Development plan for Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge

[h2]Hello, Blacksmiths![/h2]

It’s been some time since we released the demo version of Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge, and we wanted to share some of our thoughts with you.

Let us start with a HUGE THANK YOU! Your engagement, tons of feedback provided, and kind words about the game have all been truly appreciated and helpful. We’re especially happy that you find the game's theme appealing, and see a lot of potential for the future. That motivates us to deliver the best (and most fun) smithing experience on Steam! ⚒️

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Now for the highlight of this post: we’d like to share our plans for the development process of Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge! Without further introductions, take a look:

[h2]Updated demo coming later this year[/h2]

Many of you enjoyed the first glimpse of Blacksmith: Ignite the Forge, and we’ll be releasing an updated version of the demo later this year. You can expect various new features (mostly quality-of-life-related), including the save system many of you mentioned.

[h2]First major update: combat overhaul[/h2]

We agree with your opinions: combat needs a revamp to be more interactive and fun. We’re working on making fights more dynamic, rewarding, and lively, to improve the general experience. Overhauling this system is our main focus now, and we hope you’ll like the changes.



Additionally, reworked combat means new enemies, and that includes bosses! We’re preparing grand challenges for you, and this guy will be one of them:



Other than combat, there’s tons of stuff coming, but again: one Steam post wouldn’t be enough to keep that covered, so stay tuned and expect more info about that in the next updates.



[h2]Monthly devlogs incoming[/h2]

We have a plan to release a devlog every month to keep you in the loop on our development process and showcase some highlights of the current works. Gamedev is tricky and sometimes hard to predict, so please forgive us in case we’re late with those 🙏.

[h2]Improvements based on your feedback[/h2]

For us this is a no-brainer: all of the feedback you provided was, and will always be, taken into account. We can’t implement each and every change or tweak you propose, obviously, but rest assured that your voices are heard. Make sure to join our Discord and keep the feedback going!



Sneak peek for the more engaged ones: the bug with the crate weapon will actually become a full-fledged feature, following your requests! Enjoy the extra 3 seconds saved 😎.

[h2]Playtests incoming[/h2]

We’re preparing to run playtests for some of the bigger features we have planned. If you’re interested in trying them out early and providing feedback, sign up using the form below. There are a total of 3 playtests planned, each covering a different major area of the game.
Registration form: LINK

[h2]Behind-the-scenes concept art[/h2]

Throughout this whole post, we’ve shown you some sneak peeks of the upcoming content additions and changes, and here are more. New weapons, enemies, attack animations, runes, the revamped alloy machine–and that’s just to name a few of them. Eventually, our goal is for the final version to be as polished as possible, so we want to smoothen things up and make them more appealing in terms of visuals. Many of those were also inspired by your feedback!

*Disclaimer: those are subject to change, but give a good feeling of the planned art direction.



[h2]That’s a wrap for now![/h2]

Once again, thank you for all the support and sticking with us through the process. Feel free to share your thoughts about this post or the game itself. Watch out for the next development updates, and join our Discord to provide feedback, have a chat, or just hang around: https://discord.com/invite/X6WNQUUJnx
On our Discord server, we sometimes post some exclusive behind-the-scenes content for members only, so make sure you don’t miss it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3209890/Blacksmith_Ignite_the_Forge_Demo/