JUMP KING QUEST News

[p]Today marks the one year anniversary of Jump King Quest! In this post we would like to share our plans and development progress, how we will be going about localization/translation, as well as announce a pricing decrease for the game and our reasons for it![/p][h2]Launch getting closer![/h2][p]We can happily announce that the 1.0 launch “Phantom” will be in May! Look out for a specific date as we get into April![/p][p][/p][h2]Pricing[/h2][p]As we’ve discussed in previous posts; though the game has a substantial amount of content, the scope is smaller than we originally anticipated. That’s why we removed the part in the Early Access FAQ which said the price may increase in the future. After analyzing how things are actually turning out, we have determined that an even lower base price would be more suited for Jump King Quest.[/p][p]Jump King Quest’s base price will be lowered from $24.99 to $14.99 in around one week’s time! When we lower the price there will also be a 20% Sale.[/p][p]This is a significant cut in price, so we hope for your understanding and support, especially from all who have bought the game at the higher price point - we strongly believe this change can help the game grow.[/p][p]The main reason for the price decrease is that we want to lower the barrier of entry: If the price is lower, it should be easier to take a chance on it. We believe this is needed, seeing as the game is both challenging and fairly unique in design. The hope is also that this will make it easier for friend groups to test it out together![/p][p]As a special thanks to all players who put their faith in the game up to this point, we have some in-game equipment in the works: If you purchase the game before we lower the base price, you will receive these items when the 1.0 update releases! We will show them soon…[/p][p]Note: These special items will also be available as part of a “deluxe edition”/DLC for those who didn’t buy the game earlier, but still want some cool stuff to wear or give Nexile extra support![/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Translations[/h2][p]For the 1.0 launch, we will have the game translated to Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese! Our original plan was to include more languages at launch, but our limited budget forces us to take it step by step.[/p][p]Our order of priority is, among other factors, based on where Jump King Quest (and the original game) is popular, and the knowledge of English in the language regions.[/p][p]After the first three Asian languages our priority is; Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Russian, followed by, French, Spanish, Italian and German. We hope for your patience in this matter, if you are still waiting for your own language![/p][p][/p][h2]Development Status[/h2][p]Though the goal of finishing production by the end of 2025 turned out a bit too optimistic (we are in a constant struggle with the urge to add cool new stuff), we are now in the final stretch of production! We see the light at the end of the tunnel! (for real)[/p][p][/p][carousel][/carousel][p]To avoid confusion, we'd like to clarify that the new level-content added at 1.0 launch is not a full “Act" as we defined them at the start of early access. Instead it is a new exploration area beyond the Famished Fortress, and a large dungeon with three major new bosses. We have also put a lot of effort into polish and new things to discover throughout the game as a whole, rather than just at the ending.[/p][p][/p][p]Here are a few of the things we have finished since our last post:[/p]

• [p]Intro and Ending cutscenes.[/p]
• [p]Environment art for the new ending segment.[/p]
• [p]Icons for all (old and new) achievements.[/p]
• [p]The Smoking Hot Babe![/p]
• [p]Completed and polished the existing writing (descriptions, dialogues etc).[/p]
• [p]A system for dueling other players.[/p]
• [p]A way to create a custom starting gear set for a new game.[/p]
• [p]A way for us to make enemies react to specific equipment or dialogue flags.[/p]
• [p]Removed some rubble that blocked a door[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p]Here is some stuff we still need to finish:[/p]

• [p]The final dungeon has been reworked mechanically to be more interesting, and needs visual re-adjustment.[/p]
• [p]Audio and music for the new content needs to be finished.[/p]
• [p]The UI is getting a final pass of polish and adjustments.[/p]
• [p]Some models and VFX for the new weapons and enemies.[/p]
• [p]Dialogues in the ending segment of the game.[/p]
• [p]Translations (Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean).[/p]

[p][/p][p]Make sure you wishlist the game to get notified when the price-cut sale happens![/p][p]Ahead of launch we will be arranging play-tests! Keep an eye out here, follow us on X/twitter and join the discord for updates![/p][p]We are especially looking for players who know Japanese, Korean or Chinese to help with testing the translations, please send a message to @nexilegames on twitter, or @trapezius on discord if you are interested![/p][p]/Team Nexile[/p][p][/p]

As mentioned in our previous minor update we have been looking into the performance and memory problems that have been affecting the gameplay experience! We can happily report that with today’s update a major improvement has been made in this area.

Based on our internal and small-scale closed testing (thanks Tyt00s!), we have now eliminated the most intense lag-spikes, areas which were previously near unplayable on some machines are now a lot smoother, and the performance is more consistent over longer sessions thanks to these fixes.

[h3]Fixes:[/h3]
- Fixed a bug in the animation-batching system which caused memory buildups, leading to CPU-spikes when new enemies spawned.

Due to leftover data it became slower and slower to spawn enemies over time, but this has now been fixed to flush properly!

- Fixed a bug relating to how we deal with particle systems which caused old effects to remain in the scene/memory even though they were “finished”.

This affected the GPU performance, and consequently the CPU needed to wait longer each frame as this data built up over time. The system has been rewritten so that old particle systems are removed correctly!

Please let us know here on steam or on our discord if you notice the improvement when you play, or if you are still experiencing issues.

/Team Nexile

- Updated Unity version due to a security issue on older versions of the engine.
Unity recently notified developers about a potential security issue with all older versions of their engine, so we have updated the version we build the game on to a patched release from Unity where this issue is fixed. For more details, read the post from Unity: https://unity.com/security/sept-2025-01

- Frame drops that occurred when entering a new area and unloading the previous one have been fixed.
The unloading of assets now properly occurs during the load-screen instead of afterward.

- Memory management improvements; some objects which were not properly unloaded are now correctly released from memory.
In our experience, even after these fixes, some frame drops/lag can still start to occur after moving through multiple areas during extended sessions of play. We are looking to improve this further in the future, but in the meantime a workaround is to return to main menu and continue from there once you encounter lag-spikes/freezes.

[p]It has been a while since we posted our roadmap, as well as since the last patch, so we think an update on the progress of development is in order![/p][p]A bunch of new features and content is cooking at Nexile HQ, we are happy to let you know that we will deliver on the “guaranteed” points in our last post, and also a bunch more bonus stuff![/p][h2]So what are we up to?[/h2][p]Below is what we have been working on so far, note that this is all unreleased work-in-progress material which is going to be part of the 1.0 "Phantom" update - so all of it is subject to change![/p]

• [p]We have implemented the quick-item system, “Pocket”, which can be used to use items and change equipment without opening the inventory.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Emotes have been added and are in the polish phase (Emotes can also be used with the Pocket system).[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Multiple improvements and bugfixes for the UI have been implemented. Our aim with these and further changes is to make the UI more consistent and easier to understand.[/p]
• [p]We now have unique icons for items (weapons and equipment) in the inventory.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Star Smithing system is in place, currently in the polish phase (Upgrade Weapon Quality, Change Weapon’s Starred Scaling Stat).[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Descriptions for items have seen iteration, completion and corrections.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Parts of the dialogue and quests are receiving polish and completion.[/p]
• [p]Technical localisation support is implemented (dialogue to be completed before translation of the text).[/p]
• [p]Three new (Major) bosses are in the testing/polish phase.[/p]
• [p]Two new levels are ready for Environment Art phase.[/p]
• [p]Work on intro and ending cutscenes is in progress.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Ranged weapons that consume ammunition are in production/testing.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]Note: “Magic” (as a separate system) has been cut, another special ranged weapon type is being worked on instead.[/p]
• [p]Shield Surfing has been greatly improved. (with kickflips)[/p][p][/p]
• [p]We are working on the "Curse" system: extra challenge modifiers that can be unlocked by completing the game.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]End stats (time, kills etc) have been implemented.[/p][p][/p]
• [p]The Smoking Hot Babe is being created(!).[/p]

[h2]So when will it release?[/h2][p]We know you have been looking forward to seeing the Phantom update soon, however due to the necessary scaling down of the team mentioned in our roadmap post our pace is slower than before. Thankfully our economic situation has stabilized for the moment, but we are currently only four people in production at Nexile; Trapezius, Erkstock, TUK and Vidar - meaning we now all have more tasks and roles to fill. [/p][p]What this means is that to accomplish what we need to bring Jump King Quest out of early access we have to postpone the 1.0 “Phantom” update slightly. The current plan is to have production complete within the span of 2025, and prepare for release in early 2026.[/p][p][/p][p]We can’t wait to let you test all this stuff out, so we hope for your patience and excitement for what is to come![/p][p]/Team Nexile[/p][p]Note: We will likely arrange some sort of play-test ahead of public release - follow us on X/twitter and join the discord to get more info on that later![/p]

Greetings! We want to share our plans for Jump King Quest, and let you in on the current state of development!

Since Early Access launch in February we have continuously updated and improved the game, both on deeper technical levels and with new content, features and balancing! The reception has been great, especially after the Redcrown Update. However, we have noticed many players have held off on playing (even when they like it) - choosing to wait until Early Access is over. This is perfectly understandable for this kind of game (we believe it's just a poor match with the EA model), but since current sales do not sustain the studio the crew has shrunk and the time we have at our disposal is shorter. We have therefore formulated a new plan to bring the game out of Early Access sooner, saving the greater expansions for a more prosperous future! We still have faith in the quality and uniqueness of the game, so we hope the 1.0 release and the stuff we are working on can lift it to greater heights.



We are working on an ending-segment of the game, (codename: Phantom) with the goal of making a worthy finale to the base-game experience before we continue on any future “Acts”.


This is our roadmap for the foreseeable future, though it is not very long or detailed, we hope you are excited for the stuff to come!

[h2]What is “codename Phantom”?
[/h2]
Phantom is the 1.0 update for Jump King Quest, which will take it out of Early Access. Our aim is to release it this fall (2025).

This update will bring new content, features and weapons. We have a lot of stuff in the pipeline, but not everything is guaranteed to make it in.

This is guaranteed:

• 3 new Bosses
  
• New Areas, including a Tower…!?
  
• An ending that completes “Act 1”
  
• Story and lore additions
  
• Localization support and translation to Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (BR), Russian and Chinese.
  

We still hope to be able to include the following points in some form, but they can't be guaranteed (listed in order of priority):

1. Star-Smithing (upgrading the star-rating of weapons)
   
2. Quick-Item-Menu (switching between or using “favourite” items with a new interface)
   
3. Emotes
   
4. Ranged weapons (Such as a Bow)
   
5. Magic weapons (Such as a Wand)
   

This order is based on a combination of our own reasoning and what we have seen you talk most about missing in the game, but let us know if you would like to see a different order, or find that something obvious is missing from the list!

[h2]Our Reasoning for this new Plan:[/h2]

We want to exit Early Access as soon as we can, to make it clear that waiting for potential future content expansions is not needed to get a true experience and complete challenge! The game currently provides ~30-40 hours of gameplay for a first playthrough, so we want to tie it together with a real ending before any further “major” expansions.

If the game’s success grows when we exit Early Access we should be able to continue development and expand the game with more Acts as previously planned. But at this point we can not be certain of that future, since our crew is now smaller, and the amount of content needed for a full new Act is unrealistic to produce for the ones who remain.

Our idea for the future Acts of Jump King Quest are similar to the different Maps/Babes in the original Jump King, closer to being sequels than mere “DLC”. So clearing “Act 1” can be likened to completing the Main Babe in the original! For the event that we are not able to complete another Act, our conscience will be cleaner by wrapping up Act 1 in a satisfying way, so - unless we have fortune on our side and can grow back to size - it can be left as a complete whole.

Do you think anything is missing from the game or our plans, to make it feel complete? What do you think about the current state of the game? Please let us know, and we'll also try to answer questions whenever we can.

(The Early Access Q&A on the Store Page will soon be updated to reflect the changed plans.)

We hope you are looking forward to a Smoking Hot resolution in the 1.0 "Phantom" Update!