Letter from the developers: Beta and Early Access
Hello,
This is a letter from the developers of Eternal Return.
In order to resolve all of the issues we had during this CBT, we are pushing back the Early Access release once more to October 7th. We will, however, still open the game as an Open Beta starting July 29th which will last 8 weeks.
Foremost, we would like to apologize deeply for the continuous delays in schedule.
Think of the Open Beta as very similar to Early Access - the only real difference is that the servers will stay open during limited hours.
Here are the main update goals of this Open Beta:
Updating the game every week during the CBT has caused the quality of the game to decrease greatly. We do not include our long-term development goals in the patch notes, and we have created an internal system with versions 0.13, 0.14,...,0.20 etc. Several versions are being worked on at the same time, and combining this with weekly updates has doubled the number of versions, making it rather difficult to balance data between each of them and adjust as we go. Our QA period has also rapidly decreased, allowing for more problems to arise.
We have decided to have updates every 2 weeks during the Open Beta. The above improvement goals will be divided into patches and phased out. However, please understand that there may still be some inevitable delays in the development process.
[h3][/h3]
July 29th (Wed) 0.13
August 12th (Wed) 0.14
August 26th (Wed) 0.15
September 9th (Wed) 0.16
[h2]Early Access[/h2]
There are a lot of basic features that we still need in order to go into Early Access, like a purchase system and admin tools. This is the main reason for the delay in schedule, as focusing on the purchase system and admin tools would mean to give up on almost all the other improvements that we want to make for you.
These two systems will be featured in the delayed Early Access version of October 7th, along with Ranked Mode. Steam related features such as trading cards will also be included.
We will continue to work hard to improve the game based on the feedback received from players during the CBT and the Open Beta.
Once again, we apologize deeply for the schedule change, and ask that you share any and all suggestions you have with us for Open Beta or Early Access on our Discord server.
Thank you.
This is a letter from the developers of Eternal Return.
In order to resolve all of the issues we had during this CBT, we are pushing back the Early Access release once more to October 7th. We will, however, still open the game as an Open Beta starting July 29th which will last 8 weeks.
Foremost, we would like to apologize deeply for the continuous delays in schedule.
About the Open Beta Test
Think of the Open Beta as very similar to Early Access - the only real difference is that the servers will stay open during limited hours.
- Duration: July 29th to September 23rd (8 weeks)
- KR server (Seoul): everyday for 5 hours from 2 AM to 7 AM PST (5 AM to 10 AM EST)
- NA server (Ohio): everyday for 4 hours from 5 PM to 9 PM PST (9 PM to 12 AM EST)
- Server opening times and server regions are subject to change throughout the Open Beta.
- No keys needed for this Open Beta, everyone will be able to join through the Store page.
- Data for in-game currency, characters, account levels, etc. will NOT be erased after the Open Beta and will carry over to Early Access.
- Those who have purchased our Founder pack will receive it at the start of the Open Beta and will soon receive an email on how to receive it
- Similarly to previous tests, there will be a free rotation of characters during the Open Beta, allowing you to play them temporarily, even if you haven't bought them. The number of characters in the game will keep increasing as we enter Early Access, which means that there will be more and more characters to unlock with in-game currency (A-Coin).
Patch Notes, schedule, and other important information
Here are the main update goals of this Open Beta:
- Reorganizing the basic structure of projectiles and collision of skillshots. Although each character's individual skills still need many improvements, improving the basic structure of the physics engine is the most important, including the size and speed of the impacting particles, the height of the camera, and the range of the hitbox. The top priority is to improve the sense of manipulation of skills even more.
- Including Hyejin, there will be 3~4 new characters released during the Open Beta. Characters are the most important content for Eternal Return, as each character brings new strategies and tactics. Our goal is to have a new character launch cycle of less than four weeks.
- Improving the Duo and Squad modes. We will reorganize the currently...deficient MMR system, including a rating system specific to duo and squad modes, as well as adding a spot for assists. We will also add a feature to move your camera to other team members when downed, along with team indicators, like showing the direction, distance, and status of your team members. Also emoticons.
- The starting game system will be completely replaced. Abandoning the existing method of selecting your character first and then finding a game, we will replace it by finding a match first, and then allowing team members to discuss and select characters. We will also change the current 'loading screen' phase so that all participants can gather in one place in the Research Center. Functions such as a lobby chat for team members, banning duplicate characters, and viewing the saved plans of team members will also be added.
- The saved plans system will be reorganized on a large scale. Five Saved Plans slots will be provided for each weapon, and you will be able to share your Saved Plans to the game and save/use saved plans from other players. Saved Plans posted on the game will show the player's nickname and popularity of the plan.
- Improving the problems with the tutorial. We'll be allowing you to skip the dialogue and greatly improve the guides about boxes and saved plans. The bots in the AI mode now won't die in restricted areas and their position will be indicated so that the matches are even more interesting and fun to play.
- Adding Duo and Squad modes to Custom Games, along with other improvements.
Updating the game every week during the CBT has caused the quality of the game to decrease greatly. We do not include our long-term development goals in the patch notes, and we have created an internal system with versions 0.13, 0.14,...,0.20 etc. Several versions are being worked on at the same time, and combining this with weekly updates has doubled the number of versions, making it rather difficult to balance data between each of them and adjust as we go. Our QA period has also rapidly decreased, allowing for more problems to arise.
We have decided to have updates every 2 weeks during the Open Beta. The above improvement goals will be divided into patches and phased out. However, please understand that there may still be some inevitable delays in the development process.
[h3][/h3]
July 29th (Wed) 0.13
August 12th (Wed) 0.14
August 26th (Wed) 0.15
September 9th (Wed) 0.16
[h2]Early Access[/h2]
There are a lot of basic features that we still need in order to go into Early Access, like a purchase system and admin tools. This is the main reason for the delay in schedule, as focusing on the purchase system and admin tools would mean to give up on almost all the other improvements that we want to make for you.
These two systems will be featured in the delayed Early Access version of October 7th, along with Ranked Mode. Steam related features such as trading cards will also be included.
We will continue to work hard to improve the game based on the feedback received from players during the CBT and the Open Beta.
Once again, we apologize deeply for the schedule change, and ask that you share any and all suggestions you have with us for Open Beta or Early Access on our Discord server.
Thank you.