Shards of Azuria News

Today on August 10th, Build 10 will be going live on Steam.
This will also mark the date of which Shards of Azuria will be leaving Early Access.

Shards of Azuria will is now graduating from Early Access to Full Release status.
Build 10 itself is the flag pole that will mark the end of the Early Access journey.
Almost 3 years ago, 12th October 2016, Shards of Azuria released in Early Access.
I am extremely thankful for the support of everyone during this time.

It was incredibly rewarding to have players experience something I had poured my time into.
Seeing some of the building creations from players and the characters they played was really amazing. But being the first time I have done something like this, there certainly was a lot to learn for the future.

The journey of Early Access has been a long and winding road. It has seen various updates during it's time. From Halloween specials, to Fishing and the one of the most significant additions - Online Multiplayer.

There were also various other changes along the way, that were shaped by the invaluable feedback of players.

It has been a combined effort to mould Shards of Azuria into it's current form.

Thank you all once again for taking part in this journey!
It wouldn't have been the same without everyone's feedback and support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDA8KN3h_0Y








One of the main areas of change for this build was to change the NPCs in Azuria to be movable instead of static. Previously, they remained set in one place and did not feel part of the town. This involved ensuring the NPCs had appropriate animation sets, were replaced with the static versions and then also had routes applied. The routing itself was also a new addition to allow for a predetermined set of positions to move to.






The Conversation window has changed in it's style and layout. One part of this is that the profile images take up less screen space (it felt a bit clogged before). Secondly, dialogue options have been introduced. You may first notice this with the option to trade with the NPC (Vendor). There are also some other occurrences of dialogue options being used now (e.g the new quest!).






A Quest Window has been added, this is to supplement the existing tracking text already shown on the right of the screen. Also, another important change regarding quest (as request from feedback):

Quests to no longer have a max day limit, where they can no longer be completed. So any previous quest that was marked as "Days 1-3" will now be "Days 1+".





Farmer Pete has appeared in Azuria and he may need your help with something... A new quest called "A Missing Friend" has also been introduced. This may have something to do with Farmer Pete.

• New Quest "A Missing Friend"
  

New Items:

• Myria Lich Robes
  
  
• Myria Lich Hood
  
  

NPCs & Enemies have had the addition of random chat bubble dialogue.
I wanted to add a little extra personality through a bit extra dialogue being expressed.

• Mytsticism, Might & CunningEssences & Orbs are now for sale from Albinus, Labrys & Phonos.
  
• Fixed graphical glitching with Wooden Fences
  
• Build 9 was changed to be Full Screen by default and may have caused crashing issues for some players. The default is now back to Full Screen - Windowed.
  

On August 10th, Build 10 will be going live on Steam.

This will also mark the date of which Shards of Azuria will be leaving Early Access.



Build 10 itself has already been in the works for a while.
The details I will be able to share on August 10th when the Build goes live.
In general though, Build 10 has had a focus on NPCs & dialogue.
The mindset of the changes are around improving the overall feel of Azuria.
For instance, up until now, NPCs have been mostly static.
With Build 10, I have worked to have the NPCs moving around more, to feel part of the town.
This does mean that the effort has been mostly on improving existing content.
However you can still expect some new additions in the build.



Now a few words on the next piece of news:-

Shards of Azuria will be graduating from Early Access to Full Release status.
Build 10 itself is the flag pole that will mark the end of the Early Access journey.
Almost 3 years ago, 12th October 2016, Shards of Azuria released in Early Access.
I am extremely thankful for the support of everyone during this time.
It was incredibly rewarding to have players experience something I had poured my time into.

Seeing some of the building creations from players and the characters they played was really amazing. But being the first time I have done something like this, there certainly was a lot to learn for the future.

The journey of Early Access has been a long and winding road. It has seen various updates during it's time. From Halloween specials, to Fishing and the one of the most significant additions - Online Multiplayer. There were also various other changes along the way, that were shaped by the invaluable feedback of players. It has been a combined effort to mould Shards of Azuria into it's current form.

Taking this step has been something that I have been weighing on for a long while. For most of it's lifetime, Shards of Azuria has been in an indie/hobbyist level of development. Blue Potion Games has comprised of myself (Phill) as the main developer/programmer & Cheryl as the artist. Full time development has never been a sustainable situation, save for a 6 month period, that had to come to an end. This means that development has largely had to fit in and around a day job situation.

As a whole, I am generally comfortable with managing that kind of work flow, but it's not without its drawbacks. Developing around a job is slower and less predictable, life can interrupt the flow, compared with the consistency of full time. Unfortunately, whilst I am overall patient enough to develop in this way, it does not suit Early Access itself.

While the work/development balance is a factor, I don't see it as much of an issue.
Ultimately, I feel Shards of Azuria itself has gone as far it can in its current form.
It is inevitably held back by dated technology, built upon an aging framework.
I have known for a long time now, that Shards of Azuria was behind the curve compared with modern tools.

On a personal level, this stems from starting on a development track (more than 6 years ago).
Back then, I was inexperienced and did not expect to push development as far as I have.

What does that mean for the future?
Following the full release, I will be assessing the next step in regards to game development.
It is likely I will still be operating in a hobbyist capacity, developing around a day job.
Although I will likely be setting myself up with a long term mindset.
And I will almost certainly be taking advantage of modern game engines.

Overall, I know that I would be in a much better position to create an enjoyable game by taking this step. Precisely what I intend to develop is still up for debate. But even a game in the nature of Shards of Azuria itself, would benefit from a complete re-develop with a new engine.

That itself would be a complete do-over and would basically end up a new game on it's own. That point alone reaffirms the decision to bring things to close at this point.

Thank you all once again for taking part in this journey!
It wouldn't have been the same without everyone's feedback and support.

Thanks!
Phill

Hi all!

Build 9 is here! (finally). The main focus of this update was with overhauling the menu GUI and redesigning Azuria itself using new furniture.



Build 9 itself has involved quite a bit of behind the scenes programming to improve the GUI.
Before, there wasn't decent way of designing and positioning the GUI elements on-screen.
So I had to do some extra work to allow for in-game GUI design.
After implementing this, I took the opportunity to refresh the appearance of the Menu screens.
I'll also be able to take advantage of this in future, when doing other GUI related changes.



There were 30+ new block/furniture additions in this update.
Adding this new range seemed to fit with a chance to rework the town.
Azuria is now a bit bigger and roomier, with a river flowing through. Fish included. One change to note, which relates to larger items such as beds. The way large objects are placed down has been changed to occupy multiple tiles properly.

Because of the extent of changes to the start town and the way objects are placed, it is recommended that you create a new world in this build.


Hestia is now selling the new range of decoration items:

• Wood Decor Block
  
• Wizard Bookshelf
  
• Study Table
  
• Fantasy Bed
  
• Blossom Wooden Cabinet
  
• Blue Arm Chair
  
• Blue Bed
  
• Candle Stand
  
• Cauldron
  
• Panel Decor Block
  
• Lab Desk
  
• Herb Desk
  
• Stool
  
• Wooden Fence
  
• Empty Flower Vase
  
• Flower Vase
  
• Frilly Bed
  
• Frame Bed
  
• Glass Shelf
  
• Glass Cabinet
  
• Pink Decor Block
  
• Ornate Chest
  
• Small Cabinet
  
• Potion Cuboard
  
• Skeleton Study
  
• Square Table
  
• Wooden Cabinet
  
• Wooden Tile
  
• Cobble Tile
  
• Vertical Style Wooden Block
  
• Rug Tile
  
• Rugged Bed
  
• Lamp
  

• When using the Paint Blaster, you can now colour pick from existing painted areas. The default keybind is 'X', but can also be changed in the keybind options.
  
• Enemy spawning has been adjusted so that it will not repeatedly respawn in the area you have already defeated an enemy.
  
• The "uncrossable bridge" has been fixed.
  

Thanks!
Phill

Hi all!

An update has been pushed today with some fixes/tweaks for Build 8.

• When teleporting down through the dungeon stairs, the teleport-to position was still on top of the target stair. This meant that if you didn't move after teleporting, you would eventually teleport back (after a 1 sec timer). For most people, this wasn't a problem, as the loading time was quick enough so you moved away. However machines with slower loading times would end up stuck in the teleport position. It has now been fixed to place the player next to the target staircase.
  
  
• Fixed a bug that was resulting in the Azuria Town map from always loading the 'template' version of the map. This meant that any items stored in the chests were being overridden.
  
  
  
• The spawning of the Blue Skeleton for the quest 'Find Gregor's Note' has been changed to spawn more specifically within the area of the graveyard (in the middle area of the Woodland). The spawning was also randomized, so that it might have taken some time before it appeared. However, it should now immediately appear.
  

Some changes to the Death Match game mode:

• UI now indicates to press the Tab key for the PvP Scoreboard.
  
  
• Day Cycle has been adjusted to always start at the correct time.
  
  
• A new round will automatically start when enough players have joined.
  This is only relevant when the host is by themselves and then a new player connects.
  
  

Thanks!
Phill

Hi all!

An update has been pushed today with some fixes/tweaks for Build 8.

• When teleporting down through the dungeon stairs, the teleport-to position was still on top of the target stair. This meant that if you didn't move after teleporting, you would eventually teleport back (after a 1 sec timer). For most people, this wasn't a problem, as the loading time was quick enough so you moved away. However machines with slower loading times would end up stuck in the teleport position. It has now been fixed to place the player next to the target staircase.
  
  
• Fixed a bug that was resulting in the Azuria Town map from always loading the 'template' version of the map. This meant that any items stored in the chests were being overridden.
  
  
  
• The spawning of the Blue Skeleton for the quest 'Find Gregor's Note' has been changed to spawn more specifically within the area of the graveyard (in the middle area of the Woodland). The spawning was also randomized, so that it might have taken some time before it appeared. However, it should now immediately appear.
  

Some changes to the Death Match game mode:

• UI now indicates to press the Tab key for the PvP Scoreboard.
  
  
• Day Cycle has been adjusted to always start at the correct time.
  
  
• A new round will automatically start when enough players have joined.
  This is only relevant when the host is by themselves and then a new player connects.
  
  

Thanks!
Phill