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Dev Diary 22 :: 2016 :: August
#1
Winter is Coming Summer is really flying by here...but we have some things coming up!


UI & Asset Rehaul
The art for the backgrounds/monsters has really been taking a long time, but the quality I think speaks for itself....


Final Stages for these:
[Image: augblog_2.jpg]


Almost Final Stages:
[Image: augblog_3.jpg]

Draft Stage:
[Image: augblog_4.png]



Here's a sample of the beta production:
[Image: augblog_5.jpg]

[Image: augblog_6.jpg]

UI Rehaul
Finally getting some acceleration in terms of swapping out many of the windows with the new UI style. Consider the new windows to be a first phase, as i'll be getting the artist to clean them up (I'm doing them with a UI kit for now). I expect that we'll have most of the new UI done by September.

We're looking at bringing chat back but i'll be waiting for the arthouse to come up with a clean design for that. I've come up with a draft idea that I think is ideal. I'm excited for this as it would bring global chat to the game and make things feel a little more lively for those not on Kong or unaware of the Discord Community.

[Image: augblog_1.png]


Lineage System
We are probably going to have this enabled in testing next week. 

Central Node System
We designed a central node system a little while back but haven't had a chance to really jump on it. The central node system features those big central nodes, being an alternative upgrade system using a new currency that will be added into the game for upgrading entire branches within the upgrade map. I'm aiming to have testing for this next week as well.

Bingo
We have had a couple hiccups in draft setups for this system that required changing the way everything worked in it....switching the bingo games from being server-based, to session-based, now to being a global game that is procedurally generated for little to no moderation required on our end. We have some cool rewarding ideas to go with Bingo coming up. No ETA, but as testers have seen there is already an icon in the battle window which we've used for minor testing, so it is definitely moving along Smile

New Event
Jay really wanted to do a more strategical event this time around but at the last second I felt a switch turn on about going a retro-rpg route. I don't have much to spoil as it's quite a toss-up right now between ideas. I am expecting a very new event, and new gameplay style for said event next month.

Expedition Rehaul
People are asking about this every day, and all I can say is we have some great ideas backing it, just stay tuned please.

Fishing
We know about the issues pertaining to the costs for upgrades. We will be looking at balancing the later costs this month as well. Sorry for the delays on that!
Also - Fish Horn addition has been delayed. End of the month or mid next month.

Leeching
I understand the want by the community for this, and I even support to it a (very) minor degree. However we are looking at ways to diminish such crazy gains early on (130-250) from being carried so quickly. I still intend to support higher gains if you want to carry friends/guildmates, but not at the current pace it is occurring.

Vacation
I'm quite burnt out from everything (not just IOU, just this crazy, ridiculous MURPHY'S LAW year). I haven't had a vacation in years and wake up every single morning to work or some kind of drama (again, not just IOU) before I even get a chance at a coffee. I'm looking forward to waking up and just having a coffee, going outside and then realizing i'm very hung over.

Regardless of the time I spend developing IOU, I feel like my efficiency has diminished, and I allocate a lot of that to the fact that I haven't had a chance to clear my brain cache in a long time.

That being said i'll be taking a vacation between September 5-11th (just a quick week) for a good reset.

I have a feeling i'll be a hell of a lot more efficient after my sun-burnt return, especially with all the major systems, rehaul, publishing, etc this year.

During the time I am gone, the rest of the team should be prepared to keep things in check.

Other Things
There's a lot more I want to get into, but this is it for now. Lets get through the next week and catch up on more for the next blog.

Cheers,
Ray
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#2
Hey guys,

Sorry it's so late tonight for the blog.

We have a pretty hefty patch coming up with a lot of changes, additions, fixes, etc.

Something to spend gold one
Unfortunately we don't have anything major yet for this, however it will more than likely tie into the upcoming expedition system.

In the meantime we are revamping Gold Sacrifices...where you should get almost 3x as many for the same investment.
However, because of this change (and the upcoming reduction on fishing upgrades), fish sacrifice costs will be increased by ~ 50%.

Visual Changes
Many windows have been rehauled with the new UI in mind. There's still several major windows that require a rehaul, but you can expect to notice many windows that have been improved.

We will be looking at rehauling the chat system and the main user interface on the primary battle screen after this next patch...which i'm very looking forward to!

Stability/Server Efficiency
We unexpectedly got very side tracked on a couple focused development days on the way certain data was obtained, sent, etc...but in the long-run I feel that this should improve the load on servers, and in the end improve the game's performance.

Guilds
I've been looking at guild buildings lately because there's some similarities to the plans for expeditions, however further development and discussion on these changes are not expected until after I return mid September....note however that we do have some pretty hefty plans coming up.

Bingo
Man! This system has grown very complex but is really coming along. We have avoided having to manually run these and have coded it for procedural generated processing on a global scale so everyone is technically playing the very same bingo with their own unique cards. We are also looking at adding an event-based chat just to make it a potentially more fun social experience.

It's bingo after all, but I think people will enjoy it a little more considering we're going to add some progression to it Smile

Event
I'm not sure why I do this to myself and the team, but we are going to try to significantly one-up the invasion event with this one. I should have a lot more details, and even screenshots for next Sunday's blog.

I've been looking at the obvious fact that the game requires something more enticing gameplay-wise outside of Inferno...and there are plans on that as well, however this event should be able to tie people over in the meantime.

Final Notes
I feel like development has been increasingly become more prominent and new systems are being added at a fair pace considering the amount of work we have been taking on.

I understand there's an underwhelming feeling for some players who have been around over a year now. I can only promise right now that we have a TON of improvements planned ahead to bring back the more exciting feelings the game may have had for you in its early stages, and I appreciate the patience and support for all this time.


Ray
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#3
Hey there, Hi there, Ho there...

It seems the last patch was pretty well received. I am glad to hear that!

This dev blog is going to be pretty short but i'll be sharing the works nonetheless.

Visual
So i'm sure you have noticed many windows have received their first phase changes. There's still a ton of work to do in this department, however a much bigger change is coming next patch...and that is the primary HUD/Battle window.

I'll apologize ahead for those who are a bit uptight about change - because this will require getting used to, but we do feel like this is a major first-phase improvement to the UI.

I'm not sure that the new Monsters/Backgrounds will be getting rehauled just yet, but that should be coming pretty soon as well.

Event
Alright, so we almost had to drop everything just to focus on this new event due to how ridiculously complex it was getting. Instead we are going to release this major new event for October - and will be re-running the Match 3 event. I'll be looking at adding or potentially changing a couple small things with the event, and while I anticipate having 1 unique event for each month of the year, I don't think it's too terrible that we're running one of the most well received events twice this year.

Bingo
We're hopeful that this will be pushed in the next 2 weeks. We have been making major changes and additions to a new broadcasting system that will allow us to continue expanding on major global features, and this ties into that.

Chat
We will be looking at adding queue chat, along with global chat. I think we can expand in positive ways with the chat after this patch as well, after given some feedback.

--

We have some other minor things in the works and some major changes ahead next month. Of course we'll clue you all in for that early September Smile

I doubt next week's dev blog will be overly exciting given that what we are working on is pretty hefty right now but we'll see.

Cheers,
Ray
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