I've only recently joined the community, so take everything with a handful of salt.
At the time of writing this, the occult blade was revealed 7 months ago. The last official update was 8 months ago. Before that, 10 months ago. Between each of these, one to two months. That's really impressive. They were able to keep this pace with the help of their community facing members. From my understanding, they wanted to focus as much as possible on the game and to satisfy a growing need in the community for big updates. So, they stopped with the frequent videos and lives.
Denis has been saying since I've joined that he "has good reason for the silence" and thinks "the wait is worth it".
Before I say anything else, I'd just like to insert a few things. Congrats to any members of the community and Apocalypse who has survived the delays and engine changes. Glad you're still around!
The first age was supposed to be released almost four years ago. So I imagine it was discouraging for everyone involved when the game development had to restart. I appreciate how much Denis has tried to stay engaged with the discord community, and the hard work everyone has put into the radio plays.
Okay that being said, let's go on.
I went back and looked at old videos and streams. There were big changes year over year. They are definitely moving. Going through the monthly videos in 2022, the progress is just as apparent. Despite a lot of delays, Apocalypse is working at a good rate. The last several update videos give something new and significant each time. New weapons, new animations, new character model, updated Jelrass, and updated class info to name a few. For the non-developers, this is great progress.
I fully believe everything I've heard from both Denis and Mike. Denis saying "you'll see why it's worth the wait" and Mike saying "trust me, I have mugs".
That being said, what do I expect to see? If the next update is in February, a year from the last official gameplay update (the updated overview) I expect to see: the vampire class fully hammered out, three more classes with semi functional tarot, and a playable level.
The fully hammered out vampire class means that the werebat, werewolf, and dracolich forms are working and combat ready. The tarots are nearly finished and work as intended. Maybe a working tutorial. When the bloodbath demo came out, the team had the opportunity to adjust some vampire mechanics. At this time last year, there was already a model for the werebat. If they have dedicated all their time into the vampire, it must be nearly done.
Three more classes sounds nuts since the vampire took a while. I believe that because they got the combat system working with weapons, armor, and tarot, they can transfer a lot of that to other classes. What it leaves is creating unique 3D models and animations. By semi functioning tarot, I just mean one or two of that class specific tarot should work. Hell, a t-posing wraith with a janky torture spell would work for me.
To clarify, I don't expect the classes to be smooth or functional. Just that I can see they exist and they have an associated ability that triggers some effect (press button, sphere appears).
A playable level doesn't necessarily have to be available to us, just that it exists where you play it and you're able to complete it. I'd be satisfied with Jelrass and interactable NPCs, though.
These are what I'm expecting personally. I don't know how many people Apocalypse has now, but the last count was 22. I know that not all of that 22 has technical skills like art or programming, so it's a very small studio. I'm not expecting game completion in a year.
Also, we know Deadhaus is years away. I don't know if it means a few years from alpha, first age, release, or completion. I'm certain that in time, the number will go down as the team iterates their AI tech and hires new members. Hopefully, this means the first age is sooner than that. I know some members of the community who have been hanging out for the last five years.
It's not like the end of the world if we don't get these in the next update, just what I think will happen. If it's less, oh well. The team has made it clear that there's a lot going into the game. If it's dead on, I'm psychic. If it's more, unholy cow.
And of course, if they make the end of year update like last year, I expect a little less.
On an unrelated note, the chronicles are getting better and better. The difference between the very first radio play and the most recent one is night and day. I'm glad we got to keep George as Alaric for so long.
Who knows what happens in the December episode? Maybe Alaric learns how it feels to be on the other end of a silver crossbow. Or maybe he ventures into Deadhaus.
At the time of writing this, the occult blade was revealed 7 months ago. The last official update was 8 months ago. Before that, 10 months ago. Between each of these, one to two months. That's really impressive. They were able to keep this pace with the help of their community facing members. From my understanding, they wanted to focus as much as possible on the game and to satisfy a growing need in the community for big updates. So, they stopped with the frequent videos and lives.
Denis has been saying since I've joined that he "has good reason for the silence" and thinks "the wait is worth it".
Before I say anything else, I'd just like to insert a few things. Congrats to any members of the community and Apocalypse who has survived the delays and engine changes. Glad you're still around!
The first age was supposed to be released almost four years ago. So I imagine it was discouraging for everyone involved when the game development had to restart. I appreciate how much Denis has tried to stay engaged with the discord community, and the hard work everyone has put into the radio plays.
Okay that being said, let's go on.
I went back and looked at old videos and streams. There were big changes year over year. They are definitely moving. Going through the monthly videos in 2022, the progress is just as apparent. Despite a lot of delays, Apocalypse is working at a good rate. The last several update videos give something new and significant each time. New weapons, new animations, new character model, updated Jelrass, and updated class info to name a few. For the non-developers, this is great progress.
I fully believe everything I've heard from both Denis and Mike. Denis saying "you'll see why it's worth the wait" and Mike saying "trust me, I have mugs".
That being said, what do I expect to see? If the next update is in February, a year from the last official gameplay update (the updated overview) I expect to see: the vampire class fully hammered out, three more classes with semi functional tarot, and a playable level.
The fully hammered out vampire class means that the werebat, werewolf, and dracolich forms are working and combat ready. The tarots are nearly finished and work as intended. Maybe a working tutorial. When the bloodbath demo came out, the team had the opportunity to adjust some vampire mechanics. At this time last year, there was already a model for the werebat. If they have dedicated all their time into the vampire, it must be nearly done.
Three more classes sounds nuts since the vampire took a while. I believe that because they got the combat system working with weapons, armor, and tarot, they can transfer a lot of that to other classes. What it leaves is creating unique 3D models and animations. By semi functioning tarot, I just mean one or two of that class specific tarot should work. Hell, a t-posing wraith with a janky torture spell would work for me.
To clarify, I don't expect the classes to be smooth or functional. Just that I can see they exist and they have an associated ability that triggers some effect (press button, sphere appears).
A playable level doesn't necessarily have to be available to us, just that it exists where you play it and you're able to complete it. I'd be satisfied with Jelrass and interactable NPCs, though.
These are what I'm expecting personally. I don't know how many people Apocalypse has now, but the last count was 22. I know that not all of that 22 has technical skills like art or programming, so it's a very small studio. I'm not expecting game completion in a year.
Also, we know Deadhaus is years away. I don't know if it means a few years from alpha, first age, release, or completion. I'm certain that in time, the number will go down as the team iterates their AI tech and hires new members. Hopefully, this means the first age is sooner than that. I know some members of the community who have been hanging out for the last five years.
It's not like the end of the world if we don't get these in the next update, just what I think will happen. If it's less, oh well. The team has made it clear that there's a lot going into the game. If it's dead on, I'm psychic. If it's more, unholy cow.
And of course, if they make the end of year update like last year, I expect a little less.
On an unrelated note, the chronicles are getting better and better. The difference between the very first radio play and the most recent one is night and day. I'm glad we got to keep George as Alaric for so long.
Who knows what happens in the December episode? Maybe Alaric learns how it feels to be on the other end of a silver crossbow. Or maybe he ventures into Deadhaus.
