1 Year of Early Access
Today marks the 1 year anniversary of Warman being in early access. I want to write about what went well and what comes in the future.
Updates
For updates, I was trying to meet a schedule of 1 update a month. I think that works well, except for big updates that I can't finish in 1 month, but that's not too big of an issue. I plan to continue working like this.
Community Communication
I am bad at marketing and showing off new features, so at times it might seem that the game is abandoned. But I assure you that, that is is not the case and I am constantly working on improving Warman.
Release
There are some features that I want to finish before a 1.0 release. Nothing is set in stone, but I hope to release out of early access at the end of the year.
As always, if there is something I missed that the community deems necessary, then there might be changes.
Post-Release
Warman is the type of game where you could always add something new or more content ( e.g. another new biome ). That is exactly what I plan to do.
Most of those features are still only roughly laid out. They will probably evolve over time and their design is not final.
Updates
For updates, I was trying to meet a schedule of 1 update a month. I think that works well, except for big updates that I can't finish in 1 month, but that's not too big of an issue. I plan to continue working like this.
Community Communication
I am bad at marketing and showing off new features, so at times it might seem that the game is abandoned. But I assure you that, that is is not the case and I am constantly working on improving Warman.
Release
There are some features that I want to finish before a 1.0 release. Nothing is set in stone, but I hope to release out of early access at the end of the year.
- Boss. A bossfight that happens at the end of a biome, before going into the next. Currently I am working on a boss, that will release with the next update. Multiple bosses are planned.
- Weapon Skill Tree. Every weapon type will have it's own skill tree, with new active and passive skills. The player will earn experience in the mastery of the weapon that is being used.
- UI Improvements. A more cleaner and polished UI. In combination with the weapon skill tree, that will add more skills, the UI will be more compact and focused.
- Performance and Multiplayer Networking improvements. This might not be an immediately noticeable change, but necessary to have a good gameplay experience and so I can expand in features and content.
- Localization. Some languages that are currently planned are: Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Spanish. On request, more languages can be added. Also it is going to be technically possible to load custom community translations, ideally with steam workshop support. But I do not know when this is going to be added.
- Controller Support.
- Player trading. It is nice to have, but may be delayed after 1.0.
As always, if there is something I missed that the community deems necessary, then there might be changes.
Post-Release
Warman is the type of game where you could always add something new or more content ( e.g. another new biome ). That is exactly what I plan to do.
Most of those features are still only roughly laid out. They will probably evolve over time and their design is not final.
- More weapon types, bosses, biomes.
- More NPCs. Changing your appearance, gamble-type npc, more ways to modify your items ( e.g. sockets ).
- Companions. Find companions ( AI controlled ) in the dungeon that will fight with you.
- Pets. Similar to companions, but persistent, with their own items and different playstyles ( e.g. only collect items, heal, etc. ).
- Fully handcrafted 'dungeons'. As in, you open a portal to an instance with set challenges. Groups of monster, traps, bosses, etc.
- More 'Gamemodes'. I consider the current dungeon to be just one way to play Warman. E.g. Not traversing from floor to floor, but having a single point of defense, where you need to fight of waves of enemies.
- Your own island / hideout. Freely place objects, trophies of defeated bosses, etc.