As some players may have realized, I haven’t been as active these past few months. This is mostly due to personal life getting in the way, but I wanted to update everyone. I should be able to go back to regular (albeit part-time) development after the holidays (let’s call it a New Year’s resolution).
Below I’ve detailed my priorities, in the order I plan on resolving. It should be noted that my overall priority at this point is getting the game to a state where I can offer it to other streamers, so it is no longer exclusive to my channel.
- 1 – Finish updating the website. I’ve made several changes to the game which are not currently reflected on the site. I need to fix that ASAP.
- 2 – Fix bugs & balance issues. Some of you have been active on the forums – Thank you! I’m sorry I haven’t been as active as I meant to be. I will be going through your comments and addressing any issues that need resolved. I will also be working a daily forum briefing into my daily schedule
- 3 – Sound Effects. The game has existed for entirely too long with horrible sound design. I’ve been avoiding this because I have very little experience in this area, but I’ve put it off for too long, so I’ll be working to get the sound effects to at least an acceptable level.
- 4 – Progression System. As the game is being developed for other streams, I would like to have some kind of overall progression system for each channel to work through. This is both to help teach new groups of players how to play, and to give a sense of team progress. The progression system will entail unlocking each map, new difficulties, and features such as bounties, high-priests, and trappers. I won’t be adding much new content, if any, during this process, I’m just reorganizing the current content.
- 5 – Localizing the Database. The current database is hosted online. However, for several reasons which I won’t go into, this won’t be sustainable for the standalone version I’ll be offering to other streamers. Instead, the database will be hosted on the streamer’s personal machine. This means I need to rewrite all the database code before I can distribute the game.
- 6 – Alpha Testing. As soon as I’m able, I’ll be picking a few streamers to give an alpha version of the game to, so I can start collecting feedback and bug reports. Please let me know if you’re interested in streaming the game from your channel.
- 7 – Patreon Rewards. My plan is to support the development of the game through Patreon. I will be adding exclusive rewards to players who support the game through Patreon, which will be available regardless of whose channel they’re playing the game on.
- 8 – CONTENT! I can’t wait to get back to creating content for the game. It’s by far the most fun part of the game’s development for me. This is another reason why it’s been hard for me to work on the game recently. What I want to work on, and what the game needs at this point are two very different things. But once I can get this other stuff out of the way, I’ll be back to adding new fun toys for you guys.
Feel free to leave comments below if you feel my priorities aren’t correct. I can’t promise I’ll change my mind, but it would be far from the first time I’ve been persuaded by you guys.
Thanks for continuing to support the game by playing it. I couldn’t make it without you!
Archon