[p]Hello,[/p][p][/p][p]In this update I want to talk about just one thing and that is
1.0 and leaving Early Access.[/p][p]After four years of development it has now finally come to this tough-decisions-moment to figure out what will and what will not be in 1.0.[/p][p][/p][h2]1.0 Public feature wish-list[/h2][p]Before we go into details I have prepared a little form to collect player wishes for 1.0. This is the opportunity for you to ask for specific changes, fixes, new stuff and whatever you like or dislike. There are no hard questions there...it's basically a 'letter to Santa' thing. [/p][p]
If you have some cool ideas, please share them in this little form:[/p][p]
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGLHolmiBk0NM-S3tHH-NXfry2Szyz_H-OYykFwOSj6Lm_Ww/viewform?usp=header[/p][p][/p][h2]What's left to be done[/h2][p]Before getting into any promises (to be regretting later on) let's look at the things which are still planned to be done. Because there's a lot of them...[/p][p]Feature backlog (just the big stuff, many small things are not listed):[/p]
- [p]Final scenario at the end of Tier 4[/p]
- [p]Future era ascension tree (in Tier 4)[/p]
- [p]Late-game rebalance (levels ~160-200)[/p]
- [p]Achievements[/p]
- [p]Other civilizations[/p]
- [p]Endless mode[/p]
- [p]Sounds/Music[/p]
- [p]UI updates (various little things)[/p]
- [p]New Difficulty[/p]
- [p]More Heroes[/p]
- [p]Nemesis eradication scenarios[/p]
- [p]Rare technologies update[/p]
- [p]AFK gameplay update & Optimizations[/p]
- [p]Localization (adding actual support for localization AND doing translations)[/p]
- [p]Non-Win-PC support (deck, mac, linux etc.)[/p]
[p]So you see it's a lot of stuff. Of course I don't plan to do them all in the 1.0 update. Only the
essential stuff will be done next...[/p][p][/p][h2]With what do we leave Early Access?[/h2][p]This is the real question. Where on that list should I draw the line saying - this is enough for leaving early access.[/p][p]My current intention (before collecting your thoughts on the matter in the survey above) is to draw that line somewhere between 4. and 5. while also completing bits and pieces of other parts lower on the list where time allows. This should be a good basis for the initial 'full game experience'. [/p][p]So let me briefly explain what each of these four parts would mean.[/p][p][/p][h2]1. Final Scenario[/h2][p]Not going to spoil anything here, but the goal is obvious - there will be a 'final confrontation' fight of some sort. A boss.[/p][p]Similar to the mechanism of the Babel tower or Space Elevator this scenario will also be a run with special rules and special objective. Overall i hope this will make a appropriate ending to the game's '
story'.[/p][p]Note:
You will be able to continue playing freely afterwards (though there will be no further Tiers in the ascension tree to reveal)[/p][p][/p][h2]2. Tier 4 Future Era[/h2][p]The last 'endless' Future era in 0.12 will be included - you will again be able to build robots and mechs. I plan to make some small update to the future era mechanics to make it more interesting for late-game play and put some proper challenges and guardrails in place (at the moment future era is very messy).[/p][p]But to be fair future era has too much potential to do it all now. So I will leave something to be done with Future era after 1.0 as well...[/p][p][/p][h2]3. Late-game rebalance[/h2][p]This one is also pretty straightforward. But there's a lot of potential impact to existing mechanisms. So far I avoided late-game balancing completely. We have many over-powered builds and some have been quite balance-breaking (e.g. Windmill recharge cheesing). [/p][p]Naturally this will mean some disappointing nerf.
But I am a big fan of all your crazy builds you have shared - so I will do all I can to preserve their obscene beauty.[/p][p]A sub-objective of this work is also separation of distinct combat strategies. As part of this I will be introducing some new Unique heroes to fill gaps and also changing behaviour of some boring Unique heroes.[/p][p]Sad Note:
I will need to add a limitation to equipping only one Unique hero of the same type. While I loved stone overflow crashes using three Ozymandiases, having this multi-equip would naturally enforce nerfing heroes themselves. I decided instead to add this one-per-type limit and in case of 'nice crazy builds' I can always add another 'similar' hero to the set to effectively simulate the 'duplication effect' with more control. [/p][p][/p][h2]4. Achievements[/h2][p]For the moment I want to have a decent coverage of achievements for high-difficulty challenges to make a good use of various 'exotic' builds you can have. This will not be a final set but enough to keep players occupied for a while after finishing the main game.[/p][p]I will add more achievements past 1.0 ... especially after adding fourth difficulty and the 'Endless mode'. I also want to focus more on dystopian stuff past 1.0 which naturally asks for Achievements as well.[/p][p][/p][h2]5. The Other stuff[/h2][p]I will be including a minimum of 6 new Unique Heroes (with a new bundle) to the set (mainly droppable from Tier 2). I also did some rework on some existing hero and wonder abilities to better synergize.[/p][p]In addition I would like to look into Unique Idols (we only have the poor old golden calf fella). But that work will probably be more complex so I expect only a handful of these idols in the first batch.[/p][h3]Other Civilizations[/h3][p]I am also internally working on the 'Other civilizations' stuff. If you remember - a large amount of work has already been done last year. But I decided not to include this build before finishing Tier 3 and 4.[/p][p]The actual reason was that I was not sure which abilities will be best applied to Heroes, Perks, Wonders or Idols (all of which I didn't have fully designed back then) - and therefore which features could be left to Civs. This stuff will not likely get into 1.0 but rather be one of the early things afterwards (so 1.1 maybe). However most of the design decisions have to be done now.[/p][p]
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Civilization of Sunset. One of the first three civilizations coming after 1.0. This civ will be synergized with Blue & Purple hero factions.[/p][p][/p]
When Is 1.0 coming?
[p]As I mentioned in my earlier update, we're expecting a little baby this month (any day now). It seems it is also a covid season so planning my time capacity is quite a lottery. [/p][p]Therefore my only sensible goal for October is to stabilize my workflow, finish some of the more complex tasks for 1.0 and
make a realistic plan by the end of the month.[/p][p]There are in fact two important moments:[/p]
- [p]When the Beta test for 1.0 starts. Optimistic guess = November, Pessimistic guess = December.[/p]
- [p]When the 1.0 actually goes live (ending Early access phase). Optimistic guess = December, Pessimistic guess = January[/p]
[p]Note:
Please bear in mind those are guesses. I do not yet have the full scope decided and I don't have much idea what my time capacity will be in the 7 weeks before December.[/p][p]While Beta start only depends on me - finding enough time to build and test everything - actual LIVE release depends on other 'marketing' factors like time of the year, conflicts with steam sales and other game releases. [/p][p]Also I would like to make the Beta test of 1.0 long enough to manage one or two mid-sized patches (so something like 5 weeks long betatest).[/p][p][/p][h2]What happens after 1.0?[/h2][p]While leaving Early access is a big event, for you as a Player it is not a massive change. The development will continue pretty much as before for at least two major updates (this is about the size of the current backlog as mentioned earlier in this update). [/p][p]With what little I know at this moment my vision for post-1.0 updates is something like this:[/p][h3]Version 1.1[/h3][p]In first update after 1.0 I would add the Endless Mode together with a new Difficulty. This would provide a different kind of late-game experience for players who finished the main scenario and some reason to revisit the game for new achievements and challenge.[/p][p][/p][h3]Version 1.2[/h3][p]In the second update I would probably aim towards Nemesis eradication scenarios and rare technology update. I have some other small features in minds couple with these two features, making this a one big ball of stuff to be worth a major update of its own. [/p][p][/p][p]Both of these updates could carry parts of other major features and various technical upgrades. It is still early to tell. The reason I am sharing this so early is I wanted you to know that development after 1.0 will not stop and there is still plenty of stuff to do before I can call it all a finished game.[/p][p][/p][p]That's all for today, see you next time.[/p][p][/p][p]Ondrej[/p]