Greetings Lightbringers! Last week we inaugurated our dev blog discussing the current state of Empire of Ember – in a nutshell, what you can find in the game as it is right now. Today we want to look into the near future of the game: the features we are working on, and which we expect to implement soon.
The most important thing on the list is something that will have a deep impact on the core gameplay of the game: a total overhaul of the melee combat. One of the most repeated points of feedback the community has raised so far is that combat doesn’t feel satisfying enough yet. We’re working on improving the hitboxes, new animations and many other things, both on the gameplay and technical side of things, to make combat much more engaging – and brutal!
This is a big deal, though, because it doesn’t just involve programming: it also means creating new animations for the player and lots of small tweaks to balance things. That’s why we’ll go into more detail about the new combat system in a future dev blog – there will be much to discuss, and your feedback will be essential to fine-tune the combat of the game.
We’re also implementing city tournaments very soon to test your combat skills against other mighty warriors and wizards of the realm. In these tournaments, you will be able to fight both with arcane and mundane means: magic, bow and sword at your disposal to show your combat prowess to the entire world.
Another key feature that will be implemented soon is… marriage! Lightbringers aren’t strangers to love, and as a lord or lady your subjects expect you to marry. Marrying gives you a bonus to recruit troops; we can’t go into too much detail without spoiling how this will be presented in the game, though – just be aware that you won’t have to be a bachelor Lightbringer forever!
We’re also working to implement full modding support as soon as possible. We have enormous respect for the modding scene; their talent, passion and drive never cease to amaze us, and some of my favorite games ever wouldn’t be what they are without mods. That’s why we want to make Empire of Ember as modding-friendly as possible. Again, we’ll discuss this in-depth in a future dev blog.
On top of all these features, there are lots of (comparatively) small things in the works: performance and graphical improvements, improving unit sounds… and what will be the focus of next week’s dev blog: enhancing the quality of the writing of the game, with more events and flavor texts in your city.
As you’ll see, Empire of Ember is evolving quickly, and we need your feedback to shape things up, define our priorities and balance every gameplay decision. We invite you to join our community on Discord, on our social media channels (Twitter, Facebook and Reddit) or here in the Steam forums. And if you want to help us, please wishlist and follow the game, and let your friends know about it! As we mentioned, next week’s dev blog will introduce the world of Empire of Ember, explain more details about its setting and discuss what we’re doing to improve the narrative side of the game. Until then, stay safe, and have a great week!