Slormite Chronicles #50
Hello everyone!
Here it is: the first (real) Slormite Chronicles since the full release of the game. And it’s also the fiftieth! Not bad! I’m definitely sweating a lot less than I was for Slormite Chronicles #49 which I wrote just a week before release. Feels like that was six months ago though.
For all the players who joined us with the official 1.0 release: we publish a devlog we call the Slormite Chronicles on the 6th of every month, which is the anniversary of the game’s Early Access launch.
In today’s Chronicle: a quick look back at the release, some of the current issues we’re facing, and what’s next for The Slormancer.
[h2]The 1.0 Release[/h2]
We posted a Special Slormite Chronicles a week after the launch, which included sales figures and some of the feedback we received.
As mentioned in that Chronicle, we sold just over 75,000 copies during the first week, bringing the total to 250,00, and we should hit 300,000 sales by the end of the first month (on the 13th), which is absolutely incredible for us.
We've also reached 10,989 concurrent players and nearly 2,000 Steam Reviews that month alone.
Once again, a massive thank you to everyone who gave the game a shot this month whether you loved it or bounced off, we appreciate every single one of you.
I’ll quote myself from the previous Slormite Chronicles because it still rings true:
We’re also reading tons of feedback everywhere, Reddit threads, Twitch chat, Steam discussions, and we’ve been feeling a lot of love lately.
The Slormancer was made with passion, but let’s be honest, it’s a bit clumsy in places, so we totally understand the negative reviews and that it might not click for everyone.
That said, we’re really happy to see that some of the core ideas we’ve had since the beginning, like instant build swapping and deterministic crafting, are being recognized and appreciated. That means a lot to us.
[h2]Bugs and Quality of Life Additions[/h2]
Speaking of feedback, we’re still receiving bug reports on a regular basis, some are more troubling than others (like textures or UI elements randomly disappearing, for example).
Now that we’re a bit past the launch, I’ve resumed development and started focusing on fixing bugs and implementing the most requested quality-of-life features.
Updating a game post-Early Access is a bit different. Back then, I occasionally broke things while trying to fix others. So from now on, I’ll always push updates to the Steam Experimental branch first (at least for a few days) to ensure stability before rolling them out to the default branch.
Version 1.0.1 of The Slormancer, which includes a first wave of bug fixes and a handful of QoL additions, is currently on the Experimental branch and should be pushed to the default branch early next week.
This version brings improvements to the Blacksmith menu and the Reinforcement menu to make those operations smoother, along with updates to help better manage your inventory, among other things:
The Patch Notes are available here!
Working on “small” improvements without a strict schedule, and just going with the flow, has been a very enjoyable way to ease back into development after such a long Early Access period full of roadmaps and pressure to hit 1.0. Which brings me to the next point.
[h2]The Future of The Slormancer[/h2]
Over the past four years in Early Access, we’ve been jumping from one update to the next without ever really taking a breather. Every update came out later than we planned, and we were always trying to catch up.
At the same time, comments from players pointing out how long we’d been in Early Access (2, 3, then 4 years) has put us under constant pressure to finish the game.
Now, we just want to take a moment to enjoy the ride and feel like we’ve actually crossed the finish line.
That doesn’t mean we’re done with The Slormancer, far from it. As I mentioned earlier, taking time to work on fun little features that make everyone happy is a luxury I couldn’t really afford during Early Access, where the “big feature” of the moment always took priority.
What we really want now is to continue without a rigid roadmap. We have a list of features we’d like to add, many of which players have asked for, but we don’t want to set deadlines or make any promises.
What we can promise, however, is that the game will keep growing.
In the short term, I’d like to keep working on QoL updates, then shift focus to a more complete skin system, starting with alternate color palettes for each class’s outfits, and laying the groundwork for even more skins down the line. Reworking the Netherworld and its equipment “economy” is also on our minds.
I won’t say more, because honestly, I don’t know what we’ll be tackling after that.
Let’s call it agile development!
In the meantime, we’ve also started working on console ports. I’m collaborating with a porting team, and all changes aimed at improving clarity and performance will also be available in the PC version. This should also help us get the “Verified” badge for the Steam Deck.
So for now, no big new feature to announce, just a lot of polishing to do, bugs to fix, and preparation for the future.
That's about it for now!
Cheers! And happy Slorm hunting!
