Skyfear News

Skyfear will be available under Early Access on March 6th, 2025. The game will be $14.99 USD but launch with a 10% discount for the first week.


Skyfear is made by just me, plus a friend or two helping test. It is very inspired by games from the early 2000s, such as Quake, Halo, and Gunz. Skyfear’s purpose is not to directly compete with another game, nor is not intended to be a live service. This game is simplistic and small by modern standards - we’re going back about 15 years. This is by design.

Here’s an interview (9 minutes) I did with Call Me Pancake discussing the game’s approach. (The footage in this video is 2-3 months old)

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


I wanted to deliver a complete product, but the reality is that the ground to cover on every pass is a moving target, and this game has been in development since 2015. Instead of the launch being the end, I now see it as a jumping off point. The game is not yet everything it could be. The animation needs serious work, the map design needs love, and there’s lots of networking quirks that need solutions. The to-do list is long, but for a variety of reasons, I think now is the time to open the doors. The only thing I would say is set in stone is the game’s scope. For more details about development, please visit Release Cycle and Commits.

Please submit feedback! The Discord server has a feedback forum, plus there is an in-game feedback tool.


Skyfear will have 3 branches.

• Main – The intended experience. Steam default.
  
• Experimental – Development version with debug tools. Intended only for testing.
  
• LAN – A ‘slimmed down’ build with a local network only. This build will not communicate outside of your router. Intended for LAN parties, tournaments. Due to a networking quirk in Unreal’s compiler, this had to be its own branch, so this may run a little bit behind Main and not have as much priority.
  

The following list is of features that have been tested to some extent, but were just not going to be ready in time for the launch. For various reasons, getting a baseline product out the door first was deemed the most practical approach. Once the game is stable, new features can be added.

• Practice range / Sandbox type mode
  
• Single player “scenarios”, pre-arranged AI battles
  
• Bots filling in multiplayer servers, optional
  
• Leaderboards / Ranked
  
• Some form of “New Game +” / Leveling loop
  
• Matchmaking, if/when playerbase reaches large size
  
• Controller, keybindings
  

Maps, game modes, and cosmetics will definitely expand. And I’ve already mentioned animation, map design, networking, etc. The priority given to these things will be adjusted as the feedback comes in.


If you’d like to learn more, please see the FAQ and join our Discord server!

See you in the arenas on March 6!
- telekrex (developer)

I am pleased to announce that Skyfear will be launching on Steam under Early Access in one of the remaining months of 2024. An exact date is hard to pin down; there are a couple of ongoing issues that are time-impacting. But it could be very soon.

[h3]Why Early Access?[/h3]
To be honest, I’ve been saying Skyfear is “almost done” for about two years now. I had to ask myself, how long is it going to be that way? There’s a difference between done and perfect. And a lot of the things I have yet to do with the game involve a lot of “what-ifs”, a lot of things that would benefit from an active playerbase providing feedback. I really wanted to release Skyfear the old fashion way, complete. And really, I still think it is. Requirements-wise, it's everything the game set out to be on paper, and it's equipped with the options and features that should hopefully allow it to survive with a variable update frequency.

Early Access gives me a “softer” launch, some wiggle room. As a solo developer, I think this, plus having very clear and concrete communication with the audience, is the right way forward. This way, I will have time to make the game perfect, but with less pressure and the game creating some income to work with.

[h3]What to Expect?[/h3]
A fun dragon battling game! With some bugs, of course, and room to grow. To accompany and prepare for the launch, I’ve released updated documents that will be on the website for everyone’s reference:
Updated FAQ Release Cycle – This explains how updates are going to work, and remains a resource for everyone to refer to if you’re going to discuss/speculate/anticipate.
Commit Log – This is a public log of the work that’s been done. The log system itself is a work in progress.
Content Guide – A general guideline for content creators. I encourage anyone to be making Skyfear related content!

The game will have both a main and experimental branches to allow for testing, available together upon purchase.

The price of the game remains unchanged at $14.99 USD.

Promotional materials online soon.

See you there!
- Telekrex

This new trailer is a transparent look into what Skyfear looks like right now, both on the surface and under the hood. You will see editor footage, current gameplay, and I couldn't resist a few cinematic shots, all recorded in real-time.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

All focus right now is on finishing this game -- but I need some feedback to do that. From June 1st to 15th, up to 200 players will be granted access to a current build of Skyfear, for playtesting. In exchange, I simply ask for as much of your feedback as possible. To participate, please join the Discord server and RSVP to the event, and you'll be given the orange playtester role.

This playtest is being conducted in a very personal manner, because I want to really understand the audience and the rationale behind the feedback. In earlier development days, a quick survey was enough to quanitize things and give me direction, but at this stage of the project, I really want to get into the details.

Hope to see you there!

Updated FAQ Discord server Reddit community (new!) System requirements




I’ve taken into account a lot of feedback from players waiting very patiently for this game, and from picking up on the methods of other game studios, to try and improve communication about this game. Firstly, development updates will always be posted here, from now on. Everyone interested in this game already uses Steam, that’s literally where you’ll buy it, it only makes sense to use the blogging features Steam provides for centralizing the development updates. Second, we’re setting up a reddit sub to be an alternative to Discord. Third, our Discord has been improved, and I will try to be more active online. Development updates, when published on Steam, will then be shared to both communities and players can read/discuss on whichever they prefer. Especially now that the game is nearing completion and launch, it was important to make these changes.




Finishing animation, and one last playtest. Here are some screenshots of recent gameplay. Sorry about the motion blur -- this can be turned off optionally. The wings, as you can tell, are a little broken, that’s one of the things I mean when I say finishing animation. But overall, everything mostly looks and feels the way I wanted, and I’m excited to get this thing out into testing.



We’re prepping and setting up for that playtest right now. To participate (free) please join the Discord server, as that is the best for us to keep track of all the communication. The playtest will be semi private, and last just a few days. More details will come as we get closer to it. This playtest will highlight exactly what is necessary to then complete the game, so we should have a release date soon after the playtest is over.


The following is an official look at the plans for getting the game to launch. Although there are no specific dates or times for these events, I'm confident in this being the order of operations and we're carrying this out right now, this year. This blog post is #2.



That final stretch between playtest and launch is going to have a bit of polish, of course bug fixes, user experience improvements, and some necessary environment/gameplay changes. It’s been an awfully long journey getting to this point.

Please wishlist the game if you haven’t yet!

Hello there. I have some updates to share with you, starting with a look at the general steps I’m taking towards releasing this game:

1. Completing the game itself, to where it’s complete and playable.
   
2. New trailer, yes, finally. I just want the character model looking it’s best!
   
3. Completing the product side of things, technical requirements, documentation, legal, etc.
   
4. Completing the network, the moderation, security, stress-testing, etc.
   
5. Final polish pass, because I just can’t stop at “good”.
   
6. Final optimization pass, because I want it to be smooth as butter after polish.
   
7. Final user interface pass, because I want to be sure everything is easy to understand.
   
8. Release!
   

[h2]FINISHING THE GAME[/h2]
Right now the remaining work on the game is: Animation, cosmetics, long-standing bugs, spores and Lairworld getting more final looks, and fixing some underperforming networked gameplay. Work from steps #3 and #4 have been bleeding in, so those won’t take too long when I actually get there.



I took a break in mid-November and then got very sick over the holiday season that lasted till late-January, so that was rough, but I’ve since been working hard. This game is getting finished one way or another.

A few noteworthy developments since the Closed Network Test in August 2022:

• Improved 3D sound spawning and location
  
• Sound effects for the whole game is largely finished (preview in Discord server)
  
• Backwards flying feels more like a steady backing up
  
• Collisions while flying are handled more gracefully
  
• Cooldowns added to various spammable attacks
  
• XP algorithm re-done and feels much more correct
  
• The unlocking system with spores is more finished
  
• A lot of clarifications made on the UI
  
• “Metal” is being renamed “star dust” and looks more like gems, there’s reason to believe this makes the purpose of it more clearly understood, paired with the spores mechanic
  
• Have for a while now been experimenting with different methods of animating dragons that result in gameplay that feels very alive and dynamic. Dragons have complex skeletons, and it’s easy to make stiff-looking animations, which I don’t want. I’m exploring a combination of rotomation and physics, along with some cosmetic shader-side effects. I really want the animation to play out similar to how the sound effects work, where it’s not just dry one-shots, it’s a very alive combination of elements. That’s why this is taking a while.
  

At some point between now and release, there will be at least one more, probably two, chances to playtest the game with the community. The game may take longer to release depending on the result of these tests.

[h2]FAQ UPDATE[/h2]
Lastly, but most importantly, there’s a major update to FAQs. Previously this was stored either on Steam or Discord, and the content has changed over the years. Not everyone uses Discord, so this makes it hard for some interested people to get information. Now, the FAQ is going to be on the game’s official website, where anyone can access it. This new FAQ is the most comprehensive and up-to-date version yet, so please do read if you’re interested. Later, the website will serve as a wiki-like resource full of documentation on how to play and stuff like that. But that’s yet to be completed.

Read here: https://playskyfear.com/faq.html



That’s all for now, I’m working hard. Join the Discord here if you’d like to meet with other fans!

See you in the arenas soon!