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Back in the community & alpha
Update #37 · May 20, 2013
I'm back on the forums, we've finally got good chunks of the game and graphics implemented and it's moving into alpha in July with beta to follow shortly. So now I have a some free time to get back to the community! Up to this point the team has spent every working hour implementing and creating all the systems that are going into Arakion and none of us have had very much time to spare which is the reasoning for Jack being on the forums trying to moderate.
I've already apologized before but I apologize again, implementing the base systems to create a great game for all of us to play has been extremely hard work. While I'm not happy that it took so much time away from the community and may have hurt our image we laser focused on the game so that it would be an amazing experience. We aren't aiming for mediocre or good we're aiming for great cause you deserve no less.
Lets first talk about Alpha and what's going to be in it.
All Kickstarter backers will be able to join alpha a 2-5 weeks after initial release. For the initial release only people in the tiers that have alpha status will be able to join.
A few questions that people have asked that I'd like to answer first.
Will alpha be on steam?
While steam has been releasing stuff that's in alpha for whatever reason. We don't plan on releasing alpha on steam as we will be rapidly implementing changes throughout. Beta may be on steam.
Why haven't we seen screenshots?!
We want the graphics closer to finished before we start releasing stuff. We'll begin releasing media closer to alpha
Will everyone get to play alpha?
As stated above as a bonus for your patience we'll be allowing everyone into alpha mid to late alpha.
When will the alpha be released?
We're aiming for an early July release (July 2nd) but it may not release until late July. So just assume sometime in July.
What's the benefit of playing alpha?
Everyone benefits from playing in alpha, as the gamer you will get to play and help define the game. Making notes and letting us know what you do and don't like. You'll also get to play levels that may not make the final game or help define levels as they mold and change. It helps us because we get vital information from you to help make the game great.
So what's actually in the alpha?
I want to go through a few important points of interest that are in the alpha.
Alpha Classes:
Monk :: Warrior :: Community Decided
We're wanting to get the community involved again so we'll let the community decide on the third class they'd like to see in the alpha. It can be any of the currently mentioned classes and we'll hold a poll on it later this week.
Alpha Races:
Human :: Ent :: Satyr
Our reasoning for these three, is that outside of the Gor (which are no longer playable) they are the most complete, our character setups take a significant amount of time to layout because of our pipeline but they look fantastic in game.
Levels:
4-5 Levels
In the alpha initial release you'll be able to play up to the point you acquire your town. This should be a good couple hours of gameplay. You can expect some bugs and missing graphics but for the most part it should give you a good sense of what you'll be expecting as the game moves forward in development.
Pets:
Full range of pets
Character Customization
Fully Implemented!
GUI
This one may take a small bit of adjustment for people. We have implemented a system that doesn't use bars or numbers but is visually representative. This means that when you're beating up on an enemy you wont see a health bar telling you how close he is to dead, but you'll have to look for visual cues. This means if you're fighting a human, they'll be bloody broken and beat down with dented armor and blood running down their body. We've implemented a system that is more visually engaging because we felt the immersion would be deeper. The same goes across the board for all the GUI systems, there is very little text to read and everything is in a representative system.
Again our main reasoning for this is we want people to feel like their apart of the world and actually adventuring, seeing numbers and text all over the place reminding you your in a game just wasn't what we were aiming for.
Updating the alpha:
We'll be releasing alpha updates sporadically as we find bugs or errors. Major updates (levels, classes, races) will be released every couple weeks.
What's after the alpha?
Naturally the beta will be after the alpha. We'll be moving into beta 2-3 months after alpha. While beta will not be the whole game it will be about half of it.
What wont be in initial release?
Cinematics and a lot of animations will be filler.
As a final note you can now expect me to respond and post on the forums regularly, as stated above we have a lot of systems implemented and our team is working hard to make everyone a great game to play, now that things are at a better place and I'm not working 24/7 I can relax a little and get involved with the community.
With that said if you have any questions about what will and will not be in the alpha feel free to discuss on here or in the forums and I'll try to answer everything the best I can.
Look forward to seeing everyone in the alpha!!
Chris Taylor
Oh... we also have multiplayer...
It's completely separate from singleplayer
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Da notare:
"Will everyone get to play alpha?
As stated above as a bonus for your patience we'll be allowing everyone into alpha mid to late alpha."
Non so se sarei contento se fossi uno che ha fundato per l'alpha, cmq ottimo pensiero!