CLOSED BETA: THIS WAY

Hi everyone,

It’s been a few weeks since we posted a new issue of development diary here, as we’ve been all very busy with loads of things happening on different fronts. We hope that you missed us as much as we missed you!



Our work on Spire of Sorcery just passed the road sign that says:



When I asked our game design team a month ago if we will reach the closed beta stage any time soon, they told me “No”.

And when I asked them the same question this week, their answer changed to “Soon”. Which is a huge change for the better!

In my experience, only the game design team can estimate how close we really are to the release, because they know how things work on the inside. We might already have visual assets for “dead disciples” and “thunderstorm event”, but what really matters is whether or not these concepts exist in the game’s code.


 
So how soon is this “soon”, really?

We currently think that we will enter the closed beta stage between 6 and 8 weeks from now, that is – around late June/early July. As to Early Access release, this depends entirely on what sort of feedback do we get during the closed beta period.

Perhaps players will be happy enough, and we will just fix some bits and pieces before shipping the product. Or, perhaps, players will hit a wall somewhere in the user interface that will trigger a re-make of a significant part of it – in which case this will take at least a couple of months to reach Early Access.



What happens next, then?

First of all, we now start to prepare for the beta on the game’s official Discord server. In the following days we will start showing parts of the user interface to collect player feedback, and onboard people into invitation-only channels specific to the beta.

Secondly, we just set up a dedicated forum that we will use to collect player feedback on the beta. So, if you would like to participate, then please head over and register your profile there!

We’ll be back next week with the details of skill icons (which we finally finalized!), and as always, every Friday we’re here, on Steam, live-streaming the current build of the game.

See you soon!





ːsummer_magicː Spire of Sorcery – Character Generator (Steam)
ːsummer_magicː Official Discord server
ːsummer_magicː Official forum
ːsummer_magicː YouTube recordings of the development live streams
ːsummer_magicː Twitter (game updates)
ːsummer_magicː Facebook (game updates)



ːmaliceː Official Discord server
ːmaliceː Twitter (game updates)
ːmaliceː Facebook (game updates)
ːmusicː Original Soundtrack on Spotify



ːnotebookː Charlie Oscar’s developer page on Steam
ːnotebookː Twitter (studio news)
ːnotebookː Facebook (studio news)
ːnotebookː "Behind the scenes" Instagram
ːnotebookː YouTube