It was a busy month! Between the game's early access release, numerous patches, and a quick chat with cRPG connoisseur Dr. Matt Barton I spent some time developing a rough roadmap for the early access phase. You can hear all about it in the latest video devlog!
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As always you will find the transcript below!
Best wishes,
Michael
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Hi, dungeon-crawling fans!
Monomyth has finally launched into early access, and I am very happy with the results! In only fours weeks, the game has already received over 260 reviews and currently has a very positive Steam rating. Additionally, I had the privilege to talk on Matt Barton’s Matt Chat and the game received its own article on PC Gamer. I would like to take this moment to thank you all again for your continued support over the years. Without you, this would not be possible!
However, this is only the beginning of a new development phase! The game has already received numerous hotfixes and will continue receiving further patches and additional content. So in this devlog I would like to go through a roadmap for Early Access development with you. Much like in the earlier beta phases, I will try to stick as closely as possible to that roadmap and regularly update you on where we currently are. So here it is:
During Early Access there will be three major content updates, one for each missing chapter of the game. Each chapter will contain an additional major area, new sidequests, the continuation of the main quest, new loot, and new enemies.
Since I am targeting up to a year of Early Access development, these updates will ideally be delivered in the form of a winter, a spring, and a summer patch, each probably followed by a series of hotfixes.
The first two areas have already been part of the earlier backer beta, however, they require some further polishing, respectively restructuring. I am currently developing a new workflow for creating areas, so I’ll probably try that out during the restructuring. Schedule-wise this might be a little gamble, but I think the result will be worth it and I’ll keep you updated about how it’s going.
Content patches are of course not everything. In between content patches, I will try to address the feedback that you have given me on multiple platforms. As of writing this, I have collected over a hundred points that were made concerning the game’s current content. Much of it is about balancing, some of it is about reorganizing features like the search skill and archery and some of it is about adding further features. I will try to address as many of these as possible, excluding perhaps a couple of points that are either not feasible or fitting with the game’s core design.
These intermediate patches make the schedule more challenging of course. But I would rather have a challenging schedule just for the sake of keeping up a swift momentum, even if it may not work out at all times.
So what are the immediate next steps? Well, since there is enough to do I’ll start working on the content for the winter patch, which will introduce the mines and the factory below the heartlands.
As mentioned before this area has to be restructured. I have talked about this multiple times in the past. The problem was that there was no holistic design concept, no real integration into a proper quest system, and the main quest was still vague, as was the encounter design. Additionally, performance was not necessarily much of a real consideration. Much of this was due to the area being added very early in development. Luckily things are quite different now. There is proper documentation from beginning to end, including encounter, performance, quest considerations, and so on. Accordingly, I believe that the level can be restructured in a reasonable time. I am targeting a release of the patch later this year. Should there be any delays it will probably be released in early January.
I’ll try to get back to my usual pre-release update schedule and let you know about the latest developments.
If any problems arise in the short term, I will, of course, try to reschedule and give those issues the necessary attention as soon as possible.
Other than that, I’ll keep you updated as always and I will see you soon!
