump
If you’ve been following Shardbound for a while, you’re familiar with our current cadence of (generally) releasing full art for one new character in each patch. That cadence is in the midst of being jostled from time-to-time as we undergo some long term planning exercises for art production. On the other end of this planning, you should expect the volume of art going into the game to increase dramatically. We’ll keep you posted on what to expect!
Reconnect Improvements
We know how important stability is for competitive games when your Rank is on the line. In the event of a crash or internet connection disruption, though, we like to ensure our Reconnect feature is there for you. We’ve done work to improve the ability to Reconnect to an in-progress match from the overworld - the game should do a much better job of getting into exactly the same state you were in when your match was interrupted. We’ve also drastically improved the game’s automatic process of attempting to reconnect you within the match in the event of a connection issue. Expect these changes in the Tuesday patch!
And More...
- We’ve heard the feedback that our Ranked Play badge icons aren’t quite different from one another, so we’re doing work to improve their visual clarity.
- Design work continues on Cooperative House Play.
- Expect a Poisonous Ally to receive the full art treatment next week!
Have a good week, and we’ll see you in Shardbound!
- Your Friends at Spiritwalk