Dev Diary 6 :: 2015 :: April

[Ray]

A new month! 

The game has been progressing feature-wise quite well, and we should now hopefully have less issues with ddos attacks as preventative measures have been taken.

While things are still on the path of the roadmap, i'm going to take a couple days to step back and get a perspective on priorities and where I would like to see this game by the end of April. 

Surprisingly I haven't had any complaints about lack of additional content or progression for capped players, but I feel getting out the end-game adventure mode feature will allow players to distract themselves for a very long time as this upcoming inferno system is practically endless.

What's great about reaching an end-game feature is that I won't have to focus on that specific feature in the short-term, giving plenty of time to work on other existing features or new features as a whole.

On another note, i'm finding it a little more difficult lately to respond to all the private messages in the global game chat - plenty of which are cleared out on a refresh. That being said I may need to insist on different communications soon (Email, forum, forum PM). Previously with only a few users it wasn't difficult to handle, but i've been receiving 50-100 private messages daily and it's growing nearly impossible to filter through in a good response time. Positively though, it's great to see all the interaction as of late!

[Ray]

Happy Easter Eats!

As a heads up, the event will be coming down around April 8th.

[Ray]

There may be a 1-2 day extension on the event....

I would like to get out the final planet and a level cap increase for the next maintenance downtime, along with finalizing some event features for the future and proper device release preparations for pushing updates to both mobile and web.

[Ray]

The level 150 cap is out, the final planet is out, so what's next?


Many of you are aware of the upcoming Inferno System and have a little bit of details on how it will work.

I finally have Inferno Mode set up on the client side - and have tested the difficulty tiers between 0 and 1000. 

   

This is just Inferno 3. Can you imagine 20? or 50? 

Here's a couple questions I sense are going to be raised:

1. How will it ever be possible to beat Inferno 10000?
2. What is the point? Even if the level cap increases, it's a long and pointless grind.


And here are some details..

1. When the singularity comes forth and gives humans indefinite life to give you the ability to live and grind forever. Just because something is IN the game, does not mean it is meant to be beaten. Unlike most games leaving everything easily beatable without any further difficult challenge other than repeating the same process over and over, some things are just there for you to stare at and ponder the potential. But check #2 for more info.

2. End-Game Expansion. I can't delve into all the notes, but here's some little bits...

-There will in fact be a level cap increase - 200. It will be the final and end-game level cap max.
-There will be a system integrated into the Inferno that gives players a virtually endless amount they can grow over time.
-Fighting on higher tier inferno modes will have great purpose
-The ability to hunt inferno in groups of 3 instead of 2
-New rare inferno currency drop (More info on what it is, and how it will be used later)
-Card Collectibles

By the end of this system, outside of things like Guild Expansions, Pet Arena, Ship Battles, and so forth, there will truly be an endless amount of gameplay so players can always feel like they are growing.

[Ray]

Just started on the new collectible system as it will tie significantly into the Inferno Mode progression and purpose.


It's extremely early and it's only dead GUI currently, but here's a little taste on the progress of the Collection Book:

   

I wish I could say this system was almost ready, but between this and everything else being tied into the Inferno Mode, it's a long road ahead, and I suspect nearly a week delay on the mid-month expected patch for this...but we'll see!

[Ray]

I've said it in the past, but now I get to say it again! I believe this is going to be the biggest patch yet (again).


It's still fairly early, but i've been managing in some major interface changes on top of this patch as I needed to swap a few things around for the new Card Collection system & Inferno.

You can take a sneak peak at the new WIP interface:

   

As you can see, xp will be directly in the battle. Time removed (was kind of useless). New cooldown timer on abilities, and other improvements.

[Ray]

Lovely little buggers spambots are. Thank you guys for reporting the users right away and making it quite easy to purge them.

As for the upcoming update. I'm looking at this weekend sometime. I'll have a better idea as the weekend nears as to the exact day, then time.

[Ray]

The first new member added to the IOU Development Team! Community Manager

[Ray]

The upcoming patch will be released tomorrow.

[Ray]

Today's patch will occur ~2pm E.S.T.