After 8 months of Early Access, I’ve learned a lot. And after recently taking a break, I’d like to regroup and establish what’s happening next and how it’s getting there.
Skyfear has always been envisioned as a game that you can pick up 15+ years from now, and it can still deliver, no matter how many players are online. It’s got a backbone that can stand on its own completely locally, but has additionally the ability to host online sessions. This fundemental approach is why I say that Skyfear isn’t going away any time soon. Think like Portal 2. That’s the idea.
Right, so what’s in store?
The primary goal is to bring Skyfear out of Early Access in 2026, and to a state of completion. Maintenance, development, content, and community things will still continue, but when I talk about completion, I’m talking about a stable codebase and design that doesn’t need much further change. The plus side of this is the potential for expansion in how and where the game is played – competitions, events, cafes, handheld, custom content, etc., all of which I am very much open to exploring. An official “1.0” launch would bring the game a decent visibility boost.
The major things I want to take care of leading up to launch are:
- Fixing the dragon animation. I know, I know, it’s rough. I’ve got a plan to re-do the rig and re-do the animation better, and give the character model some improvement as well.
- In-game community resources. I’ve noticed Skyfear’s audience is fragmented between platforms, locations, and times, and centralizing information on the Skyfear website isn’t exactly a solution for all. So things like roadmaps, blog posts, etc. will need to have a home in the game itself somewhere. I want to design this considerately though, and avoid this ːsteamfacepalmː
- Content. 7 maps is not enough, is it? I’ve got about ~12 more in development, but in Early Access content vs features is a difficult thing to balance. I’ve been considering putting some kind of voting system in place, which would coincide with the community resources mentioned above. Please leave a comment somewhere if you have any opinion on this!
Read the full current roadmap here.
Nearest Update
Here's what's coming in the next nearest update, probably dropping in December:
- Sandbox mode lets you play without any combat rules and you can spawn in items from the Skyfear world for any purpose. This is very experimental and could end up going in a few different directions.
- Free-look is replacing the shoulder cam with the ability to move the camera around. It will let you see more of what’s going on during a battle.
- 8 player battles. All game modes will be moving from 3v3/6 players to 4v4/8players. This has been tested extensively and a lot of conclusions were that it paces better than 6. Feedback on this is welcome.
- Further stability & fixes.
Seasonal Hangouts!
We will host a Skyfear Online Hangout 4 times per year, during each of Steam’s seasonal sales events, and in order to give everyone time, the events will last for at least 2 days straight. The first will be on December 20 and 21 of 2025 – while the game is on sale. What will this event consist of? It’s mostly just a dedicated chosen time for everyone to be online together and play some battles and discuss gaming. But here are some things we will test out this time:
- Live streams?
- Behind the scenes / sneak peaks
- Free keys giveaways
- Competitive sessions if that’s something of interest
- Show and tell (Avatars, Artwork, etc.)
- I will be online and playing the whole weekend
Since this is the first event in a new format, it will be test-like. Expect succeeding events to improve!
A peak at works in progress
(Varying degrees of progress, some rough, some further along)
The future of Protoria Studios
I want to make a few comments about our studio and then leave ya alone to enjoy your games :)
Protoria Studios is a very small team, like tiny. We are doing fine, and the plan is to keep things going. New projects have been started and I’m very excited about them (don’t worry, Skyfear is still my #1). Going forward, we’ll release not just games, but software too. And in this world increasingly filled with services and subscriptions, all hosted online, I would very much like to anchor Protoria Studios as a development house building locally powered things. Things that run on your device, and things that leave your personal data and your precious time and energy alone. We are in the business of making computers fun to use. Oh, and we will be fully embracing the Steam hardware family as we expand support to more ecosystems than Windows.
Thank you for reading,
telekrex, lead developer.