So we have pretty much covered everything that is currently in the game through this article series. At least enough for our followers and those just finding us to get a feel for what the game can offer them at this time in development. But what we have planned for the future is at least as important as what we have already achieved.
We’ve updated our website this past week, and along with it we’ve added a new roadmap of what the team wants to achieve before we consider development complete. While it is still a rudimentary list, it does clearly show what we want for ToA: Exile. This list is by no means definitive; more may be added to it over time. But it does include all of our must-haves. Once we have all the details worked out for each new addition we will expand on the smaller steps to achieve our goals.
The first section covers characters. We still have three more growth stages to add for the dragons, and the female model for the humans is needed too. Both of those have HUGE resource requirements, so our art team will be kept busy on them for a very long time. We also want to add so much more to customization for the characters. Hairstyles, scale colors, chitin patterns, the list goes on and on. We want everyone to have a good chance of making a character that looks different than the others of its race.
Right now all of the characters will spawn at random locations on the beach, but we want to change that so only humans will spawn on the beach. The raknar will then spawn in the caves and the dragons up in the safety of the mountains. This fits nicely into the background story of each race, with the humans washed up on shore, the dragons hatching in the peaks, and the raknar finding their way up from the depths.
Speaking of caves, we want to expand on our underground world. Currently needlefangs will spawn in the caves, but we want a full ecosystem to exist below. This means adding flora and more fauna to the area, and then give reasons for the surface races to seek them out.
We also want to beef up combat a bit more. It has always been our goal to have siege warfare in the game so that humans could destroy each other’s structures, and so that the older dragons could also erase humans from their islands. This will require several models and animations, in addition to the supporting mechanics that will need to be programmed into the game. Being made of wood, rustic buildings will take less effort to destroy than the Norhaven.
Structures are a big part of human play, so we want to continue to expand on the foundation we have for them. We want to make it so that players can add-on existing structures. We also want to add a third, castle-like style that is even stronger than the Norhaven style. Stone walls as a more sturdy alternative to the wooden palisades is also a possibility.
Humans will receive a little more love in the form of new skills, such as farming, trapping, fishing and so on. They will also receive new crafting recipes to go along with the new skills. The new items, models, icons, and data entry to go along with this will take some time, as will the mechanics to allow for these actions.
Magic is something we have been contemplating for a very long time for ToA: Exile. We did have the basics for magic in the very earliest of our testing, but the system we developed was overly grindy and did not work for the game. So we went back to the drawing board and came up with a system that we felt better fit our game and the goals we had for magic. However, the scale of it is immense and we felt that we did not have the resources to do it justice before we went Early Access. We are excited to start working on getting magic back into the game, so that dedicated human players can attempt to challenge the stronger stages of dragon growth.
In addition to the final growth stages, dragons will be getting more love in the future as well. We want to expand on their nests so that dragons can utilize them for more than just their molting and storage. We are still working out the details, but we want to give them nest customization options, and figure out a way to empower the dragons to protect their nests from damage. Hoard mechanics are a possibility as well, but we will have to find what makes sense for ToA: Exile.
We also want to expand on draconic abilities. Dragon fans can look forward to both claw attack and tail swipe abilities added to their list alongside their bite, wings and so on, so that they will improve with use over time.
Not to be left out, the raknar will get an improvement to their web weaving and we will introduce hive mechanics to the game. Hives are built by a group of raknar, and any eggs they place within the hive will hatch out as NPC spiderlings. They will eventually grow into specialized roles, such as guard or egg tender, and there will be benefits to participating in a hive versus playing alone. We aren’t exactly sure what those benefits will be, but we will let you all know as soon as we do!
We also want to expand on the options for server hosts. We will add several new settings for fauna danger, racial life counters, and the option to have an interracial chat to allow the three races to communicate with one another. We also want to add additional islands for the temperate biome, and then add an entirely new biome to the game! This is a big undertaking, because it not only means a new island, but also new flora and fauna to populate it!
Once again, this list is not definitive. There is much more we would like to add, but for now we will work towards completing this roadmap just as we did our last one, and will will share every step with you along the way. You can count on it! So be sure to follow us on social media or join our discord to get the latest information on our development.
A special thanks to our team members, our testers, and our fans. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without your efforts and support! Please share your thoughts or the story on how you found us in the comments below.